Your Loyalty to Me

Me? Jealous? No... I Refuse to Admit That I Like Aria

Mood swing. There's gonna be hints of fluff. Not really much.

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Apollo's POV

I am not sure how we got out of the maze.

Lacking any evidence to the contrary, I will credit my own courage and fortitude. Yes, that must have been it. Having escaped the worst of the Titan's heat, I bravely supported Piper, Aria AND Meg and exhorted them to keep going. Smoking and half conscious but still alive, we stumbled through the corridors, retracing our steps until we arrived at the freight elevator. With one last heroic burst of strength, I flipped the lever and we ascended.

We spilled into the sunlight - regular sunlight, not the vicious zombie sunlight of a quasi-dead Titan - and collapsed on the sidewalk. Grover's shocked face hovered over me.

'Hot,' I whimpered.

Grover pulled out his panpipes. He began to play, and I lost consciousness.

I woke up lying on top of a sleeping bag in the Cistern.

Aloe Vera hovered over me, her prickly triangles of hair mostly snapped off, leaving her with a glistening buzz cut.

"You're okay,' she assured me, putting her cool hand against my fevered forehead. 'You've been through a lot, though.'

I realized I was wearing only my underwear. My entire body was beet maroon, slathered in aloe. I couldn't breathe through my nose. I touched my nostrils and discovered I had been fitted with small green aloe nose plugs.

I sneezed them out.

'My friends?' I asked.

Aloe moved aside. Behind her, Grover Underwood sat cross-legged between Piper's and Meg's sleeping bags, both girls fast asleep. Aria was in a sleeping bag next to me, she was facing me looking extremely adorable. (I have so many thoughts like that nowadays that I just ignore them and continue with life.)

Like me, the three girls had been slathered with goo. It was a perfect opportunity to take a picture of Meg with green plugs sticking out of her nostrils, for blackmail purposes, but I was too relieved that she was alive. Also, I didn't have a phone.

'Will they be all right?' I asked.

'They were in worse shape than you,' Grover said. 'It was touch and go for a while, but they'll pull through. I've been feeding them nectar and ambrosia.'

Aloe smiled. 'Also, my healing properties are legendary. Just wait. They'll be up and walking around by dinner.'

Dinner ... I looked at the dark orange circle of sky above. Either it was late afternoon, or the wildfires were closer, or both.

'Medea?' I asked.

Grover frowned. 'Aria told me about the battle before she passed out, but I don't know what happened to the sorceress. I never saw her.'

I shivered in my aloe gel. I wanted to believe Medea had died in the fiery explosion, but I doubted we could be so lucky. Helios's fire hadn't seemed to bother her. Maybe she was naturally immune. Or maybe she had worked some protective magic on herself.

"Your dryad friends?' I asked. 'Agave and Money Maker?'

Aloe and Grover exchanged a sorrowful look.

"Agave might pull through,' said Grover. 'She went dormant as soon as we got her back to her plant. But Money Maker ...' He shook his head.

I had barely met the dryad. Still, the news of her death hit me hard. I felt as if I were dropping green leaf-coins from my body, shedding essential pieces of myself.