forgotten letters

the first — and only — thing levi could think of once the eonia administration informed them that the threat was over was: i need a drink. of course he’s not alone in this, as the place he’d ventured into for the night filled up with every passing minute. the bargoers crowd around each other, music impossibly loud. levi had claimed of one of the booths in the back for himself, ignoring the irritated glances of the people around him without a seat. should’ve gotten there sooner, suckers.

but none of it is enough to drown out the devil on his shoulder, cackling into his ear: you could’ve saved her.

he hadn’t known her, not really — the victim of the attack. paige speros. but when he’d looked her up on social media after the announcement, he’d come to the startling realization that he’d seen her earlier that day. he’d run into her hard enough to knock her off her feet, yet she’d been the one to apologize. pretty smile, he’d remembered thinking. cold hands— too cold for anyone living. he’d been about to ask her about it, too, before he’d seen the professor whose class he’d skipped two hours earlier.

and he’d forgotten about it.

he could’ve warned her. hell, maybe he could’ve — no. levi’s not about to go down that road, he’d need another drink or five before he’d allow himself to wallow. besides, what could he have done? death has its way. that’s why there’s five final destination movies.

fucking drakons.

soon enough the smells of cheap beer and the chatters of the pedestrians at the bar had already put her in high spirits. looking around the room, jia wondered where she could score a free drink. after all, it'd be nice to put her wily charms to use. she quickly did a one-over at her outfit and hair, making sure that every strand was perfectly in place.

suddenly her wandering eyes spied a certain someone that she used to know. her eyes slightly hardened; the memories and associations she had with him started flooding back into her brain. as much as jia would love to walk away and pretend everything was fine, her pride made her stand her ground and walk straight into the warpath. "honey, i think you're here to buy me a drink?" she crossed her legs together as she feigned an innocent demeanor. "well, i don't see anyone. don't tell me you were waiting for me."

  Mae isn’t feeling very hopeful, though, given that the university’s staff was incompetent enough for the security breach to cost them a life.

  Any demigod who’s been to camp or lived long enough to make it to university has already made an acquaintance of Death. Mae wore Him around her heart like a scratchy old scarf for 13 years, long enough for the itch of its unforgiving fabric to become familiar but never enough to grow comfortable.

  Paige wasn’t a child of Demeter; technically it was not Mae’s responsibility to look out for her, yet the news of her death sent her mind to a familiar place, rendered her cold and numb. It hasn’t even been a month since the academic year started. So much for staying mentally stable for at least one semester.

  Her somber reverie dissipates with the snap of a twig, the eerie silence cast over the campus further amplifying the sound. It is reflex, the way she quickly but soundlessly tucked her body within a bushy, flowery thicket. Years of experience have yet to tame the wild staccato her heart sang in fear, but they sharpened her mind enough to rationalize a situation in the short amount of time the Fates granted her before an attack.

  All was silent but for feet carelessly crushing the grass beneath them and it’s far too soft, far too light for a drakon; the steps’ rhythm is that of a biped. It could be a student with a death wish…or it could be another monster — the staff has yet to elaborate on the breach’s severity, and its cause is still subject to conspiracy theory. 

  Regardless, it’s better to err on the side of caution. She could make a run for it; the Demeter house isn’t too far, as evidenced by the trees and shrubbery growing denser, the comforting greenery now a dismal forest straight out of a horror movie.

  If she runs she could be putting her entire house at risk by alerting the potential monster, however, and she’d meet Hades before losing yet another precious life.

  With every footstep Mae’s grip against her dagger grows tighter, her heart sings louder, and the shadow grows closer. Knees bent and body as taught as a compressed spring, she’s ready to pounce with all her might on 3…2…1

now!

  A flick of her wrist and the shrubbery swallows the body whole save for the head and it’s —

  Mae stares with horror at her dagger, brushing too close for comfort to the student’s jugular. “Oh, oh my gods, I am so sorry! Are you okay?”

all jia had in her hands was a sword -- perhaps she was hoping she'd be able to swing in a precise way and kill something. maybe she'd get lucky tonight, or not encounter any monsters at all. with soft steps, she didn't know if it was a good thing there was only silence in the air. she really hoped there were no monsters who could sense all the fear and dread coming from her. stepping backwards, she almost lost her balance as it seemed like the next few seconds went by in slow motion and she was paralyzed, not being able to do anything. "a-ah, i'm okay...just kind of shaken up..."

        many demigods are, for known reasons, eternally restless. a message obviously meant to settle them does nothing at best, and could only spur the rest of the students, many of whom are used to quests and battles, into action. that is, there are probably some kids dumb enough to try taking on the drakon, eonia advisory be damned. she’s pretty sure half of them are going to be from her cabin, and the other half might end up just going solo. all of them stupid as fuck, but so is she, so.

[ text → broadcast ] meet inside weaponry if ur gonna fight the drakon

        she considers a second, i’ll feed u to the drakon if u snitch warning, but decides against it. better not be an asshole to people who might need help and vice versa. freddie hasn’t done this in a while, just messing around in battle classes with the handful of skills she’d picked up as a child. she’d definitely rather not do this, avoid accomplishing acts that would make ares proud, but it’s safer if she manages to gather all the would-be heroes ( victims ) of the drakon. strength in numbers, after all.

        opening the doors to the weaponry, she heads straight to her long unused broadswords. they’re still well-balanced and familiar to the touch; whoever’s in charge of the upkeep of the weapons has maintained them in excellent condition. despite her absolute lack of practice, her dual broadswords return to her hands like old friends; freddie tosses the one in her left hand and catches it easily.

[ text → freddie ] you idiot why are you outside? i know you're an idiot but you're not this idiotic

groaning, she made sure to not be seen as she sprinted to the weaponry. this was not a good idea. her battle skills were in rough shape, and the one thing she could be proud of was probably her running skills. if something like this happened again, she was definitely thinking of sharpening up her skills so she could defend herself and not die. gingerly opening to the door of the weaponry, jia immediately saw the other girl contemplating weapons inside. "you idiot, no i'm not sure. i'm only here for you, you idiot, did you not see my text?"

         there was a concerningly low amount of panic in maggie at the school’s announcement; her own wellbeing was one she assumed by now was bulletproof. but the only thoughts she had were about those she loved… if they were safe, indoors, accounted for. because more than herself, she needed her people. most importantly, she needed jia. a short derailment in the form of a pet rescue occurred before she was able to rush to aphrodite house. it seemed her half-siblings weren’t surprised at her late arrival, but she ushered past the common space into their shared bedroom.

"i've always been here...i didn't hear you calling. nothing to worry about," jia responded, after rescuing her poor squished cheeks from maggie's hands. leaning down to pat the feline on the floor, she was grateful for the company present in their shared bedroom. what would she do without maggie if something happened to her sister? "i know i saw...don't tell me you're thinking of going out there, like those ares kids who are just looking for a fight. can we just watch a horror movie and forget about what's happening outside?"

        she’s not sure she should be subjecting jia to the entirety of the ares cabin ( no matter how empty it’s been lately ), but freddie’s hoping something about the calm, peaceful scents and sounds that’ll be emanating from her room soon will help the rest of her siblings to chill out a little. getting everyone to relax isn’t likely, but not having a shouting and/or shoving match with the neighbouring cabins every few hours sounds like a good compromise. plus, she’s the one who brought it up, anyway; it’s only fair that they use her room.

        not that she knows anything concrete about meditation, other than nice smelling shit and lofi music. it just seems like a better, more long term method of handling her emotions than throwing various substances to mask them, and she’s got a fairly reliable teacher in jia. so, everything added up, meditation ( or what she thinks it is ) should be somewhat successful.

after preparing herself with some google searches and her supplies, jia was ready to go over to the ares cabin. she'd been there a couple of times before to visit and hang out with freddie, so she knew about how loud and noisy the ares kids could be. sitting beside freddie after lighting one of her candles, she answered, "of course it has to be on the floor. it's rigid, firm, and it'll help you focus. yes freddie, close your eyes, don't sleep, and focus on your breathing."

scrolling on her phone, she read out what the instructions were saying and set the timer. "so i'm going to put the time for 30 minutes, okay? not sure if you could sit through that long but we'll see..."