Rebuilding the World

18 The Demigods of War

We finished the knife lessons when the conch horn blasted for dinner.

“Talk to Carlene okay?” I reminded Jean.

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” She said before jogging to the Hecate table where Carlene was animatedly talking to her brother, Ron.

I sat alone at my table, looking around the dining pavilion for Zhane, but she was nowhere to be found. I approached her sister, Aya in the Hades table.

“Hey Aya,” I greeted.

“Hey, Majella.” Aya greeted over her mouth full of spaghetti. She quickly chewed it and swallowed. “You need anything?”

“I was looking for Zhane,” I said, “I need to talk to her.”

“Oh, Zhane. She left for the forest earlier after lunch, hasn’t come back yet I think.”

“You don’t think -?”

“Oh, she’ll be fine. She knows the forest very well. Must be doing something important to skip dinner.” Aya assured.

“Okay, if she comes back, tell her I was looking for her.”

“’Kay.”

I went back to my table and started eating half-heartedly. I really don’t have much appetite.

“Hey, Majella.” Carlene said, poking my side.

“Hey,” I answered unenthusiastically, giving her my poker face. I don’t need to give away the fact that I saw her arguing with Zhane by the lake.

“You okay?” Carlene asked, worried.

“I’m fine, just tired.”

“Jean asked me to teach her how to use a knife. She said you recommended me.”

“Who better to ask?”

Carlene smiled at my compliment.

“By the way, you want me to announce the reminders for tomorrow?” Carlene offered, “You look like you need your sleep. I can also ask for Jimuel to lead the patrol troop tonight.”

I didn’t answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Go have your rest and I’ll take care of things here. We need you strong and healthy for tomorrow!” Carlene said.

I gave her a weak smile of thanks and left my spaghetti unfinished.

As I walk back to my cabin, I kept an eye out for Zhane. But to my dismay, she’s still not around. When I reached my cabin door, Zhane suddenly popped out from my cabin’s pillar’s shadows and dragged me inside. She peeked outside before closing the door.

“Thank the gods you’re here!” I exclaimed.

“I needed to talk to you alone!” Zhane hissed in a low voice.

“About Carlene!”

“Wait,” Zhane paused, “How did you know?”

“I saw the two of you arguing by the lake this afternoon.” I said.

“You were there?”

“Yeah, I was in the lake taking a swim with the naiads. But that’s not the point; I need to know what you found out about Carlene!”

Zhane paused, probably wondering what I was doing swimming in the lake with the naiads, but she regained her composure, “Well, me and Aya were investigating in the forest one night because we’ve been sensing dark stuff going on in there. We caught Carlene by the old acacia tree.”