Dangerous Illusion

“We have given you 5 years to find this monster. Have you brought it back yet?” The council looked around mockingly. “Well, I don’t see it.”

I tried to keep all anger out of my voice. “I promise to be back with the monster by next Sunday.” I vowed, knowing I had just promised a really big thing. My whole job was at stake.

The council nodded, satisfied. “And if you don’t…”

“I lose my job.” I nodded, then muttered under my breath. “Yeah, I get it.”

Being a huntress wasn’t exactly a hard job. Find the monster, bring it back, kill it in front of the whole council so they are entertained. Easy peasy. But when this monster could destroy all humanity and was the most powerful one I had ever seen, (Well, not seen, because guess what, it is also an expert at hiding.) you couldn’t help but feel a little pressure.

This monster has never been found. I am the best huntress there is. That is why I was given the job. If I fail, I’ll have to go back to a stupid, regular job.

***

I left at dawn to start my hunt. I had been searching for 5 years.

I had no idea how I was supposed to find it in a week. Even I didn’t do this well under pressure.

It wasn’t fair that I would be fired if I didn’t complete a task no one else could.

Yet, I quit complaining and started searching for the monster. It was rumored to be in Las Vegas, the city of the most powerful monsters. Well, the humans didn’t know this, obviously, but it was. Trust me.

***

As I was driving down the road of Las Vegas, searching for a hotel, I screeched to a stop and did a full turn. Something appeared. A shadow. It went off into the woods. Quick as lightning, I grabbed my sword and headed after the shadow.

I was quiet, but so was whatever it was. I had a feeling it was just a rabbit, or something similar. But the back of my brain told me that no forest animal was that big. Actually, the shadow had only been a little taller than me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and slashed with my sword. The sword cut right through the air. I hadn’t slashed through anything. But there was heavy panting right next to me.

I turned my head a few degrees to the left. This caused me to be face to face with… A guy. Sure. he was an attractive guy, but I was quite disappointed.

“Oh my god! This whole city’s crazy!” The guy yelled.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic.” I said, sharpening my blade. “You ducked, didn’t you?”

He looked at me. I couldn’t see his expression because of the dark night.

“Why do you have a sword? And why did you just try to kill me?” He demanded.

I wasn’t telling him I thought he was a monster I’d been hunting for years. I had swore not to tell anyone I was a huntress.

“Better question, what were you doing running into the woods at night? I was just following you.” I shrugged, like that was actually the better question. “And this?” I swung my sword. “It’s just a giant toothpick.”

***

“I was following an …animal I heard.” The guy had responded.

That was a lie, I could tell, but I didn’t really care what the guy was doing. He wasn’t what I had come into the woods for.

“Never mind. Anywho, see ya’.” I sighed half heartedly, already walking away.

“Why did you follow me?” He asked. “Who are you? What’s with the sword?... Or giant toothpick?”

We can’t get through one, “Oops, I almost killed you” situation, without mentioning names, can we?

I roamed my mind, thinking in my head if I should tell him my name, or say it was Bob.

“Well… who are you?” I asked.

It kind of looked like he frowned at me. The headlights of my car shined a little on his face. “Do you always answer a question with a question?”

“What do you think?” I scoffed, resuming my walking off.

“I’m Apollo.” He said behind me.

I smiled. “Like the god of the sun.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah sure. Like him. Anyway, now you have to answer my questions. Starting with the giant toothpick.”

I looked down at my sword. “They were on sale.” I said. “Can I leave now?”

“What’s your name?”

I was wasting time. I needed to start my search as fast as possible.

“Starlet. And I followed you because I thought you were in trouble.” Sounds believable, right?

This time, when I walked off, he didn’t stop me or follow me or ask anything. Even though I really only answered one of his questions.

***

My first day had been a complete fail. All I had found was an annoying guy in the woods.

I lifted my hand and my suitcase came floating behind me. (It’s a huntress thing, don’t question it, I won’t answer.)

I used my magic to unlock the door of my hotel room when I lost my key and flopped right on my bed.

***

In the middle of the night, I heard a loud banging- No, not banging. Music- coming from the room besides me. I got up angrily and marched out of my room.

When I opened the door, I was surprised to see nobody in there. Just a speaker, connected to a phone. I turned down the volume and almost immediately, someone came out of the bathroom.

“Hey! How’d you get in?”

I turned around. My jaw dropped. “Apollo?”

He looked confused. “Do I know you?”

He couldn’t have forgotten me that quickly. Then I realized that the headlights on my car had shined on him, not me. He probably didn’t recognize me in the light.

“I’m Starlet.” I said. I immediately regretted it. Would it really be the best idea to remind him of me?

He still looked confused, then he said, “Ohhh, the giant toothpick girl. Still, how did you get in?”

“It wasn’t locked.” I lied. “Just keep your music down, okay?”

I went for the door, but he shook his head in amazement. “Isn’t this weird? We were rejoined! Almost as if by luck. Or destiny. Isn’t this weird?”

I also thought it was weird, but I wasn’t about to say fate had brought us here. “Coincidence.” I corrected.

Then, the music turned up again. U turned around in annoyance to find Apollo dancing like a maniac and grinning annoyingly at me.

“Turn it down.” I ordered.

He shook his head so I did it for him.

“Hey! You pretty people think you can just do whatever you want? Well, this is my speaker, so leave it alone.”

I scoffed. “Calling me pretty isn’t an insult.” Then I figured it was just easier to use my magic and prevent the speaker from working until the morning. Problem solved.

***

“Can I go with you?” Apollo asked.

“No.” I said.

“Why not?”

Because I’m going to be hunting a monster you buffoon.

And that’s how our conversation went the next morning at the hotel lobby. For some reason, he told me he had no plans. Then for some reason, I said I had to be somewhere. AND, for SOME reason, he thought he could join me.

I ignored him as the receptionist asked for my card. I remembered that I had lost it last night.

“Well, I lost it.” I explained.

The lady glared at me. “Ma’am, I need your card. Otherwise I’m gonna have to call security.”

I frowned, but later smiled. “Not necessary.” I waved my hands in front of her and snapped my fingers. “I hope you can understand I don’t have my card with me.” I said sweetly.

The lady blinked, like she was snapping out of a trance. “Um, of course. That’s fine.”

“Thanks, hon.” I patted her shoulder, just because the confusion of my magic allowed me to.

I looked over my shoulder, surprised to see that Apollo was staring at me intently muttering something about ‘it all makes sense.’

He noticed me looking back at him and ran up to me. “How did you do that? You hypnotized her.”

My eyes widened. Usually, normal people couldn’t see through my magic. They just carried on with their lives.

“I-I didn’t hypnotize her. She just understood my situation.” I said, getting nervous. Why wasn’t he fooled?

“No you didn’t. You snapped your fingers and-”

“Hey, how about we go do those plans I was talking about?” I asked, pulling him along. Anything to get him to stop asking questions.

“Really? I can come?” He asked.

I nodded.

***

I didn’t know how I was supposed to hunt for the monster without Apollo finding out. But I did. All day, I faced the weakest monsters and bested them, all while Apollo was busy doing something I told him to do. Unfortunately, none of the monsters I bested were the ones I was supposed to find.

***

I was running out of time. 5 days left. Apollo was still with me. He said he didn’t leave until Sunday. Neither did I. So he stayed. He was starting to grow on me. While I was hunting for monsters on my tracker app, I found myself often staring at his face. When he noticed this, I obviously looked away. You know, got to keep your eyes on the road and stuff. And once, while I had returned from slaying a dragon, I had green goo on my pants. He thought it was my time of month and offered to lend me his jacket. I couldn’t decline, so I took the offer.

“Hey, no problem.”

He still called my sword a giant toothpick, but I didn’t correct him.

***

Wednesday was interesting. Apollo and I sat at the hood of my car, watching the sun rise. Don’t take it the wrong way. I was feeling down, because Sunday was getting closer. Apollo noticed this and sighed.

“Still haven’t found your monster?”

I looked at him, surprised. “What?”

“You’re a huntress. You have the magic of a huntress. I’ve read the legends.” He replied half heartedly. 

I was shocked. I didn’t even know we had legends. And this might explain why he wasn’t fooled by my magic.

I sighed. “Yeah. I need to find it by Sunday.”

After a few seconds of silence, I spoke. “Wait, so you know about the hunters, but you don’t know about the sun god? Whom you were named after?”

He shrugged. I managed a small smile.

***

3 days left. I had killed a total of 12 monsters, none of which mattered. But I did know that Apollo was still with me, even after knowing the truth.

I don’t know what came over me, but when we sat in the hood of my car the next evening, I kissed him. He kissed me back, but after a few seconds, he pulled away quickly, his eyes wide opened.

He jumped off the hood of my car and landed on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, also jumping down.

“You… kissed me.” He said.

My heart sank. “I’m sorry. I thought we felt the same way.”

He looked at me sadly. “We do. But… Starlet…You’re a huntress. I…”

“You what?” I asked.

He clenched his fists. “I think I should go.”

I watched in sadness as he walked away. I should’ve known. He was a full human. I was not. Of course he couldn’t be involved with me.

***

I still had nothing on Saturday. And now I had to go home. I was about to get fired at 11:00 AM tomorrow morning. I had found no sign, not even a trace of the monster. I had failed. I looked at myself in the hotel mirror and sighed. Apollo had left early. That’s how much he wanted to be involved with me.

***

“Starlet, you’re back.” The council mused as I walked through the giant double doors.

I nodded. “Yep.”

They looked behind me. “I don’t see a monster.”

I ignored the lump of anger that had formed in my throat. But the council spoke before I did.

“But who is that?” They asked, pointing behind me.

I turned around. Apollo was standing behind me. Nobody could find the hideout of the hunters unless they followed one. He followed me.

“Starlet found the monster.” Apollo said.

I wasn’t sure what kind of trick he was planning on pulling for them to believe that.

The middle old woman raised her eyebrow. “Is this true?”

I didn’t know whether to lie or tell the truth. I just stood there. Dumbfounded.

The council gasped and got bows and arrows out from behind their desks. They were looking at something behind me. I turned around again. To my horror, Apollo was gone. In his place stood a 15 foot tall monster with razor sharp fangs and claws the size of a car.

“Starlet! You brought the beast to the hideout? That wasn’t part of the plan!” The left one shouted. And they all went to attack the monster. I was more confused than ever. The monster just appeared. And it destroyed Apollo. Because of me. But why did it appear?

I snapped out of my trance and drew my sword. But before I could attack, the monster swatted away the council and bent down to my size. We made eye contact and I concentrated hard.

I swallowed. “Apollo?”

***

Apollo the monster turned back to Apollo the human. Once he turned back to human size and human form, he nodded to my earlier question.

“It’s me.”

An arrow came flying at his back. I pushed him aside and caught the arrow in my hand.

“Stop!” I yelled.

The council wasn’t listening. “That one there! He’s an expert disguiser!”

“The monster we’ve been looking for!” Another one yelled.

I pulled Apollo aside and we hid behind a table. “What’s your true form?” I asked.

He swallowed. “The one you’re seeing. I was cursed at the age of 16.”

Well, this was just great. He was the monster I’d been hunting. No one had ever found him because he could turn into a human! My magic didn’t work on him because he was a monster!

“Why did you stay with me? Why are you here? I was trying to kill you for crying out loud! And how exactly can you destroy humanity?” All my questions reminded me of the time I almost accidentally killed him. In the woods.

“I knew you wouldn’t suspect I was a monster. I know you’ve been looking for me. I’m here so you don’t get fired. I’m turning myself in.”

I smiled sarcastically. “You might think that’s real sweet and all, but what you don’t understand is, I can’t kill you now!” I yelled at him, which made the council find us.

While he pulled out his own sword, he fought the council. “Why not?”

I dodged an arrow. “Believe it or not, I’ve grown to like your sorry butt.”

I could’ve sworn I saw him grinning. How he could grin at a time like this, I don’t know.

***

“Help US, Starlet! Not the monster!” The council yelled as my sword met the middle one’s.

I retracted my sword. “Oops, wrong person.” I said innocently.

But as soon as I said that, I heard a CLANK! Sound. I turned around and saw Apollo’s sword fall to the floor. And where his belly button should be, was the tip of a sword.

He looked at me and mouthed something I couldn’t decipher. Then he fell to the floor. I ran to him, but the one who had killed him stopped me.

“Don’t be so down, Starlet. You get to keep your job after all.” I watched in horror as the middle lady stabbed Apollo in the heart.

***

Even though I got to keep my job, I quit. I had held my tears in for as long as I could. When I got home, I broke down on my bed and sobbed for what seemed like forever. Until I was rudely interrupted by my doorbell.

I made sure my eyes weren’t that puffy and went to answer the door. There was the mailman, holding up a package. Usually, he ran to his van and drove off before I could answer the door.

But this time, he just stood there until I took the package. Then he watched me open it, which was kind of creepy.

“Can I um…” I gestured to the door.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that.” He grinned. A familiar grin. I met his eyes and dropped the package on his foot. But he had no reaction.

“Apollo?”

“Hi, Starlet.”