#yes its obvious and honestly with how long it took to glaze it i dont even care

[tor1su]

excited to see her gorlfren after work

[garecc]

The Hidden Oracle+1

Chapter 9.5 (Interlude 1)

Sorry Apollo, this is not technically a chapter. I don’t have to write a haiku.

The demigods rushed over, at out sides in moments. I stumbled forward, my eyes wide. “Please help.. He’s hurt..” Meg watched them grow closer, she looked nervous. I couldn’t imagine why.

“Your Artemis?” One of them asked quizzically.

“Yes!” THAT ISN’T IMPORTANT. HE’S HURT. I DONT MATTER RIGHT NOW HELP HIM. I wished I could have screamed that, but instead my voice came out shaky and terrified. “Apollo’s hurt- he, he has a fever-”

“I’ll get Will!” One of them ran off, presumably in the direction of “Will” Who I assumed was a son of my brother. A strange thought given our current predicament. The demigod who went to fetch him appeared to be a son of Hermes. His face looked terribly similar to his father’s. Another demigod took a step forward, by the look of her she was a daughter of Demeter.

“Lady Artemis, what’s going on? Why are you here?” Wow! Some respect! That’s new! First time anyone bothered to respect me all day! I’m a goddess! At least some of my dignity remained.

“In a long story short, We’re mortal,” I said quickly.

Her eyes widened. “How..? How could you be mortal? Your gods!”

“Not important right now,” I responded

“Of course it’s important!” She screeched, I flinched away from her loud voice. Why did I flinch away? She wasn’t going to hurt me..

“Who’re you?” Meg asked, pulling away from us. That left me to hold Apollo on my own. A horrible idea honestly, Meg is the one out of the two of us with the least reason to not want to support his weight. Pain shot up my leg again, radiating out from my ankle. Did I sprain it? If it weren’t for the daughter of Demeter’s quick response time, I would have both fallen and dropped Apollo. She dashed over and caught him before he hit the ground, she audibly winced at his burning fever. Yes, demigod. He has a burning fever. Why isn’t anyone doing anything about it? As she caught him, I, in a glorious, graceful manner, crumpled over to the ground like a sack of potatoes. My injured leg giving out beneath me like that one time my moon chariot fell out of the sky because SOMEONE (cough*HERMES*cough) send a BIRD to scare MY DEER.

Meg’s eyes widened. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to-”

My ankle throbbed but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was just glad Apollo was alright. “Meg. Meg its fine.” I said assured her, staggering to my feet. Pain spiraled up my leg and up my spine. I stumbled over to a convenient tree and leaned on it. I could hear frantic shouting from nearby, AT LEAST SOMEONE SEEMED TO CARE. a blond teen was running over. The demigod I assumed to be Will was here.

Apollo was rushed to his cabin, While I was helped along by Meg, unable to put any weight on my ankle. Great going Artemis! You sprained your ankle! It’s not like you’ve spent hundreds of years hunting without so much as a stumble ! I assumed I hadn’t realized It was twisted because of adrenaline or something. I don’t know, I’m not Apollo. I don’t know why human bodies do what they do.

I watched as Will went about treating Apollo, bandaging the cuts and scrapes he had gotten as I and Meg dragged him out of the woods. We hadn’t exactly been careful as we ran. He checked Apollo’s ribs for more severe breaks, I had given a brief overview of the possible injuries he could have. Glazing over the details of our encounter with the thugs. (I would not start crying in front of my brother’s son.)

“Let me try the nectar first.” I insisted right before he gave it to Apollo. “There is no way to tell if it will make him spontaneously combust. A mere drop shouldn’t destroy me if it does harm us.” Will frowned, but handed me the cup of nectar. I put my finger in the drink and put it to my lips, immediately I jerked it away as violent burning sensation assaulted my mouth, steam started rising from my lips as they started bleeding. Will jumped up and grabbed a tissue from across the cabin and handed it to me. I held it to my bleeding lips. Not fun. Gods unable to consume the food of the gods. Oh how far we’ve fallen. My lip after a few minutes of burning grew numb and swollen. Fun.

“Welp. No Nectar or Ambrosia then.” He murmured. “Apollo’s stable, why don’t you let me wrap your ankle”

“No, tend to Apollo. I’m fine.” I refused to let him wrap my ankle until he was certain Apollo was alright. Certain he didn’t have a plague. Certain that he was going to wake up.

“He isn’t sick. Or contagious.” Will quickly said, once again I wondered if what I was thinking was that obvious. Can demigods read minds or something? Do they have a secret power? He glances in my direction momentarily before turning back to his father. That thought made me uncomfortable in this 15-16 year old body. Will looked about as old as our bodies. Strange. I didn’t know what to think of that. My nephew was as old as me. I shuddered, but I was relieved that he wasn’t going to die from some fatal plague. I fell back onto the bunk bed, my ribs throbbed and I exhaled slowly.

“Thank the gods…” I closed my eyes for a moment.

“I probably have broken ribs too.” I murmured. “But he’s worse off than I am, when we landed in the dumpster I landed on top of him”

He glanced at me quickly. “Why didn’t you say anything?!’ he demanded, stepping away from Apollo and over to me. “If your hurt you should lay down.”  

“I’m fine,” I said stiffly. “Apollo had a fever, he hallucinated in the forest, I’m fine”

“But you’re not fine.” He says slowly. Like he’s talking to a child.

I glared at him but relented. “Fine. Get a cot.”

He walked over to a bunk and pulled a cot out from under it. He set it up flawlessly. “Come, I’ll help you over.” He helped me over to the cot, I laid down all while grumbling under my breath about how I was fine and how unnecessary this is. His mouth twitched up. I didn’t bother commenting. He started wrapping my ankle in a bandage and propped.it up on a pillow. I closed my eyes, suddenly aware of how exhausted I was. Sleep sounded good. “Wake me up if Apollo wakes up, alright?”

“Alright,” He said. I fell asleep in moments.

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I am Artemis. / Sprained my ankle… Great job me! / I am a disgrace...