The Ghost Queen

Chapter Five: Pomelia Fuentes

Herry had watched the short haired girl in the purple hat jog across the local park trail in her lilac colored track suit. He had decided to follow her.

Now Herry found himself approaching her while she sat catching her breath under a big oak tree. She leaned against the tree, face towards the sky and eyes closed. Her breathing returned to a steady pace. Now that he got closer Herry realized she wasn't actually wearing her hat today. That was a headband. How did he mistake that? Weird. Trick of the light he guessed.

The girl opened her eyes to show Herry the bluest eyes he'd seen yet. He hid a start.

"Hello." The girl in purple cocked her head inquisitively. "Herry was it?"

She spoke with the slightest Iberian lilt to her words. Herry guessed Spanish based off what Neil told him and their friends.

Herry sat next to her.

"Yeah. Um. Pomelia?" Herry put his hand to her. She obliged to the handshake, and smiled.

Herry glanced at his feet for a split second before returning his eyes to the shockingly warm smile Pomelia gave him.

"That is my name. Have you come to ask more about Cronus?"

"Uh no. I wanted to ask about you."

Pomelia raised an eyebrow. Her smile turned into a smirk.

"A-and your friends," Herry added.

"What about us?"

"What are you guys doing here...In New Olympia?"

"Exchange program." Pomelia did not elaborate.

"Who's idea was it?"

"Enrico's father thought we should be open to new experiences." Herry noticed her answers sounded rehearsed. But didn't pry. This conversation turned out to be a good way to get intel on these guys. Plus Herry was never great at talking to cute girls.

"Uh. Surprised you guys aren't going to Olympus High."

"No. Signor Valentino thought Romulus High would be a better fit."

So Neil was right, Herry thought.

"How's New Olympia treating you guys?"

"It is a charming city."Pomelia trailed off. She spoke of the restaurants and Greek influences of the architecture of the city. Seemed to really get into the design aspects of the city.

Herry brainstormed other questions to pose but came up to nothing. He sucked at small talk.

"Um. So..."Herry thought of asking about Cronus but thought it might be too soon for that. Needed to stay friendly to keep the info coming. He needed to be discrete when getting intel. That's what he assumed anyway. "How did you get into modeling?"

Pomelia wanted to ask why this boy seemed curious of her beyond her reluctant association with Cronus but let that question slide. This boy was charming in his own way. She wanted to ignore Cronus and his... jobs he made her and her friends do. Just for a moment.

"My father knows the person in charge of the fashion company. He thought it would-um- be a good way for me to be less shy." Pomelia looked away from Herry then. Herry noticed a hint of reddish flush to her ears. Was she embarrassed? Herry couldn't help but chuckle.

The sun shined brightly over the park. Some kids tried to get their homemade sailboat to float in the central pond. Wind kissed the tree branches above Pomelia and Herry. Neither teenager said anything for a few minutes. It was hard to ask normal things when both teens had very abnormal situations.

"Um. I gotta ask. Cronus isn't living with you guys is he?" Herry broke the silence.

He's more direct than expected, Pomelia mused.

"Gods no. A couple helps around our brownstone. Very nice people." Pomelia omitted the fact they were a satyr and dryad also bound to the god of time. Couldn't tell him too much.

Herry did not answer. He wondered what else could be useful to his friends for a second but most of his subconscious pushed towards the desire to find more about who this girl was. She was easy to talk to and seemed nice. Herry wondered what her friends were like, the other magicians he and his friends fought against in France. Were they this-what word fit this girl-charming?

****

Romulus High was one of the few academic buildings in New Olympia to lean more towards Roman in the design influence of the structure. Enrico and Hannah exited the front door of Romulus high together. They needed extra time to work on a paper for a classic literature course both of them decided to enroll in. Hannah asked her boyfriend if he knew where Pomelia was.

"She said something about taking a run at a park she found." 

"Why?"

Enrico shrugged. He may have known Pomelia longer than the others since  their families were friends, but she was unpredictable compared to most of the teenagers he met in their families' usual circles. Among their circle of friends, Pomelia kept more to herself.

"You want me to find her?" 

Hannah thought for a second and decided against it. Their group needed Enrico to save his energy for when Cronus wanted them to gather intel on those heroes. His psychic powers allowed him to search minds from a distance. And Hannah just remembered, she had her phone on her.

"Let me text her. I need to ask her something anyway." 

****

Herry returned to Olympus High to a concerned Hercules. The god of strength stuffed his face with Athena's ambrosia when Herry entered his office.

"You been doing okay?"

"Yeah why?"

"Odie mentioned you seemed down lately."

"Oh yeah.." Herry trailed off, gaze dropping to the ground. He couldn't really find the words to explain his mental state. Similar to the sirens he remembered from a while ago, Herry's thoughts felt- foggy. 

"I've been trying to find a tutor. I've been having trouble finding one." It wasn't completely a lie. Herry really did need a tutor. But that wasn't what his mind was focused on at the moment. He just needed to avoid telling his mentor about Pomelia Fuentes. For now at least. He needed time to think of how to approach this. Even while, Herry wasn't the most strategic of his friends, he found ways to be resourceful. It felt like being resourceful was necessary when dealing with Pomelia and her friends.

Hercules asked Herry why Odie couldn't tutor him. Herry explained that Odie tended to be busy with his personal projects and wasn't the best at translating technical concepts in ways Herry could understand anyway. 

"Huh. Yeah that is true" Heracles mused, rubbing his neck. "Heck. Even Hermes can't keep up with that kid sometimes." 

Before Hercules trailed off to one of his old tales of epic conquests again, he told his pupil that if anything was bothering him, it was safe to tell him. Herry expressed his gratitude and left Hercules's office. He needed to get back to his room.

Herry went back to the brownstone, smelling of sweat and teen hormones. Granted it could have been a spell from those magician kids. It was hard to say what kind of magic they were capable of. No. Herry thought about his brain fog more as he took off his track suit jacket. He threw the jacket on his bedroom floor and collapsed to his bed.

Fifteen minutes pass as Herry struggles to keep his eyes closed.

This wasn't working. Herry got up from his bed. He got out of his bedroom to look for Neil. He needed one of his fashion magazines.