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The day started as they all had lately. Endless roads. Bright blue skies. And entirely too much corn.
Seriously, Apollo hadn’t realized that the corn was not an exaggeration. He had children who lived in the Midwest who had mentioned corn to him one way or another. It truly was Demeter’s paradise.
Speaking of the grain goddess, her daughter sat in the passenger seat next to him. Meg, his dear companion for the past few months, was entertaining herself by blowing hot air on the window and drawing various figures onto the glass.
Apollo knew that every mile they inched closer to New York, they were just that much closer to the end of their journey. He wasn’t just talking about their trip across the United States, but each trial they faced to free each of the oracles. It was a bittersweet feeling that rolled in Apollo’s gut. Yes, he missed being a god; it was much less work than being a mortal. He didn’t have to constantly fear for his life. But, at the same time, he’d miss being mortal as much as he’d loathe to admit it.
He’d miss having a purpose day in and day out. And you may argue, Apollo, you’re the god of the sun, and music, and medicine, you have a purpose. But after so many centuries, one begins to run out of things to do. Some decades eluded him since being immortal changed how you viewed the passage of time. Never before did he cherish each and every minute the way he did since he became Lester.
He knew that he’d look back and miss these days with Meg, no matter how uncomfortable he was at the time.
He glanced at his rearview mirror, a flash catching his attention. “Meg,” Apollo called, getting her attention, “Can you make sure that nothing is following us?”
Meg sat up straighter, turning around in her seat. “There are cars,” she offered unhelpfully.
“I meant of the monstrous kind,” Apollo clarified.
Meg hummed and continued to stare out the back windshield, “Yeah, there’s these… bird people.”
Apollo stopped himself from jerking the steering wheel and ending up in a ditch, “A harpy? Does she look particularly angry?”
“I can’t see her expression from here.”
Apollo sighed. This could be a sign that his father really didn’t want him to return to Olympus. Which, after everything, he wouldn’t be that surprised. It seemed like Zeus had it personally out for him at this point. After all, the harpies often carry out Zeus’s bidding.
Of course, this harpy could be unrelated to Zeus. Apollo wasn’t sure if that was better or worse.
“Should I pull over?” Apollo offered.
Meg cracked her knuckles, “I’ve been getting pretty bored.”
Apollo interpreted that as a “yes” and pulled the car to the side of the road. Quickly, the two scrambled out of the car, searching the skies for a winged bird lady.
Apollo was never the biggest fan of the harpies. They never appreciated fine music. How could one live their life without being able to appreciate the sweet melodic tones of a good song? Alas, the harpies were deprived of these joys.
He nocked an arrow before catching a sight of “the bird people.”
“Meg, you understated how many harpies were following us,” Apollo said, terror pooling in his gut. Maybe he took back his thoughts about missing being mortal. This sucked.
Meg rolled her eyes before her twin golden blades appeared in her hands, “I didn’t say how many there were.”
Apollo counted at least 25 circling above them, “Some warning could have been nice. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped driving.”
“They’d catch up with us, dummy.” Meg countered.
One harpy swooped down, claws extended. Apollo shot an arrow at her at the same time Meg swung her swords. The harpy retreated quickly.
“So… not nice?” Apollo guessed.
Suddenly, a cry could be heard from one of the harpies, and the whole swarm descended upon the duo. “Very not nice!” Apollo decided.
Apollo fired arrows at as many of them as he could as they swooped at him. Unfortunately, the birds were faster than he was. With a shout, he brought his arms up to defend his face. Archery wasn’t particularly useful when the monster was in your face.
Meg fought off the birds valiantly, trying to clear a path to her godly companion. She also wasn’t quick enough, it seemed.
The largest of the harpies dug their claws into Apollo’s shoulders. He could already feel the blood welling. He swatted at them helplessly. The bird-like women flapped their wings, lifting Apollo off the ground. He cried out in horror. “Meg!”
“Apollo!” she called back, “I’ll find you, no matter what!”
Apollo felt like crying as the harpies took him away from his young companion. He cursed himself vehemently. Why oh why did he decide to stop the car? Apollo decided he hated Missouri.
The harpies carried him to a clearing in the corn, far from any sort of barn or other human structure. It seems like the bird-ladies had set up some sort of camp. Lovely, just perfect.
They dropped Apollo in the middle of the camp. Even more harpies emerged from these woven structures, which appeared to be akin to tents. These harpies brought a rope that they used to tie Apollo’s arms and legs, preventing any escape attempts.
“Let’s talk about this,” Apollo attempted to reason, “What do you have to gain from capturing me? I can’t give you anything. I don’t even have my godly powers right now.”
One harpy emerged from the crowd; she wore more formal clothing than the rest. She donned a red blazer with matching pants and a cream button-up underneath. A black ribbon bow hung around her neck, and a crude crown of branches and flowers sat atop her head. Apollo assumed that she was the leader. “I am Aliki, and you are Apollo. Nero warned us about you,” she said, “What we have to gain from you is Meg’s cooperation. We were also granted permission to cause pain. And my ladies are restless, it’s a perfect opportunity for us.”
Apollo swallowed uneasily. Just how many monsters did Nero have on his side? It was so unfair! Why couldn’t the demigods just have a random stash of allies hidden in Missouri to come to their aid?
“If you hurt me, how can you guarantee that Meg will cooperate with you? I think she’d be more willing to cooperate if I am unhurt,” Apollo attempted to reason.
Aliki tutted, “Or if you are very hurt, she may be more willing to make a hasty decision. I like our odds. Ladies? You may begin.”
Apollo squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the crowd to rush in instantly with sharp, pointy things to cause him pain. Of course, they weren’t so kind. When the pain didn’t come, he opened his eyes cautiously.
A small harpy stepped forward, holding up a piece of glass triumphantly. “What is more poetic than the god of the sun being burned by his own light?”
A roar of approval rang up from the crowd. The harpy stepped forward, aiming the glass towards Apollo, so that the light concentrated on his arms.
Never before had he been able to be burned by the sun. Mostly because he drove the sun chariot. It was quite difficult to be burned when you were the one in the driver’s seat. Of course, he wasn’t manning the sun today.
The harpy carefully angled the piece of glass over his arms. In just a few seconds, the spot on his arm grew unbearably hot. A tingling sensation shot up the rest of his arm. His arms burned as the harpies cackled in delight, moving the glass around, attempting to cause as much damage as possible. Apollo couldn’t hold back anymore and let out a sob of pain. The burning felt endless; there was no reprieve.
He barely noticed the other harpies approaching him, holding sharp knives. He did notice when those very same knives started digging into any piece of exposed skin.
If Meg was having a hard time finding him, he was sure that his cries of pain would lead her directly to his location. He wouldn’t be surprised if his friends back at Camp Half-Blood could hear him.
The pain caused him to dissociate. It was a feeling that he had come to be familiar with during his time as a mortal. His consciousness floated away from his body, leaving the pain behind. His thoughts drifted.
If only he had any sort of weapon to defend himself at close range, then he wouldn’t be in this situation. It had been many, many years since he last used a sword as his primary weapon; he often opted for his bow and arrow these days. He was so foolish for not even having some sort of dagger or knife on him, in case something like this were to occur.
He wasn’t used to preparing for any and all bad things to happen to him. Which, he really should at this point in his mortal adventures. There were some habits that stuck to a god, and preparing for the scenario where you might get kidnapped by a bunch of angry bird ladies working for an emperor that should’ve died almost two thousand years ago wasn’t one of them. So, sue him!
But, he should’ve been better. He was over 4,000 years old, and he had to rely on a thirteen-year-old demigod to save him. He was a god! Surely he could save himself.
He searched inward, looking for that inner flame that he had been able to tap into before, the one allowing him to access his godly strength. It would really come in handy to break out of these bounds.
Alas, his powers were as fleeting as ever.
“Apollo!” He heard a voice ring out, before Meg emerged from the corn into the clearing, Peaches growling angrily at her feet.
The harpies paused their torture as Aliki stepped forward to address the demigod. “You must be Meg. Nero sends his regards.”
Meg’s eyes darted around the scene before her gaze settled on Apollo. He must’ve been looking rough, because she grimaced before turning back to the head harpy.
“I am. Release Apollo,” she demanded.
“It’s not as easy as that,” Aliki insisted, “In order for us to release him, you must agree to return to Nero and do as he says.”
“Don’t do it, Meg!” Apollo cried out in warning before one of the harpies covered his mouth.
Determination set in Meg’s eyes, “I’m not agreeing to those conditions. Here are mine: you release him, and we’ll leave peacefully, or, second option, you refuse, and Peaches and I will kill each and every one of you.”
“We do not agree to those conditions either,” Aliki said.
“Then you’ve picked option two, good choice,” Meg responded.
Her golden swords glinted as she and Peaches jumped into battle.
Apollo weakly kicked himself free of his captors. He was lucky that their attention was primarily focused on a particularly angry daughter of Demeter. His head spun, likely due to the blood loss he had suffered from the knives. That didn’t stop him from rolling away from the action, into a safer corner of the camp.
Meg and Peaches made quick work of the largest of the harpies. Some of the smaller harpies turned and flew off. A smart choice. The ones that stayed behind were no match for the combined anger of the karpos and the demigod.
“Lester?” Meg asked. The clearing was silent. Apollo must have missed the ending of the fight. His arms screamed in pain. He forced himself to ignore the aching and to turn his attention back onto his young companion.
“Are you okay?” Meg asked again, cutting his free from him binds.
Apollo looked down at his arms before looking back up at Meg. “Better now that you saved me. Thank you, Meg.”
“This is payback for saving me from the myrmekes back at camp.”
Apollo ripped up the bottom of his shirt, using it as a bandage around his arms. It would do until they were back at their car, where he had more medical supplies stored.
Meg and Peaches helped him up.
“Let’s get back to the car, okay?” Apollo said, “We still have a long way to go before we’re back to New York.”
And with that, the trio set off in search of their car.