"Lunch!"

I dropped my bow, skidding the arrow back into my quiver. Will scrambled over and yanked the door open. A young man with sunshine bright hair and a smile that was full of braces stood holding a tray piled with food.

"Good afternoon Demi god's! I bring lunch. Sorry, it's just burgers and fries, sorry, last minute ya know?" He came almost bouncing into the room. He placed the tray on the table and then flopped into a chair. We all kind of stood staring at him confused.

"I promise it's not poisoned!" He said, and leaned forwards snatching a french fry off the pile and shoving it into his mouth.

"Uhh, not to sound too rude...but who are you..?" I asked

"Oh I'm Hippocrates's son. He was a physician in Greek's-"

"Classical period! No way!" Will squealed. "He was like the father of medicine for Apollo's children! Oh my gods oh my gods!"

"Your dad was the father of medicine? I thought that was Apollo's son Asclepius?" I asked, finally sitting down and grabbing a cheese burger off the stack. It was greasy, full of cheese and bacon.

"Di immortals this is so freaking good!" I mumbled with a mouth full. Raph eyed me up and grabbed a burger and shoved it I to his mouth.

"Well family trees are a little... unorthodox in the Greek world. But yeah. There's rumors that dad's great great great great grandfather was Hercules...but that lug head couldn't tell you what the difference between a common cold and the plauge is. Hercules married into the family, and of course got the glory because he's Zeus's son. But I digress. We're descendants of Apollo."

"So...who are you?" I asked, my mouth stuffed with more cheese burgers.

"Alistair of Kros. I'm immortal before you ask. I'm in med school right now, so for right now...just an orderly in this place. Pays the bills."

"Well...cool..?" Raph said. As he grabbed a second burger off the tray.

"Who was the creep that tried to flash me?"

"Oh. Ya...he does that. Dude was a creep even before he went a little ...loopy. Adonis he was the minor god of passion and beauty. He thinks he's..."

"A Ken doll?" I asked.

"Ya." Alistair shrugged. "Sorry, we're still working on keeping clothes on."

"He's definitely too sex for his trench coat." Raph muttered. I choked on my mouth full of french fries. Will wacked me on the back.

"Alister of Kros." A voice on the intercom buzzed. "We have a code Red."

"Oh Styx." He grumbled and jumped to his feet. "Anteros at it again, no doubt."

"Who?"

"Old god, his thing was returned love. Greeks used to pray to him when they didn't know if their crush liked them back..."

"Alister of Kros." The voice called again. "We have a code Red."

"Ya ya I'm coming. Like I can't catch him. Guy has a walker... Anyways. I'll see you guys later." He turned to Will, "call me sometime." He handed Will a pics of paper and winked.

The door clicked shut.

"I think Will was just asked on a date." I grinned at him.

"No no..." He waved a hand, but his cheeks were pink. "That's our brother...that's weird."

"Zues married his sister." I shrugged.

"Doesn't make it better." He threw a French fry at me.

We are as much as we could stuff into ourselves. It seemed like forever since we last ate sandwiches from Hera. We were rather sleepy now. My head was just tipping with sleep when there was another knock on the door and it opened. A man with short salt-and-pepper hair, and a well-trimmed beard. Was looking at a clip board. He had a white lab coat over a business suit and a stethoscope around his neck, the pin in his hand had a small little snake that wiggled around and hissed.

He walked in and closed the door behind him, he looked up from his charts and clip board and had a kind smile, crinkles around his twinkling eyes, he looked like the kind middle aged doctor Dad brought me to a few times, trying to find medication for my ADHD. I froze, a then I pointed at him.

"I know you!"

"Good afternoon Eleanora. Good to see you again."

"Wait! You KNOW Asclepius?" Will gasped even louder.

"He was the only doctor who said I didn't need medication for my ADHD, just needed a proper outlet!"

"And to eat more protein. How's that anemia?" He asked, sitting down on a stool with wheels that definitely was not there before.

"Well considering how much blood she lost earlier... And the fact we've been underground away from vitamin D..." Will sighed.

"Yes yes. Here. A prescription for iron and Victim D. Help boost your body." He wrote something with his snake pen and handed me a piece of paper.

"Whoa! Another official doctor's note! Nice!"

"Get them filled at the desk before you leave." He turned his eyes onto Raph.

"Ah. Young Raphael Marino. Hows that knee feeling?"

"My...what?"

"Knee. The left one I believe. You twisted it during training last winter. Have you been icing it?"

"Uhh ya." He sputtered.

"Good good." He nodded and wrote something down on his prescription pad and ripped it off handing it to Raph. "Muscle and ligament cream. Help with the swelling and inflammation. Also, wear the brace for the next few days."

"What brace?"

Asclepius pulled a full knee brace out of his lab coat. He placed the charts and clip board down and fitted the brace on Raph's knee and adjusted a few of the straps. Once he was satisfied he sat back and turned to Will.

"You haven't been sleeping well. Too many prophetic dreams."

Will lowered his head.

"No need to be ashamed son. It's a common thing amongst Apollo's children." He patted Will's knee gently, like a father would. He smiled at Will when he lifted his head.

"Sometimes...I'm actually too scared to sleep." Will muttered.

"Hmm. Well, yes I can understand. Here. These sleeping pills will help. Do not take more than one. And take them regularly at the same time. It will help calm the dreams and allow your mind to rest, which will result in a more restful sleep, and better concentration."

He pulled a bottle of little gold pills from inside lab coat and passed them over and then wrote a prescription on his note pad and handed it to Will. "Refills."

Will stared at the paper like it was an autograph from his childhood hero.

"Now that that is complete, I must get down to the reason you are here. Alistair has brought lunch, I see. Good." He indicated to the bacon cheese burger wrappers littering the table and the empty fry baskets.

"Yes! Thank you sir! They were delicious!"

The doctor nodded ans then turned to me. "Now. Eleanora." He said seriously. "I have some disturbing news. Heiols has somehow managed to escape the premise. He is lost, alone and wondering around. I have a few staff out looking, but I was told you could help."

"Well...I uhh I don't know if it was a vision or dream or what...but he's somewhere in the Labyrinth of Daedalus."

"I feared as much. He left through the emergency exit."

"You knew he was in the maze?"

"I couldn't say for sure. But...you have confirmed it. Explain this vision. And the symptoms."

I told him exactly what happened, how I was thinking of both Apollo and Helios, and then my vision went shimmery like heat waves in a desert, I explained how I could see different places, and then my conversation with Hephaestus.

"You indeed do seem to have the gift. Which is interesting...I haven't seen it in many generations..." He trailed off, frowning down at his charts. He flipped threw some papers. And then glanced up at me.

"Interesting..." He muttered. "I'd have to do some research...some blood work..."

"You really think ssssso?" A hissy little voice said. We all jumped.

The pen in Asclepius hand was wiggling in excitement.

"I'd have to do some blood work and extensive generic tests and such. But symptoms always point to the cause, Spike, you know this. Never ignore the symptoms, big and small."

"Interessssting." The snake hissed.

"Is...is that...?" Will asked, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"The Rod of Asclepius?" He sighed, "Yes."

"A boy with sssssome sssenssse!"

"I know all about it! Oh man this is just awesome!" Will squealed.

"Okay can we pause and back up, here!" I held a hand up. "Are you talking about me?"

"Eleanora, do you mind if we go to an examination room and discuss this further?" He asked quietly.

I didn't like what he was implying. But I'd rather not have the guys in on this, until I knew what was going on and I could explain it.

"Umm okay. Ya ..sure."

"Excellent. Please follow me, we will go to a proper medical examination room. Boys, feel free to walk. She will find you when we are done."

Raph and Will both looked at me with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. But I gave them a small tight smile.

"I'll be fine. I'll come find you. You can make some bees wax crafts with some of the others."

"Excellent idea."

He opened the door and led me down a hall and into an empty exam room. It looked like a regar old doctors office. He motioned for me to sit down on the bed. He flung his lab coat behind him as he sat down on a rolly stool. His clip board of charts and my medical records on his lap.

"You don't mind if Spike takes notes for me? Makes it easier to focus on the patient when I'm not writing."

"Uhh..Okay..." I shrugged.

"It's all doctor parent confidentiality." Asclepius reasured me.

"Even from the gods?"

"Even them. These walls are Olympian proof. Thanks to Uncle Hephaestus."

"Okay. Perfecto now. As we were discussing in the other room, yes I do believe there is something more to you Miss Eleanora Blofis, daughter of Apollo. Can you tell me when these symptoms started?"

"Which ones?"

"The vaporizing of your enemies."

"Umm ..pretty sure I... vaporized a big scary wolf thing that attacked me when I was 8 in the woods, and some monster bullies about a month ago...might have done it another time."

I paused trying to think through my past.

"Oh I made a bathroom explode in fire my first day of camp."

"Indeed. So recently?"

"I guess for the most part." I shrugged. "Why?"

"What about this heat vision?"

"The one and only time was just like two hours ago?"

"Interesting. When you called on the names of Apollo and Helios."

"I wasn't calling them...just trying thinking of them."

"All the same my dear." His snake pen named Spike was writing down everything I was saying. "And you say these symptoms are getting worse?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" I nodded.

"And we don't have any family history of these symptoms."

"Well dad definitely can't explode things!"

"No, your right, Apollo never was one for exploding things. Well on purpose anyways. Why I said we and not you."

"What? No. I was taking about my dad. Not sperm donor." I snapped, crossing my arms.

I knew I would have pissed someone off with that comment, but because somehow these doctor examination rooms were god proof. It didn't seem to bother Asclepius. But he regarded me for a moment. His kind eyes were deep in thought.

"Please elaborate. Your medical notes do not say a second father."

"Apollo knocked up my mom. She got married, to the guy who stuck around for her. She died in childbirth and her husband adopted me and raised me. My DAD.
Paul Blofis."

"I see." He nodded, rubbing his neatly trimmed beard. "Okay. So your mortal father doesn't have a history of blowing things up?"

"No. That's all me." I sighed.

"Hmmm. Do you mind if I do a quick check up and take some blood?"

"Umm...I guess not."

He did a general check up. Listening to my heart beat and lungs, he checked my hight and weight. He took my temperature and checked my reflexes, he made me do a quick vision test, and took a swab of the inside of my mouth. He also took a few x rays of my head and chest. And finally he took out the equipment for blood work.

"All right all done." He finally said, skidding the need out of the vein in my arm, and pressing a cotton ball onto the poke. Through the whole exam he was silent and his face didn't change. If he had some theory he didn't show anything. I stood up and was slipping my quiver of celestial bodies arrows back on when he spoke again.

"Alright now getting the results will take some time. So when you find Helios and bring him back, I should have the results by then."

"Wait...what?" I sputtered.

"Yes...that's why your here, is it not? Get the information needed to find Helios in the Labyrinth?"

"Why's that my resibility? You lost him!"

"I am not aloud to leave. I am bound to the Asclepion."

"Then how are you here?" I was certain Asclepieion were healing temples in Greece... But I mean I read all of this in a few weeks and with Dyslexia it was hard to keep it all straight.

"My home office is there, which is where I spend most of my time. But I do split my week up between there and here. The commute is brutal on Fridays though." He found and waved a dismissive hand. "Anyways. Yes dear. You must find our sputtering flame."

I did a double take. "What did you call Helios?" I asked, I felt a weird tingle rush through me.

"Our Assisted Living Facility Sun. He is sputtering as his mind comes and goes a lot more now. He's a sputtering flame, his flame is dying. I fear he may not last much longer. He's falling asleep."

I just about passed out, I felt dizzy. I reached out and slid into a chair.

"Your blood pressure dropped drastically." He noted. And reach a hand out to hold my elbow.

"Ya....just realized the prophecy I was given before leaving camp. I was hoping it wasn't true...but ya, Must journey deep through twist and turn. To find the sputtering flame who has fallen asleep. Awake the blaze within before the earth is dead and cold."

"Indeed. But if you succeed I will have your results." He said with a nod. I knew this appointment was over. I wasn't sure how helpful it had been... But there wasn't much I could do. At least he didn't give me death glares and snarky comments like Hera.

"Lilly will walk to to your companions. I hope to see you soon. Please make a follow up appointment with the front desk. And fill those prescriptions before you go. Good luck demi god."

He left the room leaving the door open. Lilly came floating into the room. She rolled the crinkly paper off the bed, leaving it fresh and clean for the next patient.

"Come on Eleanora, let's go find your friends. I believe they are outside on the lawn."

I had no choice but to follow the pink flower Nymth.

🔆