Reflections

Chapter 6

Even though the sword was out of her hand, the world seemed different. The birds were still chirping even as the sun lowered further on the horizon, the crickets were singing, the wind seemed to be warmer, the air sweeter, the stars began to shine brighter and the world suddenly seemed to come alive.

"You ok?" Xenia hummed as they continued to wander through the forest in hopes of finding something familiar.

"Ya, why?" Callisto asked as she was snapped back into reality. Trying to place all her attention onto her friend, she tried to place everything that happened behind her. But the sudden shift in her world and the lack of weight in her hand was a constant reminder.

"Just wondering." Xenia said as she made a cynical face.

"Sure..." Callisto drawled.

"Do you ever wash your clothes?" Callisto asked suddenly after a couple minutes of silence, desperate to occupy her mind with other thoughts.

"What? Yes." Xenia said, suddenly stopping her movements.

"Could've fooled me with the amount of paint on your clothes." Callisto mused as she teased her short friend who was still unaware.

"You know they wanted us to bring clothes that could get dirty!" Xenia shouted her voice reaching new octaves.

But as Callisto burst into tears as she hunched over clutching her stomach, laughing hard enough that led her to crying.

"You- you- you meanie!"

And the laughter continued.

~

The group of 6 walks away from the peer and back into the forest, following the somewhat vague instructions from the night before. Turn around and walk back. So walking back they hurried their steps as light became scarce and the moonlight became more apparent.

"This is just great." Zoya hissed as she wrapped her arms around herself, the cool winds of the early evening bit at her skin.

"Here you go." Callisto said as she offered her jacket she wore earlier in the day and even though the wind pricked at her arms, she barely felt cold.

"Youre stupid for not keeping it, but thanks." Zoya took the jacket out of Callisto's hand and threw it on. Warm from when it was tied against Callisto's waist.

"Let's keep walking." Max suggested as he blew on his cold hands, the smoke coming from his mouth indicated the rapidly decreasing temperature and urgency to make it back.

"This way." Callisto began to walk to the left of their current direction, not leaving any room for discussion and instead of arguing everyone followed. Eager to get back to their cabins for a meal and a blanket.

"Is it just me or is your friend over there a bit different than usual?" Zoya asked as everyone followed a few paces behind Callisto.

"What do you mean?" Xenia asked as she looked from her best friend to the girl whose brown eyes told her, she knew exactly what Zoya was talking about.

"Like she seems more... She seems to have a lot of daydreams and her eyes go like, you know blank. Like there's no one home. It's kind of creepy." Zoya said as she blew out a breath of smoke.

"You don't have any right to judge her Zoya, that's not fair." Xenia said even though in her heart she knew there was some truth to the girl's words.

But Xenia jogged forward and reached to grab Callisto's shoulder, but her footing slipped on a small rock and stumbled forward. A hand grabbed her arm, saving her from falling into the dirt and when she looked up, Callisto's face was there. Smiling with some amusement as she lifted her back to her feet with a chuckle.

"Careful." Calliso said as everyone finally caught up and stood waiting for her to continue to lead them

"Are we not-" Kaiden's voice was interrupted by the flashing of torches and the sounds of people calling their names.

Their peers called out for them as the counselors looked and joined the search. They were worried, this was supposed to be a fun activity with a boundary it seemed that they had ignored or didn't spot. But regardless of how they got lost, they were lost and they needed to be found.

"Over here!" AJ called as he ran towards the lights and he was spotted by Anna.

"Thank heavens you are alright. Where is everyone else?" Anna asked as she smiled at the boy who was embraced by his peers, in pure relief of his safety.

"Behind me." AJ said as the rest of them came through the trees and were also embraced by peers, and by the looks on some of their faces, Anna could tell they were not expecting this much comfort.

"Welcome back, I'm not sure how you got lost. But there will be consequences for ignoring the markers." Anna said as she patted Xenia's shoulder before they all walked back to camp.

The peace that settled over was almost tangible, and yet it felt like someone was trying to burst the bubble. Callisto felt her skin prick as she walked, the inkling feeling of someone watching her as she walked with everyone.

She kept her eyes in the trees as she walked backwards, only to shout in pain when her head collided with the singular branch that was falling off the tree.

"Shouldn't you bubblewrap her? Wouldn't it be safer?" AJ asked Xenia as they watched Callisto rub her forehead while Zoya stood next to her, snorting in an attempt to swallow her laughter.

"She's more of a hazard to everyone than she is to herself." Xenia shrugged as her mind flashed back to the time Callisto had tripped over her feet in a market and ended up knocking into a couple. Or the time she hit her leg against the end of a coffee table and the urn fell off, nearly burning an old woman.

"That sounds about right. She seems like a cluts." AJ laughed but stopped when he didn't hear the laugh he really liked. Turning to look at her slowly, he saw her dead set jaw and her blazing eyes

"You don't get to make fun of the people I love. Only I get to do that." Xenia snarled as she turned on her heel and walked to her friend who she immediately hugged. And proceeded to ignore AJ as she walked with Zoya and Callisto back to camp.

He cursed himself as he watched them, although he never meant any harm to her it seemed it came across that way. He didn't mean to upset her, he really didn't. So he sucked up his ego and planned his apology on the way back.