Flowers and Darkness

Chapter 8

The new few days went by uneventfully. I would spend my time hanging out with Jayden, Rose and Alex, which surprisingly felt normal. Too normal. I was waiting for them to say something. Anything. My birthday was just over a week away and I just felt like a sitting duck. Wasn't I meant to learn to fight? Isn't there some big plan on how we can trick him and lure him away?

I was lying, belly down, with my feet dangling off the edge of Rose's bed as I waited for my pink toenails to dry. Rose was sitting cross legged on her bed painting her nails the same colour as mine and muttering under her breath about how she hated it.

"What was the academy like?" She lifted her head in surprise at my question. They all had such a big past together that I knew nothing about. I wanted to know them better and I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. "The one that you all trained at."

"What's with the sudden curiosity?" She resumed painting her nails, though was considerably quiet now.

"I've always been curious." I lifted myself up on my elbows and waited.

"We all grew up there so it was all we knew. It was intense and you had to be dedicated enough to stick with the training, but getting to the stage where you can easily beat up the guy that slapped your ass is definitely rewarding." She smirked. 

"Me, Jayden and Alex were close friends at the academy. There were others in our friendship group, but the three of us were always the closest. We would do dumb fun things like sneak in alcohol or do pranks on teachers in class. Pretty risky considering how strict the teachers were and the punishments you could get. We all got them at some point, but it's the thrill of doing something and trying not to get caught. At the academy it can get easy for you to go overboard and make training and battling your life. But you need that balance, y'know?"

I chewed my at my lip. I couldn't imagine many parents would be happy their children were off training to fight instead of going to school.

"We were still educated there." She pursed her lips as if reading my mind. "It was about 20% school and 80% training. But unlike learning how to do algebra, we learnt the important stuff."

"How did you guys end up going there? Did you parents know about it?" Now that I opened this conversation, I wanted to know everything.

She stopped painting her nails and put the lid back on the bottle. She blew on her nails for a few seconds before meeting my eyes. "It's more of a cross between a school, a bootcamp and an orphanage. Everyone that goes to the academy are orphans. We're the children of Gods that don't want us."

"Why?" I whispered under my breath and sat upright.

"Sometimes Gods go onto Earth and impregnate women. Whether it's love or lust...I don't really know. Those children then become demigods. Some demigods are out there living with their mothers, though often than not most mothers usually die during childbirth. Me and Alex never knew our mother and father, but I suppose our father bringing us with him to Olympus shows that he cares to an extent."

"Do you want to know who he is?"

"Yes and no." She paused and blew at her nails again. "I want to know because I'm curious. But at the same time, I know he can never be the father I would expect and want him to be."

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. Not only was the concept of reincarnation very real, but so were demigods. I was frightened about this all, so I couldn't even begin to imagine innocent children growing up with this as their reality.

"Besides I have Alex. He's my family. Having a twin is incredibly rare. You think one demigod child is bad, imagine having two." She laughed softly to herself. "My mother must have been incredibly tough to even carry out the pregnancy. To even get to the stage where she could give birth to two healthy babies. She must have been so strong." She smiled at the thought and her eyes glistened. "I'll be back."

She left the room and I couldn't help but be at awe of her. I look around her large room and feel guilty that I pre-judged her. She was so confident and poised that I had pegged her as a girl of privilege. For her to build herself up so much in spite of the hurt she must be going through is admirable. As distant as I feel to my parents I could never imagine not having them here. Or my brother.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled down to click on Aaron's name. He picked up on the second ring of my video call and I could see he was in his dorm room.

"Hey, how's it going?" He gave me a toothy smile.

"Going good, same old really. I just missed you." There were two half empty bottles of vodka behind him and a stack of cups. I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning to go out tonight. "You're not busy are you?"

"No, no it's fine. I've still got some time before I'm planning to leave. How's mum and dad?"

"They're away for the week at this joint conference they've been invited to." I folded my arms. "I'm just over at a friends place right now."

"They're away for the whole week? Dean's planning on being home for the weekend. He just left now so I can always get him to check up on you and see how you're doing."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. Aaron's always been a people person and so the odd occasion when he had to stay home alone felt like complete isolation to him. He could never understand how I could be fine being alone. "It's fine. A night in alone sounds great, but I don't think any of my friends will let that happen any time soon."

"So you're going out this evening?" I glanced at the bottles again.

"Yeah it's one of the guy's birthday, plus it's a Friday so..." He chuckled and looked behind me.

I turned around to see Rose coming back into the room and quickly introduced them both.

"So what have you both got planned?" He mock rubbed at his chin in curiosity.

"We'll probably just stay in and watch a film." I shrugged.

He laughed. "That sounds super exciting. Big plans I see. I should probably leave you to it then, I need to bounce anyway."

"It was nice meeting you Aaron! I'll definitely make sure to watch over Violet for you."

I rolled my eyes and we all said our farewells. I turned to see Rose with a big grin on her face.

"We're going to a party!" She squealed.

"When did we decide this?" I frowned and slouched in my seat.

"I did, just now! It's a Friday night and your brother's completely right, our plan is so boring."

"No one said it was boring." I muttered.

"We're going out and it's final." She stood up and went to her wardrobe. "We need to find something short and sweet to wear, 'cos I know we both need a night out right now."

She was right about that. I didn't argue and a few hours later I found myself wearing a red bodycon dress and heels. Rose was also wearing a similar outfit but in blue. The music was loud and the house was already packed.

"Who's party is it?"

"It's James'! He's in our English Lit class. Everyone's been talking about it all week. His parents are away for the weekend." She frowned. "Note to self: Make sure Violet starts socialising with her peers more."

I rolled my eyes and lightly shoved her.

"You know, when I called for the details he asked about you." She smirked. "He's pretty cute too."

I ignored her and kept walking through to the garden. 

"We need to do shots. A lot of shots." She eyed me and winked.

I laughed and agreed. "Okay fine."

My tolerance was stronger than hers so it would only backfire. This was going to be an interesting evening.