To 8Ball3- They really are! Both massively in love with themselves, both drunk with power, both horrible to the people they're in authority positions over and both of them have stupid hair! Has Trump got fake legs to make him taller too? O.o Well, in that case, I guess yeah, Percy really did sink the navy XP My sister is 12, I've frequently described as the Jingle Jangle Scarecrow that is also somehow Cousin It's and Willy Wonka's love child with Honey Monster hair. She doesn't like it, but it's stayed. I have no idea, in regards to Apollo's age. Maybe making him 15/16 put him closer in age to Meg for that much loved sibling bickering? No idea :P And yes, metal arrows ^_^ I think Larry is about 16 or something too, yeah. What about it? XP
To readingbooksforlife- You. I don't know who you are or where you're from, but I love you. Marry me.
"So, I heard you enjoyed yourself today?" Reyna asked, opening her wardrobe. Louisa snickered, squashing a pillow between her hands.
"Yes."
"And you almost drowned about thirty people."
"No. That's lies."
"Is it?" Reyna prompted. Louisa tossed the pillow aside like a frisbee. It hit the wall below the window with a soft thump.
"Twenty-eight." She gave a simple smile. Reyna sighed, rolling her eyes. "No eye-rollin'. Didn't actually kill anyone."
"Noted. But you still tried to shoot Apollo."
"I was showin' him how it was done! Teachin' two classes, I'm clever like that." Reyna hummed dubiously, digging out a pair of jeans and feeling Louisa's frown on the back of her head. "I don't like your attitude."
"Your attitude is way worse."
"My attitude is amazin'."
"No."
"Mm. Don't like you very much either now."
"Ah, no, don't say that." Reyna deadpanned, kicking off her pyjama bottoms. "What will I ever do without you?"
"Suffer in boredom."
"Tragic." She determined, hopping about to pull her jeans on. Louisa snorted, turning the alarm clock upside down. Reyna stopped her jeans-on-hopping about a foot in front of her girlfriend, bonking her on the head. "You're a pain in my ass."
"Nice ass."
"Oh, shut up. Uh, wha-? You're sitting on my- get up!" Reyna tugged on the maroon sleeve of her cardigan. Louisa whined, falling sideways dramatically. Reyna retrieved the article with much wriggling and a curse, shaking it out. "Ew, it's warm." She complained, swinging it around her shoulders. Louisa smirked lopsidedly at her. "You're bigger than a pain in the ass."
"Thank you."
"In all but height."
"Dude. Low blow."
"Low enough for you to reach." Reyna grinned mischievously. Louisa turned her head into the mattress, ignoring her. "Yes, very mature." Reyna moved away, to her dresser. Even to herself, she looked a little odd out of her praetor's regalia. She wore a long-sleeved copper tee and the Louisa-warmed cardigan, her jeans. She had blue running shoes by the door.
Louisa was grumbling, probably a variety of insults aimed at the praetor, but not coherent enough for the words to break through the mattress's muffling. "Mm, what was that, Lou?" Reyna asked lightly, picking up her pink hairbrush. "If you've got something to say, you can tell me, you know."
"No."
"Coward."
Sneaking out of a Roman military camp should not have been so easy. Once they were safely through a hole in the fence, down a trench, through a tunnel, past the pickets and out of sight of the camp's sentry towers, Don was more than happy to explain how he had arranged it all.
"Dude, the place is designed to keep out armies. It's not meant to keep in individual legionnaires, or keep out, you know, the occasional well-meaning faun who's just looking for a hot meal. If you know the patrol schedule and are willing to keep swapping your entry points, it's easy."
"That seems remarkably industrious for a faun." Apollo noted.
"Hey, man." Don grinned. "Slacking is hard work."
"We've got a long walk." Lavinia said. "Let's keep moving." Apollo suppressed a groan. Another night-time hike with Lavinia had not been on his evening's agenda. But, admittedly, he was rather curious. What had she and Don been arguing about? Why had she wanted to talk to him earlier? And where were they going? With her stormy eyes and black cap over her hair, Lavinia looked troubled and determined, less like a gawky giraffe, more like a tense gazelle.
Apollo wanted to ask Lavinia for more details, but her posture made it clear she was not in the mood for conversation. Not yet. They hiked in silence out of the valley and down into the streets of Berkeley. It was around midnight when they got to People's Park. It was a scruffy park with a worn brown lawn strewn with discarded clothes and litter. There were more tree stumps than a park should have and the bins were overflowing. Homeless people slept on benches or fussed over shopping trolleys full of their worldly belongings.
At the far end of the square, occupying a raised plywood stage, was the largest sit-in of dryads and fauns he had ever seen. It made sense the fauns would inhabit People's Park- they could laze around, beg, eat leftover food from the trash and no-one would bat an eye. The dryads were more of a surprise. At least two dozen of them were present. Some, Apollo guessed, were spirits of the local eucalyptus and redwood trees. Most, going by their sickly appearances, must have been dryads of the park's long-suffering shrubs, grasses and weeds.
The fauns and dryads were sat in a wide circle, as if preparing for a sing-along around an invisible campfire. Apollo got the feeling they were waiting for them, for him, to start the music.
He was already nervous enough, but then he spotted a familiar face and nearly jumped out of his zombie-infected skin.
"Peaches?"
"Peaches!" The demon-baby karpos responded, baring his fangs. His tree-branch wings had lost a few leaves. His curly green hair was dead brown at the tips and his lamp-like eyes did not shine as brightly as Apollo remembered. He must have undergone quite an ordeal tracking them to Northern California.
"Where have you been?" Apollo demanded.
"Peaches!"
"Oh, of course, I have no idea what you're saying. Does Meg know you're here? How did you-?" Lavinia gripped his shoulder.
"Apollo. Time is short. Peaches filled us in on what he saw in Southern California, but he arrived there too late to help. He busted his wings to get up here as fast as he could. He wants you to tell the group first-hand what happened in SoCal." Apollo scanned the faces in the crowd. The nature spirits were scared, apprehensive and angry- but mostly tired of being angry. He had seen that look a lot among dryads in these latter days of human civilisation. There was only so much pollution your average plant can breathe, drink and get tangled in their branches before starting to lose all hope.
Now, Lavinia wanted him to break their spirits completely by relating what had happened to their brethren in Los Angeles, and what fiery destruction was coming their way tomorrow. In other words, she wanted to get him killed by a mob of angry shrubs.
"Um…" He gulped.
"Here." Lavinia slung her backpack off. "This might help." He hadn't paid much attention to how bulky it looked, since she was always stomping around with lots of gear. When she opened it, the last thing he expected to see was his ukulele- newly polished and restrung.
"How-?"
"I stole it from your room. You were asleep forever. I took it to a buddy of mine who repairs instruments. Marilyn, daughter of Euterpe. You know, the Muse of Music."
"I- I know Euterpe, of course. Her speciality is flutes, not ukuleles. But the action on this fret board is perfect now. Marylin must be… I'm so…" He realised he was rambling. "Thank you." Lavinia fixed him with her stare, silently commanding him to make her effort worthwhile. She stepped back and joined the circle of nature spirits.
"Did you take my socks?"
"No."
"Where are my socks?"
"I don't know."
"If I find them in the bath, I swear to gods-"
"Oh, please, I'm more original than that. Uh, I mean, I don't know where they went." Louisa shrugged her innocence. Reyna sighed and moved into the bathroom.
Her socks were not in the bath. Every single pair she owned were frozen to the ceiling.
"Lou, I have to go."
"No."
"Yes." Reyna stood on the side of the bath, holding onto the shower curtain rail. She reached for the nearest pair, chipping the ice away with her fingers. The socks were stiff with frost. Louisa stood in the doorway, arms folded across her chest, glaring at the socks as if this was all their fault. "I have to go." Reyna reminded her, hopping down. "Get my socks down. Don't put them away still frozen. Dry them first. And these ones." She thrust her recovered pair at her. Louisa pouted at them. "I have to go. It's my job."
"It said Bellona's daughter. Get your sister."
"Yes, I'll just grab my teleporting Amazon queen sister, who is so not busy and so not far away."
"Mmm, shut up." Louisa sniffed. Reyna jostled the socks and Louisa huffed. "Fine." She squeezed the material and they were unfrozen and dry, but still a bit cold. "Let me go."
"No. You're not Bellona's daughter. I am." Reyna said, standing on one foot to put her sock on.
"I… could be adopted?"
"It doesn't work like that." Reyna half-laughed, swapping feet.
"Bullshit." Louisa scowled. Reyna straightened, smiling as much encouragement and reassurance as she could muster. "Don't go." Louisa mumbled. Reyna touched her cheek, pushing back a stray lock of hair with her thumb.
"I have to."
"I'll kidnap you. Then-"
"No, Lou."
"Yes, Lou."
"No, Lou." Reyna kissed her nose. "I will come back, I promise." Louisa narrowed her eyes.
"Don't make me track you down." She warned.
"Consider me terrified."
"Good."
Apollo sang of the wildfires and droughts that had scorched Southern California. He sang of the brave cacti and satyrs from the Cistern in Palm Springs, who had struggled valiantly to find the source of the destruction. He sang of the dryads Agave and Money Maker, both gravely injured in the Burning Maze, and how Money Maker had died in the arms of Aloe Vera. He added some hopeful stanzas about Meg and the rebirth of the warrior dryad Meliai. He sang of how they had destroyed the Burning Maze and given SoCal's environment at least a fighting chance to heal. But he could not hide the dangers they faced. He described what he had seen in his dreams: the yachts approaching with their fiery mortars, the hellish devastation they would rain upon the entire Bay Area.
After strumming his final chord, he looked up. Green tears glistened in the dryads' eyes. Fauns openly wept.
"Peaches!" The karpos said. See? I told you so!
Don sniffled, wiping his eyes with what looked like a used burrito wrapper. "It's true then. It's happening. Faunus protect us…" Lavinia dabbed away her own tears on her sleeve.
"Thanks, Apollo." She said it as if he had done her a favour. Why, then, did he feel like he had just kicked each and every one of these nature spirits right in the taproots? He had spent a lot of time worrying about the fate of New Rome and Camp Jupiter, the Oracles, his friends and himself. But these hackberries and crabgrasses deserved to live just as much. They too were facing death. They were terrified. If the emperors launched their weapons, they stood no chance. The homeless mortals with their shopping trolleys in People's Park would also burn, right along with the legionnaires. Their lives were worth no less.
The mortals might not understand the disaster. They'd attribute it to runaway wildfires or whatever other causes their brains could comprehend. But he would know the truth. If this vast, weird, beautiful expanse of the California coast burned, it would be because Apollo had failed to stop his enemies.
Lavinia sat up a little straighter, a little more composed. "OK, guys." She said. "You heard him. The emperors will be here by tomorrow evening."
"But that gives us no time." A redwood dryad said. "If they do to the Bay Area what they did to LA…" Apollo felt the ripple of fear blow through the crowd like an icy wind.
"The legion will fight them, though, right?" A faun asked nervously. "I mean, they might win."
"C'mon, Reginald." A dryad chided. "You want to depend on mortals to protect us? When has that ever worked out?" The others muttered agreement.
"To be fair," Lavinia cut in, "Frank and Reyna are trying. They're sending a small team of commandos out to intercept the ships. Michael Kahale, and a few other hand-picked demigods." She tried for a smile. "I know something Reyna doesn't know." She whispered, as if the praetor could hear across the woodlands. "Frank's picked Lou."
"Lou?" Reginald echoed. "Who's Lou?"
"Louisa." Apollo said. "Daughter of Neptune." Surprise bounced through the group. Apollo took this moment to talk to Lavinia. "I didn't know about this interception. How did you find out?" She raised her pink eyebrows- puh-lease.
"Yes, Lou's going too. She's at home on the sea and those yachts don't know what's coming. And, of course, Lester here will try to summon godly help with some super-secret ritual, but…" She didn't need to say the rest. She did not sound as optimistic about his plan as she had about Louisa's involvement with the commando team.
"So, what will you do?" Apollo asked. "What can you do?" He did not mean to sound so critical. He just couldn't imagine any options. The fauns' panicky expressions seemed to hint at their game plan- get bus tickets to Portland, Oregon, immediately. But that wouldn't help the dryads. They were literally rooted to their native soil. Perhaps they could go into a deep hibernation, the way the dryads in the south had. But would that be enough to enable them to weather a firestorm? He had heard stories about certain species of plant that germinated and thrived after devastating fires swept across the landscape, but he doubted most had that ability.
He did not know much about the dryad life cycle or how they protected themselves from climate disasters. Perhaps if he had spent more time over the centuries talking to them and less time chasing them…
"We have a lot to discuss." One of the dryads said.
"Peaches." Peaches agreed. He looked at Apollo with a clear message: Go away now. Apollo did not react immediately- he had so many questions for the karpos. Why had he been absent so long? Why was he here and not with Meg? As the karpos snarled, Apollo suspected he wasn't going to get his answers tonight. At least nothing beyond the snarling, bites and the word peaches. He thought of what the dryad had said about not trusting mortals to solve their problems. That seemed to include him. He had delivered his message. Now he was dismissed.
His heart was already heavy and Meg's state of mind was so fragile… he didn't know how he could break the news to her that her diapered little peach demon had become a rogue fruit.
"Let's get you back to camp." Lavinia said to him. "You've got a big day tomorrow."
They left Don behind with the other nature spirits, all deep in crisis-mode conversations, and retraced their steps down Telegraph Avenue.
After a few blocks, Apollo worked up the courage to ask, "What will they do?" Lavinia stirred as if she had forgotten he was there.
"You mean what will we do? 'Cos I'm with them." A lump formed in his throat.
"Lavinia, you're scaring me. What are you planning?"
"I tried to leave it alone." She muttered. In the glow of the streetlamps, the wisps of pink hair that had escaped her cap seemed to float around her head like candy floss. "After what we saw in the tomb- Bobby and the others, after you described what we're facing tomorrow-"
"Lavinia, please-"
"I can't fall into line like a good soldier. Me locking shields and marching off to die with everybody else? That's not going to help anybody."
"But-"
"It's best you don't ask." Her growl was almost as intimidating as Peaches'. "And it's definitely best that you don't say anything to anybody about tonight. Now, c'mon."
The rest of the way back, she ignored his questions. She seemed to have a dark, bubble-gum scented cloud hanging over her head. She got him safely past the sentries, under the wall and back to the coffee shop before she slipped away into the dark, without even a goodbye.
Perhaps he should have stopped her. Raised the alarm. Got her arrested. But what good would that have done? It seemed to him that Lavinia had never been comfortable in the legion. After all, she spent much of her time looking for secret exits and hidden trails out of the valley. Now she had finally snapped.
He had a sinking feeling that he would never see her again. She would be on the next bus to Portland with a few dozen fauns, and as much as he wanted to be angry about that, he could only feel sad. In her place, would he have done any different?
When he got back to their guest room, Meg had passed out, snoring, her glasses dangling from her fingers, bedsheets wadded around her feet. He tucked her in as best he could, rescued her glasses and cleaned the grubby lenses on his shirt. If she was having any bad dreams about her peach spirit friend plotting with the local dryads only a few miles away, he couldn't tell. Tomorrow, he would have to decide what to say to her. Tonight, he would let her sleep.
He crawled into his own bed, expecting to toss and turn until morning. Instead he passed out instantly.
Louisa was dragging her feet, pulling Reyna's hand and walking as far back as she could.
"You're not stopping me from going."
"I can try!"
"No, Lou. Frank!" Reyna called. "Frank!" Her fellow praetor turned, offering a smile and raising his hand in greeting. Louisa hissed at him. "Behave." Reyna instructed, tugging on her hand. "Frank, take this lunatic for me." She said.
"No, Frank!" Louisa protested, as if talking to her wayward pegasus. "Take this lunatic for me!"
"For the millionth time, you are not kidnapping me!"
"Am too! Frank!" Louisa snapped her fingers and waggled her finger between the praetors. "Assist!"
"Um… no?" Frank shrugged a shoulder. Louisa gaped at him. "Look, why don't you help me in Reyna's place while she's gone?"
"The point is for her not to go, Zhang."
"It's in the prophecy, Lou. She has to go."
"Prophecies suck."
"Yes. Yes, they do."
"You suck."
"Don't say that to Frank!"
"No, I'm sorry. Frank doesn't suck. Frank's lovely. Love you, Frank."
"Love you too, Lou."
"Help me kidnap Reyna."
"I don't love you that much."
"Wow, that's just… wow." Louisa threw her free hand up, looking at the sky as if wondering how hard she would have to throw Frank to get him above the clouds. "Wow, Zhang, just wow."
"Come on, Lou. Let Reyna do her thing."
"Her thing is praetorin'!"
"Not today." Reyna reminded her. "Apparently, that's your thing today."
"Oooh, I'm gonna make a bunch of stuff legal!" Reyna took one look at the manic gleam in those sea green eyes and looked at Frank, raising a brow.
"She won't." He assured quietly. Louisa ignored him, already planning mayhem. "Lou, you're a tyrant. But you're working with me today, come on."
"Nooo!" She whined, hugging Reyna's arm and pouting. Frank bit the inside of his cheek. No-one said anything for a minute, Louisa squishing her cheek on Reyna's shoulder and glowering at the ground.
Eventually, she sighed sulkily, bouncing her chin irritably on Reyna's shoulder and swearing in Latin. "Hate this." She announced. "Sure I can't kidnap ya?"
"Yes. And I'm sure you can't get anyone else to kidnap me either."
"Ugh, fine. But if you don't come back, I will march right down ta the Underworld 'n' beat ya ass."
"I would love to see you try." Reyna laughed.
When Frank offered his hand, Louisa took it. She did not let Reyna go immediately, clinging to her sleeve in one last desperate bid to keep her with her, keep her safe. Reyna gently pried her hand away, kissing her fingers. "I'll see you later, Lou. Help Frank. No tyranny."
"One of those is doable."
"I expected as much. Good luck, Frank." Frank smiled, squeezing Reyna's shoulder.
"You too, Reyna. Ave Romae."
"Ave Romae."
"Ave fuck this bullshit."
"That's not- I'm going. I'm going now. I'm gone."