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The first sound Lyric heard in the morning was the mocking voice of Drew. Lyric wanted to scream, but she closed her eyes instead, taking a deep breath, before opening them again.
"Oh, honey, it won't go away. Mom's blessing will last at least another day. Maybe a week if you're lucky."
She heard Piper groan from across the room, "A week?"
The kids around them snickered at Piper's irritation at the permanent makeover she had gotten last night from Aphrodite's claim. She looked even more gorgeous than she had before, but the added touches were drawing attention to her, and attention was something Piper didn't seem too fond of.
"Don't worry, hon." Drew commented in a sickly sweet voice, whilst applying a lipstick that was two shades too bright to look at that early in the morning. "You're thinking you don't belong here? We couldn't agree more. Isn't that right, Mitchell ?"
Lyric sighed as she watched Mitchell quiver before whimpering out an answer. "Um, yeah. Sure."
"Mmm-hmm." Drew took out her mascara and checked her lashes. Lyric knew the routine by heart by now, with the dressing table and mirror diagonally across from her bed, and the only source of entertainment for her in this cabin. "So anyways, people, fifteen minutes until breakfast. The cabin's not going to clean itself! And Mitchell, I think you've learned your lesson. Right, sweetie? So you're on garbage patrol just for today, mm-kay? Show Piper how it's done, 'cause I have a feeling she'll have that job soon—if she survives her quest. Now, get to work, everybody! It's my bathroom time!"
Everybody started rushing around, making beds and folding clothes, while Drew scooped up her makeup kit, hair dryer, and brush and marched into the bathroom.
An eleven year old girl, Stacey, Lyric thought her name was, was kicked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body and shampoo still foaming in her hair. A couple of the campers quickly offered her some clothes and comforted her as a few silent tears left her eyes.
Lyric was barely restraining her anger when Piper spoke up,
"Seriously? You let Drew treat you like this?"
Her siblings looked at her nervously, silently agreeing, but no one spoke a word, they just kept cleaning.
Piper was the new Lyric, Lyric noted. Her outburst hadn't been a surprise, since Lyric had been the same in the beginning. But time had changed her. She had gotten used to Drew's cruelty on the other campers. She had tried speaking up at first, but to no avail. Later, she was the only one who was exempted, especially after the Battle of Manhattan, but before that, she had been treated the same as Mitchell and Stacey and all others. Fear of her kept the others away.
Lyric got up and started making her bed, looking around the dollhouse they lived in before pulling out a backpack from under the bed to start packing for the quest. She looked back at Piper to see if she was also getting ready. But instead, she was staring at the movie poster of Tristan McLean in king of sparta. Lyric looked in between the girl and the actor. They were related. It was probably her father from the embarrassed look on her face and the pink beginning to creep onto her cheeks. She quickly turned away, looked around for a second, and then started picking at her bedcover in a desperate attempt to look busy. Lyric could only stay heartless for so long. She motioned to Lacy who was crawling under the bed next to her, picking up candy wrappers she had probably hid from Drew.
