✓ | The Crown of the Dead

S'mores Heal All

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. My brain was a mess of thoughts about the quest, but I tried as hard as I could to ignore it. I stayed in the Apollo cabin for most of the evening, listening to Jeffery and Kinsey bicker. Mark had a sketch pad out on his comforter, and was drawing something. His headphones were on as usual, and were up so loud to the point of where I could sometimes hear the music. Honestly, how were that kid's eardrums not destroyed?

Andi loaned me one of her books after she caught me ogling her shelf of them. She must've had hundreds if you combined her massive shelf, the boxes under her bed, and the two large stacks on her nightstand.

"I'm pretty into poetry, actually," she'd told me. "Healing isn't really my thing, but I'm good at it. Writing's more of my go-to."

I sat in a bean bag chair in the corner of the room, reading. Sometimes I would just look up at the ceiling and think about how all of this was real; the gods, monsters, magic, everything. It seemed so impossible.

Dinner was way less magical than lunch. Kinsey had been banned from summoning her own food, and so Blake did everything for her, whilst Jeffery munched on some Chips Ahoy. I could tell he was really getting on her nerves.

I didn't leave the Apollo cabin that whole night until much later. I felt as though I had embarrassed myself in front of everyone during the whole Oreo situation. Besides, I was starting to catch on to everyone staring at me all the time, for whatever reason that was.

The fact I'd received a quest didn't help my worries. I was going on a quest. I didn't want to go on a quest. All I wanted was a happily ever after, as cliche as it sounded.

"Cinderella only ended with a nasty divorce," Gramma once told me. "Turns out Prince Charming was seein' another woman. Not to mention the fact he treated Cinderella awfully bad. Terrible story..." She had been doing the dishes in the bright kitchen of the Texas house. I visited her every year, just me.

"How do you know that!" I had shot back.

"Cause I'm all knowing and all powerful."

My nose had scrunched up. "Oh really?"

"Yes really." She had come up to me and smeared my scrunched nose with dish-soap. I giggled.

Weeks I spent with Gramma were some of my best memories. Texas was hot compared to New York-- humid and sticky with lots of weird bugs and crickets at night. I liked to go exploring in the backyard which led into woods; touching things and running around and pretending I was some sort of magical forest fairy. I'd make flower crowns, go swimming, and we'd get ice cream almost everyday. I missed it.

At around 7:45, Blake sat down next to me. I could tell he wanted to talk about something. I ignored him. I flipped a page in Andi's book, pretending to be reading.

Blake sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "They're not dead, you know."

My eyes flicked up to him, and I narrowed my eyebrows. "How do you know anything about that?"

He shrugged. "Everyone here kinda knows," he said gently. "When campers as famous as them go missing, it's kind of a big thing."

I nodded.

"But they're not dead."

I set down the book. "People just tell me that to make me feel better. Seriously, it's not a big deal. I've already gone through all my denial and my mourning. I just want to be done with it."

"But don't you want them back?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Blake sat there for a minute, just staring at me. He didn't make any noises or movements. I picked up the book and flipped back to the page I'd been on. Of course, that's when Blake decided to start speaking again.