The Force of Four Worlds

Chapter 5 - Alcina

I had never cheated on a test before. I didn't mean to. I never meant to read the teacher's mind, but she knew the answers and and I couldn't help it.

And, I admit, after finding out I could read minds, I may have used my power to find out that two girls in my class were satyrs and that they thought I was the daughter of a Greek goddess. Just another day in Alcina Smith's life.

Anyway backtrack. Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing with my life? I am an ordinary schoolgirl in New York. I am eating lunch with my friend Canna, who yesterday had an unusual encounter with some plants, and the new girls Ivy and Aspen. Those are the ones who think my mum is Athena, as in the great, all-powerful, all-knowing goddess. Yes, those delusional morons. As for what I'm doing with my life, I honestly have no idea. My dad was away doing something business-y and I was just trying to get my homework done for period 5.

This was the first time the 4 of us had been alone together. The typical new girl crowds had died down and I could tell they were nervous. Well, they were about to tell us our parents ruled the universe.

"So," said Ivy, tucking a lock of red hair behind her ear nervously. "We have something we need to tell you."

"Hm?" said Canna, looking up from her maths worksheet, which, for some reason, had odd green stains on it. I found that it was harder to read Canna's mind than other people's and some people's minds I couldn't understand at all. A girl called Denise transferred to our school from France: I couldn't understand her mind as her first language was French, and so that was the language she thought in. I didn't know what Canna thought the problem was, but it probably wasn't the fact that her mum was Ceres.

"Nothing much really..." Aspen continued, attempting to be casual. "Just the fact that you are, um... well, demigods."

Canna stared at them for more than a few seconds. "Repeat that for me. I think I must be dreaming. First the plants, now this?!"

"Demigods," Ivy said, trying to be cheerful about it. "Your mothers were Greek goddesses."

"WHAT?!" Canna exclaimed loudly, so surprised she pushed her chair away from the table. "But I- that- well I guess I never met my mom, and yesterday with the plants but my dad always said... Wait would my dad even know?!" She let out a hysterical laugh. "Well of course whether my dad knew or not doesn't really matter now does it and talking too fast." She paused. "I should stop."

"It's ok." Aspen said gently. "It's normal to react this way."

"Yeah," Ivy said. "Most demigods don't even believe their satyr guides."

"WAI- YOU'RE SATYRS?!" Canna sounded incredulous.

"Be quiet," Aspen shot a look of poison at Ivy. "We don't want the whole school to think you're mad."

Sure enough, other pupils were starting to take notice. I wished I could see what they were thinking, but I was already exhausted. Every time I read a mind, I seemed to get a little more tired. Once I passed out in the middle of a Spanish lesson, trying to figure out what the teacher was thinking. That was embarrassing. Anyway, I hoped no one would come up and ask awkward questions. I was quite shy {read: socially inept} and didn't have many friends other than Canna, Ivy and Aspen. I preferred reading books to talking to people, but I was dyslexic and sometimes found even that hard. Eventually, people stopped staring and went back to their own conversations.

"So," Canna said. "The Greek gods are real?"

"All myths are real to some extent," Ivy waved her hands, trying to be mysterious, but her childish manner kind of ruined it.

"Or as Jace Herondale would say 'all the stories are true'"  I added.

"Ok..." Canna replied, obviously trying not to sound too weirded out. "Who's my mom then?"

Aspen cleared her throat. "Demeter."

"Demeter?" Canna said.

"We think." Ivy confirmed. "What a lovely table."

I could tell they were hiding something. Canna's mother was Ceres, Demeter's Roman form. But why weren't the two satyrs telling her that?

"Are you ok Alcina?" Aspen sounded concerned. "You've been quite quiet."

I tried laughing it off. "That's me. Quite quiet. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Aren't you surprised by this?"

"No," I replied a little too quickly. The art of conversation is not my greatest asset. "I- I already knew."

"How?" Ivy sounded surprised.

I don't know why, but I didn't want to tell them about my power. I didn't think they should know that I could read minds. 

"I... Well... I..." I stuttered. Stop it, I told myself. There must be other demigods with special powers. I blurted it out. "I can read minds."

They all looked shocked. "What?" I tried to cover it up. "There must be othe-"

"No." Aspen interrupted me. "Alcina, that's impossible."

I swallowed. What did that mean? Why was I different?