TAMING APOLLO | completed

23. chronicles of the labyrinth

23. chronicles of the labyrinth

G A Y L E

I MAY NOT have noticed it before, but I am now absolutely certain that Apollo has been avoiding me.

See, it's the little things like how he averts his gaze when I catch him staring at me, or how he opted to tread ahead of me, leaving me in the back with the bickering Thalia and Hercules.

Yep, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I can tell that something is up.

In some ways, I can understand why he's doing this to me. It's weird. I look identical to his fated love, and on that one faithful night he got confused and kissed me.

At least there's an excuse for what happened on his side. What about me? What have I done? Why did I let him kiss me? Oh, and why did it feel so good?

The flesh under my skin starts to buzz at the thought of his pink, plump lips on mine, fitting together perfectly to create a glorious picture like the pieces of a puzzle.

What am I thinking? What is wrong with me? Ugh! It was probably Cyrene. Yeah, that's right. The reason it felt so good is because Cyrene had taken control. She was the one who wound up kissing Apollo, not me. Somehow she managed to surface, and drive my body into doing terrible, terrible things.

Oh, but if she did it, then why was I the one who felt it? Why did it feel that way to me? Normally I can feel Cyrene's emotions, vaguely like looking into somebody's eyes so deeply you can fell their emotions.

It wasn't like that when Apollo and I kissed. I had experienced it firsthand, on my own. The butterflies in my stomach and the goosebumps on my skin were testament to that.

And after that, red hot rage seeped into my veins. The same way it feels when you wanna hit somebody. That was Cyrene.

I'm scared to fall asleep because she might kill me next time I see her in the depths of my mind.

Still, I can't ignore the feeling of Apollo close to me. I can't ignore how it felt when we kissed.

It felt right. It felt good, like the sweet delightful reward of a beautiful sin.

But it was wrong.

Apollo does not belong to me, he never did. Apollo belongs to Cyrene, and when this is all over they will be reunited. They will be together forever, and I'll be back in my cheap apartment facing the wrath of my parents for dropping out of college.

Just like the gods intended.

When we reach the finish line, this will all have been like a bad dream. It'll be over.

"You're hungry." Icarus' voice snaps me out of my head.

I look around, we're in the Labyrinth on the right path. Somehow I've wandered straight to the front where Icarus is walking alone.

Right at the back are Thalia and Hercules, who are arguing as usual and in front of them is Apollo. I don't look at him for too long because I don't want to make things more awkward than they already are.