Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

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Day Sleeper

One fine summer day, when Apollo was driving his predecessor, Helios', golden chariot across the sky (and by golden chariot, I mean sports car), a sunbather caught his attention. She was lying by an in-ground pool by a large, white house in a fairly rural and secluded suburb. She had a gorgeous body, healthy and glowing, with fine, toned muscles, long, slender legs, long eye-lashes, fine eye-brows, aquiline nose, heart-shaped face, strawberry blond hair that spilled out around her head like a fiery crown. She was lying on a thick, bright yellow towel decorated with suns and she stretched out like a model posing for a photo shoot in her white and yellow bikini that sparkled in the light. Apollo, when he hopped down for a closer look, realized she was asleep.

"She's going to tan terribly like that," he sighed to himself. She was in a lounging position, one leg bent over the other, her long, delicate arms folded over her long torso with her hands laying close to her face.

Apollo glanced around. The trees that surrounded the pool area, that at the right time of day acted as shade trees and wind blocks, now blocked the young lady and himself completely from view of the main house so Apollo didn't worry about getting caught (not that he actually ever worried about that anyway, but it made things easier if he checked).

He almost didn't want to move her; she formed such a lovely composition. Her bent legs emphasized the curve of her waist and hips. Her hands carefully hid the part of her face that was smooshed against the towel and lawn chair. Her toes were nicely pointed and her nails were neatly trimmed and French manicured. Her hair fanned out around her, framed her face and slipped around her shoulders, down her neck, and across her breast. Her cheeks were pink from the heat and her breath was deep and soft and slow.

He took her shoulders with the intention of rolling her onto her back so she didn't mess up her tan, but when he touched her sun-warmed skin and felt the softness and the muscle there, he hesitated. He let his eyes and his hands trace the curves of her body, examining them all very closely, and Apollo had an impure thought.

Now, Apollo didn't do this sort of thing very often, if ever. He very much preferred conscious girls over unconscious ones, but he really wanted this one and he knew that seducing her in the usual way would take a while. He could've woken her up, strolled up to her like a creepy person who got lost and approached the sleeping pool girl in her own backyard, acted all innocent while hoping that she wasn't instantly freaked out and/or that his natural good looks and charismatic charm would woo her, if he was her type. Or he could simply wait it out until she went to a night club, but that was if she was the type to even go to a club and if he took that method, he would have to keep a watch her and he really didn't care enough to do that. She looked very high class and high-maintenance anyway. And he couldn't just walk up to her parents' door, say he was Apollo and ask for her like he used to be able to. People get a restraining order on you now-a-days, if they don't run to get their gun. Plus, Apollo had simply left his chariot, which isn't the best thing to do for any period of time so he really had to act fast. It would take some years before he'd come to regret his hasty act, but he would regret it.

"Morpheus," Apollo whispered to the wind as he carefully rolled the girl onto her back. She was asleep so the god of sleep couldn't have been far away. The minor god appeared almost instantly, glad to be summoned, but a little grumpy nonetheless. "Yes?"

"Oh good." Apollo paused in his work. "Two things. No, wait. No. Three things. Don't you think that that plus me would make one good looking kid?" Apollo nodded at the dozing girl and Morpheus looked at the god like he had no idea what he was talking about and didn't know why he should care in the first place. At Apollo's request, however, Morpheus made an attempt to take the question seriously. He glanced the girl over quickly, not displeased with her appearance and came to the conclusion that a being with a combonation of her physical traights and Apollo's would certainly be attractive to both the common eye and the refined, especially if the child managed to inherate the mother's hair. "Yes," Morpheus agreed after a moment. "You'd make a nice kid."

"Excellent!" Apollo chimed. "Now, ask her how old she is."

Morpheus was about to comply when he stopped, looked down at the dozing girl and then back up to the Sun god's expression.

"Um… I don't mean to pry or anything, but are you sure that's appropriate?"

Apollo whipped his hair back, getting a little excited, but a little pressed for time. "Why? You think she's too young?"

"Not exactly."

"Well, can you ask her?"

Morpheus bent over the young girl's head, put his hands by her ears, and went on to look as if he was watching TV on her forehead. His eyes reflected what he saw in her mind even though nothing was visible to anyone else, even Apollo. Morpheus leaned in and gently asked her how old she was. The girl tilted her head slightly and mumbled in her sleep. "Eighteen."

"Perfect," Apollo cheered to himself. "Nice voice, too. Can you keep her asleep?"

"Course I can," the god of sleep mumbled as he continued wading through the girl's dreams. "She has very vivid dreams," Morpheus stated, walking around in her mind's eye. "Very complex. It's a bit like an acid trip, but with plot lines."

"Dude, I just want her to stay asleep."

"Oh, she'll stay asleep," Morpheus mused, his hands pressed to her face. "She's a very deep sleeper. She'll sleep through anything once she hits REM, that is, if she's undisturbed-" Morpheus still held the girl's face as the Sun god moved the girl about, spreading her legs, shifting her arms.

"This imagery is really something unique," Morpheus commented, enthralled with what he found inside the girl's head. "Can I have her?" he asked.

Apollo was practically straddling the girl when he replied. "No. I found her first."

"And you're reducing me to your date-rape drug?"

"Here," Apollo sighed, whipping his hair back again. "Tell ya what: You keep her asleep and you can have her after she's had my baby. Oh! Better yet, give her a dream or something that will make her get into it."

Morpheus felt a little bitter about sharing her, but he had to comply, after all Apollo had found her first. Morpheus was merely an accomplice in this game of his. Morpheus was lucky to be allowed the use of one of Apollo's lovers seeing as the Gods had a reputation for jealously guarding their babies' mommas. Morpheus wished the young girl pleasure so he gave her the most pleasant dream he could think of to disguise this vulgar act of Apollo's as something wonderful and welcome, which it might've been to some.

When Apollo was done, they used the pool water to clean up after him and he left the girl to her dreaming and returned to his chariot in the sky. Morpheus watched him depart with barely a word of thanks. This girl would become another reason why Morpheus had a distaste for the major gods. They could do whatever they wanted and to the minor gods and the humans whose lives they'd thrown into chaos were left the scraps to divide amongst themselves.

-

The young girl's name was Lauren Argyle. She was eighteen, had just finished high school, and had been accepted to attend Wellesley College in the fall. When she discovered that the strange dream she had had earlier that summer had somehow at least been partially true, she quickly deferred and then transferred to a much more local and low-key college. She still went to college. No divine intervention was going to keep her from gaining the education she wanted. She wasn't as high-class as Apollo had assumed, but she was smart and clever and unswayably determined, at least, she became such after Morpheus attempted to explain to her what was happening to her body.

He had come to her in a dream a few weeks after Apollo had found her, a dark angel appearing from the depths with a great message; that she would bare a child of the god of light and music. She woke up and thought it was a crazy dream until she found out she was pregnant. The goddess of childbirth was rather fond of Apollo. If Apollo wanted his lover to have a baby, his lover had a baby.

Lauren received a great deal of heat from her family for getting pregnant. Apollo had not been Lauren's first, and boy was he not going to be her last, but she had always been very careful and had not been sexually active recently and so was incredibly nervous and confused when she suddenly became pregnant and could not tell her parents how it had happened, which made it sound like she was hiding something terrible from them. However, they all helped her out as best as they could. Her parents, her younger brother and her older brother and sister all supported her, as a loving family should. Morpheus visited her dreams often, Lauren having become his special favorite and allowed her a deep and restful slumber whenever he could.

Morpheus continued to give restful slumbers after her son was born, a beautiful youth with a fluff of strawberry blond hair more precious than any baby born before him. The baby didn't like to nap in the day so Morpheus visited often to make sure the baby dozed so Lauren could work and study. She was originally planning on being a nurse, but after discovering that the hours were incredibly unsuitable for a single mother, she went into special education (which was perfect seeing as her kids grew up ADHD and dyslexic).

Morpheus soon revealed himself to Lauren. He told her as much of the truth as she would hear and revealed his role in the whole ordeal. She refused to talk to him for a day or so, but when her son wouldn't sleep, she forgave Morpheus. He hadn't abandoned her unlike her son's father.

Soon after Lauren had graduated, she gave birth to Morpheus' son, and when she had finished graduate school, she gave birth to his second. Morpheus supported his family as best as he could with the skills that he had. Apollo mocked him for it from time to time, seeing the god of sleep giving a baby a bottle or rocking his son to sleep. Apollo stopped after a while. Poking fun at a minor god that responded to your mocking by making you drowsy was not all that entertaining.

When the satyrs came though on their emergency hunt to find more demi-gods to aid them in the great battle against Luke, Kronus and the titans, Morpheus defended Lauren's children from being discovered and, in his distaste for the main gods and their methods, joined Kronus' side against them.

Thanks to Percy Jackson and his efforts, the minor gods, as well as the demi-gods were allotted their fair share of respect. Morpheus fully informed Lauren about the war that had been lost and won and about Camp Half Blood. Lauren took all this with a grain of salt, but saw little reason to send her children away until one day they all came running up to her, her eldest gleaming like the Sun and her youngest two soft and dark as nightfall with techni-colored eyes. They were all frazzled and dirty.

"Mom! Mom! You have to see this!"

"You'll never believe what just happened!" They grabbed her hands and pulled and she allowed herself to be dragged through her mother's house.

"We were outside playing soccer-"

"We were using my ball."

"Yeah, and we were playing and this giant lizard thing with this big ugly face came out of nowhere."

"It came out of the woods!"

"Yeah and it was all scary and everything."

"Yeah, and it was charging us and I thought we were gonna die!"

"But then it fell asleep!"

"Yeah, mom. It fell asleep. Come look."

Lauren looked around for Morpheus, but didn't see him anywhere. He hadn't shown himself since he had last explained to her about the war earlier that year. He'd shown himself less and less as of late. She kept looking even when they were all outside and the only sign of the monster that had attacked them was torn up grass and torn up trees. Lauren had met gods, talked with them, forgiven them, had their children, but it wasn't until that moment, the moment when that world suddenly was effecting her children, that it all sunk in and became real.

That summer after everything was done, the battle won, and unto all the gods was built his or her own cabin for his or her children, Lauren brought her children to the top of Half Blood Hill.

Chiron, the pleasant old teacher that was actually a centaur in the magical wheelchair, was there to great them. "Well, what do we have here?"

Lauren plopped her youngest child's luggage down with the rest of them as the children marveled down the hill. "a son of Apollo and two sons of Morpheus."

Chiron looked up in surprise, like he had been expecting the children's names, not their parentage, or perhaps he was surprised that two gods, two unlikely gods, had shared themselves with her. Chiron chuckled like this was a mighty fine joke and definitely an excellent conversation piece.

"It's a long story," Lauren sighed, handing her sons' luggage to senior counselors and a strange looking man covered in extra eyes.

"We have a few of those." Chiron continued to chuckle.

Lauren kissed her children, reminded them to write, and sent them racing off down the hill, overcome with excitement. She watched them go with a fair bit of longing. Her eldest was going on fifteen, but her youngest was barely eight. She was going to miss them terribly this summer. Chiron smiled his pleasant old smile at her. "Don't worry, dear. Morpheus cabin is brand new and Apollo's cabin has a good dozen in it right now. They'll have plenty of companionship and they'll get to see each other every day."

Lauren blinked at Chiron curiously, paused, processed what he had said and went back to her car and drove home.

The three boys wrote home often like they promised. Their letters were filled with wonderful stories about the world they had been tossed into. They wrote about their lessons and their training and their newfound talents. They wrote about all the new and fascinating people and creatures they were meeting. They explained again what little they learned about the huge battle that had occurred the year before and how the gods had to claim all their children and how new kids kept coming every day. They talked about their cabins. The eldest often wrote about all his new half siblings and their adventures.

When summer was over and her sons had returned home, they continued their tales of their grand adventures. They turned their background into a mini training ground and would train all afternoon until they'd fall asleep in the grass.

It was late summer, early fall, the leaves had started to turn all sorts of vibrant colors and fall free from their trees, and the children had fallen asleep together on a blanket outside when Apollo finally appeared before Lauren.

She was outside with her children. She had been tucking away their wooden swords and brushing fallen leaves from them. She had just gotten up to fetch another blanket when she found herself staring Apollo in the face.

"Uh… hey."

She slapped him across the face. She knew who he was. She could feel that he was someone different and he looked exactly like her eldest son. "How dare you show your face here, after all these years."

Apollo rubbed his totally not hurt cheek. "Nice to see you too. You look great. How are the kids?"

Lauren stood her ground, absolutely infuriated. "What makes you think you can simply impregnate me and leave me and that you can come back now? Now that they've coped with not having a father?"

"Aw, come on," Apollo laughed. "Having my kid couldn't have been that bad."

"I was terrified," Lauren hollered back while her voice tried to catch I her throat. "You left me with no warning. I had no idea what was going on. People stopped talking to me. I had to completely replan my life."

"That's plans for ya," the god joked.

Lauren's face contorted until she looked like she was about to explode. Apollo tried to cover for himself. "No. I didn't mean it like that. I-"

"Leave," Lauren demanded. "Get out. Get off my property."

"Okay," Apollo surrendered. "I just wanted to see my so-"

Lauren cut him off. She threw herself in front of him and flung her arms out wide to block Apollo was moving toward her children. "Don't you dare go anywhere near them."

Apollo gawked at her in shock. "But he's my son."

"He's MY son!" Lauren shot back, tears forming in her eyes. "You had no hand in raising him, sculpting him, supporting him!"

Apollo was beside himself. "But I have to claim him."

"You have claimed him," she growled. "He stayed in your cabin this summer along with a dozen of your other children." She wanted to scream, but she didn't want to wake up her children behind her. "Go! Go and support all those other terrified girls you've gotten pregnant. We don't need you here anymore. We don't want you here. Why would we want you?" She was crying. Lauren was crying harder than she had ever cried in her life. Tears were pouring down her face and soaking through her blouse. She wasn't crying just because she was angry. She was terrified. She had researched something about the gods while her children were away. She knew how little they cared about the lives of mortals and she had just slapped him, shouted in his face, and denied him access to his child. She was crying because she wanted to love him, but she couldn't. He was Apollo. He was a god; great and powerful and beautiful, and he was offering his own sort of reconciliation. She wanted to accept him more than anything else. She wanted him to comfort her, but she was going to protect her children.

Had he tried, Apollo could've easily knocked her over or simply killed her, but he didn't try. He looked like he had been slapped again, except this time it had hurt. There was a minute where neither of them moved and all that could be heard were Lauren's sniffles. Then, slowly, Apollo backed up a pace, apologized softly, turned around and left.

Lauren didn't move for another minute. When she finally did, she lowered her arms and jogged around to the front of her house where Apollo had gone, but Apollo was nowhere to be seen.

Lauren starred out into the blue, sunny sky for another minute, wanting to fall over and continue crying, but she didn't. Instead she walked back inside, found another blanket, brought it outside and laid it on her sleeping children. She was a mother, now, and in her thirties. She couldn't just break down anymore. She had people to be strong for: her kids.

Later that evening, when her children had collapsed into bed and the moon had risen, Lauren received another guest. A young girl showed up in Lauren's yard, looking to be about the same age as Lauren's second son and with hair of a very similar color: black and soft as night. Lauren hurried out to her. The small girl had the most triumphant of smiles. "I've been told that you thoroughly scolded my brother this afternoon. I am very thankful to you."

Lauren's breath caught in her throat. The small girl was Artemis, her eldest son's aunt.

"Do not be troubled," the goddess coaxed. "I have come to grant you a blessing to show my thanks."

"Oh, no. Please. That's not necessary."

Artemis continued to smile. "A small blessing, then." She waved a tiny, delicate hand and her huntresses emerged from the trees. Lauren didn't move. One of the girls approached Artemis with a small bundle and Artemis gently handed it to Lauren. The bundle quivered and shook until Lauren realized there was a small puppy inside, a lop-eared hound. It must've been the runt of the litter. "Oh, but I-"

Artemis would not take it back. "It can take care of itself. It will protect you and your children here."

Lauren held the puppy close and tried not to cry again. "I'll take very special care of it."

"May the moon always smile upon you." The goddess smiled and then slipped away as gently as the moon behind clouds. Lauren starred into her empty backyard for another moment before carrying the tiny pup inside. It yipped and licked at her fingers and slept soundly on the pillow next to her head.

Lauren's children were overjoyed to have a pet, especially one as useful as one of Artemis' hunting dogs. It grew into a friendly and playful, intelligent and protective companion and when her children went to Camp Half Blood the next summer, Lauren wasn't quite as lonely.