Not My Apocalypse Read Free Page B

“Easy, easy,” I told them with my hand still half covering my eyes.
    “They’re beautiful,” Stefan said.
    “Which one should we take?” Elliot asked. I glanced over and he looked nervous.
    “I don’t know. The one least likely to be missed?” It sounded lame even as I said it. Like Apollo wasn’t going to notice one of his horses missing.
    Elliot said, “There’re extras.”
    “What?”
    “He pulls the chariot with four horses. There are six in here.”
    “Good, then he’s got some to spare.” I moved toward the closest stall. The longer we were in here, the more chance that someone might find us and stop us. I stepped up to the horse and slowly lifted my hand. Is this how humans have to talk to animals? Because it’s hard. The horse looked at me warily but after a moment he leaned down and sniffed at my hand. He snorted and fire came out of his nostrils. He looked like he was made of fire, and even this close I couldn’t tell if there was anything underneath it. The fire shifted gently like a campfire in a light breeze. I rubbed his nose and moved my hand up until I was scratching behind his ears. Beneath the flames he was as solid as a regular horse, but warmer.
    “Isn’t it burning you?” Elliot asked.
    “My father is the lord of Hell. Fire doesn’t hurt me.”
    Stefan went to the front of the stable and I was about to ask him what he was doing when I realized he was looking for a bridle or something to lead the horse with. He swore for a while, searching the things hanging from the walls and the things piled on the floor. He came back with a frown on his face. “I can’t find a bridle or a saddle or anything.”
    “I guess that makes sense. They’re chariot horses, not horses for riding,” Elliot said.
    “Huh.” I looked at the horse, trying to keep from getting pissed off. Not having a bridle to lead the horse was such a stupid fucking little thing, and I wasn’t going to let something like that stop me. Not being able to talk to it sucked. “Maybe I could ride it.”
    “Ride a sun horse?” Elliot said.
    “Do you know how to ride bareback?” Stefan asked.
    “No.”
    He sighed. “Have you ever even ridden a horse before?”
    “No.” Both of them gave me a look as I kept petting the horse. “But how hard can it be? I mean, people do it in movies all the time.”
    “This isn’t the movies,” Stefan pointed out.
    “Well, I know that. But they’re mortals.” They kept looking at me. “Well, I gotta fucking try it at least. Unless you have a better idea?” They didn’t. So I led the horse out of his stall and used a bale of hay to get up high enough to hop onto his back. I got onto the sun horse and… well, I fell right off the other side. So it wasn’t as easy as I thought, cut me some slack. The other two couldn’t stop laughing, and I told them to shut up because they were making the horses nervous. I got right back up on the horse (there’s a metaphor about that, isn’t there?) and this time I was a little more careful. There wasn’t anything to hold onto except the fiery mane so I grabbed that and hoped it wasn’t going to piss the horse off. He seemed okay with it.
    So now I was sitting on a sun horse and I wasn’t sure what to do next. “Um, giddy up?” I said.
    Nothing. That made the other two start laughing again. “Fuck you, guys. You’re not helping.”
    “Kick him, like a cowboy,” Elliot suggested, making a clumsy demonstration.
    I tightened my hands on his mane. I didn’t want to fall off again. Then I tapped his flanks with my heels and he jerked forward. I just barely hung on. He only went a few feet before he stopped, so I nudged him again. He seemed confused, but he kept moving forward and we made it to the barn doors.
    I kept nudging the horse forward, talking to him softly the whole time, asking him to go forward, telling him what we were doing and why. I think maybe he understood some of what I was telling him because it got easier after