𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒, apollo

𝐱𝐢𝐱. great start to the quest

I FELT OUT OF place. I reached for my leather jacket and signed, dropping it on my mattress. I am supposed to pack, because in an hour or so, Percy, Grover and I are going on a quest. Well, Annabeth too, since she volunteered.

But the quest wasn't the reason for the feeling in my stomach. Apollo. I had his presence in my mind for over a month, six weeks to be exact. Since then, he was always here, in my mind. He wouldn't say something sometimes, but I always felt his presence. It felt like we were connected.

But now, it has been over 24 hours of total radio silence from him, I couldn't even feel him. And somehow, his lack of presence bothered me. I don't understand this, because there were days when I just wished that I could erase him entirely from my mind.

Apollo? I said before I could talk myself out of it.

I don't think even five seconds passed as suddenly a voice in my head replied, Yes, pet?

A weird feeling filled my insides, similar to relief, before I actually let his words sink in, a frown appearing on my face. Pet? Seriously, do you call every girl that?

His chuckle rang out. No, don't worry darling, that name is solely yours.

'Pet'. I rolled my eyes. It sounded like he saw me as his little dog or something. Maybe that's how gods viewed us, demigods, their own little heroes. A part of me absolutely hated the stupid nickname, but another part of me liked that he had something only for me.

You're going on a quest. He stated. I looked out the window, seeing younger kids run around. Good observation.

The light smile slipped away from my lips as I remembered the Oracle. The prophecy. I quickly pushed away all those thoughts with the hope that he didn't hear them.

I did want to ask him about it, but something stopped me from doing so. After all, he's a god mentioned in the very same prophecy and right now, I didn't know if I could trust him.

I layed on my bed, staring up at the selling. He spoke instead of me, his tone now serious instead of slightly cocky or playful. You better be careful.

I will be fine. I rolled my eyes.

WE HIKED UP HALF-BLOOD Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus. I felt a weird feeling in my stomach every time I thought of my cousin.

For the quest, the camp store loaned us one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold. He said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions — whatever that meant.

He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally. That's probably why he gave me Cy's portion for safe keeping too.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told us had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. Grover liked her, but to me, she seemed like a complete stuck-up, who liked to prove that she knew more than us.