Of Soul And Spirit

Chapter 2: Mysterious Happenings

Briar woke up, and felt like she was on fire. Her eyes snapped open, searching for flame or smoke, but found none.

She had no time to debate what this meant, as another wave of burning pain went through her. Briar screwed her eyes shut and curled into the fetal position, mentally begging for the pain to subside.

Eventually, the pain relented, morphing into another, familiar feeling.

Briar growled, annoyed. The restlessness. She would sometimes get a rush of energy, urging her to move, to act, to do something, though Briar couldn't guess as to what. She could do nothing but pace the room, listening to music, trying to stop her hands from trembling.

Though she was glad that it hadn't happened when she was around people, she was annoyed it had to happen in the middle of the night, when she could be sleeping.

I wonder what that pain was earlier, Briar thought. Perhaps just a cramp? She'd have to wait until morning to figure out answers. After letting a few more songs soothe her, the restlessness faded, and Briar was able to resume sleeping.

***

At seven o'clock Briar pulled herself out of bed, struggling to turn off the alarm she had set the night before as quickly as she possible could.

She had purposely set it to one of the few songs by her favorite band she couldn't stand, knowing it would be the only way she'd be able to drag herself out of bed.

Unfortunately, she had left her phone on the other side of the room the night before when listening to music. She dashed to her phone, needing to stop the song. Once it had been properly silenced, she was able to check her notifications. Her friend Katherine had texted her.

Have a great day in Greece tomorrow Briar!

She replied with a thanks and then winced as she remembered New York was seven hours behind Greece, meaning it was midnight back home. Whoops, Briar thought. Her friend was not a night owl.

Accidentally waking her friend and her own lack of sleep was not enough to put a damper on her excitement however, and she rushed to get ready.

***

Upon arriving at the cafe in the hotel, Briar realized Thania and her mother were already there. She walked over to them.

"Since when are you the first out of bed?" Briar joked. Marie was even less of a morning person than Briar, which was saying something.

She thought of all the times her mother woken up two or even three hours after Briar had already been awake. The only times her mom got up even remotely early was when she wanted to tend to her garden before it got too hot outside during the summer.

Her mother seemed amused at Briar's jest, and even Thania's lips flickered with the ghost of a smile. Marie then resumed the conversation she had been having before Briar had arrived.

She noted that her mom seemed to almost be acting like her old self from before the divorce. It was refreshing. Even Thania seemed about to bursting excitement judging from the quiet energy she was emanating.

"So....." Briar began as their food arrived,
"what are we going to do today?" Her grandmother gave a quick thanks to the waitress in Greek, then turned to Briar.

" We were thinking about going to the Acropolis this afternoon, and considering it's your first time here, Marie and I figured you could decide what we'd do in the morning."

Briar struggled to remember some of the tourist spots she had read about in the brochure the day before. She decided to go with the only thing she could remember.

"The Acropolis museum would be cool, considering we'd be going to the Acropolis itself in the afternoon," she said. They all agreed, and started eating in silence.

A thought occurred to Briar. " Thania, why did you leave Greece in the first place?" she asked.

"Well......," Thania paused, remembering, " It was work related mostly. A job opportunity arose in America and I took it." She said no more, and though Briar had plenty more questions, she could tell she would not get anymore answers. Though it was hard to resist asking.

***

The museum was wonderful.

While Thania and her mother were fascinated with the old artifacts, despite saying they had been there several times, what Briar found the most amazing was the architecture. It was modern; glass and steel, and though it contrasted with what it held, it was beautiful, and Briar had never seen anything like it.

After touring the museum, Briar and her family agreed split up for lunch. Marie had wanted to go to some popular brewery. She was of age now, but Briar had no desire to drink.

After reassuring them she'd be fine on her own, Thania decided to go with her mother and Briar found herself wandering the streets of Greece looking for a good restaurant.

As she walked, Briar became thankful for the hours of Greek lessons her Grandmother had given her, as she was able to read the shop signs with relative ease. She spotted an Italian restaurant and went inside, deciding to save trying anything out of the box for when she had Thania's knowledge.

The restaurant was small, but clean and well lit, and Briar took a seat at an empty table near the window. The only other people in the restaurant were a couple across the room from her.

She leaned back and waited for a waiter. With little else to do, her mind began to wander. What was Briar to do with her life now that she had graduated? Briar had no specific career she wanted to pursue, and had a million interests. Thinking of her guidance counsellor's exasperated expression at her inability to choose a path in life, Briar smirked. He must have hated me, she thought. But none of the things he had proposed her to do had felt right.

She was snapped out of her contemplations when the bell above the door rang.

A tall guy about her age walked in. He had dark hair in a neat crew cut, and a well defined jawline. His ice blue eyes scanned the room, and Briar noticed the strange symbol on his shirt; a triangle with a sword in front of it. Briar didn't recognize the symbol and reminded herself to look it up later.

When the newcomer noticed her, his eyes flashed in what appeared to be recognition. That can't be right, she thought. Briar had never seen him before.