Chapter Nineteen
Apollo knew the moment he saw Cassius that they had done the right thing.
Thanks to Apollo, they’d made it to a police station in Detroit in less than an hour from getting the call.
He could see the boy sitting in a room with a low table – his only company was a policewoman who clearly had other things on her mind.
Cassius wasn’t paying any attention at all to her.
Apollo could tell he was in his own little world – calm on the outside, but Apollo could see there was a lot going on in that little guy’s mind.
He was scribbling on a piece of paper with some crayons.
Apollo noted he was very thin, very pale, although he had a shock of dark hair, the same color as Titus’s, that clearly hadn’t been cut in a while.
Apollo didn’t need to see or feel a familial bond to know that Cassius needed them. “You can’t go back there, sir,” another policeman guarding the door said when he went to go into the room. Titus was held up, talking to the detective in charge of the case.
“I am going in to sit with my stepson,” Apollo said clearly.
Titus had already explained to him that it was important for him to use the step moniker even though technically it didn’t matter, at least not to Apollo.
“You are going to let me go in and sit with our child.” Yes, there was a spot of godly persuasion in his tone, but no one was going to know or care about it, least of all Apollo.
The policeman opened the door for him, and Apollo smiled as he brushed past him.
Still smiling, Apollo turned his attention to the policewoman. “Is it all right if I sit there?” he asked, given how she was standing by the only other chair in the room.
“Oh, good, you must be family. I’ll take my leave, Cassius. Take care, sweetie,” she added, although Cassius didn’t even look up. “I have a pile of paperwork to do,” she muttered to Apollo as she went past him. “This case is a mess.”
Conscious of their audience - the plate glass window was huge - Apollo approached the table as though he had the right to be there, and as if the young boy who’d never met him before was fully expecting him.
“Hi, I’m Apollo,” he said as he sat down, making sure to smile when Cassius glanced up, before bending back to his picture. “Do you have any spare paper? That drawing looks great, and I’d love to have a go.”
Cassius looked at him a little longer this time. He had the biggest, darkest eyes that Apollo had ever seen. He really was a gorgeous child. Without a word Cassius pushed over a blank piece of paper and a couple of crayons.
“There’re not many colors here,” he said, his voice really quiet and raspy, as though he needed a drink.
“I think I can help with that.” Apollo reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a packet of crayons. “Now we have plenty of crayons to share,” he added as he opened the packet and spread the crayons across the space between them.
“You sound a little thirsty,” he said conversationally, as he bent his head and started drawing his own picture. “I guess people get busy sometimes, but we’ll get something to eat and drink when we leave.”
Cassius nodded as though that was what he expected, but Apollo could tell that the child was really interested in what he was drawing.
Apollo had sketched the outside of his own house, with its big beams and lots of windows.
Once he’d filled in the basics, he added in the landscape – trees in the yard, one of them with a swing, wide open spaces, and a picnic blanket laid out under one of the other trees. A space you’ll enjoy, Apollo hoped.
In contrast, Cassius was laying down colors. There didn’t appear to be any set design, but as Apollo let his muse do a bit of searching, he smiled as understanding hit him, continuing to fill in the details on his own picture.
“You draw really well,” Cassius said after a moment. “Lots of details.”
“Thank you. I’ve had a lot of practice,” Apollo said. “I find your picture fascinating, too. You’re drawing the things you feel, aren’t you, rather than what you can see. Such a unique and wonderful way of doing art. Do you like painting and other mediums as well?”
The smile was so slight, Apollo almost missed it, especially when Cassius immediately looked down as if he was worried he’d shared too much. Totally understandable under the circumstances.
“One of the great things I love about art is that no matter what someone does in the name of art, they can’t get it wrong. Personally, I’ve always thought that art is one of the most incredible ways of expressing yourself when words won’t come.”
Cassius’s hand hadn’t stopped moving across his page, but Apollo could tell he was listening.
“I’ve known a lot of artists over the years.
They have such different styles. You see some of them can paint the most amazing canvases that look like a photograph, and yet there are others, where all the naked eye can see is a mass of colors, splashes, dots, and lines in the canvas.
I’ve heard people say, ‘That doesn’t make sense,’ but when you look at it and really study the canvas, you can feel the passion and the emotions they were feeling as they created their work.
I’m sorry,” Apollo chuckled. “I’m very passionate about art and artists. ”
“I like it.” Cassius was still adding layers, so Apollo refined his picture’s details before moving it aside and grabbing another sheet and starting something else.
He noticed Cassius moving his free hand, stretching out his little finger until it was touching Apollo’s finished drawing, pulling it ever so slowly closer to him.
“He’s looking at us,” Cassius said suddenly, his face still focused on his colors. “Is that big man out there my father?”
Looking up, Apollo could see Titus was watching them while he was talking to the detective and one other man in uniform.
“Yes, that’s Titus Haverland,” Apollo said. “I understand you haven’t met him before. He’s my husband, which I hope is all right with you.”
Cassius nodded again, and then he leaned a little bit closer to Apollo. “He’s very big, isn’t he?”
“That’s all the better to look after you,” Apollo said calmly.
“The one thing you’ll learn about Titus is that he’s very protective of the people that he cares about, and he cares about you.
” Apollo could feel that through the bond.
Titus was getting impatient, having to go through the various hoops a police investigation seemed to need, when all he wanted was to get Apollo and Cassius out of the station.
“We’ll see,” Cassius said. “You two aren’t normal, are you? You aren’t like the other people here.”
Am I carrying around a neon sign that points at my head – a sign proclaiming my ancient god status? “What makes you say that?” he asked, keeping his tone casual like it was no big deal. Cassius was leaning even closer to him, and Apollo wondered if he was even aware that he was doing it.
“You glow,” Cassius said, pointing to the yellow crayon on the table. “You glow brighter than this.”
“Ah, I’m glad.” Apollo understood now. “What color does your father look like?” he asked as he had an idea.
Cassius thought for a moment, and then he reached out, his hand hovering between a red and a purple crayon.
“I think if my father got angry, he would look like this color,” he said, pointing to the red crayon.
“Most of the time, like when you came in, he would be this color.” He moved his hand to the purple crayon.
“And then there are other times,” he said, glancing up at Apollo, side-eyed, as if testing his reaction, “when he doesn’t look like he does now, and he’s more like this color.
” He pointed to the brown, which was a very close approximation of the color of Titus’s fur.
“You see a lot of things people wouldn’t understand, don’t you?” Apollo smiled to show that it was a good thing. “I think we can learn a lot from each other, don’t you?”
“There’s so much I don’t know,” Cassius admitted, and his face fell. “We never had a lot of time for schooling. My mom…” He hesitated and Apollo quickly guessed why.
“It’s always going to be alright to talk about your mom. No matter what you say, so long as you are honest with yourself and us, neither Titus nor I will get angry about it.”
Cassius’s shoulder seemed to slump as if a huge weight was lifted off them. “Mom always said I couldn’t go to school, because she said people wouldn’t understand me.”
Apollo longed to touch the child. He could see there was something going on with Cassius, but he couldn’t quite work out what it was.
Cassius definitely wasn’t human, so that was going to make things easier, especially because it seemed that he was very aware he was different.
“I’m not sure about this, because I don’t have a lot of experience with moms,” Apollo said slowly, making sure he didn’t show any judgment in his tone.
“But I’ve always heard that mothers can be very protective of their children.
If you want to learn things, Titus and I will help you learn.
But I can see a lot of exciting things happening, should you decide that you want to come and live with us. ”
Cassius was looking at him fully now, his drawing forgotten. “What sort of thing? What’s exciting about any of this? You’re just gonna be stuck with me. I’m just gonna be another kid…”
Shaking his head, Apollo chuckled. “You’re not just any kid.
You’re Titus Haverland’s kid. You’re my kid, too.
That means something special. You don’t have to believe that now, but you just wait and see.
We’ll talk more about that sort of thing later, but I can already see you’re an amazing person and you’re going to teach me and Titus so much. ”
“I’m just a kid. I can’t teach you anything.”
“Yes, you can,” Apollo said. “For starters, look at me and Titus. We’re not kids. It’s actually been a very long time since we were kids.”