Chapter 5 ~ Lysandra
Lysandra woke up with excitement, interested to see what this day would progress into. She quickly got out of bed. She took a quick shower, making an extra effort to look nice today. She frowned. She shouldn't be looking nice for anybody. She sighed and decided to take the extra hour she had before breakfast to organize her cabin. Although the Hecate cabin wasn't known for tidiness, Lysandra really liked things in control. Unlike this situation. She loved acting like the den mother of the cabin. She felt a tug on her shirt; she turned around but didn't see anything.
"'Scooze me," Lysandra looked down and saw Annie, her six year old younger half-sister - possibly youngest in the camp, as well. She came in a couple days ago with her brother, and Lysandra had seen her around, but never really talked to her.
"Hi Annie!" Lys said gently, crouching down to her height. "Do you need help with anything?"
"Yep, can wu hwelp mwe gwet mwy teddy?" Annie whispered, pointing to a high shelf next to her bed. "My bwover threw wit up thwere," She had a gap tooth - it was adorable.
"Of course, honey," Lysandra couldn't resist and reached up to grab the stuffed toy from its high perch of the shelf and handed it to her.
"Fanks, Wyzzy" Annie whispered, biting on her teddy's ear. The plush toy was worn but loved, and Lysandra's melted. Annie reached out and hugged Lysandra. I can't remember the last time I was hugged like that, she thought wistfully. She reached down and fondly patted Annie's tufty, dark hair.
"No problem, Annie."
"Can wu pwease bwing me to bweakfast?" Annie requested her eyes big, holding up her hand. Lysandra nodded and held her hand as they walked to the breakfast hall. As they walked Lysandra kept looking down, admiring how cute she was.
"Wys, are wu weally a gwoddess?" Annie suddenly asked.
"Yes I am, Annie but a lot of people here don't like me and my friends because I'm a goddess,"
"I wike wu!" Annie exclaimed. Lys looked down at her, smiling brightly.
"What do you think you're doing with my little sister?" Lysandra froze at the sound of a harsh voice, and whirled around, subconsciously moving slightly to the side and shielding Annie behind her back.
The boy in front of her was about two or three years older, with rippling muscles and a mean expression. He slowly stepped forward and with each step he took forward, Lys took a step back.
"I-uh," Lysandra stammered, her heart sinking, "Sorry." She muttered, gently nudging his baby sister forward.
"Bwover, its okway, shwe wis nwice,"
"Does it look like I care?" Even as his growl grew deeper, his eyes became softer. "Come here, Annie." He drew her protectively by his side, turning away and walking towards the lake, "You don't want to be hanging around the godlings."
Lysandra watched her new friends forlornly walk away. Annie turned around again, her eyes sad as she gave Lys a little wave. Lys waved back, mustering a plastic smile. She sighed, turned and continued walking to the breakfast hall, her day already starting horribly.
She sat down in her seat, miserable. First them. And now this? She sighed, leaning back and closing her eyes. All she wanted was a friend, a demi-god friend. It really sucks, being this lonely.
All her life -until now- she was all smiles and laughter with a group of friends, without a care in the world.
"What are you thinking about?" She looked up and saw Elektra standing over her.
"Nothing much, Elektra," Lysandra said, smiling at the newcomer.
"I wasn't really sure at first if we should have come, you know," Elektra stated quietly. Lysandra felt a pang of sympathy for her friend. She was like that at first, too.
"You'll be fine," Lysandra reassured the female archer. Elektra bit her lip, looking for a topic for their awkward attempt at small talk.
"So, uh," Lysandra cleared her throat uncertainly, her face growing redder by the second, "How is... uh..."
Elektra looked confused for a moment, then remembered Lys' secret, the one where she swore not to tell a living soul.
"Oh! He's fine. Good, actually," Elektra smiled fondly, "He's made new friends."
Instantly, Lysandra felt a rush of jealousy - and even because he making friends. She instantly blushed, feeling stupid and embarrassed. I never used to be like this. She frowned, pushing her hair from her face as she pushed the bowl of cereal away from her. Suddenly, she just wasn't hungry. She heard a loud burst of laughter. Looking up, she saw him surrounded by a posse of girls from the Aphrodite cabin. Elektra gave me a small smile, and waved again before joining her brother across the hall. Lysandra stood up and tried to make her way to the crowd of Aphrodite girls surrounding the boys. She could barely even see Enryx. She wanted to talk to him;they could easily fit in, why can't I?
After a painful breakfast of watching Adrian and Enryx getting bombarded questions about being a godling by -she's not going to lie- very, very attractive girls, Lysandra wanted to head back to her cabin, where she could lay in peace without getting disturbed. However, once she stepped out of the breakfast hall, she was greeted by Adrian and Rosamynd - both with stern yet confused expressions.
"We need to talk," Adrian glanced at the apparently popular newcomers, and vague look on his face, "Just the three of us." Although Rosamynd didn't seem to lean either way, she glanced at Lys, tilting her head slightly towards the lake.
"Alright, fine," Lysandra tried to appear nonchalant, but her blood has frozen to ice. Do they know?
"Let's take a walk." Adrian gestured towards the lake, with Lysandra meekly followed behind, knowing that she had some explaining to do.
"What's up with you and Enryx?" Rosamynd asked. "You guys seem like you have a history of some kind.
"It's nothing really. We just met, we got along instantly but we had a fight. Then I got mad and left them, I've been wandering around until I met you."
"Harsh," Adrian commented. Rosamynd nudged him, frowning.
"Tell me about it. He pretended like he doesn't know me, so I did the same," Lysandra said sadly.
"You should talk to him, forgive each other and talk it out," Rosamynd suggested.
"I've tried, at breakfast. I was going to approach him and talk to him."
"...but?" Rosamynd prompted, trying not to sound too interrogative, though she clearly wanted to know.
"He was... busy," Lysandra sighed, and then gritted her teeth as she bitterly thought of Enryx and his glittery, giggly girls.
"What do you mean he was busy? He was with me at breakfast, along with the Aphrodite chicks!" Adrian grinned, clueless. Rosamynd nudged him again, raising her eyebrows in exasperation.
"Oh," Adrian frowned, looking down at the sun baked earth. Suddenly, he didn't really like Enryx very much.
"What about his sister? Elektra, was it?" Adrian asked. Lysandra shrugged.
"Yeah, we get along fine," Lysandra bit her lip, looking up at the abnormally blue sky, "Actually, she was the first to know about this."
"About what?" the other two godlings chorused. Lysandra froze, realizing her mistake.
"Nothing," Lysandra quickly said her head down not willing to talk.
"C'mon tell us!" Adrian wheedled.
"Seriously guys, it's nothing!" Lysandra lied, turning away so they wouldn't see her burning face.
"If you don't want to talk about it, its fine, you don't have to tell us," Rosamynd said sweetly. Lysandra nodded to her in gratitude. After a while of a silent walk around the lake, they reached the cabins and they all walked up to the beautiful green and white cabin with gold designs running along the outside walls with magical spells engraved into the exterior. Cabin 20.
"Wow, Hecate's cabin is really...how I put this...magical," Adrian exclaimed in awe. Lysandra grinned and nodded.
"I'm glad I'm a child of Hecate, sucks that she made a horrible decision mating with my father."
"Mating?" Adrian made a twisted face, causing everyone to laugh, "I don't the sound of that."
"Who does?" Rosamynd smirked, patting him cheerfully on the head before heading back to Hebe's Cabin.
Lysandra turned back to her blond friend to wave him off, but Adrian caught her wrist and looked her squarely in the eye.
"Listen, I know you are uncomfortable about this, but I can help," Adrian's eyes softened as his face molded into a more concerned expression, "Just... tell me when you're ready, ok?"
Lysandra nodded gratefully, but her eyes started glistening with unshed tears. Just as Adrian smiled warmly at her, Lys surprised him by pulling him into a hug, dry sobbing into his shoulder.
"Hey-hey, it's ok," Adrian patted her awkwardly on her shoulder, unsure what to do, "Listen to me. You're going to be alright. You are. Just - hold on, even for a little problem. Everything will work out. I promise."
Lys sniffled embarrassedly, before pulling out and offering her friend a watery smile. "Listen, I know we aren't really close, but I'm glad to have met you."
"Same here," Adrian grinned before playfully ruffling her hair, "Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"
"Okay."
Lysandra watched him stroll back to his cabin, then sighed and turned back to her cabin. Something tells her things aren't going to be so smooth anytime soon.
As Lysandra trudged into the airy cabin, barely anyone was back.They must still be at breakfast. Only the cabin counselor was here, scribbling fervently on a piece of paper. Including herself, there were only six campers who were children of Hecate. There were five bunk beds, pushed up against the rune-inscribed wall. Obviously, Lysandra was given the one where no one has to share with. Given other situation, Lys would have been content with having more personal space, but this time it only intensified her loneliness.
She picked up a spell book that her mother had given to the cabin and flipped to the first page. She hadn't studied magic in a while. She scanned through the front page, practicing the spell, mumbling it under her breath. Soon enough a single piece of paper on the counselor's desk burst into flames. The counselor looked up at Lysandra, shook her head and continued scribbling on a piece of paper.
She continued practicing her magic in her cabin, small things catching on fires and things flying everywhere. But a few seconds after the spelled initiated, the cabin would resist the magic and the spell would wear off. And during all that practice the counselor didn't once look up.
What am I doing? Lysandra flopped back down on her bed, staring up at the intricately designed ceiling, mentally tracing the elegant patterns and inscriptions.