XV - The Sun Dude and Old Friends

Artemis assured the demigods that dawn was coming, but Thalia somehow didn't think so. It was colder and darker and snowier than ever. Upon the hill, Westover Hall's windows were completely lightless. She wondered if the teachers had even noticed the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing yet. She didn't want to be around when they did. With her luck, the only name Mrs. Gottschalk would remember was "Thalia Grace '' and then she'd be the subject of a nationwide manhunt.

The Hunters broke camp as quickly as they'd set it up. She stood shivering in the snow (unlike the Hunters, who didn't seem to feel at all uncomfortable), and Artemis stared into the east like she was expecting something. Bianca sat off to one side, talking with Nico. Thalia could tell from his gloomy face that she was explaining her decision to join the Hunt. She couldn't help thinking how selfish it was of her, abandoning her brother like that. Perseus stood off to the side with a thoughtful look on his face.

His attention was toward the dark mountains ahead. It appeared almost lifeless with everything hidden in the absence of light and brought some indistinct feeling running through his mind. Still, he couldn't help but feel his anticipation; there was always something about the rising sun that got to him. The best part is right when Apollo draws near, the sky will brighten a nice mixture of purple and red, and the light will reflect off the snow on the mountains. Standing next to him though a lot shorter, stood Alex, who seemed to be very uncomfortable standing next to Perseus.

Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover came up and huddled around Perseus and Alex, anxious to hear what had happened in their audience with the goddess.

When Perseus told them they were heading to camp, Grover turned pale. "The last time the Hunters visited the camp, it didn't go well."

Perseus turned to Grover. "What happened?"

He shuddered, "Fires were lit, and many male demigods were put in the infirmary. That's all I'm gonna say."

"How'd the Hunters even show up here?" Alex wondered. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."

"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said, disgusted. "It's all Zoë's fault. That stuck-up, fucking..."

Perseus growled though no one seemed to notice.

"Who can blame her?" Grover said. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

"But she's so… into nature," Grover swooned.

"You're nuts," said Thalia.

"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah."

Finally, the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so lazy during the winter."

"You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" Thalia asked.

"For my brother. Yes."

She didn't want to be rude. She knew the legends about Apollo—or sometimes Helios—driving a big sun chariot across the sky. But she also knew that the sun was really a star about a zillion miles away. She'd gotten used to some of the Greek myths being true, but still… she didn't see how Apollo could drive the sun.

"It's not exactly as you think," Artemis said like she was reading her mind.

"Oh, okay." She started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a..."

There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon, a blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks."

"Parks?"

She averted her eyes and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until her winter coat felt like it was melting off of her. Then suddenly, the light died.

She looked. And she couldn't believe it. It was her car. Well, the car she wanted, anyway. A red convertible Maserati Spyder. It was so awesome it glowed. Then she realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why she was now standing on green grass and her shoes were wet.

The driver got out, smiling. He looked about nineteen or twenty, and for a second, Annabeth thought he looked like Luke, her crush. This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn't Luke. This guy was taller, with no scar on his face like Luke's. His smile was brighter and more playful. (Luke's smile wasn't THAT bright or THAT gorgeous) The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt. She shook her head. Luke is evil, remember.

"Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot."

"He's the sun god," Perseus said, smirking.

Perseus P.O.V

Thalia scowled at me. "That's not what I meant."

I grinned as my best friend walked toward us. "Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter, he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"

Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

"Sis, I look twenty, and you look twelve."

"We're twins! And I helped mother give birth to you. How many millennia do we have to argue?

"Oh, you guys are gonna do that forever, trust me," I spoke up, grinning even wider.

Apollo's grin got bigger at the same time. "Perseus, my brother, It's been so long. How have you been, bro? Where have you been?"

Apollo reached out for a bro hug, and I hugged him gladly. Stepping back, I reached out with my fist to give a fist bump that quickly escalated into an elaborate handshake.

"I'm pretty good, bro," I responded. "And I've been here and there; you know the usual. Oh, hey, sorry about missing the opening of your son's bar. I was on a job at the time and couldn't go out for a drink. Oh, and speaking of drinking, how's Hermes doing?"

Before he could answer, Artemis cut him off. "I'm sorry to cut off what… ever just happened, but Apollo can take the campers and my hunters back to camp."

Apollo and I looked at everyone around us, most staring at us in awe. You take your pick as to why.

Apollo winked at them while I flashed my lopsided grin before we fist-bumped at each other.

"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on."

The Hunters all groaned. Apollo had annoyed them with his poems many, many times.

He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically.

"Green grass breaks through snow.

Artemis pleads for my help.

I am so cool."

He grinned at us, waiting for applause.

"That last line was only four syllables," Artemis said.

Apollo frowned. "Was it?"

"Yes. What about I am so big-headed?"

"No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself.

Zoë Nightshade turned to the others. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta..."

"Agreed," I said, nodding though quiet enough that only Zoë could hear me. Apollo was taking a while to think, "I had to take him to Russia and get someone to teach him Chastushka[look it up] to get him to stop."

She gave a small smile.

"I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself.

"Apollo, I'm sorry, but that was just bad, my friend, Truly you call yourself a god of poetry," I said sympathetically.

Apollo pretended to be outraged. "Perseus, you have no appreciation for its inner beauty!"

Before we could start a new conversation, Artemis cleared her throat. Apollo flashed her a grin. "And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters and campers, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll."

"Hey, Perseus, you coming."

"You mean ride in the sun mobile. Oh definitely."

Apollo did a once over of the group "Let's see… Thalia, right? I've heard all about you."

Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo."

"Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half-sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time—"

"Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going."

"Oh, right, We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

Thalia looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.

"Cool car," Nico said.

"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.

"But how will we all fit?"

"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…"

He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.

For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those small school busses.

"Right," he said. "Everybody in."

Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Hunting," Artemis said. "It's none of your business."

"I'll find out. I see all. Know all."

Artemis snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"

"No, no! I never mess around."

Artemis rolled her eyes, then looked at Zoë. "I will see you by the winter solstice. Zoë, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would do."

Zoë straightened. "Yes, my lady."

Artemis knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "So much danger. The beast must be found."

She sprinted toward the woods and melted into the snow and shadows.

Apollo turned and grinned, jangling the car keys on his finger. "So," he said. "Who wants to drive? Perseus?"

"Sure, I haven't driven it in a few years. It'll be fun."

He got into the van and got into the driver's seat. Apollo sat beside him. "So what up, man? How's life?"

I started the engine of the van, and it roared to life, blowing away all the trees around them.

Apollo looked at me exasperatedly. "Aww, come on! You had to rev up the engine, didn't you! Now Arty will think I did that!"

I smirked at him. He glanced at the back. The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of the 'highly infectious' males, Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with Apollo and me, which seemed cold, but Nico didn't seem to mind. Alex simply sat near the front bored.

Me and Apollo got to talking about old times and life and other stuff. Oh, and of course, the age-old question came up. "Hey Perce, Who did you lose your virginity to?" I rolled my eyes. Honestly, ever since I told Hermes and Apollo, I wasn't a virgin back when we were regular drinking buddies; they have been on me about it every time we see each other.

Nico came to the front seats after a while. This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the shotgun seat, sitting on Apollo's lap. "Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them, and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking about astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk about astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun… er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

"Come on Apollo don't fool him like that!" I said. "Don't worry kid. The sun is a big fiery ball of gas'...a star in outer space. What Apollo's chariot does is manifest that energy and spread it evenly across the earth's surface. The ozone layer isn't always enough. Without the sun chariot, mortals would be suffering due to large amounts of ultraviolet radiation exposure. It also makes the sun a tad bit brighter."

Apollo looked miffed. "Come on! He actually bought that!"

"Yeah dude cuz he's 11," I said laughing, I then suddenly stepped on the gas, sending the bus skyrocketing at the highest velocity.

"BRO! I'M GONNA DIE!" Apollo screamed.

The rest of the demigods and the hunters held tight, some of them screaming, some of them lost their grip and tumbled to the back of the van. Thalia actually vomited in an emergency barf bag.

One of the Hunters threw a pebble at my face though I wondered where they got the pebble from. But I dodged it easily and got back to driving. Only Nico seemed unaffected, as he bounced on Apollo's lap repeatedly saying how 'cool' that was.

I chuckled at the young demigod. I looked at Apollo and spoke in flawless Ancient Greek so that Nico wouldn't understand. "You know, for Hades' son, this boy is very lively and active."

Apollo glanced at the boy and smiled. "He's a son of Hades?"

"Yeah," I said, "his father sent me to protect him, just promise me you won't tell anyone of his parentage."

He nodded. "I promise."

We were silent for a minute.

"You do realize Artemis might be walking straight into a trap right?"

Apollo whipped his head around to face me, "What!" He hissed.

"Consider this Apollo. The titan forces are amassing greatly. Atlas is free. The two children are both of Hades'. The elder one is already fifteen. The best part is that only one monster was sent to capture them. One monster and the bull I guess but you see my point."

Apollo seemed to consider it. "Yeah...".

"They must have wanted to kidnap the elder one. Then they would have found Artemis later on. Of course, the chances of her getting caught is highly unlikely but what do you think she'll do if they say that a maiden is trapped under the sky?"

Apollo understood what I meant. Artemis would do anything if it meant saving a girl. Even holding the sky. He gritted his teeth. He couldn't even do anything about it. No matter how many times he told her, she would always think he was being overprotective. He remembered the Orion incident clear as day.

She had refused to believe him when he told her that the very man she had accepted into the hunt was also a rapist and a murderer. She simply couldn't fathom the idea as she was so enticed by the son of Poseidon.

He had later taken matters into his own hands and shot him.

I sighed."Relax Apollo. Your sister knows what she's doing. If anything happens...well, you do know that I am exempt from any and all ancient laws. I am an immortal demigod after all."

I sighed again. On one of their nights drinking, Apollo, me, and Hermes would get drunk together, after drinking dozens of shots of Dionysus' personal collection of vodka. It was then that Apollo would break down about his sister, admitting he was indeed younger, but like to tease her. He admitted the number of times he annoyed her just so that she paid some attention to him or wouldn't forget about him. It was rather sad, having a sister who doesn't fully understand your love for her.

Finally, though, we reached Camp Half-Blood's canoe lake. Smiling slyly, which made Apollo widen his eyes before yelling "NO!", I suddenly floored the brakes and the sun-bus pitched forward and made a forty-five-degree angle with the ground, which displaced all the occupants of the bus. Then it fell back on the ground with a THUD!, which made all the backseat occupants rub their behinds in pain.

I looked at Apollo with a grin "That was fun."

I had never seen Camp Half-Blood before, and the snow surprised me.

Apollo had told me that the camp had the ultimate magic climate control. Nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Dionysus, wanted it to. I thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead, the snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body.

I wondered if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there or something.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," Thalia said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

Alex stepped beside him "Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoë, have you met..."

"I know Chiron," Zoë said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here if you don't" he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking, "like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoë rolled her eyes, but she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at me. "Watch out for those prophecies, Perce. I'll see you soon."

he hopped back on the bus. "Later, bro," he called. "And uh, go easy on em'."

He gave the campers a wicked smile as if he knew something they didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. Thalia turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When she looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking grumpy. She wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," She said. "He's… well, you'll see.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

I grinned at the mention of my old mentor's name. The second thing that surprised me about the camp was how empty it was. I knew that the gods had whored around a lot. So where were all their kids?

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. I noticed Hestia sitting there and gave her a wave. She looked at him with a surprised expression before happily waving back. I had met Hestia a few times and had always loved getting to see her.

The air smelled like hot chocolate. Dionysus, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Thalia was trying not to pay attention to Mr. D, but he was kind of hard to ignore in his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. (Like Dionysus had ever run a day in his immortal life.) A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

Chiron's almost clean-shaven face thousands of years ago now had a brown beard that was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a lot longer than I had last seen. I guess he could afford to be casual, seeing as how there were very few kids. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoof print design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely. I was surprised he was in a wheelchair but I shrugged it off.

He smiled when he saw them. "Annabeth! Thalia! Ah, and this must be..."

Chiron's eyes started to fill with tears.

Making sure my bead necklace was showing I smiled at my old mentor. "Hello, old friend."

A.N: Here's a 2nd chapter just cuz I've been gone so long also, Reunion with Chiron! Anyway, tell me what you guys think so far. I know it's shorter than the last one. Sorry!

See you next time.