Audaces Fortuna Iuvat • J.Grace

III.

          𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 on the worksheet, especially the boys in specific. Both Alecia and Jason were distracted by the storm and their own mixed-up feelings, but, unlike Jason, Alecia somehow knew how to "describe two examples of erosion." Leo wasn't of any help either. His attention was focused on building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.

"Check it out." He launched the copter out over the railing and Alecia and Jason watched, figuring it would plummet, but the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.

"How on earth did you manage that?" Alecia quired, raising a brow as she looked out where the small model flew out to.

Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands.

"Seriously," Jason said, "are we friends?"

"Last I checked."

"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?" The blonde asked.

"It was..." Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."

"But we don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if-"

"You both are right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning, and we've all got fake memories of you" A small voice inside of Alecia's head said, That's precisely what we think. But it sounded crazy. Everyone here took them for granted. Everyone acted like they were a normal part of the class - except Coach Hedge.

"Take the worksheet." Jason passed over the paper to Leo. "We'll be right back." Before Leo could even utter a protest, Jason had grabbed Alecia's hand and headed across the skywalk with her in tow.

Their school group had the place to themselves. Perhaps it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had frightened them off. It sure frightened Alecia. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were dropping pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile. She repeatedly kept pushing him away, and when she saw Alecia and Jason, she gave the latter a look that said Throttle this guy for me. Jason motioned for her to hang on. The duo walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.

"Did either of you do this?" The coach asked them.

Jason took a step back while Alecia furrowed her eyebrows. "Do what?" He asked. It sounded as if the Coach had questioned whether or not one of them had made the thunderstorm.

Coach Hedge glared at the two, his beady eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kids. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"

"You mean to say...you have no recollection of us?" Alecia asked. "We're not one of your pupils?"

Hedge snorted. "Never seen you two before today. And what's with all the fancy talk?" Alecia looked over to Jason, grey eyes questioning him for her: I talk fancy? He gave a small, reassuring squeeze on her hand that she had forgotten was still in her grasp. Strangely, she didn't mind. She found it almost...familiar. Well, on the positive side, at least they knew they weren't going insane. They were in the wrong place.

"Look, sir, we don't know how we got here. We just woke up on the school bus. All we know is that we're not supposed to be here."

"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was intending to share a secret with them. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kids, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but neither of you smell like monster. You both smell like half-blood. So - who are you, and where did you come from?"

Almost everything that spilled from the Coach's mouth made no sense to Alecia whatsoever and she could take a pretty solid guess that Jason was just as lost as her. "We don't know who we are. Neither of us have any memories. You've got to help us."

Coach Hedge studied both faces as if he were trying to read their thoughts. "Great," He muttered under his breath. "You're being truthful."

"Of course we are! And what exactly did you mean when you spoke about things such as monsters and half-bloods? Did you mean them with some sort of hidden context?" Alecia inquired. Hedge narrowed his eyes at her and she couldn't help but question his sanity just a bit. Of course, she knew better. Something told her that he knew what he was talking about.

"Look, kids," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect four of you rather than two. Are you both the special package? Is that it?"

Jason and her shared a look of more confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Hedge looked up at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk and it only made Alecia that much more uneasy. "This morning," He started, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you two pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"

The pain behind their eyes became worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. They still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave them a massive brain freeze - like their mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't. It was so aggravating and painful at the same time.

Jason stumbled forward having let go of Alecia's hand and Coach caught him all the while Alecia hunched slightly over, clutching the waves of her copper locks. "Whoa, there, cupcakes. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you both, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."

"What director?" Jason asked. "What camp?"

"We haven't an inkling of anything you speak of," The girl reinforced, becoming tired of this game.

"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before-"

Lightning suddenly crackled overhead followed by an undignified shriek from Alecia. Within a second she had unconsciously latched onto Jason's side, tucking her head down. It was then that she guessed that she harbored a fear of storms - more specifically lightning - and was a big cause for her built up uneasiness. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuttered. Screams from the kids started up after Alecia's, each one stumbling and grabbing onto the rails.

"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. His megaphone appeared in his hand and he bellowed into it: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"

"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind. His arm was held protectively over Alecia and she wasn't sure if it was due to her sudden outburst or the violent winds. Whichever it was didn't matter. Gathering her dignity and courage, she managed to pull herself back upright and look over to the Coach.

"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"