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When the door closed behind him, I was surprised to find tears pricking my eyes. I wiped them away. I had more napping to do, and then I’d be contacting the rest of the gang.
Luna
I’d managed to put off meeting with Apollo for as long as possible, for some valid and for some dishonest reasons, but it was time to face the metaphorical music.
Luna:Hey, I’m feeling better now. When would you like to schedule a meeting?
Apollo:Today
Apollo:Pretty please
Luna:Thanks for the ‘please’. Okay, sure. When are you free?
Apollo:Whenever. ASAP. See you at my office
Hmm, these texts were shorter than his usual. In fact, it was unusual for him to not immediately call me after receiving a text. Despite the rushed vibe of his texts, he can’t have been that busy if he wanted to see me immediately.
Or... he had to see me very urgently, for some reason.
I didn’t like that feeling.
Since our last meeting, in which he’d had his destructive outburst, I’d been getting a worse and worse feeling about Apollo Brock. It wasn’t just that I was spending more time with his archnemesis. It was also the time he’d clearly spent someone to spy on me when I was ill, when he’d sent the delivery to my door to check I was home, that I was as ill as I claimed to be. It was seeing his agents in St. Louis at the university, watching over my childhood friend Felix Hart, Sylvester’s brother.
All of those things... plus the truly chilling recording of his outburst I’d listened back over a few times.
And what he’d said at the end of the recording:Would you be so kind as to deal with the situation, Abigail?
I didn’t know what that meant. But, according to Sylvester, this guy had been part of a plan tokidnapachild. My good faith in Apollo Brock was wavering, and for very good reason.
But for this meeting, I had to pretend like nothing had changed. Like Apollo Brock and I were still friends, in the context of a client-freelancer relationship, anyway. That we could still make the little jokes we’d always made at each other’s expense, that both he and I had enjoyed, bringing a levity to our work meetings.
When I arrived at his office’s reception, I had a surprise.
The receptionist scanned my ID, then she looked up at me. “He’s requested you meet him in the boardroom, today.”
“Oh? Do you have any idea why that is?”
“He said he’s bored of the meeting that’s ongoing in there and could use the company. He called it the ‘bored room’ when he asked me to send you there.”
“Did he... spell that out for you?” It wasn’t a joke that made sense spoken aloud without explanation.
The receptionist didn’t bat an eyelid. “He did, miss.”
I made my way to the boardroom, escorted by two members of Apollo’s security. I was pleased to see neither of them were Abigail, the only one I knew by name, who I had seen when visiting Sylvester’s brother Felix in St. Louis. I wasn’t sure what Abigail had reported to her boss, but I supposed I was about to find out.
When we reached the boardroom, one of the security guards held the door open for me. I was immediately hit with an influx of sound from the other side: the loud sounds of a lot of people squabbling.
Indeed, as I stepped inside, the sight matched the assault on my ears. There was a large table in the middle of the room, which was largely unoccupied. Almost everyone in the room was instead standing around the edge of the room, engaged in various small arguments. The only person sitting at the table was Apollo Brock himself, slumped across the table surface looking almost as if he were napping.
He sprung into life as the door shut behind me, the noise alerting him to my presence. “Luna Black!” He gestured eagerly for me to sit down next to him at the table.
I couldn’t have sat any further away: I wouldn’t be able to hear him at all, if I did. I sat, and looked around. “What is going on here?”
“Meeting of the board. Did the receptionist...?”
“Yes, I heard about your good joke. Well done.” I said it without a hint of humor, but he was used to my sarcasm by now.
It usually delighted him, but he seemed distinctly miffed. “Ah, good. Well, they’re all occupied with... whatever they’re doing. Arguing. I figured I may as well use this time wisely, and get a bit of recording done for my second memoir. What do you think?”
