Mortem Obire

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The summer place of mortal and divine

There was a whispering, a soft humming in the back of her head, and Harriet couldn't for the life of her figure out exactly what was going on as she sat there in front of a door. "Mom," she mumbled, thinking then on her mother and wishing she was there for some reason even as the hissing whispers became words.

"Let me in," something murmured from outside. "Let me in, Golden Child," it came again, sending a shudder of revulsion down her spine as the door rattled in the confines of its frame. "Let me—"

"Harry?" a voice whispered, slicing through her dreams and sending her back into consciousness. "You awake?" Laurel asked in a hushed whisper, and Harriet only groaned softly as her eyelids fluttered open, revealing the inside of a cabin cast in golden rays as the sun broke over the horizon and flooded through the gaps in the curtained windows.

"I am now," she grumbled, golden eyes meeting the blue ones which stared at her eagerly. "Is Alex up too?" she wondered, pulling herself out of the warmth of her sleeping bag and shivering as her bare arms came into contact with the fresh morning air.

"Mhm," Alex grunted, blue eyes peering out from the orange sleeping bag he had cocooned himself within. "I don't know what time breakfast is," he said, sitting up and glancing around. "But I don't think it's anytime soon," he mumbled, looking pointedly at the other campers. Someone snored in the silence which followed Alex's words, the sound only making it that much more obvious that most, if not everyone aside from them was currently dead to the world. "Wanna get changed then head outside? We can see if we can figure out the place a bit more..." he trailed off, and Harriet could only nod.

"Sounds like a plan," she said, swiftly shucking the sleeping blanket and her pyjamas before going to the showers and toilets just a bit behind their cabin and changing into the orange t-shirt which probably washed her out just a bit. Laurel and Alex took a similar amount of time to get changed and return to pack their belongings away into a corner of the room.

Harriet could only wonder on whether the entirety of the Hermes Cabin were heavy sleepers, even as the three of them headed out into the morning sunshine. It was a wonder that not many other people were up, but then again... in another life she had quite liked the novelty of being able to sleep in – a luxury one couldn't have had with the Dursleys. "I think there are some others up," she mumbled, gesturing over to where some other orange-shirted campers were congregating by a campfire in the bounds of the amphitheatre just about visible from their location. It was a little bit of a walk, what with the camp being rather vast in land, and there being a literal lake in the way, but when they finally made it there Harriet spied an almost alarming amount of blonde heads of hair.

Somehow she doubted that the fact that most of the campers up had blonde hair was a coincidence.

She recognised most of the faces as they came closer, easily pinpointing who were her half-siblings. Not all of them were blonde, surprisingly enough. There were a number of them though, including the twins, and Harriet could only smile at the thought of having such a big family. She'd always wanted a big family – a big family who she could smother with love and protect with all the rage of a nesting dragon... yet she had never managed before in another life. It was only fitting that it had happened in her second life.

"What do you think we'll be doing today?" she wondered, feeling sets of eyes fix on them as they made it to the bounds of the amphitheatre.

"Dunno," Laurel mumbled. "But I'm sure we can find out!" she called, ignorant to the way two of their half-siblings looked at the three of them as they strode past the stone seating.