Chapter 6: I drive the sun

[David's Pov]

So I know that Apollo wasn't really a sun god.

That was Helios, and for the record Artemis was not also the moon god, but it was rather Selene. Though Artemis did seem to have control over the moon…so I didn't really know what to believe anymore.

Doesn't Greek Myth's differ on themselves anyway? What is the 'true' one, anyway?

My head was filled with question like these, but I couldn't get answer from anyone.

Percy just shrugged when I asked him, and Annabeth (probably the smarter one, judging from what Percy said) was too clogged up in her own thoughts, that she just shooed me away when I approached her to ask.

From the horizon, the sunlight was barely visible as the sun rose.

Artemis stepped up.

"My brother is coming. He is so lazy during the winter."

"What?"

I was confused at her statement, because it sounded like Apollo was appearing with the sun, but that was impossible. Even if Greek Myths are real, the sun is a star at the vast open space of the cosmos.

There was no way that he'd be driving the sun, right? Artemis was not riding the moon too. That couldn't be it.

Then the sun appeared over the vast sea, and a blast of warmth swept over my body.

"Look away. Until he parks."

"Parks?"

Percy asked out loud, but turned his head when Annabeth pulled him lightly by his ear. I also looked away, just because the light of the day was getting too bright for some reason.

The light grew and grew stronger. The temperature was also rapidly rising, melting the snow around my feet and dousing my shoes and socks, which quickly evaporated soon after.

I was starting to wonder if we were all going to be roasted to death, when the light suddenly died out. I opened my eyes.

"Whoa…"

A red convertible Maserati Spyder was parked at the edge of the cliff. It was glowing with a tremendous golden light, but I couldn't tell if it was because of the heat emanating from it or the fabulousness of the car itself.

Then the driver got out, and both Percy and Annabeth flinched. I didn't know why, maybe because he had a smile that was as bright as the sun with no exaggeration. He himself had a sunny blond hair with a skin tanned just the right amount for him. He was wearing a jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt which read:

"Praise the sun?"

"Thank you, nephew. I see why Ares was quite…excited about you."

Apollo scanned me up and down before turning to Artemis, who looked much…darker now in comparison with her brother.

"Little sis! What's up? I heard you desperately needed my help, so I came here as fast as I can."

Artemis scowled under her breath. She looked a lot like Zoë when she did, though I suppose it really was other way around.

"I am neither desperate, nor your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"No, I was. I helped mother Leto gave birth to you right after I did."

"Eh, minor details."

Apollo waved off his hand. The sunlight waggled around near his hand, following his movements. Take that, Physics.

Artemis sighed again. She was keeping herself cool, but her fingers were clenching down on her crossed arms.

"I need a favor done; I have some hunting to do alone, and my hunters need a ride to Camp Half-Blood. It is located at the west, so I'd suppose you can drop them by."

"Sure thing. Nothing I can't do for my younger sister."

Artemis exhaled heavily. Apollo seemed to realize that he had pushed her for the last time too, so he instead turned to us. He studied Percy, but didn't say anything and moved on to Annabeth.

"Athena's girl, yes? Makes you also my nephew, err, niece."

Annabeth just nodded.

"Man, I really wish Athena was more unlike my sis. No offence, little sis─"

Apollo quickly ducked as a silver arrow whizzed over his head, then continued like nothing happened.

"─but sadly, the most beautiful flowers are the ones unpluckable. Am I right?"

"Uhh…"

Now Annabeth was lost for words. Probably because What Apollo said basically boiled down to "I think your mom is hot; too shame she's a maiden!". A very awkward thing to say to her children…still wondering how that is possible, by the way.

Artemis kept her bow aimed at Apollo, and even though his smile didn't waver, he didn't delay anymore and clapped his hand.

"Alright! We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way: west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

He pointed over his shoulder at the two-seater Maserati. Nobody moved forward.

Apollo looked around confused, then saw the problem and slapped his forehead with his palm in an exaggerated motion.

"Oh, right. My bad."

He took out his car keys and beeped a button.

For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those Turtle Top shuttle buses like we used for school basketball games.

The side had a drawing of a typical beachside with a sun with sunglasses on. It was saying "Get Tropical, dude!" in bright yellow letters.

Somehow it became harder for us to get in.

The hunters wasn't feeling too far off, judged by how reluctant they were following Zoë inside. And even she didn't seem thrilled either. I saw the young huntress at the very back trudging along. As she passed by, she met my gaze and mouthed 'glad you're ok.' before scurrying inside the bus.

I was about to wave back, but then I realized Artemis was giving me a slight frown, so I just did nothing. I don't want to become an animal under any circumstance.

Artemis then turned around and swiftly moved into the shadow of the woods, where she suddenly disappeared from sight entirely. I stared at the place where she disappeared for a long time until a warm hand landed on my shoulder.

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

Apollo gave me a flashy smile, but for some reason I felt a chill slide down my back. As if he knew something I didn't─and then it vaguely occurred that he was a legit god of prophecies.

"Come on, nephew. Everyone's waiting."

"…Right."

[Line Break]

"So, who wants to drive?"

─was Apollo's first words when I entered the sun bus for last. He jingled his car keys on his forefinger and looked around.

"Oo! Oo!" Grover enthusiastically raised his hand.

"Mm, no. Too furry."

He scanned around; Annabeth was trying very well to avoid his gaze. Percy raised his hand slightly, but when Apollo shook his head, he accepted it without any protest. The hunters were at the back, not wanting anything remotely connected to Apollo.

"Well, we're out of options."

Then he handed the key to me.

"Uh, wait. I don't know how to drive."

I never even got on a car that often; let alone drive it. But Apollo gave me a reassuring smile and pat my back.

"Ah, don't sweat it. There was a kid name Phaethon once, and he did his first ride on the sun as well!"

"Didn't he die when Zeus struck him down, because he nearly burned the entire earth?"

"Minor details."

Apollo laughed good-naturedly. None of the others did.

Now I was having a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to get me killed, but that was absurd. Apollo would never do something like tricking someone into death, right?

I took the key and started the engine.

Apollo hit a button on the dashboard, and a sign popped up along the top of the windshield. I had to read it backwards. I was pretty sure it said WARNING: STUDENT DRIVER.

"Speed equals heat," Apollo advised. "So start slowly, and make sure you've got good altitude before you really open her up."

"Right."

I swallowed my questions down my throat; things like "Where is the accelerator?" or "How do I go up?". I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes looking at my back, most of them concerned, and I couldn't really blame them.

"Alright." I grabbed the wheel. "Let's go."

And go we did. In about 300 miles per hour, in a 45 degree angle straight up into the sky.

Various screams and yelps came from the behind. I automatically glanced at Apollo for help, but then I realized with horror that he was also thrown back.

In my panic, I did just the smartest thing I could do in the situation. Namely, slamming down on the accelerator, and we shot up in a steeper angle reaching nearly 80 by my view point.

"Take the wheel!"

I heard someone shout at Apollo─probably Zoë─as I held on to the wheel to not fall off myself.

I tried to climb myself up, and accidently took a hard left. Another harmony of groans ushered and Annabeth shouted "Go down!" from the behind.

We were at the windowsill was starting to freeze up; I could see the roundness of the earth below as stars twinkled in level, and the constellation Orion caught my eye.

Oh wait. Apollo did once trick someone into death, didn't he?

Then, a voice boomed inside my head.

["Kid! Focus! You'll know what to do if you calm down! Vehicle is an extension of a weapon!"]

I didn't know who it was, or how what the voice would ever help me to not get blasted into smithereens by Zeus. How is a vehicle being a weapon related to the situation at hand?

Somehow, I managed to level the bus; we were definitely at thermosphere level or higher. The inside of the bus was rapidly losing temperature, and this was supposed to be a sun I'm driving.

The needle of the dashboards were all dropping to zero one by one, and I had no idea what they meant or how bad was the situation exactly, until a button labeled 'Chariot mode' caught my eye.

I slammed my hand on it without thinking.

"Wait!" Apollo screeched out from the behind, but the bus was already shifting its form again.

The roof and back side of the bus folded into themselves, and the 4 wheels of the bus protruded out to become a horse of flames, their manes burning fiercely in the dark cosmos, and they neighed in such a majestic sound that I lost myself gazing at them for a moment.

The sun bus was now a sun chariot; an ancient Greek model with two wheels, which meant it was a chariot for battle, and not for luggage/transport.

And that somehow calmed my nerves.

The four flaming horses snorted out flickering sparks of fire out of their nostrils, pulling against the restraints and stomping in mid-air. They were clearly looking down on me. I gripped the long hot rein tightly.

"Giddy up!"

I shouted out, thrashing the rein once. The horses lurched forward, diving down straight into the Atlantic Ocean. This time, I could barely hear passengers screaming and yelling at Apollo to take the wheel as the shimmering surface of the ocean drew closer by second.

Then I pulled on the rein hard. The horses neighed out in surprise and held back their heads too, and we stopped just about at the middle of the atmosphere.

"Don't be uncooperative. Do you want to stay as a wheel?"

I just took a guess at the spot, but apparently I guessed correctly because the horses all snorted out a spark of flames again, and they calmed down.

"There we go."

I could feel a grin growing on my face and turned around. Everyone─even the hunters were looking at me with utter shock.

"Where is Camp Half-Blood exactly?"

"L-long Island. Northern coastline."

Annabeth stammered.

"You heard her guys; Long Island stop! Let's go!"

I shook the rein once more. The flaming horses reared up with another majestic neigh, and they sped off through the sky. I could see landscapes and sea whooshing past beneath as I drove the sun chariot moved to the west.

Soon, I could see Camp Half-Blood nearing. Grover told me about the Golden Fleece that was hanging at the border of the tree, so it was actually easier than I thought to find where it was.

I settled down the chariot down at the middle of the camp. I somehow knew it wouldn't burn the entire camp; not when I had control over it.

And we all safely landed.

"And we are here."

I let the rein go and patted the manes of the horses. It was warm, and actually nice to pet. The horses snorted flames and shook their heads, but didn't really refuse my hand either.

People with orange T-shirts had gathered around, gaping at the sight of the sun chariot parked at the middle of the camp. A guy in a wheelchair was also present, and he looked quite impressed altogether.

I jumped out of the chariot first, and one by one, everyone else got down as well. They were all pretty shaken, and Grover wretched as soon as his hooves touched the ground. The hunters all shot me a disapproving glare, which was fair I guess.

The young huntress however, leaped out of the chariot and grasped my hand.

"That was so cool!"

"Thanks. Uh─I don't; think I actually heard your name."

"It's Luna. You're…"

"David. David Lee."

Luna was about to say something more, but someone put an arm on her shoulder and pulled her away.

It was Zoë. Her expression was mostly on par with the rest of the hunters, but I think─maybe, just maybe, she was slightly impressed.

Then a voice of Artemis rang inside my head.

["…Men tend to be greedy. They'll get the smallest victory get to their heads, and will claim rewards out of it to an extent."]

Maybe she was right. I really shouldn't get too high of myself.

I looked away without saying another word, and Zoë dragged Luna off to the other hunters.

Apollo was in shock himself; looking at the horses and back at me several times.

"Thanks for the ride, Apollo. Also that was a nice driving ed."

"Uh, sure nephew. Anytime."

He stammered out, took out his car keys, but the horse neighed out in anger. He reluctantly put it back in his pocket and instead, took the rein in his hand and sored off into the sky.

["Ha!"]

The same voice that told me to calm down barked out in laughter. I wanted to ask who he was, but before I could the voice disappeared again.

The second 'awakening', I'd say. I don't know if Ares kids are actually gifted with skills on chariot, but I think it makes enough sense.

Also, yes, Orion has died by Apollo tricking Artemis to shoot him in the head. And yes, some details in the story might differ from the original.

Now, did Apollo try to kill David?

Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?

Also this is where the 'torrent' of upload will stop. Mostly because this is where I'd say 'Westover Hall' mini-arc is over, and the next mini-arc is not yet completed