Chapter Six - Apollo Has Excellent Aim
Posted: Friday November 24th 2023

Apollo left me alone in his house almost every day. I had taken to sleeping on the sofa downstairs as it meant he was more likely to be around whilst I slept and the dreams never bothered me when he was there.

I filled my days with a whole lot of nothing. When the sun set, Apollo returned and we settled into the same awkward silences that had haunted up the first night I had arrived on Olympus.

I felt trapped in the house. Mainly because I was trapped in the house. If I ventured out onto Olympus then Zeus may see me and smite me. Apollo left only to drive the sun, other than that he too was confined to the house.

I lost track of time. I had arrived here in late September and I had no concept of how long I had been stuck in this house. I knew nothing of what was happening in the outside world and I spoke to no one but Apollo, who some days couldn't even bring himself to look at me let alone speak to me.

"Do you hate me?" I demanded one evening when he re-entered the house after a day of leaving me alone.

Apollo stared at me, "hate you? Why on earth would I hate you?"

"I don't know," I scoffed, "but if you didn't hate me why do you ignore me?"

Apollo blinked twice before he spoke, "I don't hate you Ariadne. I am confused by you. The fates drew us together for a reason, I just can't work out what it is. There is nothing special about you, you're just like any other mortal."

I didn't know why, but for some reason his words hurt me.

"If I'm just like any other mortal why won't you let me leave?" I demanded, "I want to go, I want to experience the world, not be cooped up in this house like a pet. Honestly at this point I'd take Tartarus over this house."

"No you wouldn't," Apollo said, with a certainty that irritated me down to me very core.

"How would you know that?" I asked, "Since that night you've barley spoken to me. You don't know anything about me!"

"You know I can't let you leave," Apollo sighed, "Zeus would smite both of us if he discovered that I..." he trailed off, "but I suppose we can both make more of an effort to be cordial with each other. If we're stuck here for a bit."

Apollo crossed to the sofa and sat down, gesturing for me to do the same. I was unwilling to do so, I crossed my arms and glared at him.

Apollo let out a huff of frustration, "sit down Ariadne. I am making an effort here, we are both miserable. Let's try and make this situation a bit more bearable."

Reluctantly I sat. And finally, we began to talk.

Somehow we easily slipped into the effortless conversation that we had shared only the once before we had accidentally married each other. I spoke of my father and my time since he had died. I told Apollo what it had been like in Tartarus and when he seemed uncomfortable, I told him some more lighthearted stories about monsters I had come across.

Apollo spoke of his life too. His thousands of years of existence was laid out before me.

After many hours, I felt like I knew the god who sat beside me more than I had ever known anyone. It was a low bar based upon the fact that I had pretty much grown up in solitude.

"You're tired," Apollo said eventually as I stifled another yawn.

I didn't want to go to sleep, I wanted to continue talking with Apollo. I was worried that the next time I opened my eyes we would return to our awkward silence. I also did not want to sleep without Apollo's presence, but I didn't want him to know this.

"Go to bed," he said.

"I'm not tired," I protested. Which was a complete lie.

"Go to bed Ariadne." He said again.

"I'll just sleep here," I drew my knees up to my chest.

"No," Apollo said softly. He stood and offered his hand to me, "I'll stay with you. It keeps the nightmares away right?"

I blinked at him, "you knew?"

He laughed lightly, "of course I knew."

*

The days became more bearable now that Apollo and I were on speaking terms. He confessed to me that the sun chariot had an autopilot mode and that he had been using the excuse of driving the sun to leave the confines of the house.

I smacked him on the arm when he told me this, cursing him out for leaving me locked up all alone for so long.

Apollo grew worried and he told me that his sister Artemis had been taken captive by the Titans. This was the first news I had about the outside world and whilst I did my best to comfort him I tried to gather as much information about what was happening as I could.

His worry was heightened by the fact that a demigod daughter of Zeus, one of the ones who had been sent out to rescue his sister, was mere days away from her sixteenth birthday. From this worry I learnt of the Great Prophecy.

The danger passed however. Artemis was rescued, the opheotorus who was supposedly the bane of Olympus was captured and kept securely in the Olympic throne room and the daughter of Zeus, Thalia Grace, joined the Hunters of Artemis.

Apollo told me that the Olympians were beginning to make war preparations, but that there was still over a year before Perseus Jackson, a demigod son of Poseidon, would turn sixteen, so the gods believed they still had time before the Titan would rise.

With all of this news finally filtering in to me I began to grow restless. I didn't overly want to be involved in the war, but I was still not enjoying being cooped up on Olympus.

Apollo reiterated to me why I could not leave and that Zeus had promised that I would be allowed to leave someday, but that day was not yet. Zeus had also warned Apollo to stay away from him or Zeus would remember his anger with Apollo.

We continued with our mundane lives of doing our best to entertain each other wherever we could. One night, found Apollo and I sat on the floor of the spotless kitchen, throwing grapes at eachother's mouths attempting to land a shot.

Apollo was excellent at the game, I supposed it was because he was the god of archery. I, however, was terrible. Aim had never been my strong suit and I hit him in the face more often than not.

"Sorry!" I cursed under my breath as another grape hit Apollo in the eye.

He laughed, "try again," he suggested. "Focus entirely on my mouth."

I did as he said and I landed a shot directly in his mouth. He grinned and chewed it before swallowing.

"She's only gone and done it!" He cried out in triumph. He grinned at me, his dazzling godly smile which always made me smile.

He jumped to his feet taking me completely by surprise and hoisted me onto his shoulders, doing a victory lap around the living room.

"Put me down!" I protested, squirming and struggling as I laughed. I struggled so much that I sent us both tumbling to the ground, landing in a puddle on the floor.

Our laughter died out as we realised how intertwined our bodies were. Apollo's face was directly in front of mine and I noticed for the first time how intently blue his eyes were. I was about to move away from him when he took me by surprise once again and kissed me.