I'm sorry for the wait, but I've been sick for the last... Week or two. I'm not doing well, it's hard to explain but a doctor's gonna check it out soon so it's all good. Anyways, here's your chapter!

7

The Story

Confidence is like a dragon where, for every head cut off, two more heads grow back.

–Criss Jani

I woke up the morning after Andrew's rude interruption of our fighting and blinked a few times, and saw a crumpled black shape on the ground near the door. I peaked at Hylla, still sleeping, and walked over to it. Turning it over in my hands, I frowned. My windbreaker, what was it doing over there? I hadn't fallen asleep with it. I'd taken it off before being shipped off to scrub the deck, and I couldn't remember if it'd been there when I went to bed. I looked over it and saw that it was somewhat mended in the back. Thick thread like the ones the pirates used to fix the sails when they tore held the scraps together. It cut a bit of length, but that meant nothing to me, this was the best item of clothing I had. But I wondered who in the world would mend it.

That's when I remembered Andrew coming in. I'd watched him put something down by the door. Had he..?

"Morning Sunshine," Hylla said behind me. I snapped out of my thoughts and spun around. "Any sign of life from the idiots above?"

"No," I said. "Maybe a shark jumped onboard, or a crocodile that was after Blackbeard's hands."

"My, you're hilarious," Hylla said. "Come here, I want to check your back."

And I kind of forgot about the windbreaker.

My stomach growled but I ignored it- I was used to it anyways (being hungry and ignoring my body requesting the fulfillment of natural needs I couldn't fulfill). It actually made me fight harder. It was like a token of 'hey, remember why you're fighting? Yeah, work on that'.

For practise, we'd gone silent. No weapons, we didn't jump around- it was mimic, basically, and things like push-ups, sit ups, squats, trying to touch our toes- those things that people did in gym class but that were basically new it us. Mimic fighting was rare, and it was harder when you didn't have the weapon weighing down your arm to judge how tiring it was, or when you had to think about the fighting and the staying quiet at once and weren't particularly great at either one. But we couldn't trust the so-called safety of midnight anymore. For all we knew Andrew had his ear to the door on the other side every single second. Even our prison wasn't private anymore.

"Hylla, when are we going to do anything?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's getting boring. I'm sorry, but we've practised. Over and over. And now they're choking us in various ways- cutting our food, making us do their dishes and pass the mop on the deck, and we're not doing anything about that. Isn't that what learning to fight was about?"

"It's not the right time." Hylla said.

"We could've lashed out at them at night."

"That would have been stupid and you know it." Hylla said, "You're just being eager."

"Still. Next time, can we just… Take the chance?"

"It's not about just lashing out at anyone and anything that moves, Rey."

"I'm not saying that, but it's time for something!"

"We'll figure it out when it's time."

"Before we die of hunger, or after?" I asked.

"Stop being sarcastic." Hylla said. "At least keep some of the manners Circe taught you."

"I don't want to be what Circe told me to be, Hylla. The girl who used to look down on everyone, watch romance movie eating dark chocolate because the other had too much calories and who died her hair auburn or whatever it was… I mean, I was doing that while some people were suffering through stuff like this and even worst, or considering it a life style? People go through this every day in some places."

"Rey, we'll have that back when we get back to the mainland."

"That's the thing, Hy. Well… Frankly it disgusts me now, Circe's island. I don't want it back! I want to slap Andrew, break out of here, and start over. Start well."

Hylla looked at me like I'd announced I was planning on immigrating to Hungary.

"What do you mean you don't 'want it back'?"

"Well… I don't want it back!" I said. Words? Not my strong suit. That was the number one reason they didn't let me interact with the clients much at the spa before.

"You don't want it back." Hylla repeated. Her jaw was shut as tight as a vault. "Why? Why not?"

"I'm a bit ashamed of it," I admitted.

Hylla exploded.

"Ashamed? Ashamed? What have I done to make you ashamed?" She said.

"You?"

"Yes me! I worked my freaking butt off for that job! I looked for days after Dad died to find someone to help us- but there was nobody there until I turned to the mythical community. Wouldn't it have been easier for a 12 year old to let herself get dragged into the system with her sister? For the record; there was one foster home available Reyna, one home. They were going to send me to a freaking orphanage run by nuns and keep the cute face most likely to get adopted in the system. In case you wouldn't have noticed, when you turned around for help there was always someone. There was me. And I've been working ever since, Reyna, ever since so we could live on the island, get what we needed, and live well. And I worked even harder to convince Circe to let you live with me instead of her putting you at a school on the mainland with the other girls, and now you're ashamed to live with me?"

I was so shocked I didn't answer for a bit. That's how she'd interpreted it? Whoa- no, no, no, no, no! That was not what I meant!

"Hylla…"

She'd turned her back on me and she wasn't listening anymore.

"Hylla…" That's when I saw she was blinking back tears. "Hylla?"

She passed her hand over her eyes.

"I'm sorry Rey, it's just… Would it be that hard for someone to give us a break once? I know I'm not good enough at everything I've tried-"

"Don't say that!"

"-But would it honestly be that hard?"

"Hylla!" I gave her a hug. Over the weeks, I'd started appreciating my sister even more. She wasn't just chaperone and food with the occasional happy memory anymore. She was really, really what a sister should be like. She was my best friend. And now I was realising that Hylla wasn't just my best friend, but she was the only reason I was here. Not here as in 'in a pirate ship', although that might be true, but 'here' as in... As in… It was hard to explain, and I'm no good at explaining. But if I've ever loved my sister more than anything else, it was now.

"That's not what I meant. I meant I didn't want to be a snob. I didn't want to be the kind of person who just focused on the superficial stuff, and freaked out about stuff not worth freaking out for and didn't realise that they had everything they needed and an awesome sister." I said.

I sat down next to her, cross legged. "I would never, ever be ashamed of you. Especially when you're with a sword," I added to make her smile.

"But… You never told me that. That we nearly got separated. Actually, you never told me anything about how we got to Circe's Island." I said. Now the idea terrified me. Without Hylla? What would I do without Hylla? How the heck was I supposed to stand up and fight if I didn't have anybody for fight for and with?

"Which would make now about time, wouldn't it?" Hylla said. She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.

"Dad used to be in the US infantry. Then I was born, and he retired at the first chance he got because he wanted to be there for me, although he wasn't sure how long Mother would stick around and take care of me, and then us, either. She did for a while, it was a bit after you were born that she left to go back to Olympus. Dad said that she could smell war and battle like a bloodhound, and she was going back to Olympus to center it. But anyways, when Mother left we moved to California and became a cop in San Diego. He said that California was a better place for us."

"Did you ask why?" I asked.

"No, I didn't." Hylla said. "I just assumed education or something mortal like that. I think he knew a lot more about the demigod world than I gave him credit for, at the time.

You were about five years old when he got shot, although you knew that part too. They plucked us into an overcrowded foster home that was an 'impermanent arrangement' according to the social worker. Gods, you're lucky you can't remember her. Squeaky voice, always wanted to talk about feelings and draw things out in crayon as explanations, as if we were four years old." Hylla rolled her eyes and I smiled a bit.

"Anyways, I could never sleep because the girl in my room was insomniac since she'd watched her mother kill her father, and she kept shifting and turning on the bunk over mine and putting the music on her iPod to twice the maximum. It'd been a month of that and I was sick of not sleeping, so I decided to head downstairs to try and get some sleep on the couch. It was later than I thought it was so Jeanne –our foster mother, she wasn't as bad as the social worker since she'd seen too many kids to still screw up her job, but she was always too busy to pay attention to anybody for longer than ten seconds- was on the phone. I heard her say that she and Hank –that was her husband, barely saw him, might've been having an affair- had too many kids under their roof.

I listened out and figured that they'd found two empty spots; one in a girl's home, and one in a convent. They talked about adoption too, and I freaked. I completely freaked and I nearly ran in and stole the phone and smashed it against the wall. My gods, I didn't want us to be in two different places, much less sent off and adopted to two different homes. I knew we were demigods, and although I didn't know if there was a place to go where they'd train us and give us weapons and homes, I knew that it'd get tougher and that not just any idiot could take care of a demigod child. Especially not my demigod-child sister.

I joined my roommate in insomnia and it bothered me for the whole week. I was so scared that one day I'd get home and our things would be packed and the social worker would be there with a nun for me and an adoptive family for you, all proud of herself and saying 'see Hylla, I took good care of you and your sister' like whenever some arrangement changed or happened or I got grilled for a progress report. It was driving me insane, and one day I just couldn't take it and I made a last minute decision last period of the day. I stole my teacher's wallet."

"You what?" I asked shell-shocked that Hylla, who told me that stealing was one of the seven deadliest sins, had stolen a whole freaking wallet.

"I stole my teacher's wallet. It was just on his desk and nobody was looking because Bradley Hatcher had broken some lab equipment and I had this insane plan in which I needed money. It had a couple of twenties and a credit card in it, as well as a driver's licence. Anyways, I went online that night and bought plane tickets for some place far away. I knew that Dad had grown up in Florida, and I knew he had a sister in a small town there. So I bought two plane tickets to the closest cities for the next night."

"You're kidding."

"I am so not kidding, it was the rashest thing I ever did and I thought I'd throw up over our plane tickets. I put in a fake email address with 'puppy lover' spelt in German, so I imagine that someone in Europe got the confirmation for our plane tickets. I just printed them out right there and then."

The thought of somebody in Germany sitting at their desk, procrastinating off their German assignment or math exercises and then getting Hylla's email and thinking however you said 'what the heck?' in German made me smile.

"And I stuffed some of your clothes in your school bag while I was helping you get ready in the morning, and told you it was a secret. I went to the library instead of eating at the cafeteria and worked on forging the final copy of the letter authorising two minors to fly alone by copying the signature on the driver's licence. And yes, the stolen wallet made big news but I wasn't enough of an idiot to show it or admit I stole it.

Anyways, I walked home from school, ditched my school stuff and packed. I took all of our various ID from the drawer in which Jeanne kept it in. We had passports- Dad always had them, just in case. I think he suspected that demigod business could strike at any moment. My school ended an hour before yours did since you were still at elementary. Instead of picking you up from school and walking you home as per usual, I'd figured out the bus route, bought bus tickets and brought us to the airport. I didn't calm down until we were on our plane and off to Florida. Then I got us to where Dad's sister lived but she freaked out at us. She called Dad a few things I won't repeat and called us a few things I won't repeat either. Needless to say, it was a dud and she slammed the door at my face.

I was too scared that she'd call child services or the cops or something, so I got us on another plane- thank gods my teacher hadn't cancelled his credit cards yet. Anyways, I got us to this tiny island in the Bahamas where I had no idea what we'd do next, and I was too afraid of using the credit card again in case they traced it to us and then found out where we were.

We were at this beach and someone started shouting out that there were dolphins. I told you not to go watch, but you were stubborn as a child and you ran off in the crowd to try and get close enough to see the dolphins. I panicked and looked for you, and I think you panicked too because a woman brought you back to me and you looked so very close to crying. She asked me where our parents were and I told her that I didn't know. She told me that was bull, and I finally admitted that Dad was dead, Mother was long gone, and we weren't supposed to be anywhere near the Bahamas. She looked at me and then told me she knew what we should do, and events followed and we ended up at Circe's island."

I was quiet for a second.

"I know, it wasn't the best plan, but I was twelve, panicked and clueless. I guess it worked out in a way."

"We're still alive and we're both together," I said. "That's got to count for something."

"Maybe I should've let you stay safe in a foster home. You'd have gone to school and made friends your age and gotten a decent education past reading/writing/basic math/important women in history."

"No you shouldn't have and don't you ever think there's anything I need more than you!" I said. I realised my voice had gotten louder. "Because there isn't." I said my voice back to normal.

Hylla cocked her head back so it leaned on the wall and she whipped her eyes with her hand.

"Sorry Rey. It's just… A lot to deal with," Hylla said. I started noticing the pockets under her eyes, the frown lines between her eyebrows… Yeah; the worry was getting to her. Half of those 'if', 'buts' and 'unless'' were about me. "And then you're out there saying that it doesn't matter… But it does Reyna, you're going to have scars on your back and getting out of here is going to be superhuman hard."

"But we're not all human," I said. "We're more than human."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're twelve and I'm your sister and I was supposed to take care of you." She said softly, as if to herself. Her eyes were haunted and I immediately got this sinking feeling in my stomach. Not all the ghosts in my sister's eyes were caused by me. Some of them were given to her by the pirates and what the pirates had done to me. But I remembered some of the things I'd yelled at her when we'd first been locked in Blackbeard's vessel, about how it was her fault and she'd lied and she shouldn't have brought us to Circe's.

Hylla's bringing us on the island hadn't been the best thing on earth, but it'd been the best thing for us. We hadn't learned the best virtues, but we were here now. And in the scheme of things, now was all that mattered really.

"You did take care of me. But we're superhuman, like you said, so maybe that that means that you can't take care of me the same way. Maybe… Maybe I've got to get yelled out and scarred to get things. I've learnt more in the past month than I have ever before, than when I was bubble-wrapped and put in a rubber room where I couldn't hurt myself. And important stuff, about survival and life and all that. So don't you dare think that you did a lousy job with me."

I got up to my feet and pulling her up. I could pull her up with one hand- which was an exciting muscle development that I liked. I was going to make sure the pirates didn't like them though.

Hylla smiled. "Okay," she said. "Grab that sword and give me the knife, it's my turn."

"Is not," I said.

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too. Gods, to think we used to have the same argument about the bathroom in the morning…" She said, shaking her head.

Anons:

Beautifully Psychopath- 1) Name = WIN 2) PFF! 3) Guess not...

Vsl67- Thanks for making me remember to update and give time and effort to this story, it's much appreciated!