The Shrink Program

Chapter 122

"Apollo, every time you're feeling down or upset about your place in this world, I want you to remember one thing."

I yanked on his hair harshly, leaning in closer as he winced.

"You. Have. A. Freaking. Ballroom."

Not only did the Mc'Valium family have a mansion.

They had a Ballroom.

I knew Apollo was rich, I even knew how his family had gotten to be filthily so. Still, I wasn't prepared for this.

Even just on the way to the Ballroom, I had been subjected to hallways full of oil paintings, valuable antiques and the most expensive-looking wallpaper I have ever laid my eyes on.

Despite feeling slightly slimy from the sheer expensiveness of the halls around me, I did find myself studying the paintings and photos.

Particularly the family portraits.

In most, there was a child easily recognisable as Apollo. Dark hair, pale green eyes, plenty of bored expressions, especially in some of the older paintings. Typical rich brat that excelled at everything.

A woman who shared his dark hair and pale eyes appeared in some of the oldest paintings, where Apollo was never more than a toddler. His mother, as my first guess.

Beside her was often an older man, probably in his forties. In contrast to both Apollo and his petite mother, the man was blond, masculine and tan. His sapphire blue gazing out of the painting with such intense pride and amusement that it almost burned to meet his gaze.

I even spotted Robin in a couple of the paintings, a little girl with dark curls and a sombre honey gaze. A man who could only be her father was in the few paintings she showed up in, always chummy with Apollo's father figure.

The one person I couldn't place,

Was the blond-haired boy.

Tall and lean, the boy was undeniably beautiful, with warm blue eyes. Golden child incarnate.

Out of the three children, this boy was obviously the eldest and looked mature to match. In one painting he carried the younger boy while holding the little Robin's hand. In another, smaller framed photo, he was fencing with Robin's father. Unlike in the paintings, the child wore glasses in the photos.

But in every image, the child always held himself elegantly. Always a warm, polite smile that screamed one word at me.

Love.

"Your names." I murmured to Apollo as he briskly strode forward, obviously ignoring the paintings. "On top of being stupid, your parents managed to get them the wrong way round."

I was smart enough to figure out the obvious.

But it shouldn't be possible.

"Don't ask." Apollo snapped coldly. "It's none of your business."

I immediately bit my tongue, deciding that it was best that I leave my questions for Artemis himself.

I do have morals, after all.

Respecting people's privacy...Picking on people my own size... Those sort of things.

Which meant I would be interrogating Artemis as soon as I could lay my hands on the deceptive little bugger.

Cause, yea, the last time I chose to ignore something like this, it turned out that they were near immortal villains with super nanotech powers.

Excuse me for having trust issues.

The rest of the walk continued in heavy silence, only broken when Apollo quickly opened and slid into what could only be described as a broom closet.

"Okay." I stage whispered into the darkness. "Not exactly where I was expecting the meeting of evil to take place. I'm cool with it, but isn't it going to be a little cramped for you guys?"

"Shut up." Apollo hissed back. Now, I didn't really know Apollo that well, but I did know Devin, and my highly trained ears can recognise an angry to cover up obvious embarrassment whisper when they hear one.

It's like he wants me to tease the crap out of him.

Before I could though, there came a rustling sound and Apollo's shoulder shifted beneath me. As he opened the back of the closet and revealed a secret passage.

"Dude, if this thing takes us to Narnia, I think I might have to kill you," I stressed to him as he quickly followed the narrow corridor. "Just on principle."

The further we travelled, the more I started to make out the sounds of music and conversation.

"Do you think I would even be here if I had a closet to Narnia?" He muttered back.

I froze, stunned by the fact that he had actually responded to my nonsense.

Then I grinned, ear to ear.

"Well, if you were from Narnia, it would explain a lot....like how Artemis talks, and the way you have a fiancée, your obsession with sweet things and you're out of this world fighting skills. Most obviously your height, or lack thereof... I could totally believe that you're an elf... Wait, did they even have elves in Narnia? Maybe you're from Middle Earth then... In which case, you'd be a hobbit... An emo hobbit."

"None of what you just said even works." He hissed in frustration. "Not even a little!"

"You doubt the existence of the dreaded emo hobbit?"

"That's not-!" He sputtered in outrage before slamming a fist on the wall. "Damn it Maddison, have you even read the books?!"

"Apollo, I didn't even make it all the way through the movies."

As he came to a stop at the end of the secret passage, Apollo leant back against the wall, taking a moment to just breathe.

"It's your own fault." He muttered to himself tiredly. "You had a chance to gag her back at the room, but you just had to go and do the humane thing.

I rolled my eyes.

"Well, you know what they say." I held up an informative finger, even in the darkness.

"Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level, and beat you with experience."

"I'll keep that in mind." He muttered dryly, before pushing himself off the wall. In the dimness of the corridor, the bright outline of a door before us was easy to make out. Even muffled, there was a lot of noise coming from the other side of the door, lots of people talking and even quartet music.

"Ah... I know that we're dressed up fancy and this is an evil organisation and all, but please tell me we're not going to a formal dinner or something."

"Don't take the Underground lightly Maddison," Apollo muttered darkly, and I almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Its something much, much worse than a dinner party."

He pushed the door open.

Two words.

Masquerade. Ball.

Which brings us back to the point where the Mc'Valium's have a ballroom, therefore, Apollo deserves to be obliterated from the face of the planet.

Just. Cause.