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THE EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE WAS REDONE QUICKLY, each stone and piece of marble placed back where it had once resided. The tall white towers surrounding it, although a bit darker than the normal pale because of the ash, were done to perfection. It was as if the bombing had never even happened. But it did. Nothing could erase the original panic Astrid had felt when first hearing the news.
Inside the palace was a whole different story. It seemed like the workers started from the outside to shield the citizens of Apollo from the damage on the inside. Kind of like herself, Astrid had thought, a strong and poised demeanor on the outside but on the inside it felt like she was teetering on the thin line that was sanity. She had lost her father not even a few months ago, and now the crushing reality that her mother could now be dead too made her want to lose her mind.
The halls of the palace were eerily quiet, remnants of the thick smoke lingering in the air. The ground was covered in a layer of dark ash, it only grew more opaque as they grew closer to the throne room. Upon seeing the damage in the throne room, Astrid wanted to crumble to the ground and sink into the floor. Her hold on sleeping Maya tightened ever so slightly, and a wave of overwhelming protectiveness washed over her.
