Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Two Halves Shall The Other Find

                Emily watched her brother anxiously. Would he believe her or just think she was making all this stuff up? She hoped the Athena giving journal thing was pretty normal. She already stood out too much, like usual, but normally that was because she was a demigod. A demigod with what seemed like the worst luck in the world. Now she was in a group of other demigods like her, and she still seemed to stand out. Apparently stumbling into camp via the woods after being chased by monsters wasn’t exactly the most normal demigod entrance. On top of that, she had had to be hospitalized due to blood loss and a broken bone, staying in bed instead of joining the other in the normal camp activities. When she had flown the Pegasus- she absolutely adored horses- and found out she could actually understand Pegasi that had been unique too.  Now she was claiming to be Andrew’s long lost little sister. Oh yeah. She definitely stood out.

                Andrew’s eyes flitted between the silver lettering on the page and Emily. He finally turned to his friends and asked if they could go away for a minute. That just made Emily more nervous. Whatever happened, it might be in her best interest to have a few witnesses. Lauren dragged Alex away back towards the stables, though Emily wasn’t sure why they didn’t just go to the Mess Hall to get breakfast or something. After a minute or two, Andrew turned back to Emily. He looked like he’d just figured out the cure for cancer, with eyes wide with astonishment and unbelief while a grin slowly spread across his face.

“I’m not an only child. That’s not true anymore. I-I think I remember.”

With that, he threw his arms around his little sister and hugged her tight. Emily felt relief flood through her. He didn’t yell at her, or accuse her of being a liar, or flip out on her completely. He even said that he remembered her, even though she had almost no memory of him or their family.

                Andrew pulled away, beaming at her, his eyes looking her over as if seeing her for the first time.

“How long have you known this?” he asked

“About two hours, give or take.” She paused before asking somewhat hesitantly, “Have you suspected something like this would happen? I thought you might yell at me or call me a liar or-“

Andrew cut her off before she could finish, “or completely disregard a evident hint from my grandmother, who knows everything, that you’re the little girl from the photo, the lost half,”

He paused, obviously noticing Emily’s confused expression.

“There’s something I got to show you. But first, I promise, we’ll get you some breakfast.”

They set off towards the mess hall together, the tension between the two of them depleted almost completely within those few minutes.

Walking down to the mess hall, Emily considered how emotionally messed up the few days had been. First, she’d been running away from yet another horrible monster, forced to leave any friends she’d managed to make, mortal though they be, and chased nearly to dealth until she’d passed out in the woods. Then, she’d been relieved to be safe in a camp full of people who knew what it was like to be chased by monsters. She’d felt a little defensive, maybe even ashamed, of herself, thinking of how strong everyone else here must be. She’d found friends, and everything was on the verge of being normal when Athena, her immortal grandmother, reveled that she was Andrew’s sister, meaning she wasn’t a traditional demigod, but the daughter of the son of Poseidon and daughter of Athena. Her health had been restored with uncanny speed it was like magic, which Emily supposed it was. All that was left was a brace on her shoulder, and even that was beginning to become useless as her shoulder had nearly mended itself. It all seemed too good to be true, but her hopes of just fitting as much as any demigod could had been squashed by the strange facts that surrounded her, the strangest of which had to do with her family tree. All of this within, what? Two, almost three days? Now, at last, she was going to face all the other demigods in the mess hall guided by her enlightened new found brother, Andrew.

“You alright?” Andrew asked. His eyebrows were creased in concentration as his dazzling grey eyes studied her face, trying to diagnose her expression.

Emily tried for a smile. Her brother had been so understanding and helpful. Not to mention he had saved her life. She wished she would have been able to grow up with him. He was the best brother any girl could wish for. She just hoped she could meet his standards.

“Never better. So, all this stuff you’re going to tell me. You’re being strangely secretive about all this. Why do we have to wait until we get to the mess hall and why did you send Lauren and Alex away?”

Andrew’s expression relaxed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo which he handed to Emily. She examined the picture. It was a family of four, a mother with curly blonde hair falling loose across her slim yet athletic figure and grey eyes alight with intelligence and joy. She held a small baby girl in her arms, wrapped in a blanket so that only some of her blonde curls stuck out. Next to them was an impressive-looking man with dark, windswept hair and jubilant sea green eyes like a soldier returning from war. A little boy with that same dark hair was below him with eyes grey as his mothers and a wide grin spread across his face.

“This is us? When we were little?” Emily guessed.

Andrew nodded and gently accepted the photo when Emily returned it to his grasp.

“I found it in my parent’s room one night, when they were gone. Kept it on the desk in my room. It never made much sense to me, since I never remember having a little sister, that is, until last night.”

He told her about the dream he’d had the past night: the memory of when the two of them had been separated. Emily felt her skin tingle with goose bumps during the last part.

“You’re an only child now. And that’s what you’ll remember for as long as it is the truth.” Andrew repeated. “Come to think of it, it must have been some sort of magic or something: some enchantment so that I’d never remember having a little sister as long as you were gone. Now I’ve found you, I remember, since it’s not true that I’m an only child. Question is: who did it and why?”

The way he said the last question, Emily suspected he had an idea what the answer was. Before Emily could push for any more answers, though, they reached the Mess Hall where groups of campers, probably from the same godly family, enjoyed their breakfast together. All those demigods in one place. The feeling was ominous and intimidating. Andrew put his hand over her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Come on. You’ll be at my table.”

The two of them walked over to a table set with silver goblets, plates, and silverware.  Andrew picked one up and Emily did the same with another.

“Bacon and Eggs” Andrew told it. Food appeared on the plate, warm and inviting like it had just been cooked. Emily copied him and was satisfied by the bacon and eggs that appeared on her plate. She followed Andrew to a blazing brazier, where he scraped off select food from his plates and muttered,

“Poseidon.”

Emily followed his example and, assuming this was an offering to the gods of some sort, muttered Athena instead. The smell of the fire was amazing: bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, French toast, waffles, and other scents Emily couldn’t quite identify. Normally, the combined scents would have made her sick, but strangely, these combined nicely to produce a wonderful aroma. The two of them returned to their places at Andrew’s table, and began to devour their breakfast. Emily tried her best to eat slowly, knowing too much too fast could make her sick, but the hunger won out and soon her plate was clean. A centaur clip-clopped over towards their table. Chiron, Lauren had told her. His expression was grave and extremely serious. Before he could say anything, Andrew stood to address the centaur, the sentence seeming to burst out of him.

“Chiron! The lost shall the other find, it’s all fitting together. I remember now- Emily’s my sister!”

His voice was hushed but full of barely contained excitement. It seemed like he had just figured it out all over again.

Chiron’s expression lightened a bit, his frown easing into something just short of a smile.

“How are you feeling, my dear?” he asked, though the way he said it made Emily feel like he probably already knew most of the answer.

“Just fine, what about you?” she answered, mustering as much confidence as she could into those few words.

Chiron’s frown returned and he looked, if possible, even more worried than before.

“I shall explain everything at the counsel I shall conduct as soon as breakfast is over. All senior counselors are dismissed from their usual morning activities to accommodate this last-minute meeting. I fear you are correct, Andrew. Everything is fitting together.”

Andrew’s face fell. It was almost heartbreaking to see her brother go from excited, relishing the fact that he had found his little sister, that he could remember her even, like he had just solved a puzzle he’d been working on for years. Now, with only a few words, his euphoria had instantly melted into worry and dread like he’d just been handed a death sentence. Chiron walked away, leaving Emily as confused as ever, just when everything had started to make a little sense.

Her brother just stared at his plate, not daring to make eye contact. She wasn’t sure what to say, and scared of the answer as to why those few sentences had completely flipped his mood. The food on her plate seemed cold, unappetizing. Something was horribly wrong and she had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with her being there.

Guilt swept over her. For as long as she could remember, her presence had endangered those around her. She was a constant target for many monsters, of which wouldn’t mind hurting those around her in the process. Nothing she did could ever stop that. Monsters came and went, leaving her friends and sometimes kind-of family with injuries to prove they were there. All her fault. All of it.

Now, among so many other demigods, she had done it again. She had seemed to stand out from the beginning: she was too old of a recruit, her entrance was different from any other recruit, her heritage was like only one other demigod she knew here, and that was her brother. A brother she had only known was hers for less than a day. The same day Chiron had to announce an emergency meeting. Emily had done it again.

She suppressed an urge to get away from this safe-haven camp, to avoid hurting any more people she cared about. She needed to stay to support her brother; especially after all he’d done for her.

Finally, Andrew stood up, gesturing for Emily to follow him out of the mess hall. She stood up and obediently trailed along after her brother. The two of them headed down past the cabins, staying close to the river flowing into the lake nearby.

And he began to tell me everything.

*Hoped you liked it!! If not, please say so so that I can improve this draft. :)