Apollo looked at him, and there was something in his face that Rex had never seen before. It was something like asking for help.
Not demanding or giving orders, but asking in the way that people do when they are out of options and have decided that this person is the one they want to ask.
"You saw what happened in the dungeon." Apollo said, "You were there, and you knew something was wrong before it was obvious, and you kept both of them safe when things went wrong."
He clenched his fists. "I know you have your own goals on the island."
"The assessment matters, and I'm not asking you to compromise it." He stopped. "I'm asking you to keep them in your line of sight... That's all."
Rex was quiet for a moment, not because he was thinking about what to say, but because the moment needed a pause of the right length to be understood.
"It's already my job to keep them safe on this test." He said, "It wouldn't matter what you said to me."
