NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: CH 42
Apollo's grin widened as Harry's speech continued. He exchanged an amused look with Hestia, before turning back to the young boy. "It sounds like someone has a crush."
"A what?" Harry asked, confused.
"A crush," Apollo repeated, grinning widely. "It's perfectly normal for young boys to get a crush on their female teacher."
Harry's confusion deepened, before he thought he understood what Apollo was implying. "Is that like kissing? Because that's gross! Are you some kind of pervert?"
Harry looked confused. Artie could look out for herself; she was kick-ass and awesome. Then again, he realized, even the most awesome people needed someone to rely on sometimes. Maybe that was what Mister Apollo was trying to tell him in a rather roundabout way.
He just nodded instead.
"Good!" Apollo said, grinning. "Now, about that checkup that Aunt Hestia has asked for. I'm afraid to tell you, Harry..." he trailed off dramatically, causing the boy to pale and Hestia to look up, sharply. "That you are absolutely fine."
Harry released his breath, and Hestia shot the Sun God a venomous look, which was soon replaced with a shake of her head and a look of obvious tolerance.
"That water must have been free-flowing, and from an area without a lot of habitation," Apollo told Hestia. "Young Harry was in no more trouble drinking it untreated as he was from drinking bottled water."
"Miss Zoë took me to some forest in the mountains for my survival test, Mister Apollo," Harry offered. "And it was a fast-flowing stream, which is why I risked it. I was just so thirsty."
"Miss Zoë, eh, Harry?" Apollo teased. "Did someone manage to worm his way into the man-hating heart of my sister's lieutenant?"
Harry frowned. "Miss Zoë's awesome," he repeated. "And my friend. Sorta. She teaches me a lot of things, and she looks out for me so I don't get myself killed. She's really cool."
CH 42 Harry shook his head. "Nu-uh. No way. Hugging's fine, but kissing is just gross."
"I am so reminding you of this conversation in ten years," the god said, grinning widely. "Apollo, you can stop teasing Harry now," Hestia admonished gently. "Before you push him too far. For now, let him just enjoy his time with Artie and her lieutenant."
The sun god seemed to dim for the lack of a better word, but nodded anyway. "Alright, Aunt Hestia."
The Sun God spluttered at the reply, while Hestia laughed. "Apollo is quite partial to the carnal arts, but at least he isn't married." she confirmed to Harry, who had to puzzle out Hestia's strangely formal words. He took them to mean 'yes, he's a pervert, but he isn't cheating on anyone'.
"Aunt Hestia!" Apollo protested.
Hestia didn't reply, and merely lifted an eyebrow at the Sun God, as if asking "am I wrong?" The god sunk in his plush sofa, pouting.
Harry rather liked him, and felt bad about seeing Apollo pouting. He reached over, and patted the god's elbow. "There, there, Mister Apollo. At least you're better than Mister Zeus, who is cheating on poor Miss Hera."
Apollo was thrown out of his theatrical pout at the sound of a demigod actually saying the words 'poor Miss Hera' and actually mean them. The Queen of the Gods was usually a demigod's biggest enemy, born as they were as a slight against her domain.
He shook his head once to clear his mind of the thought, then gave the young boy a smile. "Thanks for worrying about me, Harry," he said, patting the hand that was still on his elbow. He leaned closer to the boy, and said on a low, conspiratorial tone, "are you sure you don't have a crush? Because you wouldn't be the first man who would like a kiss from my sis. Or from Zoë, now that I think about it."
Harry's nose scrunched. "Ew! First, Miss Zoë would kill me, and then Artie would curse me. And second, ew! Kissing girls is disgusting!"
Apollo laughed at Harry's reaction. " You'll change your mind sometime, Harry," the Sun God teased. Harry looked confused again. Artie was nice, and Apollo made her sound very bad. "Artie's nice," he defended his second favorite goddess. "She wouldn't hurt me unless I did something really stupid. She'd never hurt me for not letting her change me."
Apollo grinned. "If you say so, kiddo," he said, tussling Harry's unruly hair. Picking up on what Harry said earlier, he added, "Unfortunately, while I am a God of Archery, I can't just give you an enchanted bow either. Those are reserved for my own kids. But I can do this."
He snapped his fingers, and held out a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "Those are mortal, though. That quiver will run out of arrows if you shoot them all, so you'll want to be careful what you use it on."
Harry let out a sigh of relief. The god seemed friendly enough, but the way he spoke about Artie and Miss Zoë wasn't very nice. He wondered how they would react if he told them about this.
The god heard Harry's sigh, and looked at him. "So you get along with my Sis, huh? That's very unusual."
Harry shrugged. "I like Artie. She's awesome. I just need to be careful what I say, because she'll take things as a challenge and get mad at me." He frowned slightly. "And she's stingy."
Apollo blinked, having expected the first part, but not the second. His sister had been called many things, but stingy usually wasn't one of them. "Stingy?" he asked.
Harry nodded. "She's teaching me how to shoot a bow, but she won't let me keep it. Her Hunters all have awesome bows that appear and disappear whenever they want to, but she won't give me one. She won't even give me a mortal one, she said so to Miss Zoë when Miss Zoë told her how much better my test would have gone if I had a bow. Artie did say she'd let me keep it if I got a mortal bow, quiver, and arrows – she just won't give them to me herself. So she's stingy."
Apollo laughed. "That's my little sis for you," he said. "Disliking males and not letting them forget it, even for a moment."
Harry shrugged. "I don't think she doesn't like men, or me," he said. "She's teaching me when she can, and is letting Miss Zoë teach me when she can't. I just think she's trying to convince me to let her change me into a girl so I can become a Hunter."
Apollo laughed again. "I wouldn't put it past her," he said, still snickering. "You should feel honored, though. There aren't a lot of men that my sister… likes… well enough to even offer to turn them. And even fewer who can get away with refusing." "You're most welcome, kiddo."
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