Three and a half hours of nothing. Atlantis didn't know much about telling time by the position of the sun, but she could guess. After the first hour, her waterproof iPod died because she forgot to charge it and none of the servants had plugged it in. The siren sighed. She was tired, hungry, and bored out of her mind. The bubble her mother had made allowed Atlantis to breath and kept her hydrated, but did nothing to shade her. The sand was hot, the air was hot, even the water was hot when she touched it. The muscles in her tail throbbed and she had a massive headache. The siren's lips were cracked and bleeding. She groaned, trying not to think about the hunger nagging at her stomach.
Atlantis opened her pale green eyes and sat up. She must have fallen asleep, at least for a little bit because sand was stuck to her face. She brushed it off and looked, alarmed, at the sky. Giant storm clouds covered the entire horizon, blocking out the sun logic told her was still there. A few minutes after a steady rain began to fall, Atlantis saw lightning bolts striking the ocean and disappearing. She had no idea what it meant, so naturally feared the worst. On the bright side, the rain was refreshing, and after several failed attempts she found a way to collect and drink it.
It was during this time the siren heard a noise. Not like the raging storm or the billowing waves below, but a whooshing sound that grew louder and louder. Atlantis turned, and came face-to-face with the biggest bird she had ever seen. Having spent 90% of her life underwater, the siren only knew very, very little about birds. In fact, she only knew that birds 1) fly, 2) have feathers instead of skin or scales, and 3) (presumably) live on land. Atlantis had more knowledge about ducks and penguins, and she could tell this beast in front of her was neither. For one, it was huge, almost 6 feet tall. It had jet black feathers and two unblinking blue eyes that stared at her. Atlantis imagined the bird's clawed feet could rip her to shreds in an instant. The bird screeched at the siren, and she screamed. But just before Atlantis transformed, the great bird with its glossy black feathers, opened its wings and vanished. In its place, stood a young man around 20 with blonde hair past his shoulders. He had the same piercing blue eyes, but his smile was kind. Where had she seen him before?
"Sorry if I scared you. I kind of forgot you've probably never seen a crow before."
Atlantis seemed frozen in place. "Do- do I know you?"
"Of course you know me!" he smiled. "I am the coolest," he paused, then counted to seven on his fingers. "Thing you have ever witnessed. The name's Apollo."
"You're the one who gave me the guitar pick!"
"Yes, I am. And that was a haiku, by the way. An awesome haiku, if I don't say so myself."
The siren nodded once. "Why are you here, Apollo?"
"I love the way you say my name, say it again."
"Um, Apollo."
"Sorry, what was that?"
The siren frowned, then growled, "Apollo."
"You're so cute when you get mad." He ruffled her hair, which made her angry. The siren transformed and hissed menacingly at the god. Apollo held up his hands and stepped back. "Alright, alright. I get it."
She went back to normal. "Tell me why you're here."
"We're on a date!"
"A WHAT?! Since when did I agreed to go on a date with you?"
"You didn't actually look at the pick, did you? Give it here." The siren fished it out her shirt pocket and tossed it to him. "It clearly states here: 37.3963° N, 25.2689° E, Noon."
Atlantis raised an eyebrow. "And? What in Hades does that mean?"
"Seriously, daughter of the sea god?" The siren cast a sorry glance toward the ocean, which was still raging. Apollo didn't notice. "It's the longitude and latitude. And a time." He added.
"Right, I remember that now. But where is-" She gestured to the numbers. "that?"
"That is my- our house." He sighed. "Yes, I own an island. It's awesome, I know. No need to shower me with compliments on my wonderful achievements."
"I think you're the only one showering yourself with compliments." Atlantis said, annoyed. She decided to change the subject slightly. "So you're the god of music?"
He smiled. "Of course I am! Do you have any requests?"
"Food would be nice." The siren admitted.
"That's not a song." Apollo said flatly. "Being a siren, I thought you would know that. No offense, but you're a lot stupider than I thought you were."
"Offense taken!" Atlantis said quickly. "If anything, you're the stupid one! I was requesting food, meaning I'm hunger."
"Well why didn't you say so?!"
The siren smacked her forehead and drug her hand down her face, groaning. "Just let go it, Atlantis. Just let it go."
The god of music started singing, earning him a slap from the siren. "Everyone hates that song. Now shut up and bring me food."
He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "No need to be so bossy. You're not a prin- Oh wait. Well, I'm not your servant."
Atlantis counted on her fingers, negating each of his arguments. "I'm not being bossy, I'm helping you to avoid hangry siren mode. My parents are king and queen of the sea and I am their daughter. So by definition, I am¬ a princess. And lastly, as you declared, we are apparently on a date. Which means you love me. Which means you strive to obey my every wish, as if customary to the males of your species."
"Huh? Could you un-Athena that last one for me?"
"You mean dumb it down because you're too stupid to understand. Like I said earlier."
Apollo growled in response. He did not like being tricked. "Fine. I'll go get her Majesty something to eat!" The god stalked off to see if there was even any prey on tiny speck of land. Spotting a herd of deer, he snapped his fingers and shifted into a young buck. This is what Apollo called trick hunting. The god lingered among the deer for a while until a doe seemed to take interest in him. He slowly led her away from the group and all the way to the edge of the forest. Why drag it when it can walk? But the deer refused to go further onto the beach. 'That's close enough.' Apollo thought. He turned back into a human and shot the doe, killing it before it realized what happened. Atlantis stared in horror and inhaled sharply when the arrow pierced the deer's eye. "What did you do?!" she cried.
"Well I didn't want to drag it back to the beach so I figured it could walk." The god frowned as he realized that wasn't the real problem. "You've never seen a dead animal before, have you?"
"I've seen dead fish before, but-" It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Which almost made Apollo want to go to wherever deer spirits went (Hades?) and resurrect the doe. "But- not like this! I don't even know what animal that was!!"
"It was a deer, more specifically, a doe. Males are called bucks." Strangely, this information did nothing to console the siren.
Luckily for him, Atlantis seemed to have gotten over her shock on her own. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Um." Apollo tried to think of a way to say, 'skin, cook, and eat it' without horrifying her even more than he already had. Fortunately, he didn't have to because Artemis suddenly appeared in a burst of silver light. Unfortunately, that was the same instant he remembered that deer are scared to his twin sister. Maybe she won't notice.
"Where have you-" Artemis started, then looked past her technically younger brother. "You killed a deer. One of the only animals that is actually sacred to me. Moreover, you killed a doe." In one move, the goddess was standing over her brother, the silver tip of an arrow resting precariously on his neck. Artemis only held it back with two fingers. "That said, would you mind telling me why?" She said in a rather cheerful tone.
The Sun god's blue eyes stared, transfixed, at the arrow as he frantically tried to think of some way not to be impaled. "I didn't kill the doe." He lied. "Atlantis did."
"She stole your bow, at least your arrows. That you won't even let me touch. And then she hit the deer in the eye. Atlantis, I'm going to assume you can't shoot a bow very well, if at all, given where you live."
The siren nodded. "We don't really use them. Honestly, they're quite ineffective underwater. Like you'd have to be within 15 feet for it to hurt you."
"Please don't hurt me." Apollo squeaked.
His twin sighed. "Fine, I won't hurt you." He sighed in relief as Artemis returned the arrow to its quiver. "At least, not here."
"Wait, what?" Apollo went pale as the goddess grabbed him and they both vanished.
"Apparently neither of them realized that, like merpeople, I'm a vegetarian," Atlantis said after a few seconds. "And I'm still hungry." She frowned and moved away from the dead doe, which was starting to stink. Instead, she looked to the sky. "Wow. A whole hour later and I'm still in the same situation I was before." Atlantis sighed. "I'm talking to myself again, aren't I?"
"Indeed, you are." Came a reply, startling the siren.