Hello all! I may update a little more frequently from now one as got 20 chapters for Burning Maze and 30+ chapters for Tyrant's Tomb and STILL GOING, oh my god, there's so much I need to do for that book! I'm trying to whittle it down, take out the mumbo-jumbo and add in... stuff. Can't tell you what stuff, that's spoilers. Anyhoo, thank you for reading and please review! ^_^ More reviews is encouragement for more writing! ^_^ (Yes I am fishing, no I do not care, as yes, reviews are great, especially the ones screaming at me for being mean :D )
To RandomFanAuthor- Huzzah! I'll mark it in the history books! IT IS SO MUCH FUN! And mean, I live for being mean to these characters :3 And same, I could write rants longer than my stories about that pillock! Leo and Lou were two halves of a whole idiot- now they're two very different kinds of disasters Calypso wants to strangle and Reyna wants to maim. Viciously. A paddy is basically a tantrum, but in a more 'aww ickle bubba doesn't get what they want' kind of way. Classic Lou is back! Whoo! (For me, not for you lot). Leo lives for drama, I had to do it. And I love these bobble-headed Canadians-not-Canadians. Leo's just accepting things are weird and CAN get weirder- look who he hangs around with! Oooh, a close-knit villain group? Ahaha, I need. It was longer than normal! Quite a few in Tyrant's Tomb are longer, more than they're not, so ouch, hand cramps, but yay, word count! Make sure you take a break, get something to eat! My big sister senses are tingling and if you do not self-care, I will be after you. Be warned.
Apollo stepped forward. He probably shouldn't have. Not with Commodus's blood dripping from her knuckles, her sword, staining her shoes.
"Louisa." He said. "I did not understand before. But I do now. And I… I am sorry." Her eyes found his. And it was what he had been worried about. Gone the innocent lightness, the cheery bewilderment, the childish curiosity. Angry tears speckled the corners of her eyes. Eyes that knew. Apollo felt his stomach tighten- she had every intention of reuniting the emperor with his guards.
Apollo looked down, remembering his vote. He did not know if it had been the right choice. Looking at her now, seeing the pain, the fury, the strength... he began to doubt himself all over again.
Commodus's arms trembled, but he was still trying to rise. He had a status to uphold after all. "Commodus," Apollo said, "you will leave this city and never return or I will take more than your sight." He glanced sidelong at Louisa. "And I don't think I'll be able to keep her back once more."
"You haven't… won anything… Apollo…" The emperor spat out ichor, and a tooth. "You have no idea what's being prepared… for your friends in the east… and the west. They will die." He coughed, looking up at them with ichor-stained teeth set in a cold grin. "All of them!"
"Fuck you." Louisa stomped on his head, smashing his face to the floor once more.
"I second that," Leo agreed, stepping forward, "can I melt his face now?"
"Listen to them, Commodus." Lityerses urged, scowling. "Leave while you still can."
"I made you, boy!" Commodus spat. "I saved you… from obscurity! I was a second father to you, I gave you purpose!" He coughed up more ichor.
"A second father even worse than the first." Lit snarled. "And I've found a new purpose." Commodus grunted. He lunged with desperate strength, at Lityerses. The Cornhusker moved around him easily, backing up to Josephine's workshop. "Over here, New Hercules." Commodus took the bait. Lit ducked past him, sword-smacking the emperor's butt. "Wrong way, sir." Lit stationed himself by the giant rose window. "Over here, Commode!" He called.
Commodus howled and charged. Lit simply side-stepped. His ex-boss barrelled towards the window. He may have been able to stop himself, but Calypso flicked her hands. A gust of wind carried him forward. He shattered the glass at the six o'clock mark and tumbled into the void.
Everyone was quick to gather, looking for him. They did not see him, but Jamie and Hunter were looking up at them, unimpressed.
"A little warning, perhaps?" Jamie called.
"Where's Commodus?" Apollo asked.
"We didn't see him." Hunter shrugged.
"What?" Apollo started. "He literally just fell out this window!"
"No," Leo corrected, wagging a finger at Apollo, "he Lityerses-ly fell out the window. Nice moves, man." He fist-bumped Lit as if they had not been planning to kill each other the last few days.
"Well, we should do a sweep for him." Thalia said. "He's injured and…" She glanced at Louisa, a twitch to her eyebrows. Concerned? Scared? Both? "He can't have got far, we'll search the neighbourhood… wait, is that Meg?"
Rounding the corner were three karpoi, Meg held aloft. Apollo almost jumped out the window to get to her, Leo grabbing his arm.
"You can't fly." He reminded him.
"The Throne of Memory," Apollo said, looking frantically to Emmie, "we need it. Now!"
They met the karpoi in the building's front foyer. One of the karpoi dutifully returned the Arrow of Dodona to Apollo, but had carried it here in his teeth, like a pirate. Apollo apparently couldn't decide if he should thank the grain spirit or kick him for bringing back his biggest bother, (other than Meg). He shoved it in his quiver for safe-keeping.
Josephine and Leo rushed in from a side room, carrying the Throne between them. They set it down in the middle of a still-smouldering Persian rug. The peach karpois gently set Meg in the seat.
Apollo turned. "Calypso!" He called urgently. "The notepad, the notepad."
"Got it!" She flourished her small pad and pencil. Apollo nodded his thanks, kneeling next to Meg. Her skin was deathly blue, her breathing too shallow and haphazard. Apollo reached out with shaking hands, gently cupping her face between them. Her pupils were pinpoints.
"Stay with me, Meg," he pleaded, "you're among friends now. You're in the Throne of Mnemosyne. Speak your prophecy!" She lurched upright, startling him back. Her hands latched onto the sides of the chair, as if drawn by a magnetic current.
Everyone backed up, forming a rough circle around her. Dark smoke billowed from her mouth, falling to wrap her legs. Apollo breathed a sigh of relief as she spoke in the deep neutral monotone of Delphi, not Trophonius.
The words that memory wrought are set to fire
Ere new moon rises o'er the Devil's Mount
The changeling lord shall face a challenge dire
Till bodies fill the Tiber beyond count
"Oh no." Apollo croaked. "Oh no, no, no."
"What?" Leo demanded. Apollo paled, glancing at Calypso. She was writing furiously.
"We're going to need a bigger notepad."
Yet southward must the sun now trace its course
Through mazes dark to lands of scorching death
To find the master of the swift white horse
And wrest from him the crossword speaker's breath
Apollo put his head in his hands. Louisa put a hand on his shoulder for balance, leaning over him and poking Meg in the forehead.
"She's broken." She decided.
"No." Apollo shook his head. "Oh me, it's been centuries since I've heard a prophecy in this form."
"What form? Long as fuck?"
"No, it's-" Meg shivered, cutting Apollo off, and exhaled the third stanza.
To westward palace Lester must go;
Demeter's daughter finds her ancient roots
The cloven guide alone the way does know
To walk the path in thine own enemy's boots
And then, much to Apollo's delight:
When three are known and Tiber reached alive
'Tis only then Apollo starts to jive
The smoke faded. Apollo started to his feet, knocking Louisa off balance, and catching Meg as she slumped forward. He could already feel her skin starting to warm and pinken, her breathing evening out.
Leo scratched at his chin.
"OK, what the hell was that? Why was it longer? Is that bad?"
"It was a sonnet." Apollo answered quietly. "Oh, gods help us, it was a Shakespearean sonnet."
"Are… those different from other sonnets?" Louisa puzzled. Apollo glared at her. "Right, right. Shuttin' up."
"That was all one poem?" Thalia frowned. "But it had four different sections."
"Yes." Apollo sighed. "The sonnet conveys only the most elaborate prophecies, with multiple moving parts-"
"Fan-fuckin'-tastic."
"Ah, I see you're feeling better." Leo grinned. "Good to have you back, Lou."
"Be grateful."
"Excuse me." Apollo said and then promptly passed out, exhausted. Meg landed on top of him, snoring into his shoulder. Louisa looked down, frowning.
"They're on my foot." She complained. "'N' he stinks," she pointed at Apollo, "like deep fried teenager, ugh, that's disgustin'."
Apollo didn't wake up for a few hours. Clean up had commenced and he pottered about, helping where he could, trying to keep his mind from the sonnet. He tried explaining to Louisa the importance of a Shakespearean sonnet, but after about two words, it was clear she wasn't listening. She and the Hunters were busy tending to the wounded- Apollo was rather fascinated by her water-abilities.
"Leo told me you could do such magic." He said. "I did not realise it was this effective though."
"Dude, ya kinda in my bubble."
"Oh, sorry." Apollo took a step back. Louisa returned her concentration to the Hunter with the wounded leg, instructing her to stay still. Water gloved her hands, tiny speckles of green energy swimming in the liquid. Apollo leaned as far forward as he dared to watch, seeing the injury seal, then shrink and then disappear. "How did you learn this?"
"Well, I figured if I can heal me, surely I can heal other people?" She shrugged, moving onto the next bed. "Why don't ya go 'n' check on Leo, I'm sure he'd love ya help."
"You're getting rid of me, aren't you?"
"I have a bubble. You're still in it."
"How big is this bubble?"
"Well, if I can still see you, that's a good guess."
"Oh. OK." Apollo nodded. She smirked at him and sent him on his way.
Livia the elephant was even chipping in with the clean-up, shoving busted vehicles and wreckage from the roundabout. Leo and Josephine spent the afternoon collecting pieces of Festus- Apollo decided to help them, offering his condolences to Leo.
"Nah," he smiled, "I rebuilt him to assemble like a Lego kit." Josephine was using a crane to extract Festus's left hind leg from the station's bell tower. Apollo hadn't even noticed they had a bell tower.
Calypso had a burst of aerial magic, summoning enough wind spirits to repair the rose window. Then she fainted, snoring on the floor until Leo carried her to the infirmary as well. Sssssarah, Jamie and Thalia were out searching for any sign of Commodus. How had he done it? Being a quasi-deity, could he transport himself like the gods could?
Sunset came along and they held a memorial for Heloise. They kept the majority of them back, only a small assembly and only those Abelard trusted. Too many would upset him more than he already was. He had let Louisa examine the egg, she could sense the baby's life force somehow.
"Is it… like how you sensed Georgina was my- was a child of Apollo?"
"Mm? Oh. Yeah. Somethin' like that."
"How-?"
"Not now." Louisa pressed her ear to the egg, one hand splayed on top. She concentrated for a moment, lips moving soundlessly. "Yeah, baby's fine. I think it's a girl, but I could be wrong. Bit early for labels anyway." She hummed indecisively. "Might hatch in the next few weeks, nearly fully formed." She stood, brushing straw from her trousers. "Keep it warm, keep an eye on it. Make sure it's safe." And this began a rota of Egg-Sitting, beginning with Hunter Kowalski. They had drawn straws.
Calypso and Apollo, honorary relatives since they rescued the griffins, were allowed to lay Heloise's body on a bed of soil in the garden. They stood back as Abelard gently buried his beak in the feathers of his mate's neck. When she did not respond, he threw back his head and let out a piercing cry- I am here, he seemed to say, where are you?
Then he flew away, vanishing into the low grey clouds. Heloise's body began to crumble into dust.
"We'll plant catnip here," Emmie decided, wiping a tear from her cheek, "Heloise loved catnip."
"That sounds lovely." Calypso agreed, drying her eyes on her sleeve. "Where did Abelard go?"
"He'll be back." Josephine said, watching the clouds. "He needs time. Like Lou said, the egg won't hatch for a little while. He'll be back before then. We will watch over it for him."
After the ceremony, Georgina approached Apollo. She hung back a little, fiddling with something in her hands. Josephine patted her kindly on the back. "Go on," she encouraged, "go on." The girl shuffled towards him, in a clean set of overalls. Her hair, newly washed, was fluffier, her face a little pinker.
"My moms told me you're my dad." She murmured, not looking him in the eye. Apollo swallowed nervously, patting his hands on his thighs.
"I… yes. Yes, I am. But… I have no plans to intrude on your family. You are your mothers' daughter."
"'Kay. Made this for you." She held up the thing she had been playing with- a little figure, made of pipe cleaners. She dropped it in Apollo's hand. "You can take it with you when you go away." Apollo examined the figure, a vaguely gingerbread-man shape of wire and coloured fuzz.
"Thank you, Georgina." He said, voice thick with tears. "I love it."
"His name is Stan."
"Then Stan shall travel with me."
Haha, one more chapter on this one!
Stay safe, stay inside! Wash your hands and your door handles! Lots of love!