Chloe

Oh my gods oh my gods OH MY GODS!

Sophia accepted me! She didn’t just accept me, she was more supportive of me than I was! Having actually said that, that doesn’t sound great, does it? Ah well, we’d work on the whole self confidence thing. The important part was that the most important person in my life was cool with me being a girl, a woman, a maiden, even!

Now all we had to do was find our way back to that river, which seemed super doable, and I’m definitely not being sarcastic right now. Don’t get me wrong, I was gonna work my butt off trying to get back there, but I had this faint impression of where we were, and it didn’t paint a great picture.

“Hey Chloe? I know I just did my whole spiel about how we were definitely gonna pull this off, but I kind of have a question. Do you know where the fuck we are? Cuz I’ve got a feeling, and I don’t like it.”

So we were on the same page then. That was good, although from how Sophia was talking, my faint impression was probably accurate.

“Does your feeling say mainland Greece, a few miles north of Athens?”

“Yep…” Her voice was strained “Does yours say we’re currently stuck in 1187 BC?”

I nodded glumly as the reality of the situation sank in. Sophia just took a deep breath before shouting at the sky.

“How the fuck are we supposed to get to Crete from here?!?”

Sophia

“I don’t know, kid, but yelling at Zeus probably isn’t a good start.”

Who the hell-?

“It’s Apollo, kid. Yes, I can read your mind, yes, I know you weren’t actually yelling at my dad there, and no, I’m not here to make things any easier on you.”

Wha-?

“Wha indeed, my friend. Wha indeed.”

Fucking hell.

I just needed two seconds to think… without someone listening in.

Apollo started whistling. Not suspicious in the slightest.

The god of prophecy, music, and the sun, who happens to be the younger twin of the goddess who dropped us here just shows up out of nowhere to do what? Prophesy at us? Or were we supposed to believe that he just happened to be passing through or something?

Chloe

There’s something about the gods that’s so enthralling. One second, I was panicking and Sophia was yelling, and the next, there was just a guy there, standing behind her. There wasn’t a flash of light, he didn’t have some spectacularly booming voice, he just looked like a 20-something guy with blond hair and almost too much confidence. Somehow though, that normalcy only added to my fascination. It was like… imagine if you were just sitting at home, and then all of a sudden, with no fanfare or preamble, a table just suddenly appears in the room. That was what the appearance of Apollo was like.

He’d also been saying something. It only just occurred to me that I’d been tuning out what was probably some real godly wisdom the whole time. Now Sophia was just standing there pondering something, and Apollo was whistling something. Then he stopped. He looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows, in spite of his current looks, he was every bit the cocky god I was expecting.

“Aww, and here I thought I looked pretty good.” He laughed and winked, “I’ve never been compared with a table before though, so I’ll let it slide for novelty’s sake.”

Ah, ok sure, that’s fair. Mind reading, why not?

“Soo… you probably already know, I wasn’t really paying attention until just now. My head kinda just does that sometimes. Why are you here again?”

Sophia’s head whipped around to look at me, staring in shock.

“What? Choe, I- huh?”

What was that about? Apollo just laughed again.

“She’s just a lil’ surprised that you were so direct. She spent the last couple minutes trying to figure out why I was here without asking.” He looked at Sophia again, “You aren’t very trusting of the gods, are you? That’s a little surprising considering how long you spent trying to find one.”

“So you were listening!”

“Uh… yeah? I never said I wasn’t. Now then, because Chloe asked so nicely, I’m here because my sister asked me to explain some stuff to ya!”

Sophia

This guy was insufferable. Even if you can read minds, the least you could do is let people finish their own damn thoughts before you answer them. I didn’t care that he could hear that, it was the truth, but whatever, I wasn’t going to look a gift god in the mouth. 

“Explain what?”

“Oh, y’know, just a couple little things. Where your stuff is, why you have weapons, why you’ve been sent about three thousand years back in time, simple stuff.” He gave me a pointed look, his expression darkening for a moment.  “Of course, there aren’t many people who can order a god around like a message boy. You shouldn’t forget how much of a gift this is.”

I let out a deep sigh and tried to relax.

“I’m sorry for getting upset with you, and I appreciate you going out of your way to deliver this message. I’ll make sure to dedicate my next sacrifice to you, ok?”

He nodded to me, his smile growing brighter once again.

“Good. I’d appreciate that. Now then, as for the message… ok it’s more like a list.” He frowned, squinting at the sheet of paper that had suddenly appeared in his hands. “Damn sis, you really can’t write for shit, huh? No elegance, no subtlety, for shame.”

He cleared his throat.

“Ahem! Anyways, item one, where is your stuff? Short answer, she has it. Long answer, she has it and you can have it back if you survive. Item two, why the spear and bow? So you can hunt and not die, yeah I guess that makes sense. Also, it seems like they’re magic, so good for you two! Their names are silver bow and hunting spear… seriously sis?!? Would it kill you to be creative just one time? Just once?”

He paused, taking a moment to gather himself. To think, his own flesh and blood would be clear and to the point, absolutely shameful.

“See Sophia, you get it!” I raised my eyebrows at him, giving him a sly grin of my own. “Oh… you were making fun of me. Nicely done, honestly. Using the whole mind reading thing against me, my big sis could learn a thing or two from you. Anyways, onto item three, why are you here, now, during the height of the Trojan War? Because it’d be way too easy if you weren’t. It wouldn’t be a challenge if you could just take an uber to the coast or ride a jet or something. What better time to test a pair of aspiring huntresses than to drop them into the age of heroes? I’m ad libbing here, Arty just wrote ‘To ensure that you are faced with an appropriate challenge’. Long story short, you’ll go back to your time when all this is over. You’ve got some spending money, your fancy new weapons, some twine, and some supplies for starting fires. And… I think that’s it! Good luck!”

Chloe

Welp, now he was leaving. My first time meeting a god was pretty cool I guess, it’s just a shame he and Sophia didn’t seem to get along. It was good to know Artemis was watching us, and that she cared enough to leave us with anything at all, and I definitely appreciated what she did with my hair. She’d even given us magic weapons, even if their names were a little basic. Oh wait, what did the magic do again? Apollo didn’t tell us, did he? And now he was walking away.

“Wait!”

He kept walking.

“Please…”

He stopped and turned.

“Yes Chloe?”

Oh gods he was looking at me. I mean, he looked at me before, but most of that conversation was just him and Sophie! Now I’d just yelled at him, practically given him a command. He was a god, and I’d really just yelled at him to wait.

“Chloe?”

I let out an undignified squeak.

“Breathe.”

I took a couple shaky breaths. It was fine. I was fine. He’d listened to me, and now he was trying to comfort me, at least a little. I was safe. Gods was I emotional lately.

“Um… what do the magic weapons do?”

He nodded at me as he gave me a warm smile. Literally, in this case, his body beginning to radiate the comforting warmth of the sun.

“Oh yeah… I guess I kind of glossed over that part, didn’t I? The bow doesn’t use arrows, it makes them. Just draw the string back, aim, and shoot. You never have to worry about running out. The spear makes you stronger, and the tip is naturally drawn towards vital targets. Basically, you’re both cheating, but seeing as how you’ve never done this before, I think it’s a fair handicap. Anyways, dawn’s a-wasting! You should both get moving, and I should too! Have fun in Athens!”

And with that, he disappeared. He didn’t walk away like before, he just vanished into thin air, like if a table just disappeared from your room.

Ok… maybe that metaphor could use some work.