{BOOK 2} Percy Jackson's Sister

New England Cooked to a Crisp

       All the Hunters filed into the very back of the bus, probably trying to keep as much distance in between them and Apollo. Thalia and I were the only girls sitting closer to the front.

     "This is so cool!" Nico jumped in the driver's seat. Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

       The kid knew way more about Greek mythology than I did when I started. I was beginning to think he knew more than me even after all the classes Chiron forced me to take at camp.

    "Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it. They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

     "But how does it work?" Nico was practically yelling with excitement. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

     Apollo laughed and patted Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun... er, so to speak. It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

     Nico shook his head, still smiling. "No."

    To be honest, neither did I. If anything, Apollo had just made it more confusing than it was before.

     "Well then," he said. "Just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

      "Can I drive?" Nico asked.

      "No. Too young."

      "Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

     "Mm, no," Apollo decided. "Too furry."

     Grover hung his head in disappointment.

     "I think you're the perfect amount of furry," I said, patting his shoulder. I meant it as a joke but he smiled and took it as a compliment.

    "Thanks, Cas."

     Apollo searched the bus for an adequate driver. His eyes landed on Thalia.

     "Daughter of Zeus!" he called. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

     "Oh, no." Thalia swiped her hands in the air as if to say cut the cameras. "No, thanks."

     "C'mon," Apollo insisted. "How old are you?"

     Thalia paused. "I don't know."

     Ever since being turned back to human, Thalia considered herself to be twelve, still. She clearly wasn't, she looked a couple years older than me. If you counted, she would be nineteen by now, around Luke's age, but she didn't look that all old. The truth is, not even Chiron knew what to tell her.

    Apollo tapped his chin, thinking. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen."

    Thalia looked startled. "How do you know that?"

     "Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."

     "That's my birthday! December twenty-second."