by Nicole Thorn
“Shouldn’t is a ridiculous word, and you should strike it from your vocabulary right this instant.”
“Mom would kill me.”
“I can handle Izzy.”
I got into the passenger’s seat of the car. The interior had the supplest leather that I had ever felt. I didn’t ask what kind of leather, because I felt like it wouldn’t be an animal commonly found in barnyards. Probably something hard to pronounce, that would make my head spin.
The car didn’t have a backseat, which didn’t surprise me. The tinted windows made everything come together beautifully.
Apollo got into the driver’s seat, still smirking. I had to assume that all of his children loved this car and he had used it against me with that knowledge in the forefront of his brain. I would have been more annoyed, but car. He rubbed his hands together, put the car into drive, and peeled out of the spot so fast that my head spun.
All in all, whatever trouble he was about to get me into would be well worth it, for that car ride. He drove so fast, zooming in and out of traffic, that we should have gotten pulled over at least a dozen times. I could feel how well the car handled with each turn, so smooth and controlled.
I hardly noticed when we pulled into a neighborhood. We pulled over at a curb, and I looked around. All the houses seemed grand, with gates and driveways that looked ridiculous. Way out of my pay grade, and probably always would be. The house we had parked in front of seemed like one of the more modest ones, which didn’t mean a whole lot to me.
“Where are we?” I asked, looking up at the house.
“This is where the person I want you to meet lives,” Apollo said, getting out of the car. I would’ve liked to stay in the car for a little while longer, but sadly couldn’t. I got out and looked at the house some more. Whoever lived in there would probably take one look at my ripped jeans and my paint stained t-shirt, and they’d try to throw us right out. Which wouldn’t work out well with Apollo.
He was pretty chill with me, but one didn’t go against the gods lightly. The gods liked to retaliate by being dicks.
We approached the house, and Apollo started talking. “Now, I’m going to do something that might alarm you, but don’t worry about it.” He pulled something out of his pocket.
“I’m already worried.”
“Don’t be.”
“Too late.”
He rang the doorbell. Two middle-aged humans appeared, both with stern expressions on their faces. I figured they had been expecting someone else, since those expressions vanished the second they saw us. The man opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t get the chance to.
Apollo threw some powder into his face, and I tried not to yell. “There,” he said, dusting his hands off. “Now, the two of you, go. Have lunch or something and rest knowing that your daughter is safe and comfortable.”
The people walked past us without a word, heading to their cars. Boring cars. One was a Buick from fifteen years ago, and the other looked like a Chevy Equinox that had seen better days. They climbed into the latter and drove off.
“What . . . did you do?” I asked.
“Callie!” Apollo shouted up the stairs. “We’re coming up!”
I barely had the chance to close the door before he bounded up the stairs without a backwards glance. I followed my father, unsure of what else to do. At the top, I found a girl with her head poked out of her bedroom, a furrow in her brow. When she saw Apollo, her black eyes lit up in the oddest way. She squealed his name and threw herself at him. “I can’t believe it!”
Apollo glared at me. “Why can’t you respond like this when you see me?”
“Because I know you,” I said.
The girl continued to squeeze Apollo like her life depended on it. Apollo pulled her off him, then turned the girl to face me. “Callie, this is my son, Aster. He’s probably going to be a pain in the ass. He’s kind of a stick in the mud, but that’s because of his mother. He really should learn to listen to me more often. Aster, this is Callie. She’s my Oracle.”
I looked at him, then at her again.
Callie appeared about my age, with orange hair, black eyes, and a huge, lovely, smile. She jumped forward at me, and I jumped back away from her. “Ahh . . . ”
“It’s so nice to meet you!” Callie said. “I mean, I think I’ve heard of you once before. I’m sure that I have a sticky note about it, but I’m not sure if Apollo is the one who was talking about you. It might have been Artemis. She said something about you moving, then Aphrodite got involved, and it turned into a fight. Those two sure do love to fight. Like a quarter of my sticky notes are about the two of them snapping at each other. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you!” She stuck her hand out.
I looked at Apollo. He gestured for me to shake her hand.
I did, though she moved her arm so vigorously that it felt like my arm would fall off before she finished. Her smile didn’t fade the entire time.
Callie’s brow furrowed again, cocking her head at him, then she turned to look at me. Her face cleared up immediately. “I’ve met a lot of demigods lately. My friends would probably love to meet you.”
Apollo cleared his throat. “Not right at the moment, I’m afraid.”
“Why not?” Callie said, then her face cleared up. “Oh, that thing that I’ve been trying to find out. The thing that you are keeping me from knowing!” She put her hands on her hips, jutting forward to stare at Apollo. I’d never met someone so insane that they would snap at a god like that. She was lucky that she didn’t snap at Zeus, who would have happily zapped her into dust.
I cleared my throat.
They both looked at me. “Sorry, but is there a reason that you wanted to two of us to meet?”
Apollo waved his hand. “Never mind that.”
“How many demigods are living here?” I asked. “Ya know, if Callie has met several of them.”
“If you stop asking questions, I’ll let you drive the car,” Apollo said.
I knew my eyes had to have gotten a dreamy look to them, because Apollo smirked at me and turned back to Callie. “All right my dear, I think you should entertain my son, now. Get him something to eat. He’s had a very hard couple of weeks and could probably use some relaxation.”
“Um, I’m not going to make her cater to me,” I said.
Apollo frowned.
Callie grinned. “I don’t mind! I think we’ve got cake!” She rushed past me and down the stairs at top speed. I worried slightly when something down there crashed, but stopped worrying when I turned to look at my father. He still had that grin on his face, which did nothing to calm my nerves.
“This whole thing is going to end in disaster,” I said, shaking my head.
Apollo patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry so much, son. Learn to trust me. That’s all I want from you. I’ll do what’s best for you, but you’ve got to learn to trust me.”
I thought it would be hard to trust a guy that I barely spent any time with and constantly got me into trouble. Especially since he had a tendency to preface all those things with telling me that I shouldn’t worry so much. But I didn’t think Callie deserved to be dragged through my family drama either.
I headed downstairs with my father, and just resolved to keep my eyes peeled for anything strange. Well, stranger than an orange haired girl wearing an apron while trying to cute a square cake into stars.
CHAPTER FOUR:
My New Best Friend in the Whole Wide World
Callie
I BENT OVERto get eye level with the counter, wiggling my butt. I cut the little cakes into perfect stars, making something that the sun god would enjoy. For all the time he got to spend with the sky, he’d better appreciate it.
When they’d all had been cut, I started frosting them, making sure the tips were dark blue with a gradient that faded to a lighter blue, then yellow. They looked wonderful, and surely no one could deny my skills with a butter knife.
“Does the concentration give you a heada
che?” Apollo whispered to me.
I looked up to see a smirking god. “What’s the point of doing something if you don’t nail it so damn hard that it makes people tremble?”
He nodded solidly. “Yes, I understand completely. As someone who only nails things, I get it.”
“Good.” I slid him a little cake on a plate. “You may eat this and bask in the glory that is a steady hand and a girl with too much time.” I slid one over to his son as well. “Put it in your mouth and experience true joy.”
“If I had a drachma . . . ” Apollo said, shaking his head.
I snorted, then put a whole star cake in my mouth. It was indeed worth all the effort, and I would probably have about ten more of them if I could get away with it. Mom and Dad didn’t like me eating too much junk food. They thought it made me nuttier, and I thought they might have been worried about my weight too. I was far from skinny, living with a tummy that stuck out and hips that could dent a wall if I bumped into it. I didn’t mind or really think about it too much, but I thought Mom and Dad might have.
“I love it, Phessy,” I heard Aphrodite say in my head. “Who doesn’t need six metal sculptures of falcons? No, I wasn’t being sarcastic. Ugh, just take your pants off. I’m not in the mood for a fight.”
I shook my head, wanting to clear away the sound before I had to hear them having sex again. They both got so loud, and I didn’t like learning about new sex stuff that way. I could learn the old-fashioned way, like reading about it in smutty books I download on my tablet.
I made an “Ahhgh,” sound when I heard Hephaestus encouraging his wife on her activities. “Oh no . . . It’s so sweet when a fella is affectionate when his lady is doing mouth stuff to him, but I feel like there’s a line . . . ”
Aster stared at me, eyebrow lifted. “Are you . . . giving advice?”
I laughed, waving my hand. “No, sorry, I forgot you couldn’t hear it.” I looked up, squinting. “Oh wow . . . I didn’t know that was a thing you could do. Not a bad idea though . . . ”
Apollo snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Stop listening to my family have sex and pass me more cake.”
I did. “Not that I’m not super happy to see you and all that, but did you need something from me?”
He held a hand up while he chewed. “First off, congratulations on graduating early. I’ve taken a peek into your school stuff, and you got an A on your essay.”
Blinking, I said, “I haven’t even finished it yet.”
“Ah, well you will get an A, I meant. Timelines are confusing. The fates also made me bribe them into getting info on you, so I wanted you to know the efforts I go to.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Good, you should.” I smiled at him as he went on. “I also thought you should meet my boy here. He’s my only kid in Seattle, so I thought you should get a meeting in.” His arm went around Aster’s shoulders, bringing the boy close. He didn’t look happy to be there.
“Very nice to meet you. Are you gonna be my new best friend?”
He hesitantly took my hand, again. “Probably not. I doubt we have all that much in common to bond over.”
“So?” I asked. “That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends if you want. And we’ve got your dad in common.”
Apollo nodded. “I’m good at bringing people together. People have said that I’m the glue that can hold together the very souls of people.”
His son stared at him. “Who? Give me names. Not that I’m commanding a god, or anything. I’m not that stupid.”
“I can give you hundreds, Aster. Do you really want to listen to that?”
“No, no I don’t.”
I got their attention again, bouncing on my feet when I got bored with standing still. “Anyway . . . If you need someone to spend time with, then maybe we can do things you like, if you hate all the things I like. Not that I get up to much these days. I’ve been trying to figure some things out and working on school. We can take a break to fly a kite if you’d like.”
Aster looked out the window as rain hit it. “Unless you’re looking to rediscover electricity, I’d hold off on that.”
I giggled. “Good point. Just a picnic then.”
“I’ve always wanted to drown while eating snacks, so that would work out well.”
When I laughed, he flinched, which made me wonder if he had been joking or not. I didn’t know what to do with it.
“That reminds me,” Apollo said. “What have you been hearing lately, Callie? Just out of random curiosity. Anything good?”
Good was a tough word to work with. I heard a couple new recipes from Hera, and I also had to listen to her when she yelled at her husband for sleeping with a trucker he met last week. Then there was a whisper or two about a little family of gorgons and a giant, and the talk of babies sounded wonderful. There were a million little things that I had picked up on, and almost nothing of what I wanted to hear.
“About the prophesy?” I asked with hope.
“What prophesy?” Aster asked.
My nose twitched as I bounced on my feet. “Well, I think some bad things are going to happen to my friends. I had a sort of vision slash episode a while back, telling them that something bad was going to happen.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Apollo said.
I stared at him. “How do I not worry when it sounds like something so awful? When I hear things like people are going to be crying, I assume the worst.”
“Reasonable,” Aster said. “Who’s crying?”
“The other demigods I know. Kezia, Zander, and Verin. They’re dating the seers.”
“The? The seers? They’re here?”
I nodded, landing flat on my feet. “So, we have lots of demigods and the seers here now. And me. I’ve heard whispers about that, but I can’t make sense of them. Some of the gods seem to not really care, and others . . . I don’t know.”
“That’s fine,” Apollo said, stepping in. “You don’t have to think about what us gods are up to unless we’re talking directly to you.”
“But I hear everything all the time.”
“Try not to. You’ll only stress yourself out. That being said . . . anything weird? Like, anything at all going on?”
“Why?”
He shrugged it off like the question never mattered in the first place. “Because I can’t hear everything. That’s why I have you. You’re like a little orange funnel of information, and you give me what I need when I need it. I don’t have the time to listen to every annoying thing the gods say.”
But I apparently did have the time. Not that I was ever up to all that much, but the gods took up almost all the free time I had. I finished my school work, then dedicated the rest of my days to blocking out the gods. Even then, I could hear them mumbling in my head. I would have given anything to have the power to turn off the constant chatter.
When I first became the Oracle, I didn’t realize it would be like this. I thought it would be once in a while, giving people information that the gods wanted someone topside to know. Though it hadn’t really been my choice to do this, I wondered if I would have done things differently if I’d known what it would mean. Stressing out my mom and dad, and never having quiet. What would I be in fifty years, if I lived that long? Would I lose my mind?
“Nothing but the usual,” I answered Apollo. “Some of the gods are fighting though, and that includes your twin. I think she’s upset with Aphrodite about something. Again.”
Apollo rolled his eyes. “All they do is fight.”
I smiled, patting Aster on the hand to get his attention. “Did you hear about the last fight? Aphrodite got upset when Artemis accidentally killed a dove, so she made a werewolf and a Hunter fall in love.”
He cocked his head at me. “Aren’t the Hunters . . . specifically werewolf Hunters?”
“Yeah, yeah they are. It’s interesting to say the least.”
“Those kids are doing great,” Apollo said to me. “I heard they’re getting married,
so my sister is pissed.”
“Fun times,” I sighed. “Anyway, I haven’t heard anything but sex and bickering. Have you heard anything about my friends? I’ve got nothing.”
“Nothing from me either,” the god said. “Damn, well this wasn’t how I thought this would go. Leaves the rest of my day open.”
Aster smirked at him. “We can start with you bringing me home.”
Apollo tapped his fingers on my counter, eyeing me for a moment. “Actually, I have to do something real quick. Aster, you wait here, and I’ll be back in like ten minutes to get you. Okay?”
His arms crossed over his chest. “Can you not blink out of here and let me take the car? You said I could drive it?”
“Oops! I have the keys!” he said as he vanished from the room. Why . . . why wouldn’t he have left the keys on the counter for Aster if he would leave that way anyway . . . it seemed so pointless.
With my hands on my hips, I said, “Well, it was nice getting to see him. Your dad is so sweet.”
Frowning, Aster said, “Sure . . . ”
I skipped around the counter to get beside my new friend, pondering what we could do together for the ten minutes his father would need to come back. Normally when I had guests over, they were looking for information. I didn’t have to entertain the demigods and seers, because they didn’t come by to hang out. This was different.
I took Aster’s hand without warning him and started pulling the boy along to the stairs. We could hang out in my room, since all of my entertaining things were in there. He didn’t fight me or try to get away, so I took that as a good sign.
I closed the door behind us, sitting him on my bed. “What would you like to do?”
“Um . . . we don’t have to do anything.”
Grinning, I said, “No, we should do something. I don’t have a car or anything, so we can’t really go out unless you wanna get wet. I have a pool, actually, so we could get wet if you felt like it.”
He stared at the floor, not seeming to know what to say. “No, I’m fine. We can sit here if you want to.”
“Why would we just sit around when we can do something fun? If it wasn’t raining, I would suggest we go play on the trampoline.”