Page 28 of Marginally Yours
Before her, I can't remember the last time I actually wanted to even leave the apartment. To be honest, I can't remember the last time I wanted to wake up.
I really hope today wasn't the last day I get to be happy to wake up.
We stand in front of Apollo while he continues scrolling through his phone. I follow Callie's lead, hands behind my back in silence. Waiting to be addressed, as if he means anything. As if he deserves our reverence. My eye twitches but I keep my mouth shut.
Of course he looks up at us at that exact moment.
Apollo's lip curls. He definitely caught me. I've fucked this up before we even started and he's just going to kill us both and-
"Good morning," Callie greets him quietly, head bowed. His gaze snaps to her, and his grin becomes hungry.Keep your mouth shut keep your mouth shut keep your mouth shut...
"Good morning, my dear. What a lovely sight." His eyes roam hungrily over her dress, and I can practically hear him begging for x-ray vision.Wait, does he already have x-ray vision?Nope, not going there right now or I'll lose it, and he'll turn my insides into outsides.
She gives him a little bow, and I hate every second of this. She shouldn't have to pretend to respect this petty piece of shitjust so he forgets about us. She shouldn't have had to beg him for her freedom in the first place.
"We spent the night considering your offer. While we appreciate your kindness and generosity, we humbly decline. We would like to spend the time that we have left together on this assignment, and then I'll return to the muses for my next assignment. I was wrong to wish to be released from my duties. It's an honor to be considered-"
He interrupts her speech with a loud, barking laugh and my stomach drops. I know in this moment that we are well and truly fucked.
"Oh, my dear. What a performance! Bravo," he exclaims, clapping his hands together slowly. "Do you think I can't feel the contempt radiating off of you two in waves? Your pretty words don't hide your audacious intentions, sweet girl."
Her face falls at his words and she glances at me, begging for forgiveness with her eyes, before turning back to Apollo.
"Do you think I'm naive enough to believe that you would change your mind in one night? That you would just see the light and return home? I know that look. That sparkle in your eye, the invisible string that ties you two lovebirds together? The second you little creatures feel that tug to another, you lose all sense of reason." He stands up now, taking slow steps to close the distance between them.
"I've seen it before. Orpheus following that thread straight to Eurydice in the Underworld. Pyramus jumping headfirst into death like a fool, his beloved Thisbe following after him. Patroclus donning Achilles’ armor and dying as nothing more than a distraction to save his love. Helen and Paris started a war that killed hundreds for their own selfish love."
He leans in close to her face, a finger trailing along her jaw. I might actually jump out of my skin.
"And here you two stand, convinced that I would just release you to live out your days with your mortal oversomething as trivial aslove? You belong to me, sweet girl." He grips her jaw tight, and she winces when he jerks it up to meet his towering gaze.
How the fuck are we getting out of this?
She glares at him, taking in a deep breath before her face shifts into a saccharine smile. Her eyes narrow on him and when she speaks, it's dripping with unadulterated contempt.
"What would you know of love," she asks him with a scoff. "No one has ever loved you in your long, miserable life. Your father couldn't care less about you, and he'll probably kill you one day so you don't kill him for his throne. Your mother raised you out of duty, feeding your ego and inflating your sense of self-importance, and then dropped you off in Olympus the moment you were old enough to survive on your own." She spits her words at him with intent to maim, but his face is a stone mask.
"You couldn't possibly understand why I would want to be free to live and love as I please because you've never been able to prove yourself worthy of the love of another. You wouldn't know what it's like to be loved so wholly that it fixes your broken parts, because you're damaged beyond repair. The only person who loves you isyou."
She spits the last word out like poison. Apollo is still staring at her, emotionless and silent, but I'm about to have a full-blown panic attack. I'm screaming at her in my head.What the fuck are you doing, Callie? Are you trying to get us both killed? Are you giving up?
Finally, terrifyingly, his mask cracks.
It starts as a huff. The corner of his lip tilts up, eyes narrowing on her. His eyes are cruel as he barks out a laugh that seems to never stop. When he throws his head back, instinct pushes me into action. I grab Callie's hand and yank her out of his reach, running for the stairs with her in tow.
Before I even make it to the stairs, my hand squeezes around nothing.
I spin around just in time to see Callie suspended a foot off of the ground, Apollo's hand outstretched like he's using the Force to hold her up. He squeezes his fingers into a fist, and, with a sickening crunch that I can feel in every cell in my body, Callie's neck twists at an angle that simply cannot sustain life.
All of the air whooshes out of my lungs and I crumple to the floor. I'm screaming, but I don't know if it's out loud or in my head. My forehead pressed to the floor is the only thing keeping me from sinking into the ground and disappearing altogether.
Apollo's black leather shoe appears next to my face, and I jump back before he can kick me, but he doesn't move. He just stares down at me, his grin dripping with malice.
"She was a hateful, ungrateful little bitch who didn't deserve your sacrifice or your mourning. You're better off without her," he says, his voice as cold as his words. I want to scream at him that he's wrong. I want to tell him that every word she hurled at him was true, but before I can even try, there's a pop and then he's gone.
It's over.
I scramble across the gazebo floor and lift her limp body into my lap. Her neck is bent at a horrifying angle, her body still warm but not for long. I let out a sob that shakes my whole body, smoothing her hair back so I can see her face before it starts to pale.
