Chapter 25: Rylie

This starts a little before the last scene, :) I also got my OC's mixed up last chapter. yes. They are in Tennessee, no her name is not Kassidy, it's Rylie, flame me for that would you. :P

This took way too long to edit and write, for that SORRY! It is a lot longer though, so enjoy!

Underlined is Nico, Italics is Rylie!

It wasn't my fault the Max was still up and it was past 9:30! Honestly, that kid would never go to sleep, instead he would live to drive me up the wall! So when the doorbell rang and he zoomed to the front door to answer it, I was at least relieved it wasn't a group of strangers. For the most part...

Nico was there, and anytime Nico comes... He's not there to play games. He arrived with five others, two boys, and three girls. As they walked past me, I recognised their... Aura? It was like the myth of the Red String from Asian lore... We were meant to cross paths.

Maybe the stories Nico had been telling Max, that I may or may not have eavesdropped on, had some merit.

While I was letting them in, I saw that Nico's face was a stark-white, Max must've "spoiled his cover" as he would've called it.

Nico flopped onto the couch, his mood changing when he saw me. The others all squished together, the one with blond hair rubbing her eyes tiredly. Nico was basically falling asleep on the couch. With those to motions in my head, I made up my mind. They would not be going back on the road tonight. They could sleep here, or in their car, but they would not be going back on the road.

I shoved Nico out of my spot while mom finally put Max to bed. When I knew the screaming would be coming I just told them to "ignore Max." Like that was possible when he was having one of his fits. They still looked down the hallway when he started though.

I rolled my eyes and turned to glare at Nico. Even though we did talk aloud... It wasn't what the others heard.

Why are you here?

Should I know?

Yes.

...?

Because you are in my house. With four other strangers. Mom is home. AND YOU WERE GONE FOR THE PAST SIX MONTHS.

Oh.

Yes 'oh'

I was about to go off on him when I noticed someone snapping their fingers between us. We broke eye contact, still glaring at each other, albeit, less.

"Anyways. I'm Harry," Harry introduced himself, and then the others with him. "that's Percy." He pointed at the other boy, his lookalike.

"I can introduce myself, Harry!" Percy spoke. They had similar looks, but that was where the similarities ended. Harry spoke with a British accent whereas Percy's was... New Yorkish? The only person I knew from the Big Apple was Nico, and he traveled the world on a yearly basis, traveling anywhere from Northern India to Denmark, so he didn't carry much of the "standard New York accent."

At that point, the red-head grew tired of their bickering and introduced herself and the other girls. "I'm Rachel," she said, holding her hand out for me to shake, which I did. "Then the one with the dyed hair is Delphi. And lastly is Cassandra, our newest recruit." When Rachel called Cassandra a recruit, I raised an eyebrow. She continued, "There's a prophecy-"

I cut her off, turning to Nico, "That was real?!"

He looked at his companions sheepishly, then he looked back at me. "Yeah."

Suddenly, Cassandra ran to the bathroom. From the living room, I could hear her sicking up, the sound making me nauseous.

Percy ran after her, into the bathroom, holding her hair behind her.

"Anyone know what that was about?" Rachel asked, looking around.

Slowly, we all ended up looking at Harry.

"What?" He said defensively, "I didn't know anything about Cassandra being sick!"

We made our way to the bathroom where they were, Cassandra dry heaving into the toilet.

The scent of bile make some rise in my throat, after excusing myself from the room, I shut the door and listened against it.

"What's wrong?" That was Rachel.

"I'm pre-" she threw up again. "Pregnant. I'm pregnant."

"Do you know who the father is?"

Silence then a curt "no."

Oh. Oh.

I stood up and left, she needed them, not me. She didn't even know me. I walked into the kitchen and started some hot chocolate on the stove, it would be done when they got out.

Even though the door was shut, I could still hear Nico and Percy yelling, not yelling, but most definitely arguing.

I could only hear snatches of their conversation but from what I caught, I concluded Nico had accused Percy of cheating on a girl, his girlfriend, Annabeth.

During that, the others shuffled into the kitchen, sitting around the dining table. I pulled the Christmas mugs out of the back of the cabinets and poured them a cup each.

The whole house got suddenly darker, shadows drawing closer to each other, before they went back to normal.

Nico had left.

Percy walked into the kitchen, drawing a hand down his face, he sat down with the others and folded his arms, his head flopped onto the pile he had created. I poured him a cup anyways, regardless of if he would drink it, one of the others would, or I would.

Nico came back, this time with another girl, she had blonde hair, curls that I would accuse her of using a curling iron to make, except for the fact that she was wearing a light blue hospital gown with an ugly purple pattern on it.

She introduced herself as Annabeth. The Annabeth. Then she rounded on Percy, who followed her slowly outside.

It was then my mother came back in, bringing an arm-load of blankets and pillows, she left the room after making sure everyone was comfortable. She was a carer like that. She wouldn't leave you alone until she knew you were okay. She was one of those people who worked better caring for someone. It explained why she chose to be a nurse...

Seeing that most of them had drained their drinks, I directed them to where they would sleep.

One on each couch, another in my room, the boys chose to sleep in the van. When Annabeth came back in, she could sleep on the window seat that spread across Max's room. I would sleep in the basement.

Cassandra was staring at the kitchen clock, not even paying attention to what I was saying. Her cup was drained, but when I reached to put it into the sink for later cleaning, her grip tightened on it, almost becoming like steel.

It was then, that she decided to speak up.

"Child of war, blessed by god, they will lead armies to battle, strength in numbers, unite the camps, Folke favors this one."

As I came to, I drew in air, gasping for breath. It was always strange when she took over. My vision cleared, and I saw that I was laying on the office chair, a spinney, purple overstuffed seat. One of them must've picked me up and moved me.

I was alone, the light was on though, so I stumbled to the hallway, figuring out where I was. I walked down to the basement, flicking on the lights, I made my way to the guest bedroom, falling asleep as soon as my body touched the blankets, barely noticing that my socks and shoes had been taken off.