Chapter Twenty-Seven

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan, nor do I own Star Holder Commander's character, Walker. I do own all of the other OCs mentioned.

Adrienne's POV

"Apollo?" they say simultaneously.

I cautiously come out from behind the crate, as does Jade. For some reason, Keegan was staying behind his crate. He had a look of uncertainty and something else on his face; fear maybe?

I come around beside James, my arms crossed. I had never met Apollo, but James had seen him once before. Mom always told me that he was one of the very few good gods. He could be a little annoying at times, but he truly did care for all of his children.

"Yes, yes. It really is me, the one and only," he grins, showing off brilliantly white teeth.

"So if that die had landed on the jet plane, who would have shown up?" Tristan asks.

"The jet? Oh, you woulda gotten good 'ole dad,"

"You mean Zeus?" Jade asks.

"Well, yea. Who else would I refer to as 'dad'?"

She shrugs and looks down at her feet, seemingly embarrassed.

James turns his attention back to Apollo and eyes him. "Do you know where to take us?"

"Of course I do, Walker told me in case you guys rolled me,"

"Why didn't he just tell us himself?" Tristan demands.

"Walker is a busy man, or rather, god. He has to finish finding where Kyra and Nico are, and that takes a lot of energy. Especially when the path to them isn't so clear to see,"

"So you're our chauffeur?" Jade asks.

Apollo sniffs, straightening his shoulders and glaring at her. "No. I'm your free ride to Newport, Maine. There is a difference, believe it or not."

He turns around, going towards the door. We all start to follow, and were almost there when Apollo stopped in his tracks.

"Wait," he says, his body stiff, "There's someone else here, I can sense it,"

There's a rustling sound behind us, and everyone turns around. It was Keegan, slowly emerging from behind the crate. I was slightly surprised, I thought he had been right behind us when we had started to leave.

I look at Apollo to see a shocked look on his face, his golden eyes showing vulnerability. He pushes through the four of us, almost as if we were sheets in the wind. He walks over to Keegan like he was in a trance.

When he stops in front of him, he just stares at him. Nothing is said for what felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds. Then, Apollo reaches out and cups Keegan's cheek in his hand. Suddenly, his hand straightens and pulls back, slapping Keegan across the face. I flinch at the sharp 'crack' it made, that had to have hurt.

"Keegan," he breathes, his voice no more than a whisper.

"Apollo," Keegan says, rubbing his cheek. It sounded like he was a having trouble talking, most likely from his now throbbing jaw.

"It's been a long time. Have you—did you sort everything out with—I mean, after Callie, did you talk to Ky?"

Keegan looks down, as if ashamed. "No. I haven't. I haven't even seen Kyra since the night of her senior prom,"

"Oh gods, Keegan,"

"I know. I've been looking for her ever since I was banished from Callie's domain. I've just never been able to find her. And no one else would even talk to me or tell me if she was still alive even, which is understandable after what I did,"

Apollo places a hand on his shoulder and leans forward. "You do realize you've found two of her children, right?"

"Yes, I do. And they told me what had happened to her and Nico. I'm coming along with them, if that's alright." His voice was timid, as if he expected Apollo to refuse him.

He nods, causing a look of shock to bloom across Keegan's face. Apollo pats him on the back, and turns around again, coming back up to us. I don't think they realized we could hear every bit of that conversation. Keegan shakes out of his stupor and quickly follows after him, getting to us right as Apollo slid open the door.

Where a convertible had probably been earlier, now stood a cherry red Lamborghini SUV. Apollo turns around and grins at us.

"Hop in."

A/N:

I think this was a bit of a filler, but it was needed after the last chapter. So nothing much to discuss really, I don't think.

But how about Apollo laying into Keegan? I felt like he kinda deserved it after everything he did. I mean, he's tried making up for it since by trying to find Kyra, but as he said, no one would tell him if she was alive or where she was. For obvious reasons though.

And I think this story is just about over. I'm not exactly sure when I'll finish it. Somewhere in the thirties probably. Then I'll probably take a couple of weeks to start working on the last installment of this little trilogy. I need to start thinking of names for it...

I feel like this week has just flown by. Work on Tuesday was practically torture because I had to put together four glazes. Not fun, especially when it's huge batches that fill up cement buckets, and when the measurements have to be pretty damn precise and you have a temperamental scale.

And on Friday I got to leave work three hours early because I ran out of things to do, so that was nice. Gave me a bit of a break.

But on Saturday when I was about to leave the studio, I started my car and it started revving like I had my foot on the gas, and the RPM was going up to like two and a half. So I turned it off, when straight back into the studio and got my teacher and her husband and had them come out and listen to it. Oh, and the check engine light came on too, so that was worrying.

My teacher said it sounded like maybe the fuel tubes were clogged, but she wasn't sure. So needless to say, I didn't stop at the coffee shop to get my usual. I called my dad first thing on my way home and then just left my car parked.

I listened to it the whole way home and it didn't make any unusual sounds, and when I got home, I turned it off, and then on again, but it didn't do the revving thing.

When my dad got home from work, he unplugged the battery and the check engine light went off. So I've been driving it around town, just very cautiously. And since the light hasn't come back on, my dad said it should be okay. I still want to get it checked out, but we probably won't make an appointment unless the light does come back on.

M/A:

"'So they made my life into a movie

As if I could forget those years

But I know where the time's gone

Just not where my mind's been wandering

Annie use your telescope'"

Annie Use Your Telescope by Jack's Mannequin

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngleo25