orenda [leo valdez]

lxxv. Apollo Has a Problem with Controlling His Mouth

Kira bit her lip. "I'll take him on," She murmured, but everyone stared at her.

"You're in not condition to do anything." Leo spoke, but Kira glared at him. "I mean, uh-you could do it if you wanted to."

"Lityerses is right," Apollo said. "Commodus received a prophecy from the Dark Oracle. He needs to destroy this place and kill me before he can have his naming ceremony tomorrow afternoon. Which means he'll strike in the morning. He's not a fan of waiting for what he wants."

"Stop agreeing with him," Kira grumbled.

"We could ssssslither away," suggested Sssssarah. "Move. Hide. Live to fight another day."

At the back of the crowd, the ghost Agamethus pointed empathically to the dracaena, obviously agreeing with her idea.

Josephine shook her head. "I'm not slithering anywhere. This is our home."

Calypso nodded. "And if Emmie and Jo are staying put, so are we. They saved our lives. We'll fight to the death for them. Right, Leo, Kira?"

"Absolutely. Though I've already done the whole dying thing, so I'd prefer to fight to someone else's death. For instance, Commode Man's—"

"Leo," Calypso warned.

"Yeah, we're in. They'll never get past us."

Beside him, Kira nodded. "I'm in."

Jimmy slipped to the front through a line of Hunters. Despite his size, he moved as gracefully as Agamethus, almost as if floating.

"I owe you a debt." He inclined his head to the Hunters, to Meg and me, to Josephine and Emmie. "You saved me from the madman's prison. But I hear much talk about us and them. I am always wary when people speak this way, as if people can be so easily divided into friend and enemy. Most of us here do not even know each other."

The big man swept a hand across the crowd: Hunters, ex-Hunters, an ex-god, an ex-Titaness, demigods, a snake woman, a couple of griffins, a decapitated ghost. And downstairs, they had an elephant named Livia.

"Also, this one." Jimmy pointed to Lityerses. Jimmy's voice remained a sonorous rumble. "Is he now a friend? Am I to fight side by side with my enslaver?"

Hunter Kowalski brandished her screwdriver. "Not likely."

"Wait!" Apollo yelped. "Lityerses can be useful. Lityerses knows Commodus's plans. He knows what sort of forces will attack us. And Lityerses's life is at stake, just like ours are."

He explained how Commodus had ordered Lit's death, and how Lityerses had stabbed his former master in the neck.

"That doesssss not make me trussssst him," Sssssarah hissed.

The crowd grumbled in agreement. A few Hunters reached for their weapons.

"Hold it!" Emmie climbed onto the dining table.

Her long hair had come undone from its braid, strands of silver sweeping the sides of her face. Her hands were splotchy with bread dough. Over her camouflage combat clothes, she wore an apron with a picture of a hamburger and the slogan KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY BUNS.

Still, the hard gleam in her eyes made Kira not want to mess with her. Standing on the table, she was the room's calm, steady center of gravity.

"For those of you who don't know me," she began, "my name is Hemithea. Jo and I run the Waystation. We never turn away people who are in trouble, even former enemies." She nodded to Lityerses. "We attract outcasts here—orphans and runaways, folks who've been abused, mistreated, or misled, folks who just don't feel at home anywhere else."