Sorry for the long wait.

Chapter 2

The Tartus is beautiful. I don't think I've ever heard someone describe it that way but it truly is, if people would just take the time to see it. Sure, it has its dark corners but out of what I understand the mainland does too. At least down here the horrors aren't hidden pretending to be paradise when in reality they are just the opposite. Down here you know what you're dealing with.

Maybe that's what I find beautiful about the Tartus, the fact that I can take everything at face value, not having to second guess everything and everybody's motives. Unlike the gods, I know that whenever they are involved you have to watch your back. The furies told me centuries of stories about the power of the gods and the insignificance of heroes; ages of stories of how the demigods were used as the gods' pawns (great babysitters, I tell you).Because of that they never seemed like people I should fear of respect, they just seemed cruel.

That's the reason I had such a hard time accepting Apollo. He didn't come too terribly often but he came enough to make me nervous. What did he want from me? I decide to just be cordial; I was apparently not the best at that.

"Did I ever ask what your favorite color was?" Apollo asked conversationally (a rather cliché question but this was Apollo we are talking about, I was just lucky he wasn't asking it in haiku form.)

"No."

"Well, what is it?"

"Why does it matter?" was my completely logical response.

"To help me get to know you."

"But my favorite color is just a useless fact to add to the long list of statistics about me that are all together irrelevant to truth of who I am."

"Deep," he muttered.

"Almost as deep as you," I said sarcastically under my breath. I'm pretty sure he heard me but pretended he didn't. I was thankful once I realized how mean it had come out, what had been so funny in my head. I answered his question to make up for it "Rich purple, that's my favorite color."

He smiled and said his was a sunny orange. I told you, he was the king of cliché (and the fact that I said that proves I've spent too much time with him.) I simply laughed at him and asked if he could help me with an odd weapon he had left me once. He had been the one who had left all the weapons. He had thought no one should be in the Tartus, much less live there, without a weapon. He was right of course.

"The weapons master, finally confused," he laughed, "How did you figure them all out, without my expertise?"

"There's thing called common sense. Don't point the sharp thing in you direction, it's pretty simple." I answered with a satisfied smirk.

"Well your smarter than your mom its official," He said with a wink. I rolled my eyes and he continued, "This, my dear is called a bow and arrow. You should be quite the natural considering who your mother is…"

"Oh," I gasped in recognition. I did know what this strange instrument was.

"Now, how about some target practice?"

I laughed and followed him to the side of a tree (dead and creepy mind you, this is the Tartus after all) where he was carving something vaguely resembling a target.

"I can see why you're not the god of art," I said sarcastically.

He crinkled his nose and told me to shut up. "Now, let's start."

"Aren't you going to show me how to shoot first?"

"Oh, yeah," he corrected my stance and showed me how to release the arrow. "Go for it."

"Ughh," we'd been going at it for hours, I'd managed to hit nothing, absolutely nothing.

"I think your defying nature, Amy. You realize your mother is the goddess of archery, right?"

"Maybe it skipped a generation. And you're an archery god too; shouldn't you be a better teacher?"

"I'm a great teacher. You are just determined to be impossible all around, aren't you?"
"You realize I can use a sword just fine, don't you?"

"Was that an attempt of a threat?"
"No, it was the execution of one. Pay attention."

"I pay attention."

I simply raised my eyebrows in response. Zeus rumbled and Apollo had to go. He told me to practice some more while he was gone, like that was going to happen. I was still wondering why Apollo seemed to want to help me so bad, he could get absolutely nothing out of it, I was confined to the Tartus. I decided only to worry about it when the time came. Right now he was a good teacher and decent company. I wondered what would have happened if he hadn't come along. I'd probably be having conversations with myself and not the normal ones, the ones where you are two people instead of one.

Hey, thanks for all of you who read and reviewed it brightened up my day. Please continue to review and send in any plot ideas. I can't promise they will make it but I would love some extra inspiration. I love y'all. :)