Muses on the Move by Clea Hantman

Author:Clea Hantman [Hantman, Clea]
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Wednesday, 11:46 P.M., parking lot of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Apollo pulled into the Colonial Williamsburg parking lot with the same wild abandon that he drove those 528 miles from Athens. He stopped the car randomly, covering no less than three actual parking spots, and jumped out of the car before it had even stopped chugging. He was a man on a mission, a man with a one-track mind, a man who’d left the keys in the car. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was finally within reach of Thalia, he was finally going to tell her the whole story—how he was actually Apollo in disguise, how Hera intended to send them to Hades if they messed up just one more time, how he still loved her after all the vomit and greenness and snakes. He loved her.

He ran for the nearest building, a small structure with a sign out front that said Tickets. But he quickly realized that the lights were out. He could see no one inside. He hadn’t thought about the fact that it was late, after hours, and that most people were probably already at home, asleep. He pounded on the glass of the little kiosk—not to get anyone’s attention, but just out of sheer frustration. Now where to? He scanned the parking lot and saw cars but no people. He let out a groan, a groan of anger and pain.

“Can I help you?”

A little mousy face peeked out from inside the kiosk. She looked like she had been sleeping.

“Oh, my, someone is in there! Thank you! I’m sorry to disturb you, but can you please tell me where I can find a young girl by the name of Thalia?”

“Don’t know anyone by that name, sir, sorry.” She looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and sleepiness.

“No, of course you wouldn’t. I’ve missed them, surely,” he said. Apollo hung his head low, unsure of what to do next.

“You know,” said the woman from the booth, “there’s a big dance in the ballroom across the way. If your friend is anywhere in the park, she would be there. You go through those gates, take a left at the silver shop, your third right after the magic store, and then your fourth left after the bathrooms that look like a public hanging spot. There’s a big hall over there, and that’s where the party is.”

“Well, it is a dance, and Era and Polly love those things—they could be there. Yes, thank you very much! That’s wonderful news! You can go back into your house and resume sleeping now.”

“Wait!” She detained him a moment to collect money for a ticket. Then she gave him an awkward, confused wave as he hurried off into the darkness.

Apollo ran across the lot, through the gates, and made his first left, third right, and fourth left after the bathrooms that looked like a public hanging spot. Had he time, he would have liked to look around this village—there were candles burning everywhere, and beautiful gardens lined the walkways—it was lovely.

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