To someone- (Chapter 9) Yes she did! I had a bit of a giggle writing that bit XD
"Hey! Hey, wake up!"
"Got it!"
Jason awoke to cold water in his face. Rajah and Oscar were watching him worriedly, the former holding an empty glass. He inhaled shakily, realised he had his fists clenched, albeit with a tremble down his arms.
"We heard you yelling." Oscar explained simply. "Thought you were being attacked." Jason stared at him, bewildered. Rajah set the glass down and between them, they helped him sit up. "What's wrong, man?" Jason didn't supply an answer, battling to settle his breathing. His stomach twisted, from nerves or from the risk of vomiting, he wasn't sure. From their expressions, he figured he looked even worse than he felt.
He had been back on Caligula's yacht, yelling at Apollo to go, to remember. There had been no water to save him this time, no Fate-defying maniac cousin who could laugh in the face of an emperor. He had felt the spear go into his back. He had felt himself die.
It was what should have happened. He could feel it in his gut, amongst the queasiness and ragged gulps of air. He saw his hands before him, still curled into fists. His fingers were stiff and unyielding, seemingly having forgotten he was still alive, that they should work for him.
Oscar shook his shoulder. "Hello, earth to Jason. You there, Jason?"
"I-" Jason didn't know where to go with that sentence, wiping at his face. Water ran off his chin. He bundled his bedding in his hands and started drying himself. "I'm OK."
"You don't look OK." Rajah remarked, brow creasing with concern. "Can… can we get you anything?" Jason started to shake his head, then froze. He looked to his bedside dresser. Louisa's note was still there.
It was dangerous and risky and it might not work, but he had to try.
"Can I borrow a phone?"
"Uuugggggghhhh, do you have any idea what time it is?" Jessica protested, yawning. "What have you done now, you little brat?"
"Um…"
"Mm? You're not Lou."
"No, I'm not."
"Who's this? What has she done?"
"I'm Jason. She… she saved me." A confused yawn came through the line and he explained. The words tumbled from him, as if they couldn't remember where in his sentences they should go. His hands shook and his throat tightened. Jessica listened, only yawning once more and assuring him she was listening.
"You having nightmares?" She asked once he'd finished. He nodded, then realised she couldn't see that.
"Yes."
"You OK?"
"Y- no. No, not really. I… I was back on the ship, I saw… I felt it, I died and… and I don't…" He floundered, covering his eyes with his free hand as they burned.
"Take a deep breath." Jessica urged. "I'll count you in, OK?" He nodded again, mumbled something incoherent. "One… two… three… in." His chest burned as he inhaled, her counting him through it. "Now, out again. One… two… three." She paused, listening to his breathing for a moment. "Where are you?"
"Sc-school."
"Well, that narrows it down." She muttered. He gave a feeble laugh. "Who's there with you?"
"Um… Rajah and Oscar woke me up. They're… they're not here now."
"Is this one of their phones?"
"Mm-hm."
"Right. You give it back to them, don't need you attracting every monster in the area. You're going to do something for me, alright?"
"I am?"
"Yes, you are." Her tone sharpened, demanding and persistent, but in that all-knowing, motherly kind of way. "I want you to go away and write down everything you like. Every book you've enjoyed, your favourite food or song or… or stabby weapon, whatever. Every single thing that makes you happy, write it down. Every good memory, every idea or plan or something you're working on. All of it. When you're done, read it over. Read it over and you'll see- you're alive, kid. There's more to you than being the hero. You understand?"
"Y-yes."
"Good. Now go do that. Or I'll come down there with my bat. Or… up there. Over there. Wherever you are. I'll find you, don't test me. I raised Lou. Don't think I can't kick your sparky ass."
"I'm beginning to see why she's the way she is."
"Thank you."
Apollo partially regretted agreeing to the walk. He had mustered enough energy to clean himself up, answer nature's call and collect a Lemurian-spice latte and a muffin from Bombilo. Walking the mile to New Rome, however, was another challenge he could not face.
He was in no rush to learn more of the prophecy from the Burning Maze. He was in no hurry to face more impossible tasks, moreso after his dream in the tomb. A mortal expression sprang to mind- suck it up! Apollo inwardly scowled- he had already sucked it way, way up.
Meg had stayed behind. She was due to feed the unicorns with Lavinia in an hour and gods forbid if she went anywhere and missed it. Taking into account Lavinia's habit of going walk-a-bouts, Apollo understood.
Frank led him through the main gates. The sentries snapped to attention. They maintained that pose for a remarkable time, considering Apollo could not move faster than cough syrup. He could feel the weight of their apprehensiveness, seemingly torn between dreading him bursting into another nerve-wracking song or simply that they could not believe this shambling, poorly constructed mortal body had once been the mighty god Apollo.
The praetor matched his speed, or lack of, and remained close enough for Apollo to lean on if needed, without insisting on helping. If he ever became a god again, Apollo was going to adopt Frank Zhang.
They eventually got past the sentries, who sighed and began swinging their saluting arms to get the blood back.
"So," Frank said, "what's with you and Reyna?" Apollo tripped, sending fresh sparks of pain through his stomach.
"Huh, what? Nothing! What?" Frank seemed more amused than anything, brushing a raven feather from his cloak. Distractedly, Apollo tried to piece together how that worked, being left with bits and pieces after shape-shifting. Did the praetor ever discard a feather and later realise that was his little finger? Apollo had heard rumours Frank could turn into a swarm of bees- even as a former god, he had no idea how that worked.
"It's just… when you saw Reyna, you froze. Like, um… I dunno, like you owed her money or something." Apollo grimaced to refrain from laughing bitterly. If only it was that simple.
The incident had come back to him with glass-shard clarity. Venus had scolded him, warned him, upbraiding him as she only could- you will not stick your ugly, unworthy ungodly face anywhere near her or I swear on the Styx…
Naturally, she had done this in the throne room, with the other Olympians for an audience. They howled with cruel amusement and shouted, Oooh! Even Jupiter had joined in, loving every minute of it.
"There is nothing with Reyna and me." Apollo said honestly. "I don't think we've ever exchanged more than a few words."
Frank examined him for a moment, mulling something over. He did not press, which Apollo was most grateful for, but it was obvious he knew he was holding something back.
"OK." He said, giving a slight nod. "Well, you'll probably see her later, at dinner. She's trying to get some sleep right now." Apollo was about to ask why, middle of the day like this. Then he remembered Frank's pyjama shirt.
"You're taking shifts. So one of you is always on duty?"
"It's the only way." Frank nodded. "We're still on high alert. Everyone's edgy. She's looking after Lou. There's so much to do since the battle…" He said 'battle' the same as Hazel had, like it was a singular, terrible pivotal moment in history. Apollo recalled the Dark Prophecy, ingrained into his mind, quietly reciting it. Leo Valdez had raced cross-country on his bronze dragon, with the ex-amnesiac Louisa on her pegasus, hoping to warn the camp. According to Leo, they had arrived just in time. But the toll had still been horrendous.
Frank bit his lip. "If not for you, it would have been worse. If you hadn't sent them to warn us, we… I don't know." He shook his head helplessly. "One day, out of nowhere, they just flew right in."
"That must have been quite a shock. Considering you thought they were dead."
"We were so mad at them. We lined up and took turns hitting Leo."
"And, uh… Louisa?"
"We let Reyna deal with her." Frank smiled grimly. "We had about twenty-four hours to get ready. It helped. But it wasn't enough. They came from over there." He pointed north to the Berkeley Hills. "They swarmed. Only way to describe it, really. I've fought the undead before, but this… this was… different. Hazel called them zombies. My grandmother would have called them jiangshi. The Romans have a lot of words for them: immortuos, lamia, nuntius."
"Messenger." Apollo said, translating the last word. It had always been an odd term to him. A messenger for whom, from whom? Hades would not have used them as such, he despised zombies wandering the mortal world- made him look like a sloppy warden. "The Greeks call them vrykolakai." He remembered. "Usually, it's rare to see even one."
"There were hundreds. We cut them down, they just kept coming. And the eurynomoi. You would have thought having a fire-breathing dragon would've been a game changer, but Festus could only do so much. The undead aren't as flammable as you think." Apollo knew that one- in an attempt at small-talking, Hades had gone into great detail. Flames did not bother the undead; they just carried on, no matter how crispy they became. That was why he didn't use the Phlegethon, the River of Fire, as the boundary for his kingdom. Running water, on the other hand, especially that of the River Styx, was a different story.
Apollo's gaze drifted to the glittering surface of the Little Tiber.
"Bodies fill the Tiber beyond count." He recited. "You stopped them at the river." Frank nodded.
"They don't like freshwater." He hesitated. "Leo and I, we were pushing them back, turning our side of the battle. The other side, it… it was Louisa. She…" He faltered, brow creasing. "That line, about… about 'bodies beyond count'. It doesn't mean what you think."
"What-? What do you mean? And what did Louisa do? What-?"
"HALT!"
The voice came from right in front of Apollo. So engrossed in Frank's story, Apollo hadn't noticed how close they were to the city. He hadn't even noticed the statue at the side of the road until it screamed at him.
Terminus was exactly as he remembered. Sculpted from the waist up, he was a man with a large nose, curly hair and a disgruntled expression, probably because no-one had carved him a pair of arms. From the waist down, he was a white block of marble. Apollo had made countless jibes over the years, be it for the statue to try skinny jeans or help him reach an itch on his back that he couldn't get himself. If he was reading Terminus's expression correctly, he remembered those insults.
Tipping his chin up, the statue god regarded Apollo coolly. "Well, well. Who do we have here?"
"Terminus, can we not?" Apollo sighed.
"No!" He barked. "No, we cannot not! I need to see identification!"
"Uh, Terminus…" Frank tapped the praetor's laurels on his breastplate.
"Yes, Praetor Zhang, you are good to go. Your friend here-"
"Terminus!" Apollo protested. "You know very well who I am."
"Identification!"
"Oh, you can't be serious."
"Yes I am! Give me your ID!" Apollo wanted to protest further, but he knew there was no arguing with the likes of Terminus. He slumped, defeated and leaning on Frank, fumbling for his wallet. He produced the junior's driving licence Zeus had given him. Name: Lester Papadopoulos. Age: Sixteen. State: New York. Photo: the stuff of nightmares.
Terminus squinted at it. "Hand it over." He demanded.
"You don't-" Apollo caught himself before he finished that sentence. Terminus was stubbornly delusional about his phantom limbs. Biting the inside of his cheek, Apollo held up the driver's licence. Frank leaned in, curious, backing away when Apollo glared at him.
"Very well, Lester." Terminus crowed. "It's unusual to have a mortal visitor to our city, an extremely mortal visitor- but I suppose we can allow it. Here to shop for a new toga? Or to buy some skinny jeans?" Apollo could taste blood. Was there anything more vindictive than a minor god finally lording it over a major god?
"May we pass?" He asked thickly.
"Any weapons to declare?"
"No."
"Very well. You may pass. And happy impending birthday, Lester."
"I… what?"
"Move along! Next!" There was no one behind them, but the statue ushered them along anyway, shouting at the imaginary crowd of visitors to stop pushing and form a single line.
"Is your birthday coming up?" Frank asked. "Congratulations!"
"It shouldn't be." Apollo frowned at his ID. "April eighth, it says here. That can't be right. I was born on the seventh day of the seventh month. Mm, the months were different back then though… let's see, the month of Gamelion? But that was in winter-time…"
"How do gods celebrate anyway?" Frank mused. "Are you seventeen now? Or four thousand and seventeen? Do you eat cake?" He sounded hopeful about that last question, as if already picturing a monstrous gold-frosted, multi-tiered cake with seventeen Roman candles on top. Apollo didn't answer, too busy trying to calculate his correct date of birth. The effort was making his head pound. Even with his godly memory, he hated keeping track of dates. The old lunar calendar, the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar, leap years, daylight saving time.
Apollo didn't like his new birthday- 8th April. Why? Seven was his sacred number, but there were no sevens. It wasn't even divisible by seven. Why would Zeus mark his birthday in four days' time?
"Oh no." He realised, stopping dead in his tracks. Frank started, reaching back for him, concerned.
"What? What is it? Are you OK?"
Thinking of his dream last night, Caligula's insistence that the pandai finished their work by the time the blood moon rose in five days. It was now four days, making his birthday, Lester's birthday, doomsday. "Why is your face grey?" Frank continued. "Do you need a healer?"
"I… I think my father left me a warning. Or perhaps a threat. Terminus just pointed it out to me."
"How can your birthday be a threat?"
"I'm mortal now. Birthdays are always a threat." Anxiety and Lemurian-spice lattes did not go well. He wanted to turn and run, but there was nowhere to go, even if he could run without pitching face-first into the ground. He could only move forward, to New Rome, to obtain more unwelcome information of his impending doom. "Lead on, Frank Zhang." Apollo said quietly, slipping his licence back in his wallet. "Perhaps Tyson and Ella have some answers."