Chapter 2: Foresight
"One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at the bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something."
-For Once, Then, Something, Robert Frost
Author's Notes: This is a really short chapter, as I only had one thing, really, plotted with it. I tried to think of what else to add, but there wasn't really any way to make it longer without breaking things. Sorry!
The Sun was westering when I went to the Arts and Crafts cabin. It was dark and silent, for everyone else was eating dinner. However, I wasn't hungry, and so I was skipping it. I didn't quite know why I wasn't hungry—I just felt empty overall, as though something had left me, along with the images on the mirror.
Turning on a light and closing the door behind me, I sat at the long table in the center of the room. Putting my head in my hands, then I stared at the opposite wall, trying to summon back the scene I'd seen this morning. I was disappointed I'd been interrupted; never before had an image with Othrys in it been so clear.
Sighing and giving up on the task, I wondered what to do with myself. I was not artistically talented, and I didn't enjoy the arts either. So I resolved to tap in an annoyed fashion on the table, wishing something would happen and listing the things I could be doing if I'd been smarter. I could have brought a book with me or something....
Snorting in frustration, I paced back and forth, wondering when it would be safe enough to risk the journey outside. It had been hard enough trying to get away from the counselor of my cabin, who insisted that the Hermes cabin was much, much better as a whole than a part. I didn't really care for having to do so again.
I had finally judged it safe to go outside and was opening the door when I heard people approaching, talking. The voices sounded like the same ones from this morning, but I couldn't place them to anyone I knew.
Something was pricking at my senses, telling me that hearing their words was important, and so, leaving the door open, I pressed myself against the wall, listening hard. Little snippets of conversation were carried to my ears.
"The Titans are...."
"New members daily."
"...the latest?"
At that point there was a brief silence, and by the time the answering voice spoke again, I could hear them very clearly.
"Asteria."
I froze, my mind beginning to piece that together.
"But she was on our side before!"
"Not now..."
They passed by, and I heard no more.
I was certain that they'd asked who the latest member of the Titans had been. And the answer was Asteria...
Asteria was my mother.
I gazed at the opposite wall from me, phantom snowflakes dancing before my vision. My mother had joined the Titans.
I didn't feel very depressed about it, actually. After all, I had been on neither side. But now, it seemed as though it was time for me to choose. I'd come to that point, the time where the fence no longer existed, and I could not sit on it. I had scraped by as such before, despite people telling me that I had to choose.
Well, now they were correct.
I was wary to step outside. I felt as thought something would be left behind forever if I left this cabin. Something hidden was lurking behind the scene, and it was freezing me with an irrational fear. If I did proceed, would people recognize me as the same person ever again? But there was no reason I should feel as such. There was no inherent danger in leaving the cabin.
And so, I stepped out, where I could once more be seen, into the swift-fading light.