DIVINE » l. valdez

xxi

❝when it's time to rise

and stand your ground ❞

The next morning, Leo had docked the ship at a pier in Charleston Harbor. By the time Hina was awake, the boys had left for the museum already.

She stood at the helm relaxing in the morning sun. The waves rolled beneath the Argo II gently, the boat swaying in time. There were no clouds in sight, and in the distance Hina could see the historic sites in the town.

Part of her considered running away while no one saw her, and spending her days in the sunshine. But, Hina knew it was impossible. They had a quest, a prophecy, a legacy. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when Annabeth, Hazel and Piper finally stumbled onto the deck ready to go.

Annabeth turned to face the girls after a short exchange with Percy. "Okay, ladies. Let's find the ghost of the Battery."

The walk was peaceful, a cool wind rustling the trees and combating the sun. They walked beneath the shade of the palmetto trees, examining the bronze historical statues lining the walkway. Hina walked beside Piper, the two lazily linking arms.

It was eerily enjoyable. The calm before a storm, Hina thought. Whatever was waiting for them, was going to be hectic.

Everything was empty, with no other people in sight. They strolled along South Battery Street, which was lined with four-story Colonial mansions. The brick walls were blanketed with ivy. The facades had soaring white columns like Roman temples. The front gardens were bursting with rosebushes, honeysuckle, and flowering bougainvillea. 

"Kind of reminds me of New Rome," Hazel mused. "All the big mansions and the gardens. The columns and arches."

Hina nodded, studying the architecture. But she knew the evil history hidden within the beauty: slavery, racial discrimination, the fighting within homes.

She kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting to be attacked. Nothing came.

They would have kept walking for hours, if Piper hadn't grabbed Annabeth's arm. "There."

Hina followed Piper's gaze across the harbor. About a hundred meters away, a shimmering figure floating along the water. She almost mistook the figure for a buoy reflecting in the light, but it was glowing. The figure moved slowly, approaching the girls. It was a woman.

"The ghost," Annabeth whispered.

"That's not a ghost," Hazel said. "No kind of spirit glows that brightly."

Piper started walking towards the ghost, as if in a trance. 

"Piper!" Annabeth called.

"We'd better follow her," Hazel said.

Hina broke into a jog, chasing after Piper, watching as she narrowly missed a horse-drawn carriage. 

By the time she caught up to Piper, she was only a few yards away form the apparition. 

Piper glared at the sight. "It is her," she grumbled.

Hina squinted trying to see the figure more closely. The apparition floated up the seawall, the glow fading. 

The woman was beautiful. Her face seemed to continuously change, morphing from one form of beauty to another. Her eyes sparkled, the colours fading and changing each time she blinked. Her hair kept growing and changing- going from long and blonde to dark brown curls.

Hina couldn't stop the knot of jealousy that grew in her stomach. She had always longed for wavy hair over her naturally straight almost uncurlable hair.