Apollo in all his shining "glory" was standing with a big pearly white smile flooding the whole tent with light. "Don't call me sis" Artemis growled in which Tacito flinched back. She immediately regretted it when she saw his face. Immediately she wrapped her arms around the fourteen year old in which he enjoyed. "Why am I doing this" she thought to herself. When she let go of the boy and turned towards her brother she saw his comical face. His jaw was hanging loosely while his eyes were so big they were threatening to pop out of his head. "What" she snapped at him making him come back to this reality. "You- you just hugged a male" he said as if I had just down the impossible.
"So? Why does it matter" I glared at him "I need your help with this boy." Apollo looked at her skeptically but complied. He walked over to the bed and bent over Tacito who was shivering "Who is that" he thought towards Artemis. Artemis smiled sympathetically and put a hand on his shoulder "He is my brother; he will try to fix your mouth and voice along with your injuries." He looked at her questioningly "In-juries?" She nodded remembering his immature mind "The places that hurt." Tacito thought about this before nodding his consent. Apollo however watched in amazement as Tacito and Artemis seemed to have a conversation between each other. "Apollo" his sister said catching his attention.
"Huh? Oh sorry, day dreaming" he then looked at the stitches on his mouth and felt a little irritation himself "You're hunters better not of done this." Artemis' eyes snapped towards him slightly angry "I'd appreciate it if you did not accuse my hunters of doing something this extreme." Tacito could feel the power rolling off her and recoiled backwards. Artemis wanted to punch herself for being such an idiot and losing her temper. "Let me see you mouth" he said taking the boys chin in his hand. Tacito could feel the soft hands move his head all around examining the stitches. "This is some bad sewing" he said in a professional tone "It will take at least an hour to get out and repair his lips without injuring him but it is possible." He then looked past the lips with his advanced vision and saw that the boys front half of his tongue was gone "As for the tongue that will take months to repair if ever." Artemis looked slightly disappointed at this but didn't say anything. "If I start now I should be done by afternoon.
Artemis nodded slowly and said to Tacito "Tacito, I'm going to get the other girls ready for the day so I'll be gone for about an hour but in that time my brother will work on removing your stitches okay." He quickly grabbed her arm and looked up at her with child like eyes as if begging her not to leave. Slowly she wrapped an arm around and hugged him "You will be fine, I promise." He pulled back and nodded gently. With one smile she turned around and left the tent putting the boy's voice in Apollo's hand. When Artemis left Apollo turned around and said "Lay down" in which Tacito complied.
Apollo clapped his hands together and a set of his surgery items appeared next to Artemis' bed. Off the tray he grabbed the miniature scissors and began to cut a little bit of the string before setting the scissors down. Next he grabbed a pair of tweezers off the tray and began to gently pull the stitch out. He repeated this process twenty seven times across the boys mouth for an hour until his hands were exhausted a trembling for the last set of stitches were imbedded so deep that if he messed up it would mean his lips would be unusable. Finally he gathered some energy on one finger and slowly applied it to the holes in Tacito's lips until each one of them healed.
"Now on to your arm" Apollo said holding out his hand for Tacito to put his arm. With much struggle he was able to set his arm in the fully grown man's hand. Apollo opened his other hand palm up and allowed pure golden energy to flood in to the open space above his palm. Taking that energy he applied it to the boys arm and allowed it to flood his body with energy. Without haste the bones began to mend together relieving the pain. Tacito sighed in comfort as the pain left his arm and allowed him to move it freely. "Now on to your leg then we will be done" He then bent down and slowly repaired the muscles and bones in his leg with the golden energy. When he was done he collapsed in his chair in exhaustion "Artemis you so owe me" Apollo muttered. "Thank you" Tacito thought shyly in which Apollo smiled his bright smile.
"No problem dude" He then pointed at his mouth "Your tongue will take a longer process to heal so I'll visit you every week to work on it if little sis lets me in." Tacito shook his head "It won't matter that she lets you in I'm leaving here." Apollo looked shocked "Why?" he interrogated. Tacito sighed through his nose "G- Gabe will find me" he choked on tears leaking from his eyes. Apollo walked over to the boy and put an arm around him "Artemis won't be letting you go anytime soon trust me and for Gabe; even if he could find you he would be DOA." Tacito raised an eyebrow questioningly "Dead on Arrival" Apollo explained. "As you have seen the hunters hate males and will kill them the first chance they get" Tacito began to shiver at this thought. "Don't worry" Apollo patted his back "As long as Artemis is around they won't touch you."
The person being spoken of suddenly walked into the tent and smiled at the sight of just Tacito's lips. "I see Apollo fixed you up she said sitting next to Tacito on the bed. Tacito nodded and pointed towards his arm and leg. She smiled at Apollo who gave her a meaningful look before walking out of the tent. Artemis understood, she turned towards Tacito "Stay right here, I need to talk with Apollo" She then stood up and walked out of the tent coming face to face with the obviously upset Apollo. "Let me make something very clear" he growled menacingly. "I've looked through that boys memories and there are things in that boy's memories that make your hunters sob stories look like a joke" Apollo put one finger up. "One mistake with him, one hunter tries to kill him, one threat even reaches that child's ears I will not hesitate to take him and hide him from you" Artemis was about to respond angrily but he put a hand up.
"His mind is one of a child's in a teenager's body so the simplest gesture will upset him. That Gabe man destroyed him physically and mentally to the point of almost no return. So slip up once, your hunters or you and I will take him away from you." Apollo then disappeared with a golden flash.
Is Apollo serious about his threat? Will the hunters treat Tacito badly? Will I stop asking questions that serve no point to the story? Find out in the next chapter