Inheritance - a sequel to Shelter

See What Has Begun - Rachel

Rachel glares at Apollo from the couch, Cecil, nervously wringing his hands beside her.

Apollo runs a hand through his sweaty blond curls, then shrugs. She can tell he's feeling guilty by the way he avoids meeting her eyes. He glances at the state of the cave, then drops his eyes to the DDR floor mats, finally bringing his face up and looking at her sheepishly.

"You weren't using it, and I didn't see any harm in making myself comfortable –"

"That's not the point!" Rachel cuts him off as Dionysus chuckles behind him, and vanishes the floor mats with a snap of his fingers. "You're never around when I need you! It's mostly fine; I get that I shouldn't be dependant on a god to solve my problems, that I need to figure out how to deal with life on my own terms, but when the Oracle fell silent a couple of years ago, and I starteddying, it would have been nice to get a head's up from my patron who knew what was happening and why. I mean, yeah, we sorted things out a bit afterwards, but in the past two years, I've seen you maybe a handful of times, and your timing was always inconvenient. And now? It's been ages since the Oracle has made so much as a peep in my head, but when she wakes up and gets her creepy act on, telling me that it's my responsibility to keep you informed when you're never around ... So I come racing over here with Nemesis, of all people, and find Lou Ellen in the Infirmary and another prophecy comes pouring out of me! You know how draining it is to host the Oracle, so don't even pretend that this is about the decor of my cave!"

She takes deep breaths after finishing, trying to stay present, dizzy from hunger and exhaustion.

Apollo is silent for a long time, and Dionysus breaks the awkward air settling in the room by conjuring a leopard print throw and draping it over her shoulders, then bustling about, setting up a coffee table laid with tea and mini sandwiches. He sits cross-legged on the floor on the opposite side and invites Rachel and Cecil to help themselves while he pours himself a cup of tea and doctors it with milk and sugar.

Rachel can't help herself from smiling as she tucks in. She's learned well enough from the past that Apollo will talk to her when he's good and ready and it would be pointless to try to force him.

"You look good, Mr. D," she says, inhaling the jasmine steam from her teacup, allowing it to relax her.

Mr. D blinks, his eyelashes black and long, his expression curious and youthful as he looks back at her from under his long black curls. Then he shrugs. "It helps that with the world going down the toilet I no longer have any fucks to give. Thank you for the compliment."

Cecil stifles a snort as Mr. D sips his tea, his cheeks rosy, his pinky extended.

Apollo sinks to the floor beside Mr. D with an insufferable sigh and takes a teacup when Mr. D passes it to him. He concentrates on the ripples in the surface of his tea, frowning at them.

"I will admit, I have been more absent than I should be, especially to my Oracle. But see, there were just some things that had to happen in order to prevent even worse things from happening. Lou Ellen's trip to the Lotus Casino was not my idea."

His eyes widen as he'd just confessed to more than he meant to. He attempts to smooth over the slip by asking Rachel to pass him a sandwich.

"Wait," Rachel says, eyes narrowing. "You had a hand in putting Lou Ellen into that, that, ghost-like state she's in at the Big House, and you're telling me that she's actually at the Lotus Casino?"

Apollo frowns and grabs a sandwich for himself, reaching across the table. He takes a bite as Rachel glares daggers at him, then swallows. "Me? No."

"No?" Rachel demands. "Then what? It's hard to make heads or tails when I'm talking to you!"

"The past couple of years have been hard, alright? Harder on some of us than others."

Rachel rolls her eyes, her temper flaring. "I don't want to hear excuses right now. I'm supposed to tell you that Tartarus is rising. Hades has joined forces with Nyx to try to slow his progress, and ..."

"I know this already," Apollo says. He waves his hand distractedly.

"You mean it was a complete waste of my time coming here?" Mr. D pops open a diet coke, and Rachel glares at him.

"Don't mind me," he says. Cecil clears his throat. Mr. D turns to him, his eyes half-lidded as if he's bored. "What?"

"Th-the prophecy," Cecil stammers. "It wasn't a waste because if you hadn't seen Lou Ellen, we wouldn't have the prophecy to go on. 'Cause I'm pretty sure the child of magic it refers to is Lou Ellen."

Mr. D yawns. "Come again now? What's this new prophecy? Hurry it up too, I'm tuckered out and ready to turn in for the night."

Rachel forces herself to calm down. She needs to get through this night, and as much as she had wanted Apollo to be available to talk, to listen, it's not as satisfying as she'd hoped it would be. He seems to know a lot more than he's willing to share, and that reminds her of her dad's many business deals. How he'd hold his true motives to his chest and only present the positive details in front of her. She can't help feel a similar sense of betrayal. When she'd first learned about the environmental impact her dad was responsible for, it had ripped her heart out. She mentally prepares herself to have the same thing happen with Apollo, hating herself for doubting him and yet, unable to not do it.

Cecil nudges her in the side.

"What? Oh, right. The prophecy." There will be time enough to dwell on her feelings. Now, she needs to do her job. She empties her mind, focusing all of her attention to the Oracle, calling up the words. 

The child of Magic in limbo stretched thin.
Another of meek, unintentional sin.

Unite the siblings forgotten by time.
Heal the rift on the back of a dime.

Victory if the charge resonates from the West.
Eastern seeds sown will reap tears and new death.

Sunbeams break through Erebus
Fulfilling the Inheritance.

Mr. D hums under his breath. "Well, that's deep."

Rachel shakes off her relaxed state and stares at him, offended.

"What?" Mr. D says. "It's clear to me that since you are in the east and victory comes from the west, you ought to hustle your butt back to tell your friends on the other side, 'cause a scrawny little Hermes brat and a mortal wisp of an oracle ain't gonna cut it."

Rachel purses her lips and stares at Apollo, sending a mental message to him with all her will, even as he pretends not to notice.

You owe me, dude. The least you could do to make things right is to get us to Camp Jupiter fast.

Apollo finally looks at her from under annoyed eyebrows. "Alright. Fine. I'll drive you. Then we're even and you can't kick me out of your cave."

Rachel smirks, but it's only half-hearted. Having a guaranteed ride back to Reyna alleviates some of her stress, and exhaustion weighs her body down all at once. She yawns.

Apollo pokes Mr. D with his elbow. "How about it, bro? Can I hang with you while this chick catches a few Zs?"

Mr. D makes a grumpy face, but looking as young as he does, it's less effective than it would have been in his dumpy, middle-aged form. "I suppose." He turns to Rachel and Cecil and raises a finger in warning. "No funny business between you two, understand? You'd better spend the next six hours or so sleeping." He climbs to his feet along with Apollo, his fussy attitude clashing with his fancy leotard. "A shower wouldn't kill you either; you smell like car exhaust."

The gods disappear in a burst of purple and gold flames.

"Uh," Cecil says. "If you want me to scram, I'll understand. But I do want to come along. If the Camp Jupiter guys are gonna go after Lou Ellen, I want to be there."

Rachel nods. She gets it. If it was Reyna who was lifeless in the infirmary and the rest of her consciousness somehow off in a hotel where time stood still, she wouldn't be eager to miss out on going after her.

"It's fine if you want to stay here. Just grab a blanket and stay on your side of the couch. I'm gonna go decontaminate myself and then catch a few winks."