I am back! Yes, I know it's been forever, and no, I am not dead. Though I know it's beginning to seem like it...
I all but float through the morning. The whole cabin shot me weird looks, but who cares? My life has changed drastically.
Even through archery (which I'm supposed to be good at, being a son of Apollo and all) I smile throughout the entire class. And I hate archery. Healing, which is one of the only things I'm good at, floated past like a summer breeze.
Jeremiah was starting to worry about me; I can see it in his eyes. The way he watches me warily from across the room during wrestling, or glances at me through the corner of his eyes during during lunch... Oh yeah, he definitely suspects something. I'm proved correct after he corners me during basketball, while I was continuously smiling even after my teammates hit me on the head with the damn ball, trying to knock me out of my trance.
"What the **** is going on, Zack?" He hisses.
"Nothing much," I answer casually.
He glares at me.
I glare right back.
He seems taken aback by my boldness.
"Seriously, man, what's going on?" His anger seems to diminish slowly.
I only smile.
He narrows his eyes. "It's Cheryl, isn't it?" He demands, "Look, I know you like her, and that she promised she'd make it up to you for sticking you to a tree, but you're letting it get to your head," He shakes me, "Focus, man. C'mon. She's not worth it."
I snap like a rubber band. "Yes, she is! You don't know what you're talking about! She's the nicest, sweetest, most amazing girl in the world! There's no one like her! You don't know anything!" I shake out of his grip, shoot him my most serious glare, and stalk out to the basketball field.
"Zack!" Jeremiah calls, "C'mon, man, you know I didn't mean it. Zack!"
Sighing, I turn around. "I know you didn't. It's just... well... Okay, here goes." And I tell him all about the pearls. Every single detail. Their elaborate design, the blue-green and silver spirals swirling around it, the pride in Cheryl's bubbly blue eyes when she showed me her most intricate spell yet.
In the end, he's so amazed that he has no comeback for it.
Finally, he says, "You know about her sister, don't you?"
"What!?" I shout incredulously.
He raises his eyebrows, "Her sister. The entire camp's been gossiping about it. How can you not know?" Then he smiles, "Oh, maybe because you've been day-dreaming about Cheryl so much. You wouldn't have known if the camp caught fire and Medusa turned us all to stone."
I roll my eyes. "Yeah, ha ha, very funny. Now what about her sister?"
He lowers his voice. "She's never known before, but she's a half-blood. Cheryl never told her anything, because they're not twins, and because she's not dyslexic, or has ADHD. She's the classic good girl, and not very athletic. No one had any reason to believe her mother was a goddess."
I lean forward, intrigued, "How'd they find out?"
"The satyrs found her. She ran away from her boarding school, and her father told Cheryl, because, well, running away isn't a very good-girl thing to do. Cheryl found this suspicious and told Chiron, who sent out about a dozen satyrs," He glances around, "When the satyrs finally caught up to her, she was being attacked by a manticore. They said she looked absolutely terrified, and was throwing these homemade bombs. And she had really good aim, hitting the dumb thing in the eyes."
My eyes widen. Natural skills of the demigods usually ignite when the demigod is in peril, and it certainly worked for Cheryl's sister. How come it doesn't work for me?
"Then she just went crazy, and these balls of flame ignite in her hands, then quickly turn to water, which she promptly propelled at the manticore. In the air it turned to ice and impaled the monster. When she finally saw the the satyrs, she screamed so loud that this haze rose from the ground and caused all the satyrs to fall to the ground, screaming in pain."
Really powerful demigod if she didn't know she was one before.
"Finally one of them managed to explain to her that they were there to protect her and she just collapsed, sobbing," Jeremiah says, "Poor girl. Top of all her classes, and she's managed to skip tenth grade. Now she's in eleventh and top of the whole school. She planned on going to Oxford. Oxford! Now all that's ruined because her father slept with some pretty face and had two kids."
I knit my eyebrows, "You said they're not twins? How is that possible?"
He rolls his eyes. "Duh. Isn't it obvious? Hecate fell for their father twice."
"Huh. Are you sure they're not twins?""
He nods. "Cheryl's younger, by around one year. She was born in December, and her sister in April."
I raise an eyebrow.
He looks cross. "Cheryl, December 21st, 1996. Her sister, April 7th, 1995."
"How do you know all this stuff?" I ask.
This time, he raises an eyebrow. "The Aphrodite girls will spill anything for a tube of lip gloss."
The entire camp was buzzing with excitement during dinner, for Cheryl's sister was arriving then. She'd been in the Big House with Chiron and the others. Not even Cheryl had been allowed to see her. There was talk that she was going insane, and Mr. D had been called to help her. This was proved wrong when Mr. D showed up in the dining pavilion and announced that she was doing fine and had only needed patch up some wounds.
"She needed some medical help," Mr. D says in a bored voice, "Those advanced spells drained her... Blah blah blah."
The atmosphere seems to relax after that. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase start making out in the corner, oblivious to the stares. Their embrace is so tight I can't believe they can even breathe. They're so engrossed they don't notice Chiron coming in, carrying a battered looking girl whose eyes are filled exhaustion.
Chiron clears his throat, trying to catch Percy's attention. This attempt is useless, as Percy's tongue is still down his girlfriend's throat. Giggles emanate from the campers as Annabeth's hand slides up his thigh and continues on till she cups his jaw, pulling him towards her. This continues for several minutes as Percy gets under her shirt.
Finally, Travis Stoll shouts, "Get a room, lovebirds! We want to meet the newbie!" and Annabeth pulls away, blushing beet red. Percy grins, unfazed. He reaches out to weave his fingers through hers and she smiles wryly.
"I'm sure that everyone has heard of Devorah already," Chiron says, "She attempted very advanced spells th-"
"DEVORAH!" Interrupts Cheryl as she barrels into the pavilion, obviously late from pulling together space in the Hecate cabin for her sister. She shoves past anyone in her way, almost tripping over a bench as she hurtles at full throttle towards her sister. Devorah smiles wearily as Cheryl pulls her into her arms, sobbing in relief.
Now Devorah's holding Cheryl, who's sobbing into her shoulder, mumbling something that vaguely resembles the sentence, "How c-could you?" in a wobbly voice.
And Devorah's comforting her in a soothing voice, patting her back gently. Her eyes reflect Cheryl's concern, along with sisterly love.
Finally Devorah holds her sister at arms-length and says, "Aren't you going to introduce me?" with a crooked smile.
Cheryl laughs it off easily, wipes her eyes, and turns to the rest of us. "So, this is Dev, my sister, who you've been gossiping about all afternoon," She smiles, "Don't think I didn't hear you. None of you are very secretive."
The pavilion erupts with laughter and Devorah laughs along with them. Cheryl pushes her sister in front of her and Dev shoots her a dirty look.
"She's also terrified of being the center of attention, but I'll force her tonight for you guys."
More laughter spreads and Cheryl looks smugly at her sister. Devorah glares back. Cheryl gestures for her to smile and Dev bares her teeth, looking annoyed. Cheryl smiles and whispers something in her ear and Dev breaks into laughter, that same carefree sound of Cheryl's. That's when I finally get a good look at her.
Her long hair is the same shade as Cheryl's, but falls past her shoulders loosely in sleek dark tendrils. Her eyes, unlike Cheryl's bubbly aquamarine ones, are blue-green, a soft shade of teal, but still framed by thick lashes. Her figure is less athletic than her sister's, but glows of intelligence. Her fingers are long and slim, like a pianist's. She's about the same height as Cheryl, despite the difference in age, and she's just as slim. Her eyes are aged with weariness, probably from her ordeal with the manticore. But she still radiates power, and magic.
Finally Cheryl just answers some random questions flung out from the dining pavilion, and Devorah gets acquainted with her new siblings. She's polite and patient, but she's shy, and her cabin mates quickly lose interest and move on to Cheryl, who's much more obliging, talking animatedly.
Devorah's dark eyebrows rise when we all rise and flock towards the roaring fire. But she stands up nonetheless and follows the crowd. Her eyebrows crinkle together as we each scrape a portion of our meal into the roaring flames. One of her siblings nudges her and explains the procedure with exaggerated gestures. Devorah's eyes widen in understanding and she nods silently, thanking her. The blonde, quickly losing interest, nods in return and wanders off to find her ditzy friends to gossip. I watch Devorah dump almost all of her meal into the flickering flames. Her jaw drops slightly as she inhales the amazing scent of the flames and a slight smile crosses her face as she gazes into the fiery red and orange tendrils reaching for the darkening sky. When she returns to her table, she's visibly more relaxed, as if she's made peace with the universe.
Her siblings attempt to engage her in conversation, but she's so shy that they quickly move on to gossip about her instead. She picks quietly at her food, not really eating the small remainder of her meal. She's so different from Cheryl, who's chatting away with anyone who'll talk.
I watch her poke and prod her potatoes, jabbing them around her mostly empty plate. She bumps into her carrots and slams into her mac 'n cheese, not caring that her food is mostly inedible now that she has them all mixed up in a pile on her plate. But it's not like she's eating anyways, so...
That's when I hear the rumours.
"She hasn't been claimed yet!" One girl from Ares whispers cruelly, "I heard that Hecate's not claiming her, ever!"
A chunky boy nods, "I heard that Hecate herself sent the manticore, because she's such a disappointment."
"I hope she leaves soon," The girl says, "She doesn't belong here." They both snicker loudly, their shoulders quaking.
The sound makes me clench my fists and grit my teeth. If Cheryl respect and accepts Devorah, if Cheryl loves her, then she is worthy of it. I trust her judgement.
I watch Cheryl talk with anyone and everyone, her smile animated. She laughs at lame jokes, encourages dreams and ideas, and basically makes everyone feel loved.
Then I watch Devorah jab at her food, silently shifting her mush around. I know she listens and watches, but she never attempts to join the conversation around her.
How can two sisters, each so different and unique, be so equally, majestically, powerful?
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