“The other demigod is in southern California, in the area of Malibu,” Apollo continued. “I don’t care which one you start with first, but those are the three who need to be found.” There was a pause and he turned to me. Or at least I thought he did. I couldn’t tell since he didn’t have normal eyeballs. “I must leave. I will return when I can.”

Then Apollo—my father—was gone, simply disappearing as if he was never there. Gone without so much as a handshake.

Let alone a hug.

And before I could ask him anything about my mom or Erin.

Seth

“Herc is sort of a douchebag.”

“Sort of?” I laughed as Josie and I walked across the north quad. The only sign of the earlier fight was the missing statue. “He’s a giant bag of dicks. Small dicks, too.”

She laughed as she scanned the grounds. The late-afternoon sun was already beginning to fade and the warmer temps were dropping. “He seems very full of himself, but if he’s able to lead us to the other demigods then we need to tolerate him.”

“I can’t make any promises.”

Glancing over at me, she grinned. “You think Solos is going to be able to make use of the Pegasus blood?”

Solos had shown back up after Apollo had left. Once he got past the unexpectedness of finding Hercules, Josie had shown Solos the vial. The older Sentinel was going to lace weapons with the toxin. Not the Covenant daggers, though, since that was way too dangerous. He was going to use the blades that were shaped like icicles once released. At least with them, we didn’t have to worry about accidentally nicking someone.

“I’ve never been to California,” Josie said, arms swinging at her sides. “I’m glad we picked there first. Is it wrong that I’m kind of excited?”

“No. Why would it be?”

Her shoulders rose as she glanced up at the sky. “Because it’s not like we’re going on vacation. I know it’s going to be dangerous out there, or it could be. We have to convince some random person that they’re a demigod.”

“That’s probably going to go over well,” I remarked.

She laughed again. “Yeah. Plus, there’s so much going on. The issues with the halfs and pures. I haven’t heard anything about my mom or Erin. We have no idea how to find the demigods that the Titans have captured or what’s happening to them, and I—”

“I get what you’re saying. We’ve got a lot to deal with and focus on, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy life a little.”

“Huh.” Her lips pursed.

“What does that mean?”

Josie stopped and turned to me. The wind tossed a few strands that had escaped her ponytail across her cheeks. “It’s just strange coming from you.”