The Past and the Present
MALIAH
The day after Tyler left me, I was crying in my cabin. I hadn't gone to sleep yet and my makeup was smeared. Everyone had decided it was in my best interest to be alone and come up with a way to cope with my loss. Everyone except for Apollo. My own brother was avoiding the cabin, but here was the god of sun just watching me while I cried.
He didn't say much for a while. For about fifteen or twenty minutes, he left me to wallow in my own self pity, but when the time was up, he cleared his throat.
"You need to start on your training as soon as possible."
It wasn't smart of me, I know it wasn't, but I was so consumed in grief and anger that I wasn't thinking straight. I slapped him. I slapped the god of the sun. I stopped crying immediately and stared at him. I couldn't even believe I'd done it, but I did. He didn't meet my eyes for a minute, he only held his cheek.
Apollo was one of the least serious gods there was, only rivaled with Hermes. He appeared to be an eighteen year old with blond hair and blue eyes, his skin tanned. But when he looked at me next, he looked like a god. He held their fury, but unlike me, he didn't lash out. He sighed and stared me deep in my eyes, snatching my hand in his.
"Maliah, you don't understand anything about yourself. You are dangerous and you are irresponsibly reckless. You know that right? You do things without thinking about them, acting on your whims and emotions? You've noticed that, too, haven't you?"
He was angry with me. I nodded and he continued, "Well having one fatal flaw is bad enough, especially that one. You'll be lucky it doesn't get you killed, but when you add the wrath to that, the wrath that you're letting consume you, you need to get a hold of yourself. There was another demigod like you, many years ago. He let his wrath consume him and he betrayed everyone. He betrayed his father, his friends, all of the gods and demigods and it got him killed. All because he was mad at daddy. Don't be stupid, Maliah. Not like him. Be better."
I was crying again, but I nodded. He was right. I couldn't let this take me over. I had so much I had to be focused on and I needed to remain level headed.
"I'm sorry," I whisper.
His eyes soften and he touches my cheek, "You have so much to prepare for, and even more things rest on your shoulders. I'll be the first, and maybe the only, god to tell you that I know it isn't fair. You're thirteen years old and you're terrified that you won't succeed but you need to listen to me because I am rooting for you. I want you to win."
"I know." I tell him, and I did know.
All he had tried to do up until that point was help me. I was the one consumed in my own anger to realize that. I was behaving like a child. Sure, I was given a task no one should be given. The boy I liked left me without saying goodbye. But I still had to focus. I couldn't let this stuff get to me, not right now.
"Are you ready to move on or do we need to wait another day?" he asks me, releasing my hand and pushing my hair back.
He did care for me, that much I knew. If he hadn't, I'd be dead right now. I think I'd be the only demigod to live after hitting him, and I'm sure I only got the one chance.
"No. We shouldn't waste any time." I tell him.
"Okay."
"What do I need to do?"
He explained everything to me, how I needed more battle experience. He said it was one thing to spar with Prometheus and my friends, but I needed the real deal. I needed to get used to fighting things and people that wanted me dead. It was the only way to prepare myself for saving the Lost Generation and for winning this war.
"I need you to kill one thousand monsters by the end of next summer. You have a little over a year and a month."
"Just one thousand?" I ask, earning a chuckle.
"I know your flaw isn't pride, but even the most prideful demigods never questioned that."
"I guess I'm just curious."
"Yes, Maliah, just one thousand. But don't expect it to be easy."
After that, he stared at me for a minute. He went to say something, maybe give me a pep talk, but he stopped and smiled. Instead he said, "You start tomorrow."
After that conversation, he'd left me alone. Every now and then, he'd pop in and check on me, but he told me that my dad didn't want him lingering. At first I didn't understand, but then I realized he was still a god who had a habit of falling for mortal women and the likes. He distanced himself, and I guess I understood and couldn't blame him. He did have a certain allure, but I'd always just chocked it up to the fact that he was a god.
He was a nice distraction from Tyler, though. That soon stopped when he only visited me for training and to get updates on how far I was coming along. I started to get lonely again, but my friends stepped in and saved me from all of my own thoughts. I owed my life to them. Getting closer to Jase, Katelynn and Tony was the only good thing to come out of Tyler leaving. I look up at the two demigods in front of me.
"Thank you for keeping me together," I told them.
"Any time." Tony smiled.
I watched Katelynn leaning on his shoulder, content with him. I used to be jealous of that. After Tyler left, Katelynn and Tony made it official and would do cute things like that and when I saw it, I would remember Tyler. But then I had to push aside my own anger and realize how happy I was for them, and just like that I was no longer jealous.
I also thought that my minor crush on Apollo was because of Tyler leaving me, as well. So I just stopped feeling a lot of things. If it hurt me or confused me, I ignored it until it was no longer a problem anymore and that was working so well until Tyler showed up again.
"We should head back to camp soon." Katelynn says.
I knew she was right. I was starving and we'd already been gone all morning, not to mention I had homework to finish for my online English course. I sighed. At least I was busy, though. I had a lot of distractions now.
"Yeah, I'm starving. I also have to contact Apollo, letting him know that my aim with the bow is getting much better."
"That's the only reason?" Katelynn asks, but I rolled my eyes.
She could pick up on crushes and romantic feelings like it was nothing. But I was never going to act on my feelings with Apollo, I was still only thirteen and he was a god. Not to mention, that even if I lived to be old enough, I don't think I could let myself purposely fall for another guy that was going to just leave me anyway. I did it once and I couldn't survive doing it again.
"I'm serious. You know he told me to keep him updated every time I use it so that we can make sure his blessing doesn't waver."
"I know," she smiles, "I'm only teasing you."
We all stand up and climb out of the tree house, one by one. When we reach the ground, Tony is the first to speak.
"I still don't know why Tyler was so close to here," he says.
"Yeah. It makes you wonder if he's close to finding her. If he's close to coming home." Katelynn says.
I knew that no one was as upset with Tyler as Jase and me. It didn't make me feel any better when they talked about him like he was still a friend. Or maybe, to them, he was. But I don't think I could be around him again and I wouldn't put my friends in a situation to choose between us, so I don't know where that left me. I think that's part of the reason why I decided to take Apollo up on his offer to train on Olympus. I couldn't stick around and watch all of them fall right back into pattern and act like he didn't screw me over. I couldn't watch them go back to normal, forgetting it ever happened.
"Can we just get back to camp?" I ask, huffing.
"Yeah." Katelynn says.
I know she felt bad. I just couldn't tell her that it didn't bother me, because it did. I also couldn't stand being upset with her either, so I pushed it down and smiled at her, "Let's just go so we can eat. I'm starving."
And just like that, we were back to normal. We walked back to camp, all of us laughing and joking. Once we reached the woods and passed through them, I saw the border. When we passed through the border, my eyes landed on a familiar honey colored winged horse with a black mane.
"River!" I screamed, running to the Pegasus.
He perked, turning his head toward me and neighing. He met me and nuzzled his head into my shoulder as I pet him and leaned in. I missed River so much. I didn't think I'd get to see him again this soon.
"He says he missed you," a familiar voice calls out to me.
I look up and my eyes land on a pair of ocean blue ones that I knew all too well. I couldn't pretend I wasn't me and run away this time. He looked different. He was taller and his hair was shorter, not as messy. He was tanner and he looked older. I'm about to speak until a new blonde haired girl, someone I'd never seen before, comes up behind him and places her hand on his shoulder, looking at me.
"Who's she, Ty?" she asks.
I turn on my heels and walk back to my cabin deciding I actually wasn't that hungry after all.
