hiraeth

eight

A/N: hello I took that forest picture last week wooo

viii. Peter

Peter had spilled his secrets over a cup of juice. At least, he'd thought it was juice, until he began to feel sleepy and Leo had started frantically spitting out random rhymes Piper called "rap music," whatever that was. Piper had since explained that her, Leo, and Jason were demigods who attended Camp Half-Blood.

"Technically speaking," Piper had informed him, "you must be a demigod, too. Since, you know, you attracted some monsters. But it's weird..."

"What?" he presses.

"Well, you don't have any powers we know of, at least not yet, so I don't understand why you'd be attacked without a strong scent."

"I'm good with a sword."

The girl had raised an eyebrow. "Then start putting it to use rather than escaping when things get tough."

She'd explained the Mist, godly parents, and bits and pieces Peter is trying to process. He's glad he can make sene of some of it, though.

It's now his second night accompanying the trio. He had been introduced to Jason Grace, who'd invited him to tag along on their walk the other day. It was the other three who had defeated the monsters they happened upon as Peter tried to keep up, and he had a feeling they were just looking out for him.

At present, Leo plays with fire quite literally, letting flames dance along his fingertips, thumb to pinky and back. "So let me get this straight: your name is Peter Pevensie, you came from a world called Narnia, you don't know how you got here to L.A., and you want to find your siblings."

"Pretty much."

"And you think this isn't your modern world, but a different modern world, seventy-seven years into the future from your time?"

Peter lowers his tin cup, the campfire crackling softly as they sit in a circle on the ground."Yup. I think you summed it up quite nicely."

Leo meets Piper's bewildered gaze.

"Peter..." Piper says slowly. "I don't know how to put this, but..." She looks to Leo for support, and he puts the tiny flame out.

"We've read about you," he finishes for her.

This throws him for a loop. "What? How? Like, accounts of my life?"

"Uh, sort of." Piper is staring at him so seriously, Peter wants to disappear. She looks like she's analyzing him. "You're a character from a series Leo and I read when we were little. It's called The Chronicles of Narnia by some guy named C.S. Lewis."

"Dead, by the way," Leo adds. "Also, there was definitely some religious propaganda going on in the last book. That part about Susan? Not it."

"Too soon, Leo."

"Sorry."

"Wait, Susan is in it?" Peter asks in a strangled voice. "How the hell do you know who Susan is? I never mentioned my siblings' names."

Piper sighs. "Like we said, we've read about you, from your life to your death."

Death? Peter can't believe what he's hearing. "I don't believe you."

"Fine." She leans back and closes her eyes. "Your youngest sister, Lucy, discovered Narnia when she walked through a wardrobe at some professor's house. World War II was going on. Edmund saw it next, made some deal with the White Witch, and denied seeing the place. Then you all went together and long story short, you defeated the White Witch in a war." Piper sits silently for a moment. "Oh, and there was Edmund's whole betrayal and Aslan's death and resurrection and yada yada yada. Something like that?"