It's one of those days today. "Gemma's having a day" my Mother would say. I was infamous for them while we were living in India. Our language teacher Ms. Ashford drones on about Greek literature and her shrill frilly voice makes it's way to my ears and with a dull thud, stops at the stone wall that is my brain.
"Artemis was the Grecian goddess of the hunt and was never without her wooden bow and a quiver of silver, painless arrows swung behind her back. She never married but was considered the protector of children and young women. She was often associated with the moon, the deer and the hawk..."
Oh save me. My back slumps a little and I feel my corset jab me between my ribs, reminding me gently of the imperative importance of posture. It most certainly is one of those days.
Felicity waits until Ms. Ashford is at the board and then turns slightly in her seat and mimes stringing her bow and letting her arrow fly. I pretend to be hit and act out taking the arrow from my heart.
"Is there something the matter Miss. Doyle?" asks Ms. Ashford looking at me with deepest concern for my sanity
"No Ms. Ashford... Only a little indigestion," I say
"Well then, why don't you remind the class of the attributes of the goddess Athena?" she inquires oh so innocently
"Well...erm... She was quite the goddess, this Athena... She...um...She..." Ann's hand shoots up in the air and I smile most graciously, and then pronounce: "Why don't you ask Ann?"
"Alright then, Miss Bradshaw?" she turns to Ann but only after giving me the look of death
"Athena was the powerful goddess of Wisdom and of Athens. Her symbol is the owl" Ann recites quietly, reading from the notes she's taken. Her eyes look almost sunken when they're cast down, the dark smudges under her eyes of late, become even more apparent.
"Very good Ann," she goes back to the chalkboard, "Another goddess of Greek mythology is Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Often connected with the dove, she was also the goddess of Life-in-death..."
My attention wanes again. There is a dull ache around my temples and across my forehead and I press my cold fist against my head to alleviate it a moment so that I might think clearly.
I catch sight of Ann again out of the corner of my eye. She has changed a lot since Christmas break and I find myself worrying about her. Her cheeks are pale and her fingers are thin and trembling as she scratches a note about the goddess Demeter. I suppose it may be all the excitement that we had during the holidays, but I have some irksome feeling that tells me there's something else... I catch a glimpse of a dark winged bird soaring over the treetops of the woods and it somehow triggers my memory.
I had a dream last night about Ann. She and I were climbing this rocky knoll together and when we got to the top there was a dark mouthed cave. We entered and the light from a cast iron lantern hanging from the roof glittered and sparkled on the walls. Then...Then I spotted the cinquefoil on the walls, exactly like the one from the locket. Someone came out of the shadows with their hands outstretched...Was it Asha...Yes... I am fairly sure. She traced a path within the cinquefoil and then pointed to the stone roof of the cave. It wasn't the roof of the cave at all, but had become night sky... And then the cave and Asha disappeared... Ann and I are running, faster than I ever have before. Our feet have wings and we take flight, shooting up into the stars... I turn around and Ann is gone but I can hear her whisper something to me, I can't remember what it was. The dream is slipping away and I struggle to recall... Something about Kartik... My hands in his... Triangles interlocking... Cinquefoil... And a ring of trees that swirl around me...
"Gemma! Hello?" Felicity's voice brings me back to the present. The class is over and girls are already filing out. I blink a few times and get out of my desk.
"I'm coming" I say