A crowd was already leaving when I found out where the death site was.
I stared in horror as I saw Johanna and Mindy went by with Multo Lumaban, Lex Cavaller, and Florence Robins carrying a body. Allen Raye’s body. Oh no.
I had to find Z. He was probably a wreck. And Megara. Gods knew she shouldn’t be anywhere around Z right now.
I ran to Megara’s room first. Z would have gone to Megara for support.
“Megara! Open the door!” I shouted.
She opened it. “Hey, Reina?”
“Allen Raye is dead. Is Z with you?” I asked.
“No he isn't. Allen Raye is dead? Poor Z and the others.” Megara said.
“I think Z will come by your room and I didn't know how you would react.”
“Oh. Yeah don't worry. I still love Z, I will always support him no matter what. I wouldn't say anything that would upset him more. I know what’s it’s like to lose an older sibling and not have an answer as to why. I know you know the feeling too, after Jamie. If Z came to me for comfort I wouldn’t mention you know what. Allen is an innocent dude. It was his father, not him.” Megara said. I put my hand on her cheek.
“Justice will come. I swear on my mother’s girdle.”
Megara laughed. And then she started coughing. I saw speaks of blood land on my arm. Oh gods.
“Six more months. Bobbie has about two years and Lexie has about fourteen years. If a cure isn’t found in six months… or if you know who doesn’t take it away, please make sure Bobbie and Lexie live. They’re kids.” Megara grabbed my hand.
“You’re a kid too. We will get a cure. I will ask my mother to talk to Zeus. Every god fears her, she can bring them to their knees. She’ll make him take away the curse. I will just ask and you will be cured. Lexie and Bobbie will be cured too.” I hugged her. There was so much going on and I felt like like she needed a hug. And I needed a hug too. A boy was dead and I had a bad feeling that more death was coming.
“Megara? Reina?” A boy’s voice asked. I turned my head to see Z.
His eyes were red and his face was puffy. His little sister, Robin, was clinging onto his arm. She was crying and snot was coming from her nose.
“I heard what happened. I am so sorry.” I said.
“Z, how about I take Robin and get her some ice cream. You and Reina can hang around here.” Megara said. Z nodded and gently pulled Robin off of his arm. Megara quickly picked up the small eight year old and walking away.
As soon as we couldn’t see them anymore, Z broke down. He hugged me and started sobbing on my chest. “He’s dead and now I’m the oldest of my siblings. I don’t know what to do. And Mindy is pissed at me for yelling at Kore Nassar.”
“Z, buddy. Everything will be okay. Just cry it out.” I patted his head.
“Rei, I’m scared. Something is going on. Bec Nassar was talking to their father to find out who killed Allen but he couldn’t find Allen’s soul. He couldn’t find it. How does that even happen? How does a soul get lost?”
“I don’t know”
When Z stopped crying me and him went to the track. I could see Andy and Kate were racing each other.
“You know when I’m older, I’m gonna go far away from here.” Z said.
“Where are you gonna go?”
“Megara told me the Greece is nice. She said her family loves it there. Her dads and all her adoptive siblings. I wonder if she’ll come with me.” Z said.
“She probably would. She loves you. And not a lot of people find a love like yours when they are so young.” I said.
“Do you think that if I had been the son of Zeus with the sword in his head, do you she would care? She said she hated me a few weeks ago and hasn't spoken to me until I had to go to her. I had to because she was the only one I could think of going to at the moment especially with Robin crying and holding on to me. She's so great with little kids, and me not so great.”
I looked at him. This was coming from the boy who made flower crowns for Megara out of flowers stolen from Kore Nassar’s garden everyday since they meet to the day Megara shut him out.
“She would care. Trust me. It’s not you that she hates. It’s your father,” I said.
“Oh yeah. The curse. I’ve asked him about it and you want to know what he said? He said, he wouldn’t take the curse away because my panties get all wet for some Asian whore. I slapped him for the first time but he punched me. Then he kicked. A rib broke.” Z frowned. I grabbed his hand.
And I did something I hated doing. I channeled an emotion to him. A feeling of happiness and love from a memory of mine.
My mom said never to let people know of this power, for it could be used for terrible things. I could make someone sad, mad, happy, excited, scared, or even lustful. But they wouldn't know I was the one doing it.
My feelings will just trigger a memory of theirs to pop up.
I thought of me and Alex playing in the rain together. We were only five and four back then. We were innocent and happy. Maybe I could calm Z down.
Then I thought of Megara, Z, Kate, Veronica and me hanging and laughing.
Z looked at me. Like he knew what I just did.
“What was that?” He asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I was just trying to have you calm down a little. Relax and cheer up just a bit.” I said.
Z stared at me. Like he was scared. Of course he noticed. Of fucking course. I just wanted to help a little. I just wanted to cheer him up a little bit.
“Please don’t. I don’t want to feel anything. I can’t feel anything. I feel numb. Hey, isn’t that the Oracle?” Z asked. He was changing the subject. That was probably good. I looked at where he was looking and sure enough, there was a fat black person who was now an Oracle. With them was a very short person who had black hair with a blonde streak. The pair was walking around the track.
“Yo, Z! Reina!” A familiar voice yelled from behind me. I turned to see Andy and Kate. Both of them wearing running shorts and loose tank tops. Fuck my gay heart.
“Hey.” I said.
“We ran into the Oracle. They're really nice. And their boyfriend is nice too.” Andy said.
“Cool.” Z sighed. He looked like he wanted to bolt away.
“Oh yeah. Shit. Sorry. Uh, sorry about Allen. May he rest in peace.” Andy said as she pulled off her tank top. Her sports bra was bright pink and had little white polka dots on it. How cute.
I blushed. Many girls just take their shirts off when they’re hot around here because most of us wear sports bras also it’s Florida. It’s fucking hot. But I’m not one of those girls who can just do that. I’m also probably one of the few girls who wear a push up bra. It helps me look like I have real boobs.
“Yeah, well I should go see how my siblings are. Last I saw, Grace wasn’t coming out of her room and Mindy was shaking a lot.” Z said, getting up and walking away.
I watched him until he was off the track. Then I looked at Andy and Kate. “So uh. Hi.”
I knew that even in bad times Z could be a little shit. He’ll probably text Kate telling her to say that Veronica was looking for her. Just so he could get me to be alone with Andy.
Kate’s phone dinged from her shorts. Yup. I hate my friends.
I guess Z needs something to do that isn't crying over his dead brother. I just acted natural as Kate looked at her phone and said Veronica was looking for her.
I hid my annoyance as she walked away.
“So crazy day, huh?” Andy asked.
“Yeah. Only two days from the summer solstice too. So crazy, right?” I said. I could feel my cheeks heating up.
“Yup. Crazy. Scary kinda. I mean someone or some god killed him.” Andrea said.
I looked at her. I didn’t know he had made killed by someone.
“How did he-?”
“A sword was in his forehead. One of the ones from the training room by the looks of it. Many demigods have touched it probably and since there are no cameras anywhere, there’s a murderer running around these halls. Or a killer who is an all powerful god.” Andy frowned.
“Are you scared?” I said. I stood up and touched her arm. I thought of when Alex and I first arrived and I felt so safe. I had been safe and sound.
Andy smiled. “Kinda. But I’m sure everything will be okay.” She said.
“Yeah. Allen’s murder will be found.”
“I know. And the two Oracle kids thing probably won’t be too messy. I mean even though I’m not even sure how dangerous an Oracle’s child is. I mean Mindy Flora never trains with anyone yet is always off on missions.”
“Two Oracle kids? Hold up Andy, what on earth are you talking about?” I asked. She had to be joking. I remembered what my mom told me years ago. ‘The second child of the Oracle will be your soul-’ and then she had stopped and stared at me. She said that I was going to have an interesting love life. That many things will get in the way of love for me but not the gender thing of course. Which had been the reason behind my questions about my future love life.
“That new kid, Bobbie Flora, ze is actually the child of the late Oracle, Adsila Flora and Demeter. You know the child that supposedly died many years ago.” Andy said in a deadpan voice. This wasn’t a joke. I haven’t even spoke to zir. I didn’t want to fall in love with zir. I didn’t want to meet my soulmate now. I was young and I wanted to be able to date for awhile. And as of right then, I wanted Andrea.
I didn’t want to fall in love with someone I didn’t know. Maybe in the future I would fall for Bobbie Flora but for right then I had feelings for Andrea.
“That’s so crazy.” I said.
“Yeah, our whole little town has gone crazy it seems.” Andy said, looking down at the ground.
“Do you want to do something crazy?” Oh gods what was I doing?
“What do you have in mind?” Andy looked up at me. Like literally, I was like two feet taller than her.
“We can go to my room and have some relaxing fun.” I winked.
Andy smiled. “Okay. Yeah. Sounds good to me.”
I leaned down and kissed her neck, “Let’s go.” Pretty smooth for someone who a) never kissed anyone let alone had sex before, b) never really flirted before, and c) was freaking out about what they were doing. Yeah I was freaking out a lot but both of us were teenage girls going through a rough time.
We deserved some fun. Right?
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