Part 2
As I step through a shiver passes through and there’s a odd tug on my whole body, for a split second I think I can see an empty room, dark and desolate. But it’s gone before I can even blink, and Lila’s hand is no longer in my own, I stand in a hallway alone. I take a step, then another, I walk down the pale blue hallway slowly. Each of they step’s barely reach past my last, the hallway is cool and dark, only illuminated by the portals bright light. A table stand with a vase of fake flowers brush my hip and I walk. Then from behind me I hear a jumble of voices.
“Where is h-“ Lila. She stops and runs to me, I gladly pull her close. Jane steps out from behind Lila and take a glance around then a giggle sounds.
“Oh my gods, have you just been standing in the dark for the past two minutes?” Jane take a step to her right and flicks on a light switch. My cheeks are sure to be red but I decide to ignore Jane, as she calls out to the hallway for Amara, I glance at the walls. They are covered in mitch-matching photos, every frame, shape and style is different, some are even moving. There is one right next to me, a man with a little girl on his shoulders, the frame is wood with little beans glued on messily. The girl looks a bit like Amara, I walk past, with Lila by my side I can tell that she had the same idea as me. I peer over her shoulder to see the one that had made her giggle, it’s a Polaroid, the lighting is horrible but I can make out two girls. The first has brunette hair tied up in two buns, her eyes are closed and her face is scrunched up from sticking her tongue out at the camera. She looks about 13 and the girl beside her is only a year or so younger, her fingers stretched out the skin under her blue eyes. We keep walking, we pass a moving picture of a man, a woman and a girl who must of been their daughter, all blonde. Past a smiling family of 5, the dad still happy even when trying to wrangle the two toddlers in this arms. Past a more recent photo of Jane, Duke, Amara, Lexi and two boys I didn’t recognize. As we walked I started to hate the wall more and more. Each picture was a reminder of the life I would never have, one that Lila would never have, and yet they made my sister smile. Maybe the pictures weren’t too bad, but that didn’t stop the invisible weight from lifting off my shoulders when we arrived at an open door, finally shifting away from the wall.
The area we step into is warm and friendly, maybe a bit bright. The walls are a patterned orange with the silhouettes of my birds crested in black. There’s a coffee table in the middle, simple, black, round, and around the coffee table, at various couches and chairs, sit 4 teens. Two of these are familiar, Jane and Amara, Jane perches in a wicked armchair, with a coral cushion that her legs are tucked over. She’s the first to notice us, the blonde boy is satisfied picking his guitar and Amara and the other boy are playing some kind of game of charades.
“Finally!” Jane cries, the other 3 occupants turn their head towards us. “What took you so long?!” Jane demands, I don’t answer, neither does Lila. We don’t need to.
“It was the pictures, wasn’t it?” The blonde boy asks, his voice is soft and a smile tugs at his eyes.
“Nah, I bet the portal messed them up. Don’t worry you get used to it.” Amara directs the last part at Lila and I.
“No. Mateo’s right, they’re not confused, it must of been the pictures.” Jane says, her tone is softer now, as if she thinks she understands. The last unknown person finally makes himself known, he makes a series of gestures. When neither I nor Lila reply, the boy turns to the others. Mateo jumps into action.
“Derek says that you better be prepared to have everyone of your baby photos plastered over the wall.” Mateo translates for us, then after glancing back over at the newly dubbed Derek and adding, “and welcome to Cabin 17.” He outstretches his hand and smiles again, I began to wonder if he ever stops. Mateo, has blonde hair that stands out against is Mexican like skin tone, his cheeks are covered in freckles. His eyes are a caramel color and seem to be constantly in a half dazed look that only adds to his relaxing demeanor. I stare those eyes down and refuse to move my hand, ‘I’m not here to make friends’ I think to myself.
It’s Lila who makes the first move. She hasn’t stopped staring at Derek since Mateo started translating.
“Y-you’re a mute?” She asks horrified while taking a hesitant step back. Amara snaps into movement, stepping in front of Derek in a move that I recognize far to well.
“Is there going to be a problem?” She asks harshly, for the first time I realize just how dangerous these people could be. Amara’s stance is on offense, and it’s then that I remember the dagger that hangs on her ear. She didn’t look like a threat just a minute ago, simple, spoiled and naive, Amara doesn’t look like that now, her eyes alone are enough to send some running for the hills. She stares down Lila and my blood curls.
“I-uh-“ Lila stutters trying to escape the conversation, Amara doesn’t give her a chance to defend herself.
“My brother had his throat torn out by a hellhound, his vocal cords don’t work anymore. He should have died that night and yet here he is, you got a problem with that? Come to me.” The threat is clear. Amara’s eyes are icy and the mischief is long gone.
“I- I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that what I said was so bad and I had no idea all that he’d been through. Can you forgive me?” In this moment I have to remind myself that Lila is 11. She’s grown up too fast.
I bring my eyes back to Amara and watch as she melts back to the girl we met in the porch. Derek steps forward and taps Lila on the shoulder, her head rises from the ground and watches as he nods. Derek’s chocolate eyes are kind and he nods again, as if she hadn’t gotten it the first time, and makes a gesture that looks like he’s knocking on air. Lila’s eyes light up in curiosity, like they always do at new knowledge.
“What does that mean?” Lila asks excited, Jane chucks and answers her.
“It means “yes””.
Amara walks us out of the room, to Lila’s disappointment. She had been very intrigued by the silent language, and had learned the signs for “yes”, “no” and “Hi” before we left. Jane, Mateo and Derek wave goodbye to us and go back to their conversation. This time as we walk through the hallway I keep my eyes straight in front of me, ignoring the photos. Lila and Amara are chatting in front of me, Lila’s curiosity about all the new things has brought her out of her shell.
“Why did two torches appear over our heads? What does it mean? Do you have torches too?” Lila rattles off desperate for answers, Amara laughs and responds with,
“That’s your claiming, it means that you two are the kids of Hecate and yes.” Lila lights up and my interest is peaked by the possibility of receiving answers.
“Are you a child of Hecakate too?” She asks as we reach the end of the hallway. In front of our trio is an open doorway, and past that, another living room. This room’s theme is not orange, but blue. A cream rug contrasts the wooden floor with a clear coffee table on top, to the left sit two navy bean bags. Across from them there’s two armchairs, one baby blue and one a rich navy. To the left of the armchairs there is a cobalt blue love seat and a royal blue couch with green pillows. Past the living room there is a dark wood door, next to that there’s a kitchen area. The kitchen has an open door frame on the left and where the wall that would be blocking us from the view should be, there’s a bar table.
Sitting at the bar table, backs to us, there are two teens. The boy wears gray trousers and a cream button up, even from the distance we stand at I can tell his skin is very pale. His brunette hair is too long for a boy and pulled back into a mini man bun that would have Father scowling. The girl sitting next to him, has skin similarly pale but with the pale blonde hair to match. She wears a orange camp shirt over a gray and cream plaid skirt, black sneakers swinging back and forth as she hunches over something on the table with the boy.
“Pretty cool huh?” Amara asks, apparently now tired of letting Lila and I take in the view. “You know that the other Cabins are literally just cabins? Not us! Our mom’s the Titaness of Magic.” She gloats, a smug smirk painted across her Indian face.
“Anyways,” Amara starts as she begins walking through the blue room. “To answer your question Lila, yes I am a daughter of Hecate. Don’t worry about the names and pronunciations of the gods and goddesses just yet.” We are starting to walk through the blue room and i glance forward more. Down the hallway to the left of the kitchen theres a door that I can’t see into from my angle. Past that, another door, this one is closed and at the end of the hallway there’s a third door. The third door is thrown open and if I wasn’t so far then I would swear that there were blast marks on it, I shrug it off blaming the distance and my imagination. I turn my attention away and now that we’re closer to the kitchen I can hear an upbeat song drifting towards us. Amara hums along to the tune under her breath and swings her hips, her hands raise above her head and drop, every move she makes is swift and fluid like she was made to dance. I reach over and pull Lila into my side, any girl who moves her hips like that must be a slut. (Writing this part broke my heart)
As we walk up to the kitchen, a girl walks out of the door nearest to our trio, she’s wearing the same orange shirt and jeans as most, and her dark auburn hair is chin length but pulled back out of her face. Her face is covered in freckles and a nasty yellow and purple bruise is forming on her right cheek. She doesn’t seem to mind however and raises her hand in greeting when she sees us. She flashes us a crooked smile, the mischief in her eyes only aids my horror when I glance down at the jar in her hand. The jar of octopus limbs. I take a step back, the girl just laughs and skips down the hallway to the third door, slapping her hand against the spiral stairway next to it. I glance over at Amara, hoping this wasn’t normal, she just rolls her eyes and keeps walking.
The kitchen looks pretty big and I can now see more of the area. The room Octopus Girl came from seems to be a giant pantry, i turn my head but stop. Tilting back and forth I swear I can see something, Lila snaps me out.
“Casey? What are you doing?” Lila’s head tilts, like it always does when she’s curious. I remember someone once compared her to a puppy dog.
“When I look at the pantry over there, if I don’t look at it directly there’s some sort shimmer.” I answer her honestly. Lila is the one person that I will trust with these things, anyone else would think I was crazy. Unfortunately, some people don’t understand the sentiment of privacy.
“Oh that’s probably Aurie’s spell. The Strolls from Cabin 11 used to come into the Pantry and mix stuff up. It was really annoying but one incident was the tipping point. Lou Ellen, that’s the girl who just waved at us, came downstairs and pour frog legs into her coffee instead of sugar!” Amara wipes a faux tear from her eye and continues, “it was hilarious, I was only just coming downstairs at the time but her face!” This trigger a fit of giggles from her. “Anyways, Lou storms out of the Cabin with some really colorful words about The Strolls, Breakfast passes and no one knows where any of them are, Kaleb, who has sword fighting with all three of them said that Lou Ellen came in around the end of the lesson looking really proud and refused to tell anyone what happened. So lunch passes, then dinner, the Strolls aren’t even found for Lights Out! It isn’t until the next morning when Miranda, from Cabin 4, finds them.” Amara’s storytelling skills are amazing and immensely intriguing. She glances over at us, eyes bouncing over my bored face and the way that Lila’s expression is so intrigued her eyes nearly pop out of her head. “And do you want to know where she found them?” Amara asks us, her voice is steady and her body leans closer like she’s about to tell a secret. Lila nods fiercely and I try to convince myself that I don’t. “Duck-taped to the ceiling of the pegasi stable!” She bursts, laughing loudly as she clenched her stomach. The boy at the counter turns in the swivel chair and loudly begins to scold Amara.
“Mar, I’m trying to tutor Luna here! Can you keep it down?” Where I expected genuine anger in the comment I find exasperation and a hint of fondness. The girl by his side lifts her head and says,
“No it’s ok. I don’t mind I like that story.”
“See, Luna’s fine. Besides can’t you see we have guests?” Amara drags on the ‘e’ in ‘see’. The boy sighs in response, then, while signing along simultaneously, he introduces himself.
“Hi there, sorry about this. I’m Kaleb, this is my sister, Luna” Luna waves, she has pretty blue eyes, the same shade as Lou Ellen’s but Luna’s as in a dazed state like she just woke up. Drugs maybe? Lila jumps at the chance to off her new sign knowledge and I find myself tuning out. The kitchen around us has a similar homey feel same as the rest of the house. One corner has a large spice rack, filled with both jars and plants, behind it, live herbs grow in the windowsill. The refrigerator is a sleek silver, but the color can barely be seen through everything pinned up. Pictures, Report cards, Christmas cards and more are hung on every available spot, kept in place by dozens of colorful magnets.
The sink is piled with dishes and a couple of mugs are hung drying above and a painting of a golden lab sits by a set of light switches. Even the cabinets are unique, one of the cabinets has a sign on it that reads, “Nectar but not” in messy hand script. Another one’s knob is missing, only a rusted screw left in its place, each of the cabinets is scratched and banged up. In the center of the kitchen is a woman, she’s half swinging to the music and half sweeping across the kitchen’s tile floor. Her dress is white with blue plant designs, a built in ribbon is tied around her hips in a bow. Her brunette hair pulled back in two buns with loose curtain bangs and a set of small rectangular reading glasses are somehow still perched peacefully on her nose even with all the movement. Brown sandals squeak as she spins to the music and sings along, somehow she looks like she’s part of the decoration in a way. Made to bring the room to life.
“Go!” Kaleb demands and I turn back. Amara groans and drags her feet to the kitchen doorway in a way that looks like they’re stuck in glue. Lila leans into my space and fills me in,
“Kaleb scolded Amara for not giving us a tour and she said that “someone else can do it, I’m just bringing them to Aura” but then she said that she was “too lazy” but Kaleb made her and now we’re heading over to meet her!” I just nod as we turn the corner. The woman in the kitchen, who by deduction must be Aura, has her back to us now.
“Aura!” Amara screeches, a flinch from us West Twins, but Aura’s reaction to it was worse. She jumps at least 5 feet and turns so fast I think that she might fall.
“Mierda!” She says, holding her hand up to her left breast like she’s checking that her heart hasn’t left. She straightens herself out, adjusting a silver crescent moon necklace. She’s got lots of jewelry in fact, there’s a gold and indigo ring on her thumb, another golden one on her middle finger, this one with emerald intricately woven in and dozens of silver rings. Even a thin wood carved one, her earrings are many too. Lila must being having the same thought as me, she’s the one that voices it however,
“I wonder if any of those are daggers” The sentence breathed into my ear makes me wary. She’s got a lot of them, and any could be a weapon, maybe the steel ear cuff on her left, or the hook on the right with a handmade blue book hanging off. Even the main piercings, silver with white hanging gems.
“My gods Amara.” Lila bends down and hands her the broom. “Thanks hun.” She says quieter to Lila. I take her in while she looks to be doing the same. Her eyes are a pretty hazel, brown at the edges and green rimming the pupil. Wrinkles sit at the edges even though she’s far too young for them, she is still the oldest of the people we’ve met. Eyes really must be the window to the soul because I feel like I know her by heart. Her eyes are very tired, eye bags visible if you look closely, but happy, not faked either, truly happy. I can see joy, mischief and even sadness echoed back in her eyes. She must be only five or such years older than Lila and I at most but the worn creases over her tanned forehead make me hesitate. Aura has light freckles, barely visible, they arch over her button nose, a trait she shares with Luna. Her head turns to address Amara and a sharp scar appears on her jawline, cutting up into her cheek.
“Are you going to introduce, Amars?” Aura asks her sister, one hand on her hip. Her voice is light, like Luna’s but not airy, with a playful tone similar to Amara’s. A smile has broken out of her lips, slightly crooked in a way that reminds me of Lou Ellen, they’re not quite pink, more orange. Coral would probably be Lila’s decree, and it contrasts nicely against the white of Aura’s teeth.
“Right, ok. Aura meet…” Amara trails off and her eyes are wide as she searches her mind for our names.
“You don’t know our names do you?” I speak up smugly, amused by this development. Aura’s other hand copies the first’s position on her hips, the broom rests against the counter now. Her face is stern in way that matches Kaleb, who is cackling in the background.
“Amara..” Aura trails off, firmly, and a sheepish smile makes an appearance. Her shoulders raise to make herself smaller under the formerly sweet woman that stands over her. Lila, ever the angel, peeps up.
“I’m Lila West and this is my brother Casey West, nice to meet ma’am” I grunt and nod, I hate it but I know that Lila will appreciate it. Just like I thought she squeezes my hand and I return it.
“Well it’s nice to meet you too, Lila. I’m Aura Page, Co-Head Counselor of Cabin 17, Eldest mortal and living daughter of Hecate, Newly graduated RavenClaw Hogwarts student, unwilling dubbed ‘Camp Mom’, and y’all’s new older sister.” She declares with a smile I think that I’m going to be seeing a lot more. “Welcome to Cabin 17.”