𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

iv ━━ lost the game of chance (what are the chances?)

03. chapter four

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

RIDING ARION WAS THE BEST THING that had happened to me all day—which wasn't saying much, since my day had sucked. the horse's hooves turned the surface of the lake to salty mist.

ahead of us lay an island— a line of sand so white, it might have been pure table salt. behind that rose an expanse of grassy dunes and weathered boulders.

i sat behind hazel and behind me was leo, one arm around my waist. the close contact made me a little uncomfortable, but it was the only way we could stay on board (or whatever you called it with a horse).

before we left, i had pulled leo aside to tell him hazel's story. i wasn't sure if i was just trying to be nice, or if i was warning leo that hazel is basically my sister and i will send him to tartarus if he steps out of line.

arion thundered onto the beach. he stomped his hooves and whinnied triumphantly, like coach hedge yelling a battle cry.

we dismounted. arion pawed the sand.

"he needs to eat," hazel explained. "he likes gold, but— "

"gold?" leo asked.

"he'll settle for grass. go on, arion. thanks for the ride. i'll call you."

just like that, the horse was gone— nothing left but a steaming trail across the lake.

"fast horse," leo said, "and expensive to feed."

"not really," hazel said. "gold is easy for me."

leo raised his eyebrows. "how is gold easy? please tell me you're not related to king midas. i don't like that guy."

hazel pursed her lips. i could tell she regretted raising the subject. "never mind."

leo sent me an inquisitive look, but i looked away quickly and awkwardly. it wasn't my place to tell leo
about hazel's curse.

leo knelt and cupped a handful of white sand. "well... one problem solved, anyway. this is lime."

i frowned. "the whole beach?"

"yeah. see? the granules are perfectly round. it's not really sand. it's calcium carbonate." leo pulled a plastic bag from his tool belt and dug his hand into the lime.

suddenly he froze.

"leo?" i asked. "you okay?"

he took a shaky breath. "yeah. yeah, fine."

he started to fill the bag.

hazel and i knelt next to him and helped.

"we should've brought a pail and shovels," i said.

leo smiled. "we could've made a sand castle."

"a lime castle," hazel agreed.

leo and hazel locked eyes for a moment. i shifted nervously.

hazel looked away. "you are so much like — "

"sammy?" leo said.

she fell backward. "you know?"

"i have no idea who sammy is. but frank asked me if i was sure that wasn't my name."

"and... it isn't?"

"no! jeez."

"you don't have a twin brother or. . ." hazel stopped. "is your family from new orleans?"