TAMING APOLLO | completed

36. at last, a different perspective

I bang the back of my head against the door, resenting Psyche for not allowing me to stay in the room with them. Maybe I could help, maybe I could do something to protect her.

The sound of heels clicking against the marble flooring forces me to glance into the distance, where wild curly locks are flowing behind Thalia, a troubled look flashing in her dark brown eyes.

Hercules is following behind her, panting heavily as another one of Gayle's screams emerge from the room.

A tear streams down Thalia's face at the sound, and she pushes her feet further and faster, eyes darting between Ariel and I.

"Wh- what happened?!" She heaves, stopping just before the door, looking down on me. Hercules stops just behind her, gripping her hand in his own to calm her down.

I force myself up from the ground and pull Thalia into a hug, feeling her arms wrap around my shoulders comfortingly.

I feel completely helpless.

A crease forms in the space between Thalia's eyebrows as she pats my back warmly. Even though she's comforting me, her face is pale, her whole body is frozen with fear and she doesn't quite understand what is happening.

So, I pull myself from her embrace and I start to explain everything. She notes every single one of my words, alongside Hercules who's lips are downturned into a frown. They both nod in understanding, and when I finally explain that Gayle might not make it, Thalia breaks. Tears are streaming down her freckled cheeks.

She hurls herself into Hercules' arms. He just wraps his arms around her as she cries. He, too has a grim expression on his face, but he remains calm for her, whispering sweet nothings in her ears to calm her down.

"I wasn't here for her." She mumbles to herself continuously on a loop, over and over.

Eventually it all calms down. I decide to take a walk to clear my head, silently hoping that Gayle is fine and awake by the time I return, that she's got some snarky remark for me when I open the doors.

I can just hear her now; I'm back, loser, and I'm starving, got any mac and cheese?

Despite her looking exactly like Cyrene, they are nothing like each other. Cyrene was always stiff and inflexible. She was always an orderly young princess with her node hiked up haughtily, looking down on everybody and everything, never at all changing it up.

While Gayle on the other hand, she's a wild spirit. She's yet to turn down an exciting new adventure and as impulsive as it gets.

She's just your average girl... yet she's so much more than that.

"Well, that isn't the face I'd expect to see on somebody who's about to get their long lost fated love back." Artemis' voice removes me from my thoughts.

Somehow, I've wound up by the bar.

My twin sister is sat on a bar stool, cradling a glass of whiskey in her hands. She's dressed in a black suit, like some kind of secret agent. I know Gayle would have a lot to say about that.

She slides a glass in my direction. I know that this is her way of telling me to sit down besides her, so I comply, taking the whisky into my hands and downing it all in one go.