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Apollo: I’m perfectly calm. See you in a while
Artemis: Love you
Love you is followed by three kissing emojis.
I won’t see her in a while. I’ll see her in several centuries, when I recover from the shock of what Artemis has just texted me. We’ve said I love you before. My dad and his brothers are constantly shouting it to each other like the only way to approach it is like it’s the world’s funniest joke. Like they’ve just learned to say it and have to keep practicing.
The kissing emojis feel less like a joke.
Artemis: Ummmm
Artemis: I thought we were engaged?
She sends me a ring emoji.
Apollo: We are engaged.
Artemis: So serious!!
Apollo: I am serious. I love you, too.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think I could feel her reading the text on her screen. I’d think I could feel her heart speeding up and her face going hot and her breathing getting shallow.
Artemis: *swoon*
I toss the phone into my cupholder. Even texting these things feels dangerous. Because of course I love her.
Of course I do.
And with all this Senator business afoot—with the episodes calm for now but threatening to come back and kill me at any moment—I’m not too proud to use any excuse to leave the office and go to Artemis.
The SUV she must have come from the shoot in is in the driveway when I get to my dad’s house.
Inside, Hercules stands in the middle of the family room, a big blue bowl in his hands.
“I didn’t steal your bowl,” he says. “Red one’s all yours.”
“Where is everybody?”
Hercules shrugs. “Around.”
“Okay.” I start for the stairs. I’m fairly sure that’s where Artemis is just from the way the air feels.
“Don’t go up there,” Hercules calls. “I already got kicked out once, so now I’m down here, eating ice cream.”
I go back into the family room and flop down on a couch. Hercules watches me, then takes a seat on the opposite couch.
“Artemis said there was something going on with Calliope.”
Hercules clicks his teeth on his spoon. “Internet emergency.”
“What?”
“Internet gossip. Something like that.”
“Like a threat? Did someone threaten to come here?”
Hercules gives me a look. “Not that I know of. But even if anyone did come here, we’d be fine, and they’d end up like Kenneth Coleman.”
