"Well, its refreshing to know!" I joke and try to put on a brave smile.
"We all understand how you feel, you're not the first to go through this!" Maddy tries to console me. I give a tight smile and ask for directions to the nearest bed. Usually I'd be sleeping by that time, so I was exhausted. Finding out who you were in one hour was strangely tiring.
"There's still people you haven't met yet, so be prepared when you wake up!" Marie tried to encourage. I smiled and nodded off...
"Wake up!! Time to begin the day!" a girl with curly orange hair announced. She threw open the window curtains and giggled. I am not a morning person, so for her to force my awakening, really ticked me off. After the night I had, who is she to wake me up?!
"I'm asking you nicely... Please get up!" she twinkled in her high voice. To answer, I put my pillow on top of my head and curl up tighter. She clicks her tongue twice and suddenly I feel myself flying through the air. She had grabbed my blanket, and flipped me out of it!!
"Milani, that was RUDE! Imagine what she must think of us now! It's bad enough she just found out who her dad is, why won't you let her sleep?" a girl with light brown hair asks.
"She fell asleep on MY bed in the first place!" Milani argues.
"Were we supposed to poof her a bed? Besides, you lost rock, paper, scissors!" They argued for a few more minutes before turning to me. The girl with the light brown hair helped me up and tried to smile.
"I'm Leah, Cancer, last child of Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and Archery!" she introduced herself. I just nodded and looked at Milani, knowing she was next. Leah quickly showed me her palm, which had a ♋ sign on it.
"I'm Milani, Capricorn, last child of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy! Look at my palm," she instructed me. Her symbol was weird, it was an "n" with a loop ♑.
"Yay! You've officially met all the girls! You're the sixth, and last!" Maddy came in, and told me. I nod slowly, unsure how to respond and she notices. Sympathetically, she takes my wrist and drags me away from the other girls.
"Marie made breakfast, BLT sandwiches, you'll love it! You only have three more people to meet after this!" she promises me.
"So there's an even number of girls and guys?" I ask, unsure.
"So you have been paying attention! Yes, and we all arrived to the house in order of our zodiac months. So, Milani came first, then Danielle, you know the rest!"
"Was it planned?" I ask.
"Nothing around here is planned. Nothing besides, your arrival of course! Even that didn't have a set date or time. It was whoever wanted to pick you up, whenever!"
The thought of them planning my arrival made my head spin. So they really HAD been watching me for weeks and months! How didn't I notice?! I can be so oblivious sometimes. We get to the kitchen, and biting into a BLT is a guy with bleach blonde hair. He has a cute button nose, and a wide mouth. He clears his throat and swallows a particularly large piece very fast. When he introduces himself to me, he's partly choking so his voice is raspy.
"Torren, Aries, last son of Ares, God of War!" he says and pounds on his chest. This is the last guy I'd expect to be one of the deadliest in the house.
"I wouldn't underestimate him, I saw him kill a cow with a fork once!" Maddy whispers in my ear. I blink twice and sit at the table to eat my sandwich.
"LUCAS, HUNTER, CAME SAY HELLO TO THE NEW RECRUIT!!!"Maddy yells. It stays quiet throughout the house. Suddenly you hear Marie's voice.
"NOW!!!" she yells. Two pairs of footsteps start running down the stairs and Maddy moves by my ear again.
"Marie is like the mother of the house, she is the most honest and fair, so we sort of unanimously chose her!" she whispers.
"Oh, do you mind if I see your... Symbol?" I ask Torren.
"Of course not!" he says and I realize he has gloves on. Not the type you wear in the cold, but the type you'd fight with. No cover for the fingers and made of rough materials. He slips his left one off and shows me his palm. It has a ♈ on it, which is probably the simplest besides mine.
"Hey newbie, I'm Hunter, Pisces, last son of Dionysus who is the God of Wine!" a tall boy with muscles says as he grabs and spins me around. I try to fight back a smile, what can the god of wine do? I think about it and realize grapes are usually made for wine and grapes grow ln vines. So chances are, this kid controls grape vines.
"I'm Lucas, Virgo, last son of Demeter, goddess of Agriculture!" Lucas sarcastically claps and smiles. I feel for him, his mom is not that much celebrated in our new world. I hold out my hand to show them my symbol and they hold out theirs. As they inspect mine, I see that Lucas has a ♍ and Hunter has a ♓. I feel a slight weight lifted off my shoulders knowing everyone now.
"Don't worry, when we initiate you in later, you'll see what everyone is capable of!" Danielle strolls in and comments.
"That's tonight? AWESOME! It's been such long time since I've got to use my temple--" Milani says but gets cut off by Jay.
"Shut up Milani, do you want to spoil everything? By the way, just act like you don't know my power, ok?" Jay asks.
I nod and think of how we almost killed each other when his fire came in contact with my electricity.
"For the rest of the day, feel free to use the technique room, the game room, and anything else. This is your home too now!" Leah reassures me.
"I'm pretty sure Damien and Jaevon are dominating the game room," Jay laughed.
"Its cool, I can't play games anyway.." I trail off.
"Now that's just torture, why not?!"
"When I touch the controls, my electricity flows through the console and destroys it..."
Everybody stared at me awkwardly and then laughed nervously.
"You seem pretty powerful.." Maddy comments with a side smile.
"The gods know we need someone like you!"Marnie giggled crazily. I'm not sure what to say, so I head off to what seems like the technique room. It's full of weights and punching bags. The room is made of complete metal. I think back to any science class I've ever had and realize METAL is an excellent conductor of electricity! I think of all the emotions I'm feeling and try to push them all into one. Lightning strikes the pole and echoes throughout the room.
I feel slightly drained but I keep striking the same pole. After a while, I'm able to determine exactly where I want to hit the pole. I still can't manage HOW MUCH hits the pole, however.
"Zelena, it's time! Come join us in the backyard.." Jay pokes his head in and says. I nod and he stares at my hands. I look at them as well and realize they're steaming. I walk out the door and he touches my shoulder.
"I have special gloves that can help with that, and they're fashionable!"
I laugh a little and thank him for the help. He leads me to the backyard. It's night time, and sitting in the middle of the grass is a bonfire. Everyone is gathered around the fire with a station next to them.
"You will walk around the circle and stop at each one, each person will show you their capabilities and then you will return to me.." Marie informs me.
First up is Jaevon. He shakes my hand and I see him shimmer. A duplicate of him comes out his body and waves at me.
"Together we can fight more people, and we both summon enough wind to create a tornado.."
I'm not sure how to respond so I move on to the next station.
Damien stands there and starts muttering something in Latin. The ground breaks in front of us and all starts of creepy things crawl out. Skeletons, hellhounds, anything that you'd imagine would crawl out from... You know where. Oh boy, it's looking like I've underestimated this group. They are way more dangerous than I could've imagined.
