AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So,” she says, keeping her eyes shut. “Are we going to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
Daisy laughs at my fake-innocent tone. “I can’t say I didn’t suspect.”
“You did not suspect. No one suspected.”
“I kind of suspected, Artemis. You guys spend a lot of time together. Like, all your time. You even live in the city still.”
“You live in the city. Our family lives here. Living in this city is not a smoking gun.”
Daisy cracks one eye open and peers at me. “Was there a smoking gun I don’t know about?”
I stare deeply into her singular open eye. “There was no smoking gun.”
“A smoking bow, then?”
“I’ve never had a bow that smokes.”
I have had many, many different kinds of arrows, though.
Daisy closes her eye again.
“I’m not saying you have to tell me anything,” she says, after a minute. “I’m just saying that we can talk about it. If you want.”
My throat gets tight. I swallow a few times, my chest aching with an emotion that takes a few beats to become clear, even if it’s still complicated. Daisy didn’t tell me about her killer nightmares for a long time. It wasn’t until Hercules brought her home that I had a better idea of what was happening to her, and that was…
It was hard. Because I wanted to be there for her, the way we’ve been there for each other all our lives.
But I also know how she feels about sharing that kind of thing. Daisy doesn’t want people to think she’s fragile or somehow incapable of dealing with her life. At the same time, she is more vulnerable to certain things than the rest of us. Like light, which is pretty much everywhere in modern society, all the time.
I’ve never told anyone about the episodes. Mostly because I don’t want them to think I’m fragile or somehow incapable of dealing with my life. And, in my case, it also involves Apollo, who has his own right to privacy.
But right now, next to this table with a fruit tray, a vegetable tray, and a sausage-and-crackers tray, I want to cup my hands around my mouth and whisper the whole story into Daisy’s ear. I want her to look at me with the black eyes that unfortunately for her mean she understands what it’s like to not be in full control or body. I want her to hold my hand and tell me that whatever happens, it’ll turn out okay. I want her to tell me that even if we both know it’s not always true.
“There’s a thing that’s been happening.” I pitch my voice so that we won’t be overheard by anyone else in the apartment. Julien, August, and the shoot director are in an animated conversation and not paying attention to us at all. “For a while now.”
“The thing where you and Apollo can’t be apart or you start to die?”
I stare at the side of Daisy’s head. She does not open her eyes, like she knows I’m staring. Daisy keeps a perfectly straight face.
“Maybe.”
“Okay.”
We stand silently for a minute. My heart beats fast, then slows down.
“I probably shouldn’t have said that,” I admit, my voice going thin.
“It wouldn’t be…” Daisy clears her throat. “The weirdest thing that’s ever happened in our family. I had killer nightmares.”
“I think this could be weirder than killer nightmares, Daze.”
She shrugs, the fall of her gown moving with her. “You’ve seen Orion in the pool, haven’t you? A lot of weird stuff happens when we’re around.”
“Yes, but this came out of nowhere. There’s no explanation for it.”
“Do you actually start dying? Because I’ve joked about that before, and now I’m wondering if I should feel bad.”
