Misted Eyes

Sister My Sister, P!NK, McShizzle and AAAH

When I came to, I was lying on a bed with my head propped up on a pillow.
Weirdly, I didn't want the past few days to be a dream. I knew, faintly, that it was selfish, with Jamie gone...

"Ryan," Came a voice. I tilted my head and looked at Lee, who had her feet propped up on the bed and a massive map book across her lap.

"Ya-hmm?" I reply, sitting up. I felt a tiny sliver of drowsiness in the back of my head, but I shook it away like a rude cobweb.

"Where did you live? In Australia?" She asked, pushing the book towards me. I flipped to the 'Brisbane' page and studied the streets. I carefully circled an area and passed it back.

"Why'd I pass out?" I asked Lee, looking around. A sheet had been thrown over my legs, and I pushed it off. The Apollo cabin was empty, save Ethan, who was doing handstands against the wall.

"You burnt up a lot of energy. Travelling like that, from cabin to cabin, was so tiring you blacked out. We're not sure if it'll be safe for you to make it across the ocean." She told me, looking at my face carefully.

"What if we do it in little jumps? To Mexico, then..." I faded off at her pained expression.

"I won't make it to Mexico," I sigh. It was disappointing, very, to hear that my newfound powers weren't unlimited. But it was better than nothing.

"Would I be able to hop us onto a plane? Then off?" I asked, and her expression changed. She sat back and hummed thoughtfully.

"You know, that isn't a terrible idea," She mused.
I faltered.
"Should I try again? So I don't ruin my reputation of bad ideas?"
She rolled her eyes and looked at Ethan, who had appeared on the other side of the bed.

"You got any objections to plane travel?" She asked, smiling.

"My dad is the sun, Lilli. I was raised to be hurled through the air!" He scoffed sarcastically. He had an impish grin growing on his face.

"I'll go tell Chiron," Lee offered, standing up and closing the book with a slap. I noticed she let him call her Lilli.

"'Kay. I'll lie here and look pretty," I replied, taking a sip of water from a cup on the bedside table. She grinned and left.

"You're awfully quiet," I said to Ethan suspiciously, a few minutes later. He looked up from the Rubix cube he had been absent-mindedly solving. He had gone from handstands to book to cube to pencils to fixing his hair to more handstands to cube again.

"Woof?" He offered. I cracked a smile and dropped the suspicion gladly.

"So, have you figured out what part of Apollo you specialize in?" I inquired, swinging my legs off the bed and discretely smelling my T-shirt. I needed a new one.

"Nah. I'm hoping he'll drop in, y'know?"

"Yeah. He's gone missing, right?" A thought occurred to me, "How did he claim you if he was gone?"

Ethan looked uncomfortable.

"He didn't, did he?" I ask, searching his face.  He shifted.

"Ethan? How'd you know...?" I push, frozen. 

"I knew. From a really young age. My mum told me when I was, I dunno, seven or something," He scratched the back of his neck, looking away awkwardly under my stare. 

"I thought when you were claimed you became a beacon for monsters?" I said, a mixture of curiosity and awkwardness.

"You are. My mum protected me."
At my surprised look, he elaborated.
"She's a legacy of Hephaestus - was a Legacy of Hephaestus..." He flinched.