Yeah, this is quite the "fast posting speed." Apologies. This chapter has been kind of frustrating and full of blocks, but I like the next one so it should come up soon.
Also… I realized there are a lot of inaccuracies here. I attempted to edit them all, but stuff turned out kind of confusing. Sorry, again. But you can trust everything I've said about dresses, since I've done quite a lot of research on them. If you want to know what's actually correct, leave a review and I'll either PM you a specific list or just send it in my A/Ns. I will, in the faraway future, write another story set in the Victorian Era, hopefully completely accurate. It'll be more focused on Victorian society and all its rules for romance and titles, and contain a lot of drama .
Lastly, I don't own Ava Wise. The rest of the new Athena Cabin girls are OCs.
Enjoy!
You'd think that when all the daughters of Athena got together, they'd have something better to talk about than gossip.
Alas, this wasn't the true.
"…so, he led me into this tea house, set for just for the two of us…," Elisabeth trailed off, her eyes sly.
Amelia bounced up and down on her cushion, causing her skirts to fly up like unruly linen birds. "What happened?" she gasped eagerly. "Did you two kiss?!"
Jane rolled her eyes and patted the top of Amelia's curly blond head. "Settle down, little girl. Who told you about kissing?"
"Richie did," she stated proudly. Groans echoed off the patterned floral wallpaper and knowing looks were exchanged. Richard, her older brother by three years, had a vast array of unseemly knowledge which he constantly offered to young Amelia.
"So? Did you?" Amelia said, leaning precariously from her sedan in the direction of Elisabeth.
Sasha, who was sitting next to the nine-year-old, patiently pushed her back onto her seat and placed her fallen needlework onto her satiny lap. "You shouldn't be so obsessed about these things, and focus on your sewing! Look at how messy your stitches are!"
Ashamed from the rebuking, even if it wasn't directed towards them, all the other girls lowered their heads for a moment and continued with their embroidery. Annabeth, swallowing a giggle, studied the pinkish linen square in her hands. She'd done a small, swirling border, but the center needed something. She stuck the sharp silver of metal into her pincushion and grabbed a new one, along with a new spool of ash-colored thread.
Just as she was finished with threading her needle, the gossip picked up again. Elisabeth cleared her throat, glanced around at the other's hungry expressions, and continued her tale. "It was kind of dark in there, except for the moonlight and a few candles. We danced, drank tea, and laughed a lot." She lowered her voice some more. "And then he leaned in and… kissed my cheek."
"OOH!" The roomful of girls shrieked. Amelia was bouncing again and yelling, "You two are heading down to the altar!"
Sasha groaned and had to wrestle Amelia back into her seat. "Alright now," she muttered, but the little girl wasn't listening. "I want to be your flower girl!"
People started bombarding Elisabeth with questions. "Was it a long kiss?" With tomato-red cheeks, Elisabeth nodded. "Was it deep?" "Kind of." "What did you do in return?" She shook her head then, looking like she was entirely enjoying the conversation.
Annabeth flashed her a small, congratulating smile and turned back to her sewing, trying to not feel so amused. She started with a faint oval, and then added two smaller circles inside. Her ears continued to lazily pick up the rest of the chatting.
"How long have you two been courting?" Jane asked
"Almost right after my debutante ball, so, around a month and a half."
That number pricked at her mind. She racked through her memory while adding larger, more defined stitches around the two circles, but came up with nothing specific. She neatly knotted the ends of the thread together and snipped it with her specially monogramed sewing scissors.
"I still can't believe he kissed you," someone murmured.
"I think we might be in love," Elisabeth gushed, and half a dozen girls sighed dreamily.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. These afternoons sometimes made them all into Aphrodite girls.
"When do you think you two will kiss on the lips?" Amelia burst out, and there was a lot of giggling and Elisabeth's painted face disappeared behind a fan. She was barely half-listening to the answer when a lowered voice much closer to her said, "Hey?"
She looked up into a rounded, freckled face. Annabeth's brain identified her easily. Ava, only fourteen years old; very clever; Athena takes a liking to her; favorite food is chicken potpie… the miscellaneous strands of information continued streaming through her mind as she greeted her younger sister. "Oh, hello, Ava. Would you like to sit?" Annabeth gestured to the empty seat which Ava was hesitantly lingering by. The younger girl picked up her blush-pink skirts and plopped down. Her huge gray eyes immediately dropped to the embroidery in Annabeth's lap. "Not to intrude or anything, but—wow!"
She smiled warmly at her, feeling a blush prod at her neck. "Thanks. I've been sewing on handkerchiefs for a while."
"Oh, now that sounds horribly boring."
Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, a little bit." She expertly switched to a fainter gray thread and continued implementing neat, identical stitches inside the circles. "But it's one of the rites of being a lady."
Ava dramatically laid a hand on her forehead. "Why does a lady need to do so much?" she wailed. "We barely have enough time to get married, and that's supposed to be our life goal!"
"Yeah, but I'm hardly ready." She laughed a little, to herself.
Ava cocked her head. "Don't you have plenty of suitors pursing you?"
Her fingers slowed in surprise. Ava had a familiarly distant look in her eyes. She was scrolling through her own storage of information about everyone, Annabeth realized the next second. "Well, not really," she answered hesitantly. "I'm getting courted by a couple of people, but only one is serious."
Ava nodded sagely. "Luke," she stated.
Annabeth gave a flat laugh. "Right." Perhaps it was all the estrogen milling about in the air, or all the recent events pressing down on her, but she leaned down and whispered, "Is it really that obvious, me and him?"
Ava grinned widely. "Well, everyone knows that you two are bound to be engaged soon. I've never seen your relationship in person, but I've heard rumors." She pointed at their giggling sisters.
She pressed her palm to her forehead in distress, but mostly, annoyance. "I shouldn't even be surprised. I mean, that scandal at my debut, and then attending the Olympus dinner banquet. I'm bound to be gossiped about."
Ava gently touched her arm. "That's just because you live a life the rest of us envy. You're clearly Athena's favorite, and the male half of the ton just runs after you, drooling." Her tone dropped from wistful to sarcastic when she said the latter.
Her needle slipped through her fingers. She couldn't stop her mind from conjuring up images of gentlemen running (preposterous, indeed!) and flailing their velvet- or linen-covered arms. A snort of amusement escaped her.
Ava puffed up her chest, looking very pleased. "Besides, think about all the fame you have in this house! Shouldn't you enjoy it?"
Her shoulders shook in silent laughter. Finally, she sucked in a breath and continued her sewing. "Nonsense. A daughter of Athena should not covet such things." She wanted it to come out as sensible and commanding, but her tone turned snobby at the end, and they were laughing again.
"Alright, leave me be, Ava," she said, not serious at all. "I'm try to embroider a handkerchief here."
To her surprise, Ava pursed her lips shut. "I do want to see what you'll make," she responded, then quieted completely. There was only a faint scratch as she tugged silk threads through the light, flimsy and the occasional snip of scissors. Ava remained still, leaning over her shoulder and her eyes enraptured with the whole ordeal that she earlier claimed to be boring. Finally, she traded her long ivory thread-mostly unused, since it was just for miniscule details-for a short length of black string. She expertly wound the tiny ends into a knot and then dropped the needle. Ava leaned back a little in surprise.
Annabeth grinned at her, then picked up her sewing basket beside her. She rummaged around the many scraps and pieces in it before her fingers clumsily grabbed something round from the bottom. She lifted it out. It was a tiny bead, just a little larger than a hole in a button, and it was a gleaming ebony. When she held it up to the flickering candle on the low table in front of her, iridescent indigo and navy colors were illuminated, too, underneath the obsidian. Ava was clearly analyzing it, a wrinkle appearing in her pale forehead as she studied it.
Annabeth readied the thread around the cloth, then carefully looped it through the bead. She secured the end, repeated it with another bead, just to the left of it in another circle, and then double-knotted the thread with a flourish. "Wow," Ava murmured. "This looks incredible," she said louder.
Others started crowding around her and praising her needlework. It was one of the best she'd done, she had to admit. The original oval made up a head, and the circles evenly surrounded the two beads, which in turn looked almost like eyes. It was a very close copy of a snowy owl's face. She'd even filled in the circles with pale gray lines, and the rest a darker gray and black-spotted. The occasional white thread added shading.
"That's too pretty for cleaning up faces," Elise remarked. "Great job."
"Yeah, it's incredible, Annabeth," Jane said. "Your embroidery is spectacular."
Similar compliments spilled forth. She ducked her head, smiling shyly. "I was just randomly making it."
Ava raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't look random at all."
"Thanks," she said to all of them. "Honestly, I probably shouldn't even be sewing something this fancy onto a handkerchief."
They laughed, and when she neatly folded the square of linen and tucked it into her purse, they all returned to their seats. Only Ava remained. "Can you make something like that for me?" she pleaded.
She looked her over. "I guess. I usually sew for practice, though, not for actual display or use."
"It's good enough for display," Ava said briskly. "My handkerchiefs are always too plain, and I don't have any personal seamstresses working on my linen."
Annabeth studied her expression. She didn't appear to actually want a personal worker, just something to show at banquets. "Alright, I'll try to make you a nice one. Any particular wants?"
Ava drummed her neat nails on her skirt. "Can I have one that looks similar to yours?" She asked, her eyes huge and pleading.
"Right, we must all remember to showcase our profound family," she joked. "Maybe I'll make you an actual snowy owl that's white."
"Yes! That sounds great!"
Annabeth grinned at her and settled stiffly against the plush back of her seat. Her fingers twitched a little in her lap. "I don't know what to do now, since most of my sewing is finished and I'm not looking forward to more."
Ava gave her a sly glance that Annabeth could easily read. Before she could hold up a hand to stop her, Ava burst out, "Don't you have any calls this afternoon? You had a number of guests, or should I say, suitors, coming over this month."
A stream of mixed feelings about her callers entered her mind. Some of the approved gentlemen were charming, others completely irritating and egotistic. And all of them? Extremely wealthy and mannered. She grew with both, but sometimes, after particularly brutal lessons, all the introductions and "pardon me's" and "my lady's" were… bothersome. Or more like, unwanted.
Ava was trying to detect the cause of her silence beside her. "Let me guess, you don't particularly like some of them?"
"You're right," she answered with a half-grin, since it was something pretty commonly said in the Athena house. "I barely know most of them, even if we've been calling back and forth for weeks. Besides, Athena chooses all the suitors, which means some of them are so incredibly intelligent they simply can't indulge themselves in a conversation with a woman." Her tone darkened, and along with it, Ava's face.
"That's absurd," she just about yelled. "There is no way any of them are smarter than you! I bet only a handful of people actually are."
She laughed. "Not even close." Her mind automatically ran over all the mistakes she'd made, or stupid ideas, which seemed to add up even more during the Season. "But those people are dimwits if they just go around memorizing encyclopedias, trying to come up with clever sayings, and purchasing thick glasses."
Ava snorted. "Sounds exactly like the old man I had to dance with yesterday night."
"Well, you've got a many chaperoned parties coming up in the future, meaning your chaperone will probably decide some people to dance with."
"Actually, by the time I have my Season, you'll be old enough to be a chaperone."
Annabeth glared at her. "You know your sums are be better than that. I'm not that much older than you." Chaperones were generally supposed to be the ladies' mothers, or other full-grown adults.
Ava giggled. "But you are kind of old, Annabeth."
She swatted her arm. "Watch it, girlie. If I somehow become your chaperone, I'll force you to dance with the most ancient and arrogant men in the room."
Ava gasped. "You traitor!"
"You'd deserve it," Annabeth told her nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
Ava gasped again. "Since you're the one suggesting all this, you deserve it!"
"Are you two okay?" Elise asked warily across from them. Her gunmetal eyes flickered between them, and then a spark of understanding flickered across her face. "Oh, this is just… friendly teasing." With a befuddled expression, she turned around.
Annabeth laughed, poking Ava in the shoulder. "Yeah, your theatrics are definitely uncalled for at this time in the afternoon."
"Yeah, well, since someone's schedule is completely empty, I might as well show off my acting skills. Are you sure you don't have any calls to accept or return?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so interested in my Season? It's not as romantic or breathtaking as some novels may claim."
Ava grinned mischievously. "I just think you and Luke are a perfect pair. You love each other, probably have lots in common, and will raise a rich and handsome family."
Annabeth's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't know any of that?"
"Yes, but just like you, I was taught how to keep the odds on my side." Ava's grin looked like it belonged at a card table, in front of other hardened gamblers.
"None of them are presently. I don't love him-at least, I'm not sure, and what do we have in common?" Her tone grew curious.
Elisabeth, who was clearly eavesdropping, leaned in. Her eyes shone like polished metal. "Well, I have had the pleasure to meet Luke a few times. He's an amazing dancer," she complimented, and Annabeth smiled back, remembering his confidence and steadiness. Elisabeth paused, watching her carefully, but Annabeth simply could not figure out why. Finally, Elisabeth raised her blond eyebrow slightly and continued. "I have quite a few things to say about what you have in common. You're both very sharp, clever, polite, you come from wealthy families, and, well, you've shared your childhood together!" She threw up her hands. "Do you need to hear anything else?"
Annabeth tried to lean on this knowledge, but it didn't reassure her completely. When they played as kids, Luke always took the role of the guardian, running ahead of her, picking her up when she was tired, and fetching the toys she couldn't reach. She just played aimlessly. This didn't point to many similarities.
She desperately wanted to ask Elisabeth for more, but her pride didn't allow her. Shouldn't she know everything about Luke and know the answer for herself? The originally innocent question opened up a pit of despair. Worry nagged at her, and her dream of a man smiling at her as she woke up slowly faded. Then, a shiver raced down her spine. What was happening?
She suddenly noticed Ava and Elisabeth staring at her, confused and nervous. She dispatched her mixed-up thoughts to the back of her head and faced them. "No, that's good. Either way, I think we get along fine, so there's no question about whether or not are traits are similar."
Elisabeth nodded. "Yeah," she said in her usual slow and breathy voice. "Hey, um, when's the engagement happening? I have yet to see a ring from a son of Hermes!" She laughed at her startled expression and barged on. "Ooh, and can I be one of your ladies-in-waiting for the wedding? I would look great beside you!"
"Please, she already has ladies-in-waiting. She's Annabeth," someone else said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but she doesn't have to invite them!"
Annabeth was pondering how to stop this conversation about her when someone knocked crisply on the door. It didn't sound like the knock of anyone she knew, so it was probably a servant. Sasha, sitting closest to the door, called out, "You may enter!"
Annabeth was right. In the doorway was a freshly-dressed servant. He politely looked around the room, before spotting Annabeth in the back. He crisply cut across the room and stopped in front of her. He bowed and said, "Lady Chase, a gentleman has arrived in the foyer and offered an invitation to his house."
"Ooh," some of her sisters murmured in the back.
"He says he is of the family Herdwick." Immediately the whispers turned to, "Huh?" or "What?" That wasn't an Olympian name.
Annabeth blushed, a little embarrassed that all her sisters were here to witness her receiving a call from a mortal. "Has he contacted me before?"
The servant folded his hands and started at the ceiling, clearly searching his memory. The girls in the room shifted in their seats or twiddled their fingers. Whenever someone out of their direct family had less-than-fantastical minds, it was a rather awkward moment for them. A few seconds later the servant looked back at her cleared his throat. "Apologies for the wait, Lady Chase. Yes, he has sent a few bouquets. Pardon me, but I do not remember how many."
"It's fine," she said. "I allow this call. Take me to him, please."
Her sisters offered her all different smiles, ranging from suggestive to congratulative, and she quickly hurried out of the room. Curiosity swirled in her mind as she strode down the hallways, too distracted by this mortal she hardly knew to think about gliding. By the time she reached the foyer, she was full of speculation.
This gentleman did not appear to be worth the hype. He was wearing a broad maroon overcoat with blond tassels, just like her average rich suitors, and starched white gloves. His face was completely covered by his broad-rimmed black hat.
He bowed lowly. "Hello, Lady Athena," he said in a voice so deep it sent a slight tremor through her.
"Hello—," she faltered embarrassingly. She knew nothing about his title. The servant, after a beat of awkwardness, picked up on this issue and went to a tall table against the wall. On the top was a carved sliver tray with an impressive pile of large, decorated paper cards. It was the "card tray," which contained all of the calling cards this house received. The servant picked a card from lower in the pile (the most impressive cards, like from Zeus, were on top) and handed it to Annabeth.
It was sparsely decorated, like most men's, just a plain beige card with neat print in the center. She read it with lightning-fast speed handed it back to the servant before turning to her suitor. She curtsied deeply, even though his rank was lower, and said, "I apologize for my mistake. Hello, Earl Herdwick. Thank you for your invitation."
"It is my pleasure," he said in the same low tone. "I believe you found it rather sudden that I invited you to my home, instead of making a call here, but I've heard reports of how busy this house can be."
She smiled lightly. He seemed to be subtly insinuating something, but she could only read so much from his tone. His face was completely in shadow because of his hat's lowered rim. "Yes, it can get crowded. You are rather considerate, I see."
"You're too kind, Lady Athena. I simply listened to stories about your family."
"Is it too much to wish that they were mostly good?" She offered him a small, playful grin.
He laughed, and again it shook her. "Oh, they were. No scandals whatsoever."
With the curse running amok and shredding up marriages, creating prime breeding grounds for rumors, this was surprising. "I'm glad to hear that," she answered, and he chuckled again.
He deftly pulled a sliver timepiece out from his pocket and examined the glass face. "Apologies, my lady, but my time with you is limited. May I have permission to take you from your rather illustrious home?"
She smiled. "Yes, I would like to visit yours. I must find a fitting chaperone first, however."
He nodded. There was a hint of surprise in his voice as he responded, "Oh, yes, you do. I shall wait here while you find one."
"Thank you." She curtsied again and went to the servant, whispering a name in his ear. He disappeared for a bit and came back with one of Annabeth's older sisters at his heel.
"Annabeth!" Emma exclaimed brightly, hugging her. "How are you? The last time we were together you were a mere child, and here you are, getting courted!"
She blushed. "It is nice to see you again, too, Emma. I need a favor from you—"
"Yes, yes to chaperone you and this gentleman," she brightly interrupted. "Ah, young love. Now I'm stuck with old Alfred and I can't be running around with fresh new boys like you." She squeezed Earl Herdwick's arm.
"Emma!" Annabeth gasped. Her older, married sister-who dearly loved "old Alfred"-was clearly no more mature than the others younger than Annabeth.
Emma laughed. "I'm joking, Annabeth. I look forward to watching over you two." She grinned at them. "I'll stay out of the way, I promise."
Annabeth frowned at her, but Earl Herdwick was laughing quietly behind them. Emma grinned proudly at him.
Earl Herdwick smothered his smile and offered his arm. "Can we go now, misses?"
"Yes, thank you." She took his arm and followed him outside, Emma's skirts rustling behind.
They boarded the carriage and rattled down the streets of Central London. Outside the window, dark cement streets and buildings swirling past. They continued riding, the carriage rattling underneath them, until the concrete gave way to large, barren fields. The empty, dark yellow lands stretched until the horizon.
Finally, they reached a line of large, vintage buildings, expensively made. The carriage slowed in the driveway of the biggest, beige-and-red mansion at the end. Earl Herdwick kindly helped both of them out of the carriage, and then held Annabeth's arm as they went up the stone steps and to the door.
He smartly knocked, and a well-dressed butler with heavy lace on his collar and sleeves. They entered a huge stone hall with ancient furnishings. Herdwick headed straight for the winding wood staircase in the middle. They stepped into a long, stone hall with old brass lanterns upholstered onto the rough-hewn walls.
"The sitting room is right down there," Earl Herdwick said, his voice somehow lighter. As they only steps away from it, another door opened and a short, plain-faced man stepped out. His plain brown eyes flickered across them. "Oh, hello, William," he said in an indescribable tone, tipping his tap at them. Then he disappeared down the hallway.
Earl Herdwick straightened his shoulders uncomfortably, it seemed. He didn't say anything and gently guided Annabeth to the door of the sitting room.
It was a small, comfy space, with plush carpeting and a small fire roaring in the hearth. The earl and Annabeth sat down at the narrow canvas sofa, and Emma occupied the stuffed armchair off to the side. Herdwick rang a large bronze bell on the tap and, seconds later, another older man came in, his breaths coming shallow.
"Hello," he said to them, his words rushed. "The tea is behind us." He turned to Emma. "Who's this?"
"The chaperone from the Athena house."
"Oh!" He quickly fell into a bow. "It's an honor to meet you! I thought I was supposed to be the chaperone, though, Lady-lady Athena."
Emma rose, smiling a little at the respect on his face. "Well, perhaps we can watch them together. Can you call a servant to bring another chair?"
The man and the earl shared a sudden, quick look. "Of course! I'm Bruce Herdwick, his cousin." He bowed again, and formally kissed her hand. Emma looked equal parts amused and pleased.
Earl Herdwick rang the bell again, and soon a plain tea set was placed in front of them and Bruce's chair was scooted right next to Emma's. The earl gracefully poured tea, only stopping to inquire of her cream and sugar wants, while the two chaperones chatted on.
The earl took one, relishing sip of his tea, and then he set it down on his saucer with a clink. The movement was so abrupt Annabeth stopped her own drinking and stared at him over the ceramic rim of her cup.
Earl Herdwick reached up, and with one smooth movement, took off his hat. The hearth's flames lit up a razor-sharp jaw, a nest of raven hair, and two piercing green eyes the color of the sea.
Annabeth's gasp caught in her throat.
Ha! Another cliffhanger! This is actually really fun. Okay, I apologize, but Finding Nemo is up on the TV, paused, and I really want to finish it. Sorry!
Another last random fact: I had KFC's blue ice cream. Awesome. You all need to have some.
From Chapter 9:
Demigods-Rule: Thank you! Yeah, I tried to make it cute cuz it's Percabeth!
Guest: I did research, yeah, it was invented seven years before the Victorian Era. So almost a decade before Annabeth's time. But thanks for being really considerate, sometimes criticism can feel hurtful, but it comes with good intentions. And you're just really nice.
Abidoodle.e: You know, you're my favorite reader. Thank you so much. I'm really happy you said that that letter was Percy-like cause I was worried it was too OOC. And thank you for telling me I don't need to worry about updating regularly. Honestly, I just feel like I should keep my promise when I say I'll update once a week or more. Also, I know how agonizing it can be to wait for a story to update, and I want to prevent as much as that as possible.
From Chapter 10:
JC RH: Thank you! You're really nice!
Ashpren: Thanks! Yeah, I do try to add a lot of metaphors and similes in my writing, but I sometimes forgot. That was one of my favorites, too.
Demigods-Rule: Oh dear, you might hate me now. Sorry, I'll come up with a new one soon. But thank you, anyway, I'm so happy that you enjoy this. Why did you add a "trouble" at the end, though?