CHAPTER 12

"You ready?" I looked at Apollo who was looking at me. We were in front of Diane's room and I could already hear her cheerful voice inside.

"It's only us, right?" Apollo smiled and nodded. I sighed and fixed my clothes.

"I'm ready." I said and stood straight. Apollo chuckled at my action which made me blush for the nth time this evening. Apollo opened the door and I immediately saw Diane in her pajamas. She saw us and started walking at our direction with a smile on her face.

"Well, you took long enough." She nudged me on the side making me laugh a little.

"Sorry, I had something to do."

"Oh mysterious." I laughed at her remarks. She then grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me to the where the foods were at.

I looked at her room and it was the same size as mine. It had many emerald gems embedded on the ceiling. Her walls were painted in a way that it mimicked nature. I saw a part of her wall where the names of her predecessors where at.

I noticed that the first letter of her name was already carved on the wall. Sighing in disappointment, I walked over to the sofa and sat down. Apollo was already talking with Kaval who was also in his pajamas. He looked really cute wearing it making me smile. I wonder why Apollo is invited, I mean all I know is that he's Apollo and that's it.

I don't even know where he's from and what his powers are. It was only us in the room and yet there were so much food that it could feed the people in my kingdom who are living at the center.

"Here, try this." Diane offered me to what I recall is a fruit called mango. I immediately bit the fruit and the bitter taste of it made my face scowl. Diane laughed at me and I playfully glared at her.

"It doesn't taste good." I grumbled giving her the fruit back. She was still laughing and was on the ground. I could vividly see the tears on the corner of her eyes which made me scowl even more.

"Not funny Dianne." I rolled my eyes and started to walk away from her until she shouted,

"Stop." She was panting and gasping for air while clutching at her stomach and wiping the tears in her eyes away.

"Sorry."

"So heartfelt, I am touched." She laughed at my response.

"You're supposed to peel it first Alex." she was starting to laugh again, and I glared at her again to where she took the cue to stop. She handed me the fruit and I looked at her as if asking her if she was serious. She just motioned once again that I should give it another try to which I reluctantly agreed to.

I took the fruit and there was a yellowish liquid running down the unpeeled skin at the quarter bottom. I took a bite and expected that it was going to be the same thing, but it was exactly the opposite. It was sweet, very sweet.

"See? It's good." I took another bite from it and then another and another until all that was left was the hard thing in the middle.

I looked at her with a smile and she looked like she was doing her best to hold her laughter back but when she saw me looking she immediately changed her expression into a stoic one. She took a table napkin and gently wiped my face.

"You should eat it properly next time, you looked like a kid while eating it." I immediately understood her and smiled apologetically.

The fluid in the fruit was smeared on my face apparently that's why I understood her reference. We sat down, and she showed me how to eat the fruit properly and did some more knowledge sharing of the fruits present.

"What are you guys doing?" Kaval was nearing us with Apollo on his side. I immediately looked away and focused my gaze on slicing the fruits just as how Diane did in instructing me.

"Oh, I was just introducing new foods to Alex." Her gaze went back to me and now I feel like I was being judged. I started to feel nervous and then the next thing I felt was a sting on my finger and a warm red liquid oozing out of it.

"Alex!" Diane said and started to panic. Way to go Alex, what a way to embarrass yourself. How shocking is it that I know how to properly handle a spear and not a knife?

"I'm fine Diane, the bleeding will stop soon."

"Here, let me." Kaval held my hand softly and gripped the finger that was bleeding. I winced at the pain, but it went away immediately and when Kaval stood up, the cut was nowhere to be seen.

"I know, I'm amazing." he was grinning like an idiot, but I couldn't help but agree. His ability is quite something.

"You pressed on the cut too hard idiot!" Diane smacked Kaval at the back of his head making him wince a bit.

"Diane no, it's okay I'm fine. Thank you, Kaval." I smiled at the both of them and looked back at my finger.

"Be careful next time. I don't want you to get hurt." Without even looking, I knew whose voice it was. His concern made me blush to which I wish the others did not see.

"Y-yeah, I'll be careful next time." I said still not looking at him. I felt his hands pat my head and a smile immediately crept on my face. Luckily Diane and Kaval was too busy bickering to even notice.

"Okay, I've had enough. Let's just play a game this sleep over of yours is getting boring." Diane was about do another smacking at Kaval, but Apollo stood between them immediately.

"Yes, let's play a game." Apollo said while chuckling a little.

"Fine."

Diane motioned us to gather on the center of her room. She held a bottle in her hand and she instructed us to sit in circle.

"Alright, we're playing Daring Dares and Truth of Truths." she told us excitedly and Kaval immediately grumbled some curses.

"What's wrong?" he looked at me and motioned that I moved closer to him.

"I'm bad at this game." he whispered. My mouth formed an "o" in understanding.

"You'll be fine. I don't even know how this works." I said truthfully, and their eyes went on me immediately.

"You're lying." Apollo said while grinning.

"I wish I was." he laughed at my response and it made me blush. His laugh was making me feel things in my stomach and in my heart. He was like sunshine to me to say the least and it's crazy that he had such impact on me on such a small span of time.

"Yeah get over it Apollo." Diane looked at me just then and motioned me to listen.

"Alright, here's how it works. We spin the bottle and if its tip is pointed at you. You get to choose whether to do a daring dare or spill some truths about you." I nodded in response to which she smiled at.

"Now let's start!" Diane spun the bottle and we all focused on the bottle which was spinning like crazy. When it started to slow down, we moved our heads closer and just then it stopped with the tip pointing at Kaval. We snickered, and he cursed while glaring at us.

"I chose dare." Kaval stated. Diane motioned that me and Apollo to move closer to her and so we did.

"We need to make him do something epic." Diane said with an evil grin and I nodded aggressively at her suggestion while Apollo just laughed.

"How about we made him sing." I said. The both of them looked at me with a look of disappointment. Wait what does that mean!?

"Sweetie, just stay there." Diane said with her palm pointed at me. I just laughed lightly at her remark and decided to just let her do the deciding.

"I suggest we dare him to eat broccoli." She had an evil grin that made me have second thoughts about her. Well I guess she's nice most of the time of even sometimes. Apollo just nodded at her suggestion and I just did the same.

"Oh wait, what is a broccoli?" I asked.

"It's a type of vegetable that is green and most say that it taste awful and Kaval is one of the most." Diane said while chuckling.

"Ah." I looked at Kaval with a smirk.

"What?" he asked me with a scowl. I laughed at his reaction and spoke.

"This is what you get for calling me the fainting prince."

"Wait you still remember that?!"

"Vividly." he sighed and looked at us again as if wanting to rip our heads off. Sometimes I wonder if these people are royalties or serial killers on the loose because they tend to act towards the second one.

"We dare you to eat broccoli." It took a whole lot minute for us to make him do his deed and it was really funny to say the least.

The look on his face when we said it was priceless and the way he pleased for us to give him another dare was something I would not let him sleep on. I mean we, we would not let him sleep on.

"Fuck you all." he said while gulping the last bit of his broccoli.

"Next!" Now it was Kaval's turn to spin the bottle and unfortunately, it landed to me. Kaval and Diane gave me an evil grin while Apollo was just shaking his head while smiling.

"I would like to do the dare." I said while fiddling with my fingers. I just hope they don't give me something that bad.

"I did not agree with them." Apollo said and looked at me apologetically.

"Well majority wins." Kaval faced me and smiled innocently. To innocent that it gave me shivers.

"Your dare is.." I looked at them in anticipation not wanting but also wanting to know what the dare is. In my head was a voice that was scolding me for being an idiot and not choosing to say some truths, but it is what it is.

"Your dare is to bring Hade here."

Oh fuck.