The Exiled God; A Trials of Apollo Fanfiction

The Waystation

Y/n's POV

When I woke up, I discovered that I was in an infirmary. I was laying comfortably in a hospital bed, and in a brand-new change of clothes too. The thing was, the clothes weren't mine. I was wearing a pair of flared jeans and a green sweater. Thankfully though, I was still wearing my own gym shoes. Immediately, I remembered that I had been shot yesterday, and I lifted up my sweater to see the damage. To my surprise, there was no sign that I had ever been injured.

"Hey," Leo greeted and entered the room, taking up a stance next to my bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I reply. "But how...how did we get here? And where is here? How am I already healed?"

"I know you must have a lot of questions. To answer one, we're in the Waystation," Leo shared. "It's sort of like the labyrinth in a way, but nowhere near as scary and terrifying. As for you being healed, Emmie took care of you."

I frowned. "Emmie? Who's Emmie?"

"She's the one who rescued us from the plaza," Leo answered. "Her and Jo are the current owners of this place. It's pretty sweet, right?"

"Um, yeah. Sure," I murmur and swing my legs over the side of the bed. As soon as I hopped off, a headache struck me, and I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Wow. Do you think this place has something to cure a common headache?"

"Probably. But Emmie said the headache would be a side effect from the treatment and it should just go away on its own. Let me show you around. Perhaps your headache will be gone by then," Leo mentioned.

"Yeah. Sure," I give in and follow him down the hallway. "So, what happened before I passed out? I don't remember much."

"You were very disoriented," Leo revealed. "And you were saying some real funny stuff."

"Oh no. Please tell me it wasn't too embarrassing," I plead.

"I thought it was cute," Leo admitted.

"You think everything I do is cute," I remind him.

"Cause it is," Leo insisted and pressed a kiss to the side of my head as we entered the main living area.

"Ah. Our fourth guest is awake. It's nice to finally meet you, dear. I'm Emmie," the woman introduced.

"Y/n," I return and shake her hand. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you, by the way, for healing me."

Emmie waved me off. "That was nothing. Come. Jo and your friends have just finished preparing lunch."

Lunch was delicious. We had a nice salad filled with carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and tomatoes, along with some lemonade and homemade bread. There was also a cheese wheel that was red for some reason, but it tasted great nonetheless. For dessert, we munched on sponge cake and fresh berries. Once we had finished eating, we caught Jo and Emmie up on our travels west and explained how the Triumvirate had sabotaged all forms of communication used by demigods. And now the three evil emperors intended to control or destroy all the Oracles from ancient times. Lastly Apollo recited the prophecy that led us here in the first place.

"We freed the Grove of Dodona," Apollo summed up. "But that Oracle simply sent us here to secure the next source of prophecy: the Cave of Trophonius. But such was the prophecy of Dodona that brought us here."

"'A cave blue and hollow'..." Emmie trailed off. "That's the Oracle of Trophonius, all right. It's located in the Bluespring Caverns, about eighty miles south of town."

Leo grinned. "Easiest quest ever, then. We get Festus back, then we look up this place on Google Maps and fly down there."

"Doubtful," Jo disagreed. "The emperor has the surrounding countryside heavily guarded. You couldn't fly a dragon anywhere near Bluespring without getting shot out of the sky. Even if you could, the cave entrances are all way too small for a dragon to plunge into."