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StellaAthena36 - Jay bringing everyone might not have been the best thing he could have done, but they were all worried about her. As for the family just kinda standing there, well, she only just met her mom's family just ow. It's gotta be a little awkward.
Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. And so, accordingly, I do not own any works credited to that name. (Or to related names. i.e. Uncle Rick.)
Previously on More Than A Mortal:
"Thank you." I said quietly. I went into the bedroom and locked the doors behind me. I laid down on the bed, and closed my eyes, listening to the patter of rain against the window.
I woke sometime around dawn. I unlocked the bedroom door and went downstairs. No one seemed to be up, which was good. When I went through the living room to get to the kitchen, I saw Kiernan was asleep on the couch. No one else was in the living room, so he must've been out of luck for a place to sleep. Jay was likely with Ben and his friend, and Maddie and Lydia were probably with Mom or Orianne.
I went into the kitchen and looked through the cupboard for something to eat. I ended up grabbing a granola bar. After I ate it, I used the bathroom, the door to which was in the kitchen. Then I went upstairs using a staircase off the side of the kitchen, which I hadn't noticed before.
When I got back to the bedroom, Kiernan was sitting on the bed. He must not have been asleep, then, when I went downstairs. "Lyric, we need to talk." He said.
"I really don't want to talk. Please leave." I told him. He didn't move. I sighed and sat in the middle of the floor. I leaned over and grabbed my bag, pulling my phone out. I started to scroll through my social media, ignoring Kiernan. He moved to sit beside me. I got up and sat in the bed. He got up against and sat behind me, but I didn't acknowledge him.
"Lyric, please." Kiernan said. I didn't say anything. I could feel him playing with the ends of my hair. "Please talk to me."
When I continued to ignore him, he sighed, and left the room. I got up and locked the door behind him. I tossed my phone on my bag, and laid down. I knew I shouldn't be afraid of my feelings, but that didn't mean I wasn't. Eventually, I fell asleep again.
In a half asleep state sometime later, I heard Jay speak. "I've got her bag, you carry her to the car." I felt someone's arms slide around me, and then they were carrying me bridal style, my head resting between their shoulder and neck. "You've got her?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, I've got her." Kiernan replied. I felt him carry me downstairs, and outside, though no rain from the ongoing storm seemed to hit me. Someone must've been holding an umbrella. I felt him place me in a car, and then my feet were in someone's lap. I felt him lift my head so that he could get into the car, and then my head was in his lap. I soon fell asleep again.
When I woke up, this time, I was in my bed. When I checked my phone, I saw that it was afternoon. Ugh. I literally spent most of my weekend asleep. I'd have to go back to school tomorrow like nothing happened, which, to basically everyone at school, nothing had happened.
I got up from my bed and went downstairs to have a bowl of cereal. The house seemed empty.
After eating, I went back upstairs and changed into my painting clothes. I brought downstairs a bunch of paints and supplies, and got back to work on the guest room I had been working on, continuing to make it look like a grassy meadow at nighttime.
Eventually, around ten, I cleaned up and took a shower. After which I put Kiernan's shirt back on, not bothering to put anything else on, and laid down and went to sleep.
The next day, Monday, I woke to my alarm and got ready for school as normal.
I didn't go to into the classroom until just before the bell rang. I was avoiding Kiernan, and I felt bad about it, but I really didn't think I could deal with talking to him without breaking down or freaking out.
When I entered the classroom, there were two people I'd never seen before sitting at the table I usually sat at, so I just pulled up a chair and sat at the side, and said "Seems like all the new kids sit here." The girl gave me a quizzical look. The boy asked what I meant. "I sat here on my first day two weeks ago."
"Oh, if we're in your seat, we can move." The boy said quickly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not Chelsey." I said.
"Who?" The boy asked.
"Chelsey Dare, total bitch queen. I sat here on my first day, and she tried to get him to make me move. But he didn't want to upset his sister." I said, gesturing to Kiernan. Then I gestured to Jay. "That's my brother. Him, Kiernan, Lydia, and I are all good friends now. And Maddie, but she's not in this class."
"Anyways, I'm Lyric Tucker. What are your names?" I asked. The boy was about to say something, when the teacher started to speak.
"Class, we seem to be getting a lot of new students this year. We've got another two new students. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" The teacher announced.
Both the boy and the girl stood. "I'm Cypress Creek." The boy said.
The girl made some gestures with her hands, and I recognized it as ASL.
Nikita Beckett.
"This is Nikita Beckett." Cypress said.
"What? Are you mute or something?" Chelsey mocked from the back of the room.
The girl looked angry at that, and Cypress spoke, though not without a hint of anger in his voice. "Nikita is mute." They sat back down.
I found out that I had them both in all of my classes. I introduced them to Lydia at study, and to Maddie at lunch when they sat with us. Kiernan and Jay stayed over at their table. I also found that I had them in English and Music. So I literally had them in all of my classes. But that was a good thing. Most of these people at this school would not be nice to them, especially because Nikita was mute.
After I got home, I put on my paint clothes and spent the rest of the day painting the guest room. By the time I had to clean up for the day, I still wasn't quite done with the room. I had about two and a half walls left. Maybe another three or so days of painting, if I were to keep on working for so long each day like this.
Tuesday afternoon, Kiernan caught up to me in the hall after lunch. I usually waited until the last minute to go to English, so there was no one in the halls as he stopped me.
"Lyric." He said. I kept walking. He set a hand on my arm, and I stopped walking, but didn't say anything. "Lyric, why are you avoiding me?"
I faintly realized the storming had still not stopped, and that it was still raining outside the window in the hall. I didn't answer Kiernan.
"Lyric?" He asked.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. I pulled away and went to English, leaving him standing there. He came into English ten minutes after me, and apologized to the teacher, who only told him not to let it happen again.
Kiernan again tried to talk to me on Tuesday, but after art, and then again on Wednesday, but after gym. I did manage to avoid him on Thursday. I also finished with the first guest room. I had painted our guest room of our old house in much the same fashion, with a nighttime nature scene, so I was able to find the large, dark green rugs that had covered the floor of the old guest room. They covered the space nicely, the room was about the same size. I also put dark green sheets and bedding on the bed. There. The room was perfect.
On Friday, during lunch, Kiernan came over to sit with us. I got up from my seat and left the cafeteria. Lydia and Maddie knew I was avoiding him, though I'm not sure if they knew why, and Cypress and Nikita didn't seem to be in the cafeteria.
I kind of just wandered the halls aimlessly. Maybe five minutes later, Kiernan found me. I tried to pass by him, but he stepped in front of me and blocked the way. I just stood there, inches away from him, not moving.
"Lyric, why won't you talk to me?" He asked. He sounded desperate.
"I just- I can't." I told him. I tried to step past him, but he didn't let me. I had been really close to him before, but now I was standing even closer.
"Lyric, please." Kiernan said.
"I'm sorry. It's- It's not your fault. I just- can't- I need to deal with some things on my own right now." I said. "I'm just so afraid."
"Why?" Kiernan asked. I looked up at him, shocked. The Earth shook as I slapped him across the face. Then I pushed past him and left the school, walking quickly, practically running.
He knew Ancient Greek. And he hadn't told me. Oh god. All of those conversations, he'd been in the vicinity, he'd heard so many conversations I'd had with my brother. He knew everything I'd said to my brother about him.
I was out on the sidewalk in front of the school when I bumped into someone. I stumbled back, and looked up at the man. He was tall, with black irises and black hair. He had a lot of muscles, and looked like he could crush a car. He kind of looked like he was on steroids.
"Sorry." I said, stepping out of the way.
"No problem, Lyric." The man said.
"How do you know my name?" I asked warily.
"I know many things, dear." He said. I took another step back.
"Lyric?" I heard Cypress call. I turned around to see him and Nikita exiting the building and coming toward me. When they reached me, and saw the face of the man, they both stopped, horrified expressions on their faces. "How?" Cypress demanded.
The man ignored him, instead fixing his cold gaze on Nikita. "How are you, my wife?" He asked. She started to tremble, slightly, in fear. Cypress set a hand on her arm, trying to calm her. The man laughed. "Still hanging around with him? What was your dear mother's description of him? Some boy toy?" She began to tremble even harder.
At this point, I stepped in front of them. They were my friends, and this man could go and leave them the hell alone. "Look, I don't know who you are, bastard, but you need to leave them the hell alone. I don't know what kind of trouble you have with them, but I don't care. Get the hell away from here." I told him angrily. It was already raining, as the storm had been going since last Friday night, but thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.
He just laughed. "A little bit of advice for you, Lyric. Watch how you compose yourself, and how you speak to your superiors." He said.
"I don't know what you're going on about, but you are not my superior, so just leave us the hell alone." I told him.
"Oh, but as your future husband, I am of course your superior." He told me. I stepped back in surprise at his words. What the hell was wrong with him.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Nikita screamed. I barely even registered that she was using her voice. "Two wives? Such an achievement! You've already ruined my life, stay out of hers!"
"Ah, but she's like you, dear Nikita." He said. Nikita recoiled. "And with her, I might do what I could not with you."
"But I killed you. I defeated you and sent you back to hell." Nikita whispered.
"I am an immortal. I cannot be killed. As for sending me back to my pit, the majority of my essence is, in fact, there. But the smallest sliver of me has been free for a long time, and has kept away from the events, in the case that I was temporarily defeated." He said mockingly. "As a matter of fact, Lyric here is about your age. I've been working on her just as long. Now, rather than what your mother willingly did, I had to plant hate in her father, but it all has worked out so far. She still wake crying from the nightmares that are always memories. And her current dilemma, caused by her perception of her parents..."
"I don't know who the hell you are, or what the hell is going on, but the way my father acted was your fault?" I asked angrily. He had a smirk on his face. "I should kill you here and now, bastard! Because if you, I had to be taken away by Child Protective Services! I had to go through a year, bouncing around so many horrible foster homes! I had to be untrustful to my adopted family for awhile before I could actually believe that they cared about me." Tears started rolling down my face as the Earth shook slightly. It was still raining, but heavier. Good thing my bike was parked under a willow tree.
A sudden realization hit me. "It's your fault I'm so afraid of things with Kiernan! Your fault I can't even look at him without wanting to break down crying or have a huge panic attack!" I screamed. Just as soon as it came the anger left me. I sank down to my knees on the pavement, crying.
The man looked disdainfully at me, once, before speaking to Cypress and Nikita again. "I'll collect her before the Winter Solstice. Her seventeenth birthday has already passed, a few weeks ago, but her power is manifested differently. Just look around at this storm. Just don't try to interfere this time, boy. And Nikita, dear, I'll be back for you, too. And know, boy, that it won't be so easy this time to get into my realm." He turned around and walked off.
Cypress and Nikita knelt next to me. She started signing to him. We need to get her to Camp. Chiron needs to know about this.
"What's camp?" I asked, looking up at her. She looked at me in surprise. "Oh, I started learning ASL in middle school, continued in high school. I'm quite well off at it now."
"Camp is a safe place for people like us. Look closely at my eyes." Nikita told me. With a closer look, I realized he eyes weren't gray, but matched the sky and the weather, and I could see the individual rain drops falling. "I can't explain more now, it's too dangerous. But you have to come with us."
"I can't just leave Jay. Or my friends. Or Kiernan. I can't. I have to talk to him now. I've been so afraid to because of how my father turned out after my mother left him with a newborn baby, but if that hatred was placed there, it makes me a little less afraid of my feelings." I muttered to myself.
"Does anyone you might know have traits that seem unnatural? Or unusual?" Cypress asked.
"I don't know. Jay's good with locks and getting anywhere, really, but other than that, it's just normal stuff for the people I know." I said. They were confusing me, but I was going with it. I was also having a mini panic attack.
Moments later, Jay was beside me on the ground. "Lee, what happened? Why was the earth shaking? The week long 'bizarre' storm is one thing, but earthquakes?" Jay asked.
"This is exactly the kind of thing we're looking for. He's going to need to come, too." Cypress said. "Do you know anyone else who can speak Ancient Greek?"
"No one-" Jay started, but I cut him off.
"Kiernan can." I said. Jay's eyes widened.
"The earthquakes?" He guessed.
"The first one." I replied.
"Then what was the other?" Jay asked quietly.
"I don't know. I don't know who the hell that guy was." I said.
"It's best you don't know, until we get to camp. Like she said, it's too dangerous for you to know just yet." Cypress said.
"Go get Kiernan. Go home, pack weekend bags. We'll meet you at your houses. Our temporary home is on the same road. It's really important that we get you three to camp." Nikita said.
Ooh, can they really be demigods? And what's that about Lyric being like Nikita, huh? Guess we'll just have to wait and find out.
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!
