• A lazy grin settled across Apollo's features. "Aren't you supposed to be helping the others look for that book?"

    Valerie stared back resolutely. "I know that all five of them are looking, they just had lunch, and the bathrooms are on the other side of the buildings. That's where they think I am, so I would like to make this quick." She had gone to great lengths to make sure that nobody overheard this conversation or tried to stop it. "What is your relationship with Echo Fated?"

    His eyes, green tinged with blue because of the whole 'I'm-a-memory-in-a-rock' thing, widened. "My, you certainly get straight to the point, don't you?" Inside, Apollo was in shock, and then he played back all of his conversations with and around this young girl. Had he ever showed any sign...?

    Valerie didn't answer him with words, but rather with a blank look that he had seen Echo use too many times to count. The look that asked him 'Are you seriously that much of an idiot?' The look that usually was followed by her beating him into the ground with words.

    "Yes, I do get straight to the point."

    ...She had to work on that.

    "My relationship with Echo is that of a sister to a brother, or a... wait, a brother to a sister! Stop laughing!"

    Valerie snickered, genuine amusement shining in her eyes. He wondered if she took pills for that. (She was actually amused because of the fact that when alive, he wore his hair long enough to be mistaken for a girl. As a memory, he still retained his vanity. Valerie would not have been surprised if he started wearing make-up, too.)

    "No wonder she likes you," She smiled.

    Apollo blinked. "What?"

    Valerie feigned ignorance. "I didn't say anything. But please go on."

    He gave her a dramatic suspicious look. "...She's like my little sister. And my best friend." He paused for effect. "Because she's my sister-in-law and she's my best friend."

    The thirteen year old girl raised an eyebrow. "And what are you hiding from me?"

    He tilted his head to the left, his hair creating a dark curtain behind his face. "I'm hiding something?"

    "Yes."

    "Hmm, then you must be a mind-reader like my daughter was, because... Um..." Apollo shrugged. "Yeah, you must be one."

    "I must be one," Valerie agreed. "I must be one, because I know that you thought of Echo as more then just your sister-in-law, your friend, your charge as a guard, or the person that took care of your daughter. I know this because you've been living in a mansion on your own for practically 2000 years.

    "And," she continued. "I know this because you make lewd comments about me, my sister, and Tanith, but never about her."

    "...So?" Apollo asked. That was her entire argument? He wondered if she was just joking, but decided against disregarding her. She was too confident to be 'just joking.'

    "I've been living on my own for quite and I respect the one person who brings me news of the outside world and interesting things to do. For the first person outside of Echo I've seen in 1800 years, you think you know quite a bit." There was a hint of a threat in his voice.

    Valerie grinned, her eyes shining at him evilly. "That is all I need to know, thank you."

    On her way back to the library, Valerie gave up the facade of happiness and looked blankly in front of her. 'Echo loved Apollo, Apollo shows interest in Echo's sister, Echo shows no interest in Apollo. Thus Alison and Apollo are happy together.

    'On the other hand, Apollo loved Echo, Echo shows no interest in Apollo, Alison shows interest in Apollo, Apollo marries Alison, and Apollo can stay very close to Echo.

    'He knows more then she thinks he knows, and she knows more then he thinks she knows about him. But they don't know enough about each other, and that's what made the difference.'

    Valerie smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. It never did when she was truly happy. 'Maybe that tangled web was not so tangled after all. It was just bigger then it looked.'