They talk… and things go to shit. Kind of.

Previously…

He made sure that Zoe was positioned as comfortably as she possible could be, pulling her silver parka coat over her body to serve as a blanket, and then slid out of the car. He had barely made it five steps when a loud cough sounded from behind him, and he turned just in time for the person in question to begin speaking.

“Claim yourself a Huntress huh? Can’t blame you. I’d do the same myself if I could, but Artemis promised me that she had found a way to castrate a man that even a God of Medicine like me couldn’t heal, and I’ve not managed to work up the courage to test her on that. Still, good job! In fact, let me put this into a Haiku.”

“Hello there Lord Apollo” He interrupted before the god could begin spouting terrible poetry.

“Hello there to you too Mr Jackson. I thought it was about time that we had a talk.”

Now

“Talk? About what?” He asked, a little nervous about the answer he was likely to receive.

“You know very well what I want to talk about, Mr. Jackson.” Apollo said with a dark undertone.

“I’d rather not jump to any conclusions and risk angering you further…” He responded.

“That’s never stopped you before.” Apollo pointed out, with the same dark undertone as before.

“Artemis also hasn’t been captured before. And that’s got you understandably pissed. There are a lot of firsts this week.” Percy retorted.

“I’m glad you brought her up, because she’s what I wanted to talk about. There’s a little detail in the prophecy that went unnoticed by everyone else. The Prophecy says ‘a Goddess Claimed’. The thing is — as far as I’m aware — the General can only chain her, not CLAIM her. That little detail had me racking my brain trying to figure it out until I saw you claim Zoë in one of MY cars on MY train. So I’ll put this bluntly. Did you claim my sister, and are you working for gramps?” Apollo asked, going from a mask of pleasantry to flat out restrained rage the more he talked. This threw Percy through a loop. Him? Work for Kronos? HA! That’s a laugh. A laugh that nearly escaped Percy’s lips once he finally processed all of the information he was smacked in the face with.

Apollo noticed the restrained laugh and went to say something, but Percy spoke before the first syllable even left his throat.

“Me? Work for Grandpa? That’s funny, but in all seriousness? No, I am not an agent of our Grandfather. I wish to bring him down myself.”

Apollo detected no lies in what Percy said, but also noticed that Percy didn’t answer his first question. So, he decided to confront Percy about it.

“That’s a relief, but you still didn’t answer my first question. Did you, or did you not, claim my sister like you claimed Zoë here?”

Percy was shocked that Apollo had noticed it so quickly, but decided to tell him none the less. With a sigh, Percy answered his Divine cousin.

“Yes, I claimed Artemis like I claimed Zoë. And one of the main reasons I wanted to go on this quest is because I claimed her. She’s mine, and I want to keep her safe. I know that she’s a goddess and is thus far stronger than me, but that won’t stop me from trying to protect her.”

Once again, no lies. But the fact that his sister was Percy’s property angered him beyond belief. Percy’s spoken desire to protect her greatly diminished that anger, though. Apollo merely nods at Percy’s words and a great silence permeated the area… If you ignored Thalia’s music blaring from her closed car, that is.

“Okay, so how did you claim her, exactly?” Apollo asked after about a minute of awkward silence.

“Why do you want to know?” Percy asked with genuine confusion written clearly on his face.

“Call it a sense of morbid curiosity, if you want.” was Apollo’s response.

“Alright… to be entirely honest with you, it was a test. I didn’t even know that it’d work. I asked if she’d let me write something on her arm, and she did. For reasons that I won’t divulge, she went into her Divine Form, and so I claimed that, too. That was the night before you picked us up from the camp.” Percy explained.

“Not gonna lie on that? Really?” Apollo asked with mild shock.

“You’re the God of Truth. You’d just see through any lie I throw at you like they’re freshly cleaned glass.” Percy sassed back with a deadpan stare.

“Fair. Anyways, do you have a plan to get my sister back?” Apollo asked.

“Yep. Try to figure out what little I can about the Prophecy, and make my way from there.” Percy answered.

“That’s a fancy way of saying, ‘no, I’m going to wing it’.” Apollo said, giving Percy a slight glare.

“Yeah, pretty much. I’m not really much of a ‘plan it out’ kind of guy. That’s more Annabeth’s speed, and she’s probably with your sister. I’m more of a ‘go with the flow and do the best I can’ kind of guy.” Percy remarked.

“I noticed.” Apollo said, still giving Percy the slight glare.

Another slightly awkward silence rolled through as Apollo was giving Percy an “If you don’t find her, I’ll make you wish the monsters killed you” glare.

“Well, I should get some rest. Don’t want to be killed by a monster before I can complete this quest.” Percy said with a nervous chuckle.

“You’ve got about three hours before I start my morning routine, and five before this train reaches its final stop. Get some sleep, kid.” Apollo told Percy before flashing out.