The Six Olympians

Chapter 2

Aubrey 

Waking up at Cornwall Hall for the first time was single-handedly the scariest and most confusing day of my life. No—actually, it was the beginning of what would be the most confusing year of my life. My name is Aubrey Huxley, but I once believed it was... Oh, god, I'm not even going to say it. It's ridiculous. Let's just say I once believed I was a goddess. Yeah—I know. How could a seven-year-old be so full of herself? I barely knew how to do basic math, and I was running around saying I was a goddess. So embarrassing. I guess that's part of why I hate being back together with all of them. It reminds me of what we believed in, and ... I'm embarrassed. Embarrassed that it took us so long to let go. Embarrassed it took me so long.

I don't know why it took me so long, okay? We were all bullied and taught we were wrong in the same way, and we all went to the same amount of therapy. But ... it was weird. I remember having to come back for different sessions with different people, while everyone else stayed consistent. They switched my therapists like it was a game. I had, like, ten, eleven different ones? I guess that's why it took me longer. I don't even remember what was said during the sessions; all I remember is how they looked at me. They all looked at me like I was crazy. And don't get me started on the pity; pity looks are the worst. I will never be looked at like that again. That's the only good thing I learned from my unfortunate childhood (or what I can remember of it, anyways): I will never let anyone make me feel that way again. I will never again be caught in this feeling of something more, something bigger than us calling to me. And yet, looking at them right now, together, it ... it fills my head with colours and sounds and dreams I cannot quite deal with—something more.

"Guys." Hallie Monroe, whom we formerly referred to as Hestia, taps quietly from behind the window in the records room door, urging us to come towards her, interrupting my thoughts. She entered the building earlier today, found the room, and hid, in order to help us from the inside if things got tough, so we have to deliver on getting us all out of here now. Her strawberry-blonde hair is as messy as ever, falling near her gray eyes as they stare at us intently.

"Come on, Aubrey," Harry whispers, nudging me towards the keypad in front of the records room where Hallie stands as he begins to uncover the fingerprints on it.

"What the hell took you so long?!" she says, her voice muffled through the window glass.

"Good day to you too, Hallie," Zack responds and Hallie makes a face at him.

I take out my computer to input the numbers and get all possible combinations, when a loud thud freezes my blood flow.

"Sorry, guys," Pos— Peter says quickly, getting up beside us.

I turn around to give him a look. This dude falls down all the time for some reason—walking, standing up, sitting down, you name it. It's like he was never taught how to walk properly. Not that we know whether he was, since none of us remember anything before the age of seven. Maybe he wasn't.

"PETER!" Zack whispers angrily. "You scared the shit out of me."

Harry sighs and hands me the numbers. As I input the combinations, I shake my head in disbelief at what's happening.

It all started last week, when Hailey ran into the common room with a crazed look in her eyes that, even after all these years, I knew was meant for us. We hadn't talked in years. Not just me and Hailey—any of us. I had quite literally forgotten what Harry even looked like. He doesn't go out much. Zack and Peter, on the other hand, are top dogs at Cornwall, so I saw them around. They coexisted more than any of us. You could even say they were friends. All my friends are nuts for them, but we never exchanged so much as a glance. I guess they are good-looking—but then again, all of us are. Hallie and I have co-existed a little more as well, since we are in most of our classes together, but we've always kept our interactions to a minimum.