Disclaimer: I do not own any works credited to the names Rick Riordan, Uncle Rick, Cassandra Clare, or Cassie Clare. I am not that man, and I am not that woman. I am me, Writing Desk's Raven.
Previously on More Than A Girl:
"Surprise me." I told her. She smiled wide and sat me down on the chair that had been set up in the bathroom. She got to work immediately, using all her professional tools and doing professional things. Yeah, I don't really know how hair stylists do what they do. But that's a question to ask Orianne at another time. She could go on and on about her job as a stylist.
When she was done, Orianne had me look in the mirror. "I gave you an asymmetrical bob, short on the right side, with the left side reaching down to about your chin. What do you think?" She asked."I think it just needs one more touch. Green is not the color for this style. Not on me." I said. Moments later, my hair was all a silvery white color. "There. Perfect."
"I'm so jealous that you can do that." Orianne said, beginning to pack her stuff together.
"It comes with Iris being my father's mother." I said with a shrug.
We went back to the living room, and while everyone was distracted with looking at my new hairstyle, I stuck the box from Orianne under other gifts.
"Here's mine other one!" Dakota said excitedly once I had sat down. He gave me a blue zebra stuffed animal. It was made of some material like linen, had a square pattern to it, had two mismatched button eyes, a little pink fabric tongue sticking out of the end of it's snout, and a dark blue yarn mane going down it's back.
"He had the perfect idea of what he wanted you to have, so I had to bring him to the store to find all the materials and then I had to make it for him, while he dictated how everything went together." Lydia told me. I laughed. Leave it to Dakota to come up with something like that.
"This is the very best present I've gotten. Thank you, Dakota." I said. He smiled wide. I set the zebra down beside me, and it's legs splayed out. It was absolutely adorable.
"And this is from a bunch of us. All of us who had pictures pitched in to make this." Whitney told me, passing over a photo album. It was a simple light green-blue color. I opened to the first page.
It was a photo of a young girl. She was giving the camera a guarded look. On the lines next to the photo were the words 'Lyric Tucker, the day she was adopted.' My eyes widened a little. This was my mother.
The next photo was of a young boy, sitting at a piano, smiling crazily. 'Kiernan, ten years old. Mastered a hard song to play.' The first photo was my mother, and this was my father.
Another of my mother, except a few years older this time. She was sitting at a set of drums, holding up a pair of silver painted drumsticks. She was smiling. 'Lyric, happy with her new sticks.' The same sticks I always played with. The same drum set I used.
One of my father, in a football uniform. He still looked kind of young. The caption confirmed it. 'Kiernan in his freshman year, having made the football team.'
My mother beside a painting, smiling happily and showing off her work. 'Lyric beside her art class project, selected to be placed in a charity auction benefitting local soup kitchens, freshman year.'
My mother in a white uniform, smiling wide and standing beside a man in a similar uniform. A fabric belt hung over her shoulders. 'Lyric having just received her second degree black belt in taekwondo from her Instructor. Fifteen.'
My father in a football uniform again, standing with the rest of the team. 'Kiernan, captain of the football team, and the boys after a successful game. Sixteen.'
My mother wearing makeup, a flowing white dress, skin colored things on her feet that covered all but her heels and toes, holding a bouquet of flowers. She was posing sillily with a much younger looking Jay. 'Lyric after her recital, in her Contemporary costume, posing with Jay. Sixteen.'
Both of my parents, in some sort of lobby. My mother with her arm around my father, a confused expression on her face, and bandages on her hand. My father, with a bit of a pained expression, and bandages across his chest. 'Lyric and Kiernan after being released from the hospital. Seventeen and Eighteen.'
Both my parents on a stage, my mother at a drum set, my father at a piano. 'Lyric and Kiernan before their performance for the school concert.'
Both of my parents in a backstage area. My mother's arms around my father's neck, his arms around her waist, both pressed close together, his lips on hers. 'Lyric and Kiernan backstage after the show.'
This photo was obviously taken a moment after the previous. Both of them still close and with their arms around each other, but no longer with their lips pressed together. My father with a smirk, my mother with a very confused expression on her face, similar to the face she wore in the picture of them at the hospital. 'This and previous photo courtesy of Lydia.'
My parents, Jay, Maddie, and Lydia all posing sillily in costumes. My parents as vampires, Jay as a werewolf, Lydia as a zombie child, and Maddie as some sort of fairy. 'Annual Ashton Halloween Party.'
My parents posing together in their matching costumes. My father was holding my mother bridal style, and she had her arms wrapped around his neck, her head thrown back, and one leg kicked straight up. Both of them smiling at the camera. 'Lyric and Kiernan, matching costumes without knowing it.'
My father carrying my sleeping mother, who was only wearing boy shorts underwear and a large button up shirt. Jay holding an umbrella so she didn't get wet, and neither boy paying attention to the camera. 'Getting Lyric home after finding her run away to the farm.'
My parents and Jay sitting at the Hermes table. 'First breakfast at camp.'
My parents tangled together on a bed, asleep, only a sheet covering their bare skin. 'Sleeping peacefully. Before having a bucket of water dumped on them.'
My father sitting on the ground, forehead pressed against my mother's, who was sitting in his lap, holding a baby in between them. Her eyes were closed, and he was looking down at that baby, baby me, a smile on his face. 'Lyric and Kiernan after Lyric destroyed the ancient evil that had the audacity to take her baby.'
My parents asleep, nestled together on the fold out couch in the little room off the hall of the farm house, baby me in a nearby crib. 'First day back after everything.'
All of the teens sitting together in the grass, smiling for the picture. Nikita leaning on Cypress; Jay with an arm around Maddie; Chelsey and Lydia beside each other; my mother in my father's lap, holding baby me. 'Lazy day at the farm.'
All of the teens together in the grass, again, but with Orianne and Mason on either side of my parents. 'They wanted to be in the picture, too.'
My parents standing on the farmhouse porch, my father behind my mother, with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder. My mother holding me, smiling big at the camera. 'Farm day.'
The rest of the photo album was empty, but I could fill it with my own pictures. I closed the photo album, hugged it to my chest, and looked up at my family.
"Thank you." I said. "Thank you so much."
"Alright, you children go off and hang out, you probably don't want to stick around and talk with the adults." Samuel said. We all knew he included Orianne and Mason as children, even if they were both twenty three and twenty.
The first thing I did was imagine my cabin at camp. A moment later, I was there, my gifts with me. I started to put things away, so that I wouldn't have to do it later.I hung Dakota's crown on one of the posts of my bed. I took the earrings out of the little box and put them all in my jewelry box. I put the extra film for the camera that would fit in the case with it, and left the rest in the box, which I put on my desk. I put the wallet in the inside pocket of my leather jacket, which used to be my mother's, and put the Blackmeadow Range hat on one of the posts of my bed. I put two of the pairs of earbuds on my desk, and put the third and the iPod in the pocket opposite the one that held my wallet. I out the envelope with the concert tickets on my desk. I shoved the box that held the lingerie from Orianne under my pillow. I set Dakota's zebra on top of my pillow. The last thing I did was glue the back of the card to the inside front cover of the photo album, so that I could have that there as well whenever I looked through the photos.
I picked up the carrying case that held the camera and imagined Blackmeadow Range. I was there in a moment. I was in the living room, and all of my cousins and a couple of the adults seemed to have already left the room.
"Where did you just go?" Maddie asked.
"Camp. I was putting my things away in my cabin." I said.
"Alright. Well, you're needed outside. There are some people here to see you." Jay told me. I nodded and went outside.
"Physis?" I asked. My godly grandmother was standing in the grass, talking to Lydia and someone else.
"And Iris!" My other godly grandmother said, stepping to the side so I could see her.
"I can't believe you guys came!" I said, rushing down to hug both of them.
"Well, we both wanted to wish you the best on your sixteenth birthday." Physis said.
"It's not everyday you get a legacy, and that legacy turns sixteen. Really, it happens more on the Roman side than the Greek." Iris added.
"Thank you." I said.
"Whit!" Brady called. I looked over to see him standing with the rest of my cousins, except for Dakota, who was over with his father on the porch.
"Go have fun with your cousins. We must be getting back, soon I'm afraid." Iris said. I hugged them each once more before going over to my cousins.
"What?" I asked when I got over to them.
"Wanna play?" Brady asked.
"You bet." I answered. "Who shall be the first victim?"
We cousins had a game. We would all get together, and then someone would start us off by saying 'Wanna play?'. Then someone else would say 'You bet. Who shall be the first victim?' And from there, someone would take off running. Sometimes multiple people would take off running, as there was no deciding together before. The goal was to chase down the runners and knock them over. Once someone was down, you stayed down until the next game, unless you could get up without getting caught. Once all the runners were down, the game was won.
Brady, Hayden, and Orianne all took off running. I chased after Brady, while Sage and Bailey went after Hayden and Orianne.
I managed to catch up to Brady quickly, and tackled him from behind. He turned when he fell, and I ended up sitting on his chest. "Hah! You're down!" I exclaimed.
"Aren't you going to get up and help Sage and Bailey?" Brady asked.
"Nope." I said, shifting so that I was sitting cross-legged on his chest, and crossing my arms. "You'll just get up and run off again and hide. And last time, it took us forever to find you. Besides, I'm sure they'll be able to get them without me help."
"But I'm cold, laying here in the snow." Brady said. I shook my head at him.
"Brady!" Lydia called. I got up and held out a hand to him, helping him up. I wasn't going to make him stay there when his mom was calling for him.
I walked with him over to where Lydia was standing with Laura, Brady's other mom. "Mom!" Brady said, eyes lighting up. He hugged her, and she hugged him back. "What are you doing here at the farm?"
"Well, Lydia invited me. Besides, it's not like I don't know your family. I used to be part of that family, too." She said.
"Oh, Laura, you've met Whit before." Lydia said, introducing me to her ex-wife. I had met her before, she lived as my neighbor until she and Lydia divorced, and that was at least after I was four of five, when Brady was adopted.
"Of course I have, Lydia. Happy sixteenth birthday, Whit." Laura told me.
"Oh, Whit, I got you a gift, too." Brady said. He went over to his car and took a small box from the backseat, bringing it over and handing it to me. "I didn't get a chance to wrap it, and I didn't want to break it on accident if I went to bring it in."
I opened the box to find a twisted sculpture made of blue glass nestled among packing peanuts. It was really pretty. "Thank you, Brady." I said, laughing. Glass sculptures were a little bit of an inside joke between us.
Past him, I saw Orianne fall to the ground. "Orianne is down." I said. I looked around for Hayden. "And Hayden is... Down."
Before Brady could even think about running, I shoved him to the ground. Bailey and Sage cheered, running over to me.
"We win." I told Brady.
"You always win." Brady complained, getting up.
"That's because I'm smart and I know how to play the game. And I run, sometimes, too. So you can't complain." I told him.
"Why do you all enjoy shoving each other around so much?" Lydia asked, shaking her head.
"Because it's fun." Sage said with a shrug. I laughed.
"Be right back." I said. In the next moment, I was in my cabin. I set the gift from Brady onto my bed, and then was back at the farm.
"Wanna play?" Orianne asked. Hayden and Orianne had made their way over here while I was gone.
"You bet." Sage said. "Who shall be the first victim?"
I took off running, as did Brady. Lydia and Laura both laughed.
I was a much faster runner than any of my cousins, so I was able to outrun them pretty quickly. I went out of sight, and then imagined myself back by Lydia and Laura. I startled them when I appeared. "Hello, ladies." I said cheerfully.
"Is that how you manage to win? By using that necklace?" Lydia asked with a laugh.
I shrugged. "Why have it if I can't use it?" I said.
I glanced around, assessing where my cousins were. I saw Brady and froze. He was over by the vehicles, hiding behind one, but what made me freeze was the thing above his head. It was a glowing holograph, the symbols for a legacy of Aphrodite, a legacy of Hermes, and for a child of Apollo.
"Brady!" I called. Brady looked over to me as the rest of our cousins looked over to see what was wrong. Hayden and Bailey stopped in their tracks.
"What is it?" Brady asked, looking around. He managed a glance upwards, and saw the holograph. He swatted at it, but it didn't move. "What is that thing?"
"You were just claimed. Brady, you're a demigod and legacy." I told him.
"Wait, what?" Brady asked.
"You are a son of Apollo. And you are a descendant of both Aphrodite and Hermes." I said.
"Well, I guess we'll take you to camp next time we go." Bailey said.
"That's tomorrow. We're spending most of Thanksgiving break at camp, coming back on Thanksgiving, and then spending the weekend back at camp again." Hayden said.
"You'll be okay with that, Mom?" Brady asked, turning around to look at Laura.
"Well, you were supposed to be with me for the break, but I think that this is a much more important opportunity." Laura said.
"Thanks, mom." Brady said with a smile.
"Why don't you all go do something for now? We'll call you in for dinner and cake later." Lydia said, starting toward the farmhouse.
"Let's all go up to the loft." I suggested. My cousins all enjoyed hanging out there. "Race you." I challenged, taking off into a run. They all started running after me, all of us trying to be the first to get there.
I, being the fastest, got there first. I ran into the barn, and quickly located the ladder up to the hayloft. I climbed the stacked bales of hay and sat cross legged atop the tall pile.
My cousins were all there soon after, Bailey first, then Brady, then Orianne, then Hayden, then Sage. They all came up to the hayloft and moved around bales of hay to make more comfortable seats.
"So, what are we going to do to pass the time?" Hayden asked.
"Smile for the camera!" I shouted, pointing my camera at them from where I sat high above them. They all made silly faces and posed.
When the picture had printed and developed, I showed them. They all laughed as I put it in the inside pocket of my jacket.
We spent the next couple hours talking and shoving each other around.
"There you all are." Nikita said, climbing up the ladder to the hayloft. "It's time for dinner."
We all climbed down and followed Nikita back to the farmhouse, and went inside after getting as much hay off of ourselves as possible.
And that's chapter two! What do you think of the first chapters of More Than A Girl?
Who doesn't love shoving around the people that are like siblings to them? I know my younger brother enjoys it.
Thank you to anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited! You are not inclined to do any of those things if you do not wish, but it would be much appreciated! I send my love to all of you!
