Chapter Text
CH66 – TTC – A DINNER AND A SONG
“A hover board!” Leo said proudly as Tyson gingerly held a rectangular piece of celestial bronze.
“What now?” Piper asked curiously and Butch muttered something about Star Wars.
“Well not technically a hover board cuz it can’t hold more than a few pounds and we still need to work out some stuff but yeah…” Leo said proudly and gave a disappointed sigh at the blank faces of Piper, Reyna and Dakota around him. “Seriously guys? Not even a ‘congrats’ or ‘you are a genius, Leo’?”
“I don’t think they understand.” Tyson said softly. “I’ll show you how it works.”
Tyson ran his hand over the board and it began to vibrate for a few seconds before making its way around their little group. The two, or rather Leo, had decided to showcase their latest invention, in this case, a telekinetic hover-board, to the campers while they all waited for dinner to be served.
“It works on telekinesis.” Leo said as the board moved along with Tyson’s hand movements. “This one is tuned in to both mine and Tyson’s mind… Pretty cool, huh?” Leo said smugly as he watched more people crowd around them.
“Super cool.” Thalia said with a grin as she watched the board do a somersault before landing in Tyson’s giant hands.
“Finally!” Leo exclaimed. “Someone who understands how awesome this is. Don’t you guys get it? You don’t have to walk anywhere!”
“I’m interested.” Clovis said sleepily, blinking his eyes to chase away the sleep.
“Ding-ding-ding! Congratulations! You are my first customer.”
“Woah, woah, woah! You can’t do any business without our permission.” Travis said with a raised eyebrow as he and his brothers shook their heads at Leo.
“Yeah man! It’s an unwritten rule of the camp.” Chris said solemnly. “Cabin 11 is in charge of all illegal business in the camp.”
“And all business is illegal in camp.” Connor said and put his arm around Leo.
“Oh really?” Leo replied with a roll of his eyes.
“Yeah.” Travis said, running a finger across the hover board and barely suppressing a yelp as he got shocked by the equipment. He straightened up and said, “We could have an agreement. You could pay us and then do your little side business.”
“Exactly!” Connor said, steering Leo away from the group and from Travis and Chris, who were stealing the hover-board from an unsuspecting Tyson.
Leo gave a smug grin as he caught the reflection of the two boys walking away from the crowd and said, “By the way, I always have a self-destruct instruction… even in prototypes.”
“What…” Connor scrunched up his face and turned around as he heard shouts behind him. Both Travis and Chris were on the floor and Travis was clutching his hands gingerly while Chris was staring at the broken hover-board.
“Don’t steal from me.” Leo smirked and walked away, leaving Connor watching an exasperated Will berate his brothers.
“Did it look cool? Please tell me it looked cool.” Leo asked Jason and Percy as he walked over to them.
“Meh.”
“Kinda.”
Leo fist bumped Percy and glared at Jason. “What do you mean by ‘meh’?”
“Use an explosion next time and then walk away.” Nico suggested as he looked at the commotion surrounding the broken hover-board.
“Nico!” Hazel exclaimed while Annabeth told Leo not to use an explosion and Percy gave him a thumbs up over Annabeth’s shoulder.
X-X-X-X-X
“So, what are the rules exactly?” Reyna asked Annabeth while the other Romans stopped eating to pay attention. The demigods were huddled in one corner of the dining hall and Annabeth had taken it upon herself to explain the Capture the Flag to the others.
“No killing, no maiming, you can injure the other person though.” Annabeth said between bites as Percy looked on in a bored manner. He was already half asleep and they hadn’t even gotten to the planning part, while the hunters looked like they were already planning the demigods’ funerals.
“Hey.” Hazel whispered to Percy. “Is this anything like the war games?”
“Somewhat like that, but not so organized.”
“So, what you did would be an accurate representation of the game?” Reyna asked, having heard Percy.
“Mmhmm.”
“What did you do?” Jason asked in amusement.
“You’ll probably hear about it.” Percy replied and turned to Annabeth. “What’s the game plan?”
“I still do not understand the game.” Theseus interrupted and Thalia and Annabeth took turns explaining the game to the ancient heroes. Thalia had decided to play with the demigods, seeing that this would be the last time she would be able to do so.
Sighing, Percy tuned out of the conversation once again and smiled at Leo and Calypso, who looked like they were in the middle of an argument. He was about to look away and leave the couple to their argument when Leo waved him over in a somewhat urgent manner.
“What?” Percy asked as he scooted over to the son of Hephaestus.
“Tell her that it’s not a bad idea.”
“What’s not a bad idea?”
“The hover board. Duh!”
Percy grinned sheepishly at Calypso and said, “It’s not a bad idea?”
“You could be a little more convincing, you know?” Leo deadpanned and stared at Percy.
“Well… I mean hover board is an amazing idea…”
“But?” Calypso asked in glee.
“But, well… it’s hovering…”
“Yup! The name kinda makes it clear.” Will mumbled from where he, Nico and Lou Ellen were sitting.
“He means that it’s not touching the ground, meaning it’s in the air, meaning…” Nico pointed out.
“It’s in your uncle’s domain.” Lou Ellen completed.
“Yeah. So not a big fan of things not touching the ground.” Percy said and Nico nodded. Turning to Calypso, he asked, “What’s your issue with the board?”
“It exploded twice before I made the working prototype… that I blew up anyway.” Leo muttered.
“In your face. It exploded twice in your face, Leo!” Calypso said in exasperation.
“Hey! A little more faith would be nice.” Leo pointed his spoon in Calypso’s general direction. “If I can make a talking dragon…”
“Only you could understand the dragon.” Percy added.
“… and Buford the table and use Archimedes’ sphere, I can make a hover board. I just won’t put explosives in the initial ones.”
“You put explosives?!” Calypso yelled.
“Yeah. It’s safe. Really.” Leo said and started tinkering with the half made hover board at his side.
“Explosives are safe?” Nico asked skeptically.
“Well… most of the times. Like if you are standing really, really far away or you know, know how to use them…”
“This is why the infirmary is always full.” Will said with a roll of his eyes.
As all of them scooted away from Leo, Percy asked, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how sure are you that that’s not gonna blow up?”
“1 being…?”
“1 being a 100 percent sure and 10 being not confident at all.”
“11.”
“Uh-huh”
“Leo, you really need to stop messing around with it.” Lou Ellen said, eyeing the object in Leo’s hand with distrust. Both Will and Nico repeated her words.
“I’m not messing around. I know what I’m doing.” Leo said distractedly.
“Leo, listen to them.” Calypso said, her voice going high pitched as sparks started coming out of the contraption.
“¡Ay-ay-ay! Ellos están loco en de cabeza, Calypso. Ellos no saben lo qué están deciendo." Leo said, squinting at the device as his hands created fire.
“I hate it when they can speak another language other than English and Greek.” Will mumbled, trying to remember some of the Spanish that he had learnt from one of his old neighbors.
“I speak Italian.” Nico pointed out.
“Other than that.”
“What did he say?” Calypso asked in confusion.
“He called us crazy and that you shouldn’t listen to us ‘cuz we don’t know what we are seeing.” Percy explained as he picked his way through Leo’s abandoned plate.
“Saying, not seeing.” Leo corrected absently and then looked up in shock. “You know Spanish?”
“A bit, I guess.” Percy shrugged. “I can understand bits and pieces if you speak slowly.”
“I thought you took Latin and not Spanish in school.” Nico said and added at Percy’s confused look, “The reading? The first book mentioned that you were in Latin class with Chiron.”
“Oh, yeah.” Percy nodded. “Didn’t take Spanish but when we used to live with Gabe, we lived near a Hispanic Community, so I learnt it a little from the other kids.”
“I didn’t know that.” Annabeth said, sitting down next to Percy.
“Yeah, well, I can’t speak it properly except a few words here and there and the guys used to say that I always murdered the grammar…”
“But you can understand it?” Leo asked, his invention forgotten for the time being.
“Yeah.” Percy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at the attention he was getting from their little group.
“Damn!” Leo exclaimed. “I can’t insult you in Spanish!”
“Nope. Those were the first things I learnt.”
“They always are.”
“I know Greek swear words.” Jason said with a grin.
“Good for you.” Percy replied with a thumbs up.
“What are you all talking about?” Thalia asked, looking over from where she was sitting next to Perseus.
“Jason knows swear words.”
“Duh! Who do you think taught him those, Kelp Head?”
“Atta girl.” Percy grinned and ducked as Thalia threw a carrot at him.
“No food fight, guys!” Annabeth said, putting her hand on Percy’s to stop him from throwing celery.
“Should we not discuss the game plan for tomorrow? I do not like to lose and especially not to those girls.” Hercules said, side-eyeing the hunters. He added under his breath, “Not after a day like today.”
“Yeah, nobody likes losing to them.” Travis said, joining the group and avoiding Leo’s smug look.
“Okay. Is everyone here?” Annabeth asked, doing a mental headcount. Satisfied, she looked to Lou Ellen and nodded. Soon, the demigods were surrounded by some invisible force.
“It’s a spell I have been working on. No one can hear us now.” Lou Ellen explained with a smirk.
“So cool.” Percy whispered in awe.
Annabeth looked at him fondly and clapped her hands together, “Alright, so listen properly.”
X-X-X-X-X
The golden haired boy shifted around a bit to get comfortable and went back to reading the thick book placed on his lap. Will made a note on the side margin and turned the page, once again looking up to check if the moon had changed its position. Apparently not.
The son of Apollo was sitting in one of the enormous, golden rooms (maybe this was the famously infamous sun room) in his father’s palace. Unable to sleep, he had made his way to the nearest room with his favorite medical science book in his hands and a pencil tucked behind his ear. The room, or rather, the hall was huge and covered on three sides with ceiling to floor windows that gave the room a feel of hanging in midair. The room was painted an obscene shade of gold and Will was sure that come morning, it would shine brighter than probably the sun.
His thin finger traced the lines as he read them while the other hand tapped the pencil to a rhythm playing in his mind. He groaned in irritation when he read the same sentence for the millionth time. This had been happening for quite some time. He would start reading a line and re-read it a hundred times before realizing what he was doing. It took him a whole hour to just finish reading two paragraphs. Malcolm, his good friend and Annabeth’s brother would have been so disappointed in him.
Thinking about his other friends made him think about the camp and especially the patients that he had left behind. He couldn’t just stop worrying about them and no matter what he did, he would end up thinking about all the things that could go wrong in his absence. Lou Ellen and Nico had been explaining to him that time would not be passing back at home and they would only be gone for a second or two, but his stupid brain was not ready to accept that.
It was a baseless fear and he had voiced as much to Nico while they had walked back to the palaces to rest but Nico had been understanding and assured him that no fear was baseless or stupid just because it sounded so. If it was real to him, then it had to be tackled. And even though this assurance had made Will grin all the way back to the palace, it did nothing to calm his thoughts down when he had finally gone to bed.
Nope. Not thinking about that. Lalalalalalala. Think about Nico… puppies… Nico… Will kept repeating it in his head as his nightmare reared its ugly head once again.
“Will?” came a whisper from behind him.
“Gah!”
Will leapt up from the couch, his book falling to the floor with a ‘thud’ and his hands coming up in a defensive position with his pencil held in his left hand like a dagger ready to be thrown. His first thought was that Nico had managed to find a way to bypass the whole rule of not entering other’s palaces and had shadow-travelled into the room but the figure standing in front of him was taller and healthier looking than the son of Hades.
“Oh. I did not mean to scare you.” The figure said in a whisper and Will relaxed himself at the familiar voice.
“Dad?” the boy asked in a whisper, bending down to right the lamp that had fallen over and pick up his book. As he straightened up, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
Apollo grinned at his son, his face lighting up under the moonlight and said in a whisper, “Well, this is my palace, so…”
“No. I mean, what are you doing awake at this time and over here.”
“I could ask you the same question.”
“I was studying.”
“At this nonsensical hour?”
“Yes… why are you still whispering?”
Apollo shrugged and came around the couch to stand in front of his son. Plucking the pencil out of Will’s hand, he asked, “Why are you still holding this… stick as a weapon?”
“It’s a pencil and you sneaked up on me.” Will said.
His lack of sleep and the jump scare had upset his already anxious mood and it made him cranky and on the defensive. As it was, he could feel a headache build up near his temples. The healer was hardly ever impolite and was trying his best to rein in his sour tone while talking to his dad, so it came as a relief when Apollo put his hand on Will’s shoulder and gently pushed the boy to sit down. Will instantly relaxed under Apollo’s touch, either because the god was using his power to calm him down or he was glad that Apollo didn’t take offence to Will’s somewhat rude attitude. Whatever be the case, it had Will relaxing into the couch.
Picking up the book, the god followed his son’s example and sat down on the couch. Fingering the foreign text on the book and watching it change to Greek, he asked, “So what is this book about?”
“Biology and medicine.”
“Ah! A healer’s guide then.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“You are more interested in that, aren’t you? Healing rather than music or poetry or archery.”
“Yeah. I’m alright at archery and downright horrible at poetry. I like music, well cuz my mom is a singer, but other than that, healing or medicine is what I’m good at.” Will said tentatively and hoped that Apollo wasn’t in the habit of folding pages as the god leafed through the book.
“This is a mortal book!” Apollo beamed at his son and added, “They are not wrong about a lot of things although there are way too many diseases listed in the book.”
“Yeah well, you got angry a lot or so they say.” Will said with a grin.
Now that they were on a favored topic, he was feeling far more comfortable than before. He tried to remember the last time he had met his dad. It had been after the end of the first war when he had helping around the streets of Manhattan, picking up the injured and the fallen alike and shielding them from the mortals’ prying eyes. It was at one such street corner that Apollo had helped him carry a horribly injured son of Ares to the camp van. They had talked for only a few minutes with the god giving him an enhanced version of one of the healing potions and asking about the conditions of all of his kids. Then he had promptly disappeared. There was a vast contrast between that Apollo and the one sitting on the couch next to Will. For one, this one looked far too young and carefree than in even any of the pictures or statues of the god and for two, his hair was standing up in all directions, as if he had ran his hand through his hair in frustration and stopped just short of pulling them out, a far cry from his usual look.
“That would do it.” Apollo muttered under his breath. He gently closed the book and asked, “So tell me son, what draws you towards healing?”
Apollo smiled as he saw Will taking in a deep breath and launching into a detailed explanation of everything he loved about healing and helping others, his favorite parts and with little encouragement, about the various different things he had to do as the ‘best healer of the camp’. The more he talked, the more he relaxed and the more Apollo relaxed. The fate of his sister had been eating at him throughout the night and his little distraction of attempting to write an epic had only left him frustrated. It had been by chance that he had happened upon his distressed son sitting alone in the sun room with only the moonlight and lamp as company.
“…right before the war! It was a boy by the way. A healthy one, so that’s good, but still!” Will was saying with an exasperated smile that was beginning to look fond.
Apollo chuckled and said, “That must have been interesting.” He had only been half listening to Will’s rant but had still managed to get the highlights.
“That’s one word for it. I couldn’t stop shaking even when I joined the war.”
“Ah! The excitement of helping bring someone into the world.”
“More like the nerves.”
“That too.” Both father and son chuckled and Apollo asked, “Why are you actually awake?” He didn’t know what prompted the question as he wasn’t too inclined to talk about any sort of ‘heavy feelings’ with anyone. Maybe other than Artemis. But something innate made him want to know about his son from the future and he couldn’t think of anything selfish that would make him want to do that other than the prospect of helping Will out in whatever was troubling him.
Should I? Should I not? Will kept thinking it over in his head. Did his father really want to know or was just making small talk? Even a couple of days of living in the camp, hearing to the heartbreak of hundreds of children waiting for a speck of attention from their distant parents was enough to warn off any camper from attempting to get their parents’ attentions and that made them all the more suspicious of anything the gods did. After all, there was no such thing as free lunch – a lesson that every demigod was well aware of.
Finally, the part that did crave his father’s attention said, “Nightmares.” Will shrugged nonchalantly as if it was normal (which it was but no one, especially Apollo needed to know just how much it affected him).
“Hmm. The war I presume.” Apollo said with a nod. He was well aware of the nightmares and jumpiness that followed a war and his child had already lived through two of them in a small amount of time. Looking at Will’s half-hearted nod, Apollo changed his observation to, “Or the aftermath?”
The boy’s tightening of jaw was enough answer and the god said sagely, “The aftermath is usually even worse than the actual war. We, and I mean even you demigods by that, are trained in what to do in a war, how to fight, how to respond, we are born for that, are we not? But once that is over, once the enemy is defeated and the silence reigns once again, that is when it all comes crashing down. When you have to see your friends and possibly family injured or even worse. No one trains you for that. There is no training for that.” Apollo trailed off, thinking of his own experiences after a war, when he was called upon to heal others, to deliver both good and bad news to family and friends alike. That was the only part of healing that he absolutely hated and maybe his son was discovering the same sadness that accompanied such news.
The two sat in silence, each pondering over the wise words delivered by the sun god and re-living their own experiences. It was after a few minutes that Will found himself saying, “We didn’t have that many casualties in the Gia – the second war. The first one was worse… in terms of the people we lost.”
Apollo hummed and asked, “And how was the second one worse?”
Will shrugged, his tone changing back to the nonchalant voice and said, “I dunno. I got involved only in the end. The seven and for some part, Nico were the ones who were involved on the front line, so to say.” After a pause he added somewhat bitterly, “They were the ones who went around finding and fighting the danger when all of us were just chilling in the camps.”
“Sometimes waiting and anticipating for the worst to happen can be worse than actually doing something about it. Especially when you are not aware of the happenings out there on the ‘front line’.”
Will mumbled to himself, “I thought Mr. D was the psychiatrist of the family.”
“It is true that D is well versed in how the mind works but I do know it too.” Apollo said with a smirk and added, “Superior hearing, child. You cannot really not expect me to hear that.”
The demigod blushed and stammered, “I-uh-yeah. Sorry.”
“So what ails you? I could help or just listen. Apparently that in itself is sufficient in helping someone out.”
Will raised a brow at his cocky father and said, “It’s stupid, really.”
“So was giving the pithos to Pandora to open it, knowing that she would not be able to help herself, only in the hopes of tormenting Prometheus, but that did not stop it from happening, now did it?”
“What?”
“Nothing. Do carry on.”
“Uh…I worry about the injured campers back at home?” Will said skeptically, gauging Apollo’s reaction and his sincerity. When Apollo nodded in encouragement, Will continued, “I’m afraid that something would go wrong when I’m here.”
“You do have other healers, do you not?”
“Yes and they are really good and I swear I’m not a control freak but I still keep freaking out over if something would go wrong cuz I’m not there to stop it. And everyone is just so over worked over there like what if they are low on power and need my help and I’m not there? There are just so many people who need help and are not fully healed because Olympus was closed and we couldn’t get any supplies from there and we were only using our powers and rationing the healing potions and ambrosia to the people. And I know that no time is gonna pass while we are here but I can’t just get rid of this and the nightmares! Gosh! The nightmares are just so bad. Like I’m having this particular one where my patients don’t make it and then come back to life and kill me.” Will panted in relief as he got his troubles out in the open and added, “See, it is just so stupid.”
“I would not say that it is stupid. It is something that every healer goes through and has to get used to. Your brother, Asclepius had the same doubt and so did I. I used be worried all the time when I first showcased my superior healing abilities and started keeping a healing room. It took me some time but I got used to the fact that I cannot be around my patients all of the time. I had other responsibilities and I had trust in the other healers.”
“But they already have so much work, dad!”
“Mmm… that would be something that you would have to work out within yourselves. What I am saying is that you are young and just starting out in the work of healing. It would be better that you would conquer this fear now, otherwise it would drive you into a frenzy. It certainly drove your brother mad.”
So, no help whatsoever, Will thought to himself.
“You said you think of all that could go wrong in your absence? Maybe, then you could possibly think of the solutions to those problems and see which of the other healers would be able to handle such problems. It would assure you that despite your absence, the patient would be in good care. It would be important for you to get over this, especially if you are serious about healing.” Apollo advised and smiled at Will’s thoughtful look. That was how he had managed to get rid of his anxiousness of leaving the healing rooms to his apprentices.
Will hummed and nodded. “I can try that.”
“Do that. It might just help you.” Apollo said. “Now how about you go and get some rest. I would have to get the sun up in another two hours.”
“Nah. I’ll just study till morning or something.” Will said, picking up his book from where Apollo had left it between them.
The god eyed his son and knew that the boy still had his doubts. Well, it would not do him any good to think more about them, thought the sun god. “What else troubles you?”
Will tapped his pencil against the book and said, “What if something goes horribly wrong when I’m not there?”
“You mean if you lose the patient?”
“Mhmm.”
Apollo turned completely to face Will and asked, “And what guarantee is there that the same would not happen were you present? What is it that you have that could save a patient where your siblings cannot?”
“I – nothi-“
“Because if there is anything different or special about you that could save a patient, then by all means you have the right to be anxious. But…” Apollo help up a finger to stop Will from interrupting. “But if there is no such thing that differentiates you and your siblings’ abilities, then what exactly are you worried about?”
“I – I don’t know. It’s just a stupid fear.” Will said in a disheartened tone.
“I do not mean to undermine your fear or distress you in any way. All I am saying is that if there is something that you can do then your siblings must too be able to do it to save the patient and if such a thing is unique to you…”
“It’s not.” Will chewed on his bottom lip.
“There you go.” Apollo said with a smile. “As long as you trust and believe that your siblings would treat your patient the same way you would, you would feel much better. And Will?” Apollo waited till his son looked at him and then added, “There is one thing you must keep in mind, especially when you know the things that we know.”
The god paused for dramatic effect and then said, “There is a difference between the deaths that can occur. One, the very worst one, is due to our neglect and two, the kind that cannot be stopped no matter what we do because it is decided by the Fates and once they cut a life string, no amount of power can stop that life from dying. It can be delayed but never ever stopped. And as long as you work towards making sure that the first type does not happen, it will be alright. It would still be hard to face such a situation but it would do you good to remember that sometimes, somethings just cannot be stopped or changed.”
Will pressed his palm into the side of his book and asked, “And then what do I do? Someone comes to me for help and if I cannot help them then what good am I?”
Apollo pressed his lips together and said, “I am not saying that you would never lose a patient. That is an impossible scenario even if you are my son and are gifted in the power of healing. Asclepius and I are gods of healing and medicine and yet we have lost patients over the centuries. It would be horrifying and paralyzing and it would shake your very core and you might even want to give up.”
Will inhaled sharply as he remembered some of the campers dying in the infirmary after the first war. None of them had been his patients and yet he had wanted to just run away.
Apollo looked sadly at his son and rested his head against the backrest. “I know wars and that not everyone survives it and so it is not an off base deduction that some of my chil – your siblings did not make it. Tell me, what did you do then?”
A snap resounded in the room as the pencil in Will’s hand broke into two under the pressure that the demigod applied. Willing himself to not tear up at the mention of his now gone siblings, the boy muttered, “We mourned and helped each other.”
“Then you do the same when such a thing happens.” Apollo said simply and patted his son.
The two sat in silence for some time till Apollo blurted, “Did you lose many?”
Will at first thought that his father asked about patients but the look in the god’s eyes made him change this thought. “A few. Lee was a healer and a musician and Michael was more into archery and generally just fighting with everyone.” Will gave a watery chuckle and continued, “There were two that ran away and…” He trailed off, gazing into nothingness as Apollo wrapped his arm around Will’s shoulders.
Tightening his hold on his son, the sun god wondered how he coped with such happenings in the future. Did the passing of a child begin to feel normal for him or was everything as over sensitized as it was now? Did he still break down every time it happened? He hoped that he did because the opposite would be to become like his father – no reaction whatsoever – and that was something that he could not bear. Realizing that it was pretty late and his son should really go and get some rest, he cleared his throat and asked, “Would you still like to stay here or go to bed?”
“I think I’ll stay here, if you don’t mind.” Will replied hoarsely, tracing the picture on the cover page of the book.
“Alright. In that case, how would you like to help me out in writing an epic?”
A small smile graced Will’s lips and he said, “I am just pathetic at poetry. I can’t even get anything to rhyme.”
Apollo tapped his chin with his forefinger. “That would be a huge problem. Hmm. Aha! What about writing a song? You did say you liked music.”
“I like it. I just can’t write or compose anything. I used to try it with my mom.”
“Do you still not try it with your mother?” the god asked as he summoned his lyre, already having decided to either write or compose a song. The epic could wait. It was anyway going to be about yet another tragedy and he wasn’t in the mood for tragedy tonight.
“Oh no! We both decided that I didn’t have that talent.” Will said with a fond smile as he thought about the one summer he and his mother had sat down and brainstormed and at the end of the vacation had finally understood that Will should just not try to write anything.
“Hmm…” Apollo said absentmindedly as he strummed his lyre and soon a joyous melody enveloped them. “Do you know our celebratory songs?”
Nodding along to the tune, Will said softly, “Yeah, I know this one but I’m pretty sure the lyrics have changed over the years cuz most of the songs that we sing have some or the other recent events in it.”
“The campfire, yes?” Apollo asked as he increased the pace of the music. “I would definitely want to witness that. What is the music of the future like, I wonder?”
“Do you want to…” Will asked hesitantly. “Do you want to hear some of the music that we have? I even have a few of mom’s songs. I record her when she sings.”
“Record?” Apollo asked, abruptly stopping the music. Was there a way to record his voice and hear later on without having to sing? That would be very useful indeed.
“Uh. Yeah. I have a music player.” He said, pulling out an iPod from his pocket. “You… uh… you gave it to me.” Fiddling with the device, he said, “Actually, you kinda give it to all of your kids when we are claimed.”
“I do that?” Apollo asked, still staring at the device in fascination.
“Yeah…you… do you want to hear some songs?”
Apollo grinned and said, “Obviously. I just need to know how well music has progressed in the years. What heartfelt love story or tragedy would sound like in the future?”
Will smirked and said, “Remind me not to introduce you to EDM just yet.”
“What is EDM?”
“Not important. Now listen to this.”