The Underworld's Child

Bonus II | Dreams

Her night was eventful, to say the least. 

She stopped by her father and Persephone's place. They had dinner and a lengthy conversation about Christmas and how it is of no use to them. It's not a part of their thing. 

Next thing, she had a vision of a dragon. It was brief. Blue scales flashed in front of her eyes. Then it shifted.

The scales drifted away and gave way to a gorgeous hill overlooking the calm blue ocean. Gazing up, the sky was orange indicating the evening. The sun was in the middle of coming down to the ocean. Birds were chirping, bunnies were hopping. A chipmunk fell off a nearby tree. 

Elora went over to the fallen chipmunk. "Aww, you poor thing." She scooped the chipmunk out and set it on the branch she could reach. She had to be on her tiptoes so she could reach it. "There you go, little fella."

The chipmunk quickly scrambled over to the branch in all four. It stood up and chirped in her direction before climbing up to its waiting family. "Bye, little guy." 

"That's one lucky chipmunk." 

She spun around. 

"Hey." Apollo grinned. 

He was wearing jeans and a button-up with the sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons were undone.  

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Apollo wasn't on her list of dreams. Nuh-uh. 

"A little picnic." He snapped his fingers and a sheet covered a section of the grassy area. He kneeled and set the things he brought neatly. Chocolate, fruits, small cakes and pastries, and a pitcher of a light yellow liquid. 

"C'mere." He tapped the space beside him. 

For a minute she wanted to wake up but she found it cute. A god. Taking her on a picnic. She must have slammed her head on a brick wall.

Screw it. Just this once. What harm will it do? 

She could see Apollo's shock in his eyes as she settled down on the blanket. 

He reeled in his shock and the twinkle of happiness was more visible in his eyes. 

Apollo passed her a cushion. 

"Thank you." She positioned it on her midsection. 

Apollo frowned a bit at that. Did she do something wrong?

"What's wrong?" she inquired. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong."

"No, you didn't do anything wrong." He waved her off but from time to time, he'd look at the pillow she was using. 

"Are you sure?"

"Positive as a proton!" He exclaimed. 

☀︎︎☽︎☾︎☀︎︎

"Spit it out."

Elora stopped mid-chew. "The croissant? It would be a waste."

"Smartass," Apollo smiled. "The question." 

She nodded and finished the mini croissant. "Why are we doing this? Who prepared this? Did anyone help or did you ask someone to do it for you? Where'd you get the idea from? Did you make these?"

"Slow down, siren." Apollo offered her a cup. 

"That better not be wine."

He grinned. "I'm sure you'll be fine!"

"Apollo!"

"Demigods can process them faster," Apollo said. "But no. It's not wine." 

She took his word though not fully trusting it so she took a tiny sip. Not wine. The last time it happened, she got tipsy from what she thought was grape juice. It tastes like grape juice, smells like it, and looks like it.