Siblings? There were more of him? He remembered the sister in the goldfields photo, and was that- could it truly be Artemis? Avery's breath was coming shallow and painful at the pressure on his throat. He had to warn Lyra. He had to. Her friend Rosario prodding at Apollo too- she could be in danger.
"I- I wasn't trying- to cross anyone," he croaked, holding onto Apollo's wrist to try and take some of the pressure off. "I just- I want to know- please-" He gritted his teeth and swallowed hard, feeling tears of pain and fear pricking at his eyes. This was his brother over again, shoving him against the wall and then punching him in the crotch for being weird. It was his father sneering at him and telling him his passions were bullshit. He was scared and angry at being humiliated in his own home, but being threatened with death was- he hadn't done anything wrong- He couldn't drag his eyes away from Apollo's face and his fierce blue eyes, feeling like a bug trapped under a glass, just waiting to be squashed.