Madness's Melody | Apollo / Lester Papadopoulos

Chapter Eleven

CASSIDY WOULD BE BOTH SURPRISED AND IMPRESSED IF APOLLO SURVIVED THE FIRST TRIAL LET ALONE ALL OF THEM. He didn't wait for a second opinion before marching off towards the geysers. Dumbass. When Cassidy entered the clearing they felt like somebody had opened an oven door in front of their face. A wall of heat slammed into their face. The scene in front of them was undeniably odd in Long Island winter but when was anything normal?

Glistening vines wreathed the tree branches. Tropical flowers bloomed from the forest floor. A red parrot sat on a tree heavy with green banana bunches. In the middle of the glade stood two geysers. They sizzled and hissed. Meg’s boots squished in the mud. "Is it safe?"

"Rule three of Cassidy's guide to being a living demigod Meg, if you have to ask if something is safe then it probably isn't" Cassidy said. "Rule three of what?" Fluffy asked, a hint of amusement and exasperation in his voice. They chose to ignore him. "What are rules one and two?" Meg asked, "Rule one is never ever say anything optimistic out loud because you will jinx yourself, rule two avoid the gods because they're nothing but trouble" The child of Dionysus stated. "We are not" Apollo protested. "Aren’t we breaking rule two right now?" Meg asked.

"Rule two is the hardest to not break" Cassidy said. "Now, how do we contact the geyser gods?" They turned back to Lester. He looked like he wanted to say more but then decided against it "We’ll need an offering" he said then looked at Meg "Perhaps your packet of seeds?" He suggested. She punched his arm. "Those are magic. For life and death emergencies. What about your ukulele? You’re not going to play it anyway"

"A man of honour never surrenders his ukulele" Aplllo said. "That is not a thing" Cassidy stated. "What do you mean? Ofcourse it is" he brushed them off then perked up. "But wait. You’ve given me an idea. I will offer the geyser gods a poem! I can still do that. It doesn’t count as music"

"I think I'd better offer my sword" Cassidy cut in hurriedly. "No, no, we need your sword. A poem would be much more efficient" Apollo brushed them off. 'Not if the geyser decides to boil us alive because of your bad haikus' Cassidy thought. "This isn't a good idea" they warned. Lester remained unperturbed "Don’t be envious, Cassidy. I will make up a poem for you later. This will surely please the geyser gods!" He walked forward and spread his arms.

"What? I don't want a stupid-" Cassidy cut themselves off with a sigh as Apollo began to recite.

"Oh, geyser, my geyser,
t us spew then, you and I,
pon this midnight dreary, while we ponder hose woods are these?
r we have not gone gentle into this good night,
t have wandered lonely as clouds.
seek to know for whom the bell tolls,
I hope, springs eternal,
at the time has come to talk of many things!"

The child of Dionysus winced. They prayed to the gods that geysers had bad taste in poetry. They were sure there was a god for that, they just weren't sure which one. Or maybe it was Apollo in which case it wouldn't work. "Still want that poem?" Fluffy asked. "I didn't want it in the first place" Cassidy muttered back. Lester looked back to see Meg staring, her mouth hanging open. "What?" He demanded. "Did you two fail poetry appreciation in school? That was first rate stuff!"

"One, pretty sure that's not a thing. Two, I haven't been to school. Three, just look behind you dumbass" Cassidy said. "Well, you got my attention" The geyser had a raspy voice. His lower half was nothing but steam. From the waist up, he was maybe twice the size of a human,
with muscular arms the color of mud and white eyes. He wore a baby-blue polo shirt with a logo of trees  embroidered on the chest pocket. Fluffy leaped back in shock, barely holding back a hiss "O, Great Palikos! We beseech you-" Apollo began

"What was that? The stuff you were saying?" The Palikos interrupted "Poetry! For you!" Apollo exclaimed. He tapped his chin. "No. That wasn’t poetry" Under different circumstances Cassidy might have laughed at the incredulous and offended look on Apollo's face. Or maybe they would have stifled it either way, getting incinerated wasn't a very appealing idea.