The Moon's Shine (PJO)

Chapter 14

"You certainly got an upgrade," Apollo said as he observed Percy sparring with an automated celestial bronze dummy.

Of course, since Riptide was broken, Percy was using a different sword. It was a touch too heavy, but he could deal with it.

Percy jumped in surprise—and the robot's sword swung past his torso with inches to spare. The demigod quickly rolled forwards, and before the robot could turn around, he hopped to his feet and lunged for the red power button on the robot's back.

The son of the sea turned to face the god of the sun—who was watching from a short distance with his arms crossed—and casually wiped his sweaty brow. Behind him, the animatronic collapsed to the ground. "Welcome, Lord Apollo. What do you mean by 'an upgrade'?"

He purposely didn't kneel down. Lord Apollo was one of the more chill gods who didn't care about his title that much—and at the same time, Percy figured that he could get a laugh out of the immortal by enunciating his title. 

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Lord Apollo frowned in disapproval but kept on going with the conversation. "Well, the notorious legend of Perseus Jackson decimating Chiron's straw dummies every time he visits Camp Half-Blood has passed through Olympus once or twice . . ."

Percy gulped. "It always is an accident! My emotions take over, and then . . ." he trailed off in embarrassment. He didn't want to say that much. The demigod quickly changed the subject. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"It's also known that you've—on multiple occasions—tried to procure tougher targets from the Hephaestus cabin." The immortal's eyes were filled with suspicion. "But they never held out for long."

"What are you trying to say?" Percy didn't like the tone in his voice.

"And now, you're in the arena of your dreams." Lord Apollo waved to their surroundings—a humongous gymnasium filled with everything needed for sparring imaginable. "Seems like life has taken a good turn for you, Jackson."

The sword fell out of Percy's grip. It clattered on the wooden floor, filling the gymnasium with a thousand echoes of the horrible sound.

But both Percy and Apollo didn't seem to notice as they glared at each other.

Of course, he wasn't on his property right now. He was inside the eastern gymnasium of Artemis' castle—somewhere he'd been spending a lot of time for the past month.

Ever since he'd moved onto the property.

Artemis had been serious about trying a relationship; within days of his embarrassing "profession of love," they'd been spending as much time as possible with each other—even more than when they'd been best friends. They would do almost everything together: dine, cook, stargaze, lounge, argue, snuggle, kiss . . . 

It felt as though he was spending time in heaven.

Naturally, there would be times they'd be separated. Like now.

Artemis had left a few hours ago, claiming she had to check on her domains. Having nothing else to do, Percy deviated from lounging lazily in his bedroom to fighting with armed animatronics—a much better life choice.

But he didn't expect to be accosted by an immortal and accused of being . . . well, a gold digger.

"I have no idea what you mean," Percy said in a calm voice. 

Immortals often got things wrong, thanks to their enormous egos. Ergo, Percy wasn't mad.

Instead, he was hurt.

Apollo snorted. "Sure you do. Might I remind you that I was one of the people who urged Artemis to get rid of Orion before he betrayed her? I'm trying to save her heart here. Something I thought you had."