Hyacinths and Halcyons

ChApTeR tHiRtEeN - I have Friends...? (Kora POV)

Wow.

I just mean wow.

The last few days had been a blur, and my head still felt fuzzy. But I didn't tell anyone that. One word and Delia would've freaked out more than Eliza did when Alexander cheated on her. (Though if she found out I like Hamilton she'd freak out even more).

I sat on the stripped bed in my cabin, not being able to sleep. Everything seemed so... ethereal. I needed time to slow down. Getting claimed... it was terrifying. Will and Delia had to surgically remove the flower from my hand and putting me under anesthetics so I wouldn't feel any pain. I still couldn't believe the gods were real. And my poor mother... She didn't even know what was going on. Chiron told me he contacted her and told me not to worry, but somehow I still did. Everything worried me. And that was scary. I was usually prepared, priding myself on knowing the full extent of the situation. But this...this quest... It was bigger than me. Bigger than the small bubble I kept around myself. Will, That Boy, Delia, and Sophie (still not sure about her though), are my friends? And That Boy is my brother? Everything just felt so fragile, so wrong.

And I had so many questions. How did periods work? Why did the flowers make me so vulnerable?

Staring at my hands, one bandaged, one not, I remember the voice who spoke to me. Persephone. I was sure of it. I leaned my head against the headboard, until I felt two cold eyes drilling holes through my figure.

"N-Nico?" I murmur, unsure of what to say.

He grunts in response, still analyzing me with scrutiny.

We sit there in silence, staring at each other for a minute. Then, he speaks up. "How?" he whispers. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" I ask, still unsure of where he was going with this.

"Only one other person got the same gift, the gift of Persephone, as you. Only one that I know of at least."

That caught my attention, curiosity burning in my chest, making my heart race.

"Who?" I whisper, the cabin eerily quiet. You could hear the fire crackling in the pavilion.

"My sister. Bianca Di Angelo."