The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

EPILOGUE

"Atlanta," Nico whispered to her as they walked past the archery range, "that son of Apollo totally blushed and looked away when he saw you. He's pretty cute. You should talk to him; his name is Alex Lichtholz [AN: get the reference? Hint: Lichtholz is German for Lightwood!]. He's not great with a sword, trust me I've tried to teach him and I taught Will for Artemis' sake, but from what I've heard he's a great poet."

The dark-haired daughter of Neptune rolled her eyes and stifled a groan. "Papa, you think every son of Apollo is cute. You're married and, like, one hundred years old. Please stop pointing people out to me. It's creepy."

"Technically I'm a century old, but my body is only thirty-five. Also, I think all blonds with blue eyes are cute. I don't discriminate by who the person's father is," he clarified with a smirk. "Alas, you are correct when you say I am married, happily at that. Will is way more handsome than his younger siblings anyway though, so you go get 'em. I approve."

"Don't you usually tell me to beat up guys who try to flirt with me or look at me the long way?"

"Well, yes, but he looked all flustered when he saw you. He's a shy kid. I know how it feels to crush on someone from afar and not think you're worthy enough to get close to them, and I could see it in him. Besides, it's that Jackson kid you need to watch out for. He's got his father's blood, which means he's trouble."

Atlanta raised an eyebrow as they walked through the forest and towards their small home in New Greece.

"That's not what you say about Bianca Jackson, your goddaughter," she accused.

Her father chuckled, brown eyes sparkling warmly. "She's more like Annabeth. Luke is more like Percy, and that's the problem. Your Uncle Perce is a moron."

"He was still your first crush."

"That's it! No dinner for you tonight, young lady."

"Then dad will get angry at you for not allowing me the nutrients I need to stay strong."

"You know, you inherited too much of my wit. Why couldn't you stick to medical comebacks like Will?"

They were approaching their house now, which was conveniently right across the dirt path from Cecil and Lou Ellen's house. The couple was actually outside in their front yard playing frisbee with their twin sons of ten years Max and Marlin. As Nico and Atlanta walked by, Lou Ellen used her magic to make the plastic disc freeze in midair so she could wave. The neighbors waved to each other just before Marlin shot his own magic at the frisbee and it went active again. It was with a laugh that Nico watched Cecil duck, almost getting decapitated by his own magic-endowed child.

"Hey," Atlanta voiced suddenly as they stepped into their house to smell stir-fry in the air. "I forgot to ask you something. Can you come to my parent-teacher conference this Friday night?"

"What did I just hear?" Will asked as he came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon covered in some sort of sauce. "Since when does Chiron have time for conferences? And hey, why did you ask papa and not your dad?"

Ever since expanding Camp Half-blood to include New Greece in its borders, there had been an increase in those the centaur was responsible for. Dionysus, being ever so helpful, was supposed to run the activities at camp while he acted as a mayor-like figure for those living in the small but teaming community that had been built inside the large expanse of forest. However, he usually ended up making one of the senior campers deal with new arrivals. Eventually the centaur had just decided to make the head counselors of camp directors to ensure the camp was being run smoothly. Thank the gods his plan had worked, since he was needed to be the principal for New Greece K-12 School.