Chapter Fifteen
Drastia snarled and lunged for me. I didn't move, intending to protect Teslius. Drastia slammed into me and sent us flying through the air to slam into one of the few walls left standing, causing it to shudder and crumble on top of us.
Drastia darted out to run, but I slashed at her back and shrieked, whirling around to slash her claws at me, but I ducked and rolled out of the way, glancing over to where Teslius was to make sure he was safe before I whirled back to Drastia, who tackled me to the ground and leapt off me to go after Teslius, but I slashed the backs of her knees, causing her to screech and go down, tumbling headfirst over a pile of stone and plaster.
I shot to my feet and slashed at her again, but she ducked and flung her hand out at me, sending a gold bolt smashing into the sword and while it remained undamaged, it flew from my hand and stuck into a nearby wall. I cursed, whirling around as Drastia scrambled with bloody legs to get to Teslius, holding her hand out with the intention to blast him when another blast shot out and slammed into Drastia, sending her smashing into another pile of rock.
I turned to see Ares standing nearby, breathing hard with blood running from his temple. His sunglasses were pushed up on his head, his dark hair matted to his forehead near the bloody cut and his leather pants were torn.
"Ares," I exclaimed, moving toward him and he gave me a two-fingered salute, "I need to drag Drastia's soul out to destroy her, but I can't do that with Teslius here. Take him to Hannibal and Arikos in the dining room across the hall." Ares gave me a nod and moved for Teslius just as Drastia was dragging herself out of a pile of rubble. She shrieked as she spotted Ares going after her prey, and I flung my hand out at the same time Ares did, sending two god bolts plowing into her and smashing her into the rubble.
Ares scooped Teslius up over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing and vanished on the spot as Drastia shot back to her feet and a pulse through the air indicated she was planning to follow him, but I threw a wave of blue shield at her, slamming into her and sending her careening into another wall that broke under her weight.
I flashed over to her and held my hand back, gathering up the power of the disdora ability in the palm of my hand. Drastia flipped to her feet and lunged for me, sinking her fangs down into my shoulder. I snarled and grabbed hold of her, twisting her body away from me and slamming my palm into her back.
She screeched, making my ears ring beneath a layer of muffled sound as I forced the disdora through her and a second later, the black orb sparking with red electricity to indicate Drastia's soul was in the palm of my hand. Sweat poured down the sides of my face as Kali's body slumped to the ground and she fell on her face, dead.
A small twinge of pain went through me, but hearing her words about Teslius only hardened me as I turned away and looked down at Drastia's soul writhing and thrashing in my hand, a tiny scream echoing from within.
I slammed my fist around it, hissing as it burned my palm. Scorch marks leapt up around my blistered skin as I squeezed as hard as I could, the scream ringing out louder and louder, until there was a crack, followed by a crunching sound and I opened my palm to allow the dust to pour past my hand. I shook my hand out, blinking in relief.
Christ, it actually worked.
Relieved, I turned tail and ran for the dining room where Ares had laid Teslius on what was left of a table while Arikos leaned against the wall by Hannibal, who must have passed out because he was slumped with his face against Arikos's leg.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked, looking at Ares, who snorted as he removed his sunglasses to rake a hand through his dark hair, shaking out the dust.
"Emergency bunker," He responded and when I frowned, Ares gave me a grim stare, "Zeus had them installed, but only the gods are allowed to enter." I tensed at something that hadn't even been told to me. While I was technically a god, I suppose my Atlantean blood made me expendable.
"Then why aren't you with them?" Arikos asked, pushing off the wall and helping Hannibal lay down to avoid face planting on the rocks.
"I'm not a coward," He answered dryly, then paused to put on his sunglasses again, glancing up at the sky that was dark with storm clouds, so he didn't necessarily need the sunglasses, but I had a feeling he was using them to hide the glint of red in his normally blue irises, "Besides, not everyone ducked for cover. Athena, Dionysus, and Hermes went to warn the other creatures in the market. Aphrodite is going to check on our children. But it looks like the damage is gone for now." Arikos nodded at that, then paused to grimace at Teslius.
"Why did you bring him here?" He asked. Ares turned his head to look at me silently and I frowned.
"Teslius... needed my help." I said after a moment. Arikos frowned.
"What, being an asshole?"
"Arikos-"
"No," Arikos cut me off abruptly, surprising me by the hardness of his voice, his silver eyes flashing coldly, "I don't want to know. I'm taking Hannibal back to the temple and going to check on Menoetius. I don't want to be anywhere near that guy. I'm done dealing with the Khalian." He stooped down, and with some effort, managed to pick Hannibal up under the arms, teleporting themselves away. I sighed, turning to look at Ares, who was studying Teslius with a cock head before looking at me.
"Zeus is going to pitch a fit if he's not restrained."
"I don't think he's going to fight," I answered grimly, "At least, he won't be able to fight hard enough... Poseidon, Heracles, and Artemis were the ones who went after him." Ares's eyes darkened.
"Heracles?" He asked. I nodded. From what I could see with Ares's sunglasses obscuring his eyes, something told me Ares's relationship with Heracles was a strained one. The demigod son of Zeus was one of his favored and the love and affection Zeus showed him definitely inflated his ego to the size of Egypt, tainting his soul too much to enter Elysium. Now he was a member of Olympus, a spoiled bad boy with an attitude problem.
"Anyway," I said with a frustrated sigh, "I'm not sure what to do with him. I don't want Zeus to hurt him. Is there anyway you can convince Zeus to let you hang onto him? I know it's a lot to ask, Ares, and I have no right to-"
"Don't worry about it," Ares interrupted, making me look at him in relief, and he almost looked uncomfortable with my murmured "thank you, so he cleared his throat and looked at Teslius, "I'll manage something. What about you? Apollo's bound to come looking for you." I nodded.
"But first I need to find someone. Do you know what Zeus did with the merman Apollo brought from Atlantis?" I asked. Ares's eyes darkened.
"Merman?" He asked. I grimaced.
"Yeah. I take it by the question you don't know."
"I don't, but if I were you, I'd get him somewhere else. Fast." Without elaborating, Ares heaved Teslius up once again and vanished on the spot. I frowned, confused by Ares's response before I went to pick through the rubble. Part of me was hoping to find Kallisto, but another part of me was terrified I wouldn't find him in the same state I'd last seen him in. Thankfully, but also nerve-wrackingly, I didn't find a single trace of Kallisto and my time had drawn considerably short as a tingle down my spine indicated someone was teleporting nearby.
I turned just in time to have Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and several other Olympians appear on the steps of the rubble as I sat on one of the stair steps. I rose as they approached, Zeus glaring around at the mess that had once been his temple. As soon as he spotted me, he beelined a path to me and snatched at the front of my shirt.
"This is your fault," He sneered, making me narrow my eyes at him, "You and the rest of that Atlantean pantheon. You were supposed to stay gone after it sank. I never should've allowed you bastards into my sanctuary." I glared at him, trying to shove his hand off me to no avail.
"And I told you gathering them in one place was a bad idea," A voice said and we turned to see Athena approaching with Hermes, Aphrodite, and Dionysus flanking her, "It was only a matter of time before one of them retaliated. You can't collect that much unstable power in one place, father."
"Athena's right," Hermes agreed, reaching up to shake dust from his blonde curls before frowning at Zeus, who roughly released me, "We can't keep the Khalian here."
"I'm not releasing them either," Zeus snarled, "It's our only shot at attractive Atlan to us and capturing him ourselves." I laughed out loud at that and Zeus whirled on me, snatching my throat, but I still smirked at him.
"You still don't get it, do you, my lord? Atlan is ten times more powerful than the Khalian all combined. You can't trick him and you can't capture him. Atlan probably already knows what you have planned and is giddy like a child on Halloween with his candy bag. You've put all the candy in his bag and now he's just waiting for the right moment to savor them all at once. If anything, Atlan has his own plan that involves you bound in chains." Zeus's eyes darkened.
"Is that a threat?" He sneered.
"I told you he was working with Atlan," Artemis quipped, making the other gods glare at her, but she stuck her nose in the air and ignored them as she approached Zeus, "How else would he know if Atlan has a plan?"
"He has this thing called a brain," Dionysus said, waving his two fingers apart mockingly, "Don't worry, Arti, you might get one some day." Artemis's eyes flared and she bared her fangs at him. Dionysus, never a violent god, actually returned the snarl with one of his own, but Aphrodite grabbed his hand and squeezed to calm him. Dionysus clenched his teeth and Artemis curled her lip, raking him with a sneer.
"Yes, but at least he's a full god. You're nothing, but a bastard by blow." She responded venomously. Dionysus actually winced. Apparently he wasn't as proud to be a demigod as he had claimed all these centuries, and seeing the god, who normally was so friendly and open, actually flinch snapped my temper and I threw my hand out to attack Artemis, but Zeus caught my wrist and twisted it sharply, shoving me down onto the steps, grinding my face against the rubble while twisting my arm painfully behind my back.
"How dare you raise a hand to her," Zeus barked, his blue eyes flashing gold, then back again as his fangs elongated, "You are nothing, but a slave here and once we have Atlan, you will be useless as will the rest of your siblings."
"Enough," Athena shouted, making Zeus snap his head to glare at her and she returned his glare with one of her own. "Father, enough, please. This is no time for us to become riled. I understand your fears. The Atlanteans are a force to be reckoned with, but we must set aside our differences to focus on the task at hand and that's protecting ourselves from Atlan. The plan to capture is flawed. Our intent, once protection has been established, should be death."
"Agreed," Poseidon said suddenly, making Zeus glare at him, sputtering indignantly and Poseidon scoffed, "Don't be stupid, brother. What Athena says is true. Atlan is extremely powerful. Even Cronus and Rhea feared him. He's a poison to this universe and we must purge him."
"Finally," Demeter spoke up from behind Poseidon, making everyone look at her as she stepped forward to rake Zeus with a less than approving sneer, "You should've just listened to Hades since the very beginning to kill Atlan." Zeus roared and went to attack her, but Poseidon deflected the lightning bolt into the sky, causing it to rumble as dark clouds swallowed it.
"Never speak his name to me, whore," Zeus's voice boomed with the thunder overhead and Demeter hesitated, but Poseidon was there to put his arm against her chest in protection, "Atlan's capture is more than just to prove a point to the other pantheons that the Greeks are not to be trifled with! His capture could allow us to drain his powers. I have a way to drain him and kill him so it won't rupture the Source. And ironically, it's all thanks to that piece of shit Underworld god that we know this." I narrowed my eyes, wanting so badly to tell them that there was more than one way to kill a Source god.
And that other way was currently sitting in Apollo temple sleeping off a Heaven's Kiss.
Not many people knew about Hannibal's special ability to kill a god connected to the Source without rupturing the universe. Ares, also, had the same ability, but prophecy dictated Hannibal would do it.
No, that Hannibal had to do it. He'd already rejected the Atlantean throne, which was going to throw off the balance in a way that surely had the Death gods screaming in outrage. They probably had their own special meeting to discuss Hannibal's stubborn idiocy.
While I adored my cousin to death, his refusal to take the throne was an outrage, not just to the Death gods. Granted the throne was as tainted as that of the Greek pantheon, it didn't change the fact that every throne, cursed or not, needed a king. Someone to keep the natural order, someone to control the rest of the pantheon and while a portion of the Atlantean pantheon had defected into Atlan's evil ploy, not all of them had followed.
At least several dozen Atlantean gods and spirits had claimed neutral ground and refused to play a part in Atlan's ridiculous world domination plot. They were just glad to be out of the Source.
"We need a plan," Athena reiterated, this time more calmly, "We need to sit down and think this through."
"How can I do that when my temple is destroyed?" Zeus seethed heatedly. Athena gave him a droll stare.
"Father, you are the king of Olympus and god of all Greek gods. Don't tell me you didn't have a back-up plan for something like this." She said. Zeus didn't answer, just glared at her, then stormed off to dig through the wreckage of his temple. Everyone watched him go, not a one following him, before Athena turned to me.
"What happened?" She asked. I frowned.
"The Kirati, Drastia, had possessed Xeli, then Kali. Drastia was the Kirati of catastrophe. She could jump into bodies and gather their power until they imploded. I managed to rip her soul out and destroy it." I responded. Athena arched a brow, impressed. Poseidon's eyes glowed at that.
"You can remove souls?" He asked. I nodded.
"The power I use wasn't meant for it, though," I admitted grimly, "And I can only use it so many times. I'm a protection god, not a god of destruction, therefore most of my abilities are defensive, not offensive." Poseidon nodded in understanding and Athena frowned thoughtfully, folding her arms over her chest and tapping her chin.
"That could prove to be useful." She mused. Demeter sighed in frustration.
"We need to do that whole planning thing as soon as possible," She paused to pass an irritated glare at Zeus, who was kicking a block of plaster and sending it flying into the trees, scaring off a group of tree spirits, "We can't bother with Zeus. He's got a one track mind and for once, I wish it was on chasing a woman or man, not capturing Atlan."
"Which is impossible," I stated, making everyone look at me, "Atlan isn't stupid enough to get captured, at least, not unless it's on purpose, which would very, very bad for us. We need to find a way to hit Atlan fast and unfortunately the only person who can do that is Hannibal."
"The hybrid?" Dionysus asked.
"Yup," Everyone turned as Ares approached us with his sunglasses down, his walk a predatorial lope, "The Moirai's prophecy claims that only the hybrid of Greek and Atlantean blood can destroy Atlan and his minions, safely restoring their powers to the Source, and save the universe. His mixed blood is supposed to represent a truce between the two pantheons." He approached Aphrodite, who grabbed his arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek, patting his chest to make sure he was alright, and in a rare moment, Ares's mouth twitched like he wanted to smile, but he stayed cool in the presence of the other gods.
"Absolutely not," Poseidon exclaimed angrily, "We can't let the Atlanteans survive after this. I say we grab us some nukes and take to the realm and leave it as radioactive as Chernobyl for the next three millennia." Demeter glared at him.
"We can't do that, idiot. We don't have the power to destroy the gods without rupturing the Source, so my question," She said, turning to me, "Is how can the hybrid do that in the first place?"
"Prophecy," Ares answered for me, much to my relief because I had no idea how to lie to her, and Demeter raked Ares with a suspicious glare, "When the Moirai receive prophecy from the Source, the Source will allow those gods to be taken in order to restore balance. Why do you think Zeus was allowed to kill Menoetius and the other Titans?" Demeter narrowed her eyes at that, but didn't argue with it.
"Anyway," Hermes said slowly, drawing everyone's attention to the task at hand, "We need to call a meeting of our own to discuss the plan to destroy Atlan. It's clear Zeus has his own plans. We'll play his game while starting one of our own."
"No Zeus allowed," Dionysus agreed, "I like that idea."
"Yeah, and if Zeus finds out about our secret club and decides to toss our asses in Tartarus?" Poseidon asked dryly. Demeter gave him a droll stare, folding her arms over her chest.
"Is the big bad sea god afraid of his ity bity brother?" She asked. Poseidon wrinkled his nose in displeasure, but he didn't argue with that, which said a lot about how intimidating Zeus was.
"Tomorrow at sunset," Athena declared, "We'll meet in the Northern Gardens of Persephone. In the mean time, let's fix what the Kirati destroyed. Callias, I think it best that you return to Apollo." I nodded and vanished, leaving them to their work, still feeling heartsick over Kallisto. I had wanted to ask the other gods, but something in my gut told me not to, so I returned to the temple, appearing in the receiving room where Apollo, Menoetius, and Arikos were at.
"Callias!" Apollo instantly ran to me, grabbing me in his arms. I winced at his tight hug, confused that he had gone from angry to frightened in as little as three hours. He stepped back to grab my face, studying me left and right, scanning me for wounds.
"What the hell happened?" Menoetius demanded as Apollo finally stepped away to give me time to breath.
"There's a meeting tomorrow at sunset to discuss the next plan," I explained quickly, "Zeus knows nothing about it. He's too focused on trying to capture Atlan and we don't have time or resources to waste on that. We have to kill him and by we, I mean Hannibal. The incident today with the Kirati Drastia was just too close a call. The gods are riled up and terrified." Arikos snorted.
"About time. Did they think this was a friendly game of basus or something? We're fighting Atlanteans, not children." He said, making a reference to a competitive Atlantean game involving skipping rocks across water surfaces. Apollo raked a hand through his hair in frustration, stepping back to consider my words and Menoetius's frown deepened.
"Will Hannibal be able to do anything by then? He's been sleeping since Arikos brought him back." He tacked on. I nodded.
"The Heaven's Kiss probably faded by now. I want to check on him to make sure he's doing alright. We'll discuss the matter of Atlan further detail over dinner. I'm starving." I muttered. For once, Apollo didn't argue and went to go alert Denarius while Menoetius and Arikos took me to Hannibal's room where he was laying haphazardly on the bed, an arm tucked underneath of him and the other hugging a pillow close to him, his hair was beautiful mess around his face.
I sat on the edge of the bed, placing my hand on his back and sending a wave of gentle power through his body to ensure his injuries were mostly healed and to check the status of the Heaven's Kiss. Hannibal twitched for a moment, then his eyes flickered up to peer up at me and he managed a low moan before his eyes slid shut again.
"Master.... no strangers in the room... hungry..." His voice trailed off into a soft snore and he was out again. I smiled, brushing the hair back from his face before standing up to face Menoetius and Arikos at the door.
"He'll be fine. He's healed and still a bit sleepy. We'll let him rest for now and bring something to him later when the Heaven's Kiss wears off. It can make someone a bit nauseous when they first wake up." I added. Arikos sighed in relief, leaning against the door frame.
"Thank the gods," He said, then pushed off the wood to look at Hannibal in relief, "He'll be pissed if he missed out on an important meeting. And Akin would kill us and I like all my limbs attached." I chuckled at that before making my way out of the room with Arikos, only to pause when I noticed Menoetius hadn't followed us. We shared quick looks before heading back to the room, but Arikos grabbed me and we pulled up short coming to the doorway. We hesitated and peered inside to see Menoetius leaning over the bed, dipping his head down to touch his lips to Hannibal's temple, his hand very, very tenderly brushing Hannibal's hair back, practically petting him.
"You're okay, akribos." Menoetius whispered in the softest of tones. Hannibal simply sighed in his sleep and Menoetius yanked his hand back like he'd touched fire, gripping his hand with the other so tight I'm surprised he didn't rip it off. His teeth ground together tightly and he moved a few steps back.
"Come on." Arikos said softly, taking me away from the doorway. I frowned, confused at the sight of Menoetius, the titan of rage and violence, the ever statue and model soldier, behaving so gently, so sweetly with Hannibal, of all people. At my confused expression, Arikos smiled a bit sadly.
"I never thought I'd see Menoetius so..." My voice trailed. I was unsure which word to use, but Arikos shook his head.
"Menoetius is in love with him, hardcore," He answered, and at my raised eyebrows, he shrugged, "Who wouldn't be? Hannibal's... different. There's really something about him that you can't resist." I frowned.
"Do you love him also?" I asked. Arikos hesitated, getting a faraway look on his face, before a smile touched his lips and he shook his head.
"Maybe at first, but I think it was just the fact that Hannibal was the first person to take my hand and not hit me. Now, I see him as family. Family that I would die to protect. Hannibal's a good, good person. He deserves happiness and he gets that with Akin and I can't think of anyone better to take care of him than Akin." He explained. I nodded at that, still trying to cope with the idea that Menoetius still loved Hannibal. I'd heard horror stories of what Hannibal's family had done to him and to think Menoetius, of all people, was the one who loved him.
I would've called Arikos a liar, but the kind of love and affection on Menoetius's face when he touched Hannibal was not something that could be faked so easily. Menoetius adored him, and I wondered how he felt that Hannibal was hopelessly devoted to Akin. It was almost tragic, but then, they were of Greek blood, so it didn't surprise me that theirs was a complicated relationship.
"So, what did you do with Teslius?" Arikos asked, making me blink and glance at him, but he had his eyes averted, body tense. I frowned.
"Ares took him. I didn't want Zeus to give him to Poseidon. Teslius, though not perfect in the least, doesn't deserve what the god has planned for him." I responded. Arikos snorted, but he didn't say anything more than that as we entered the kitchen to find Denarius cooking, his sister, Delilah, hovering around him until she spotted us and a big smile hit her face.
"Callias! Hey," She greeted excitedly, "Sorry for dropping in so suddenly, but Denarius refused to let me go anywhere with the mess at the grand hall. Though, to be honest, anywhere away from Zeus is fine by me." I raised an eyebrow, caught off guard by her perkiness and Denarius gave me an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, she drank coffee this morning." He offered. Delilah elbowed him in the ribs, then smiled at me before looking at Arikos, who stared back at her curiously.
"Hi," She said cheerfully, "My name's Delilah. You must be Arikos. Denarius talks a lot about you." Denarius's cheeks pinkened at that and he made a noise of distress, to which Arikos grinned.
"Yeah? Ah, who wouldn't? I'm pretty studly." He responded, making Delilah laugh. Denarius rolled his eyes and looked away. I smiled at that as I moved to stand beside him.
"Hannibal is going to need some food later, so do you mind wrapping some up as leftovers?" I asked. Denarius nodded.
"Sure thing," he said, then paused with a frown, "Also, Apollo wanted me to tell you that he needs to see you. I'm not sure what it's about, but he looks kind of pissy." I nodded, murmuring a thank you before departing from the kitchen to head toward our room. A bit of anxiety welled up inside me, but I prepared myself for the worst. Last time I'd scared him like this, he'd slapped me and fucked me for about half an hour. Would the same happen again, or was he just going to settle for locking me up again?
Aggravated by the reminder, I approached the door to our bedroom before opening it to see that Apollo was sitting on the bed with his laptop, hair pulled into a ponytail and a chip in his mouth from a bag that sat near his feet. He looked up when I entered and quickly stood up, setting his laptop aside. I frowned, noticing he didn't look as angry as Denarius said he was. Then again, Apollo tended to get nasty around other people, even Denarius.
"Callias," He greeted, then paused to scowl, "Or Anexius. Which one do you want?" I stared at him.
"I prefer Anexius, but you're my master. You can name me whatever you want." I answered. Apollo gave me a sour glare, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the bedpost.
"I should call you stubborn jackass," He said, making me shrug innocently, "But I still have some shred of decency where you're concerned. Besides, you look more like an Anexius than a Callias anyway." I lifted a brow slowly at that, watching him push off the bed post and pace the room, the look on his face one of deep thought.
"Is the reason you called me here to discuss my name?" I asked. Apollo paused to look at me, then grimaced and looked away, rubbing at the back of his neck before he glared at me now. Talk about an abrupt shift in moods. He should seriously consider getting evaluated for bipolar disorder. He was almost as bad as his father.
"You know, you get me into a lot of fucking trouble," He started, but he didn't really sound angry so much as reluctant, "You got me in trouble with Zeus so we could go on some stupid misadventure to see a dead guy who didn't even want to see you, and then you come running to me to save some stupid fish guy, even though he attacked us and he seriously deserves some kind of punishment." I relaxed at that. It sounded more like a rant. I knew he didn't want commentary, but I couldn't resist considering he was talking about me anyway.
"You didn't have to accompany me to Xandria, Apollo."
"No, but I wanted to." Apollo grumbled, embarrassed. I smiled lightly at that. Why couldn't Apollo stay this bashful all the time instead of reverting to a grouchy child?
"You're very lucky, Apollo," I said, making him blink and look up at me in confusion, "For over eight thousand years or so, I dreamt of meeting Dexius again. All these silly fantasizes of how we would reunite and never be apart again, but it was a one-sided dream. Dexius didn't welcome me the way I had hoped." He scowled.
"Then he's stupid." He said. I shook my head.
"He opened my eyes to what I am."
"And what is that?"
"A god," I replied, making Apollo frown, "A cold selfish son of a bitch god, like all the other gods in the world. I wish for myself. I help only myself. I think only of myself. I deserved Dexius's hatred and his scorn, and to be honest, I deserve Atlan's punishment." Apollo's eyes widened.
"No, Anexius-"
"Apollo," I cut him off, approaching him to take his hand in mine, dragging my thumb across his bruised, scarred knuckles, drawing his hand to kiss it before looking up at his concerned face, "You piss me off so many times that I've wanted to hit you, but you're one of the few gods in this world who isn't a self-centered asshole. You built an entire garden dedicated to a mere mortal. I know you cry at night when you remember Hyacinth and I know you only seek my comfort in bed to replace the one Hyacinth gave you and yet it still doesn't fill that emptiness inside you." Apollo winced and went to withdraw his hand, but I pulled him back to me and he swallowed tightly, features pinched.
"You've helped me more than you could ever know," I told him, making him tilt his head, looking down at me with darkened blue eyes, "I hope one day I can return the favor." Apollo was turning pink now. My seriousness was making him uneasy and I found an odd little thrill in it, but forced myself to purge it as Apollo withdrew from me, rubbing his hand where I had touched it.
"Uh, speaking of which," He said slowly, making me look at him in curiosity, "I may or may not have done something else for you." I stared at him.
"What did you do?" I asked. Concerned he may have done something obscenely stupid that could result in severe punishment from his father, I waited in anxious expectation as Apollo waved me to follow him and we left the bedroom to go down the hallway, turning abruptly to the left and walking out into the garden.
Despite the destruction at Zeus's temple, the garden was untouched. Gorgeous layers of brightly colored hyacinths that swayed in the wind, and I felt the brush of something past me, and a smile touched my lips as I felt Hyacinth following us. For a moment, I swore I saw his image flicker past, his hand brushing past Apollo's arm, and I saw the sun god flinch.
"Apollo-"
"It's in the pool house." Apollo cut me off before I could speak. I respected his decision not to discuss Hyacinth's presence. It probably pained him to know that Hyacinth's spirit really was here, yet he could do nothing for the Spartan prince, not touch him or speak to him.
A second later, we were approaching Apollo's pool house just on the other side of the garden to the left of it. The building was quite large, and had to be in order to house the Olympic sized pool that Apollo used for parties with the nymphs on occasion. We entered the pool house, and I expected the chemical burn in my nostrils of chlorine and cleaning products for the mosaic tiles around the pool, but I could only smell clean fresh water.
My eyes widened in realization as I walked past Apollo to approach the poolside. Sure enough, a reddish gold tail fin shot past and a second later, Kallisto burst from the water in front of me, looking up into my face and spitting a stream of water out at me. I laughed, taking a step back.
"Kallisto, you're safe!" I exclaimed. Kallisto cocked his head, gripping the pool side.
Yes, Kallisto is mostly safe. Still not happy about Olympus place, but safer than with big god. Little god is better. He added, then dove back beneath the surface to continue swimming. I whirled around on Apollo, who tensed for some reason.
"How did you do this?" I managed. Apollo averted his eyes uncomfortably.
"There was so much going on at the palace that Zeus didn't even notice me inside. I went straight to the aquarium and got him out just a few minutes before the place exploded. I refilled the pool with water from the springs with the help of the nymphs and placed him here. I mean, he can't stay here for long, but-" I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Apollo grunted, then hesitantly hugged me back, resting his head against mine.
I pulled back to kiss him gently on the cheek, smiling at him.
"Thank you, Apollo. Thank you so much."
"Think nothing of it," Apollo responded, "He can probably stay here until the barrier is taken down. After that, though, you'll have to find somewhere else to put him." I nodded, then turned back to head to the poolside, removing my shoes to dip my feet in the water, sitting on the edge. Kallisto came shooting over to me, and I almost expected him to bite my toes off, but instead, he appeared just in front of my knees, his gold eyes reflecting the lights in the pool house overhead.
Little god is not so bad. He said. I smiled, glancing at Apollo to see if he heard, but Apollo appeared to have drifted over to check the pool water. I looked back at Kallisto, who stared up at me.
Cursed god... Anexius, also not so bad. He added. I smiled even more and Kallisto actually dipped further down toward the water so it came up to his lips, and he looked a little sheepish.
Kallisto... uh, not feeling mean anymore. If that was his idea of an apology, I'd take it. It was precious.
"That's good," I responded and he perked up at that, "I'm just glad you're alright, Kallisto. I was really worried there for a bit." Kallisto blinked, then cocked his head.
Worried? For Kallisto?
"Absolutely," I replied, baffled at his confusion, "When the grand hall was destroyed, I thought you were in it." Kallisto shook his head, then his expression darkened and he drew near, crooking his finger at me. I frowned, leaning down as he took my face in his hands, leaning in to my ear.
Kallisto worried too.
"Why?"
Before little god come for Kallisto, other big scary god was there. He looking for something.
Scary god?
"Kallisto, which god?" I asked. Kallisto looked back to look at me, and for the first time since I saw this merman, his gold eyes glinted with fear.
Atlan.