After Zeus dismissed the council, most of the gods and goddess teleported, leaving in a bright flash of light. The silence lingered in the air. Apollo walked over to Hermes' throne, his footsteps echoing in the vast hall. The sun was going down, being driven by a different part of his essence. Hermes stood up, frowning. He had a very bad feeling about the week to come. He didn't think those fears weren't unfounded in the least.
Hermes sighed. "I suppose you'll need my caduceus. When-" Hermes' phone began to ring, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Two snakes were curled around it, yelling at Hermes.
No! Don't give us to him! Martha hissed.
He better have rats. George said. Martha chased George around the caduceus.
Rats aren't important now, dear! Martha chided.
Hermes didn't look enthusiastic about giving them to Apollo either. His item of power wasn't just an item. It had two of his dear friends on it. He turned towards Apollo, who looked a bit nervous.
"George and Martha eat rats. You better get some - you aren't letting my snakes starve." Hermes said. "Don't give George a rat every time he asks for one."
"Wait," Apollo interjected, "I have to get rats?" Hermes sighed again. This was going to be a long week at this rate. Apollo waited for Hermes to answer, fiddling with something in his hands. The sun was almost set in the distance, spilling orange and red rays across Olympus. Some rays hit parts of crystals in the windows, forming small rainbows on the ground.
Hermes replied. "Deliver the packages and mail. Feed George and Martha. Don't lose my caduceus. Clear?" He held it out to Apollo, who took the caduceus and put it in his pocket.
Apollo smiled and said, "Don't forget you have my job. Driving the sun, to be exact." He tossed the keys that had been in his hands to Hermes, who caught them. Hermes looked a bit surprised, as if the reality of the situation hadn't set in yet. George burped loudly, bringing him back to his senses. Apollo looked disgusted at what George has done in his pocket. His pants were going to smell like rats.
"You can drive the sun. It is very awesome. Do not scratch my car." Hermes didn't bother to correct him this time. Just pretend he's not saying haikus, and you'll survive, He thought to himself. Who was he kidding. Hermes nodded, and Apollo zapped out. It was already dark outside. They would begin their new duties in the morning.
Apollo turned around to look at his clock. It was almost dawn, but he remembered that Hermes would be driving the sun, not him. He wasn't sure if Hermes was up for the task. The chariot could be very sensitive. Apollo reached into his pocket and took out the caduceus.
Apollo, we need to start delivering the mail! Martha exclaimed. We were supposed to start half an hour ago!
She twisted around the caduceus, clearly agitated. Apollo frowned at this, checking his clock again.
"It's still really early, though," he said, "you sure?" Apollo knew Hermes had a lot of packages to deliver, but he didn't think that many. How much mail could one secret society of magical beings have to send? Apparently a lot.
Yes, I'm sure! Right, dear? Martha said.
Yup, we're behind. Got any rats? George said.
Martha chased him around the staff. Apollo remembered he still had to get rats for Martha and George. Where was he supposed to get those? He had a feeling they wouldn't like that nasty pet food mortals made that looked like little brown pellets. It didn't look appetizing to him; besides, Hermes had said to feed them rats.
"I actually don't have any rats yet." Apollo admitted. George gasped with horror, and Martha sighed. Now they were supposed to have started delivering forty minutes ago! They were going to have very angry customers at this rate. At least it wasn't permanent. Soon George and Martha would be working with Hermes again, just like the last five thousand years.
Apollo asked, "Where does Hermes get rats? In a sewer?" He grimaced at the though. Searching through a dark, damp sewer was the last thing the sun god wanted to do. Well, one of the last things. Apollo didn't really think that was were Hermes got his rats, anyways.
He has a few traps. Martha mentioned. Hermes set up some in alleyways.
Alleys were much better than sewers. Apollo decided that this wouldn't be so bad after all; he hoped that delivering the packages would be as easy as this.
Great traps too! They catch rats really fast! George said.
Martha told Apollo where the traps were. Apollo shrank the caduceus back into a phone, and teleported away. There would have to be time for a quick snack before they started delivering packages and letters.
Hermes stood in front of Apollos' chariot. It was in the form of a car, a Maserati Spyder. It was oddly quiet not having George and Martha around. Usually they were talking to him, asking for rats, or bickering about something. Despite being stuck on the caduceus, they always had found something to talk about. There was a lot of gossip about Olympus.
He opened the car door with the keys Apollo had given him. Hermes slid into the drivers seat, and looked at the controls. It was just like his delivery van. Maybe driving the sun wouldn't be so hard. Except, his delivery van didn't fly, or light up the daytime.
Hermes started up the car, and put his foot on the gas pedal. The vehicle shot forward, going a lot faster than he thought it would. Hermes pulled up, and the sun shot into the sky, scattering a few birds.
He slowed down the car, trying not to rush the sunrise. How fast was he supposed to go? Darn it. He forgot to ask Apollo on how he was supposed to do his job. Hermes looked around the car, spotting a button that was labeled Iris messages. He pressed the button, and mist started to spray out of a nozzle above the button, creating several rainbows.
Hermes fished in his pocket for a drachma. Driving the car with one hand, he threw it into a rainbow and said, "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show Phoebus Apollo, Hermes Express." The message wavered. Sorry, but our system is undergoing issues right now. Please try again later. The message spat the drachma back into Hermes' face. He cursed.
This wasn't good. He'd have to guess how high he was supposed to go, how fast to go -and where did Apollo land this thing? The next eleven hours and two minutes were going to be terrible.
Hermes continued to climb higher and higher, until he was almost in the clouds. He leveled the car, and looked down at the scenery. As he watched, he could see grass shriveling up and small fires forming in fields. Hermes yelped and brought the sun up just a bit higher. The fires went out quickly, and frost started to form on the ground. Even a little snow began to fall. He decided this was better, considering that it was less damaging and that it was late September.
Hermes kept driving along. At least he didn't have to worry about birds this far up. A few hours had passed since he had begun. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. An Iris message was starting to form in the passenger seat. Maybe his message had gotten through! Hermes looked around for his drachma.
He looked back at the message, and was surprised to see the enraged face of Demeter.
"Hermes! What do you think you're doing! Freezing all of the crops, and reducing the amount of cereal we can have! Drive lower! And-" Hermes cut her off, wincing as he did so. No one wanted to be the target of Demeter's rants. They were hilarious to watch, though, considering Hades was usually the target of them.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm still figuring this out." Hermes said. This didn't calm Demeter down in the least.
"Well, figure it out faster! It's not winter yet!" She shrieked, glaring at him. Hermes realized why Demeter was so mad over what seemed like such a small thing. Persephone must have recently gone back to the underworld, making Demeter angry. Demeter opened her mouth again, clearly intending to rant some more.
Before she could, however, an arm reached out and pulled her away. Hestia's kind face replaced Demeter's mad one. Hermes nearly sighed with relief. He could always count on his aunt.
"I'll try to calm her down." said Hestia. Her face became more stern. "But, you need to try to do Apollo's job right. Gods aren't meant to switch jobs, but there is no changing my siblings minds." Hermes nodded.
"Apollo keeps instructions in his glove box. You'll have to wait until the day is over to read them, so just try your best for now." Hestia finished. The Iris message was starting to flicker. Their time was almost up. Hestia must have noticed too, and swiped her hand through the message. Now Hermes just had to figure out how to make through the rest of the day.
This chapter should be a bit longer than last time! Next time: two more gods get to switch jobs. Any guesses as to who they are? Both of them have been mentioned in the story so far.