Demigods at Rookwood

Chapter 18

Thalia

As I got handed my skates, I looked at Miss Bowler, as if to say "is this a joke?".

They were a dirty brown, with frayed laces. They looked like they had been used over and over agin, but never been washed.
The skates I had, were way too small for me. They looked like they were made to fit a small child.

"Quit gawking! You're holding up the line!" Boomed Miss Bowler.

I rolled my eyes and went back outside.

Annabeth followed a minute later, with skates bigger than her head.

"Well, these aren't going on my feet" I said, staring down at my skates, and at my feet.

Annabeth seemed to be having the same thoughts about her Everest skates.

"Well, I guess it's time for some 'fun' ice skating!" I said Sarcastically.

We met up with with Scarlet and Ivy, who had already gotten their skates, and followed the other girls around the school, in the direction of the lake.

The path to it, led through a thick cluster of trees, blocking the dark, grey sky, and eventually opened to an empty shore.

I had never been to the lake before this. I had only looked from a far, or how Piper had described it in her dream. The fact that this was the same lake that the girl who drowned had died in, made me feel a little nauseous just thinking about it.

The lake, as Mr. Bartholomew had said, was frozen over. There were cross-crossed with lines on the ice, as a few girls were already skating on the shiny surface, with varying levels of ability.

"It looks fun" said Ivy. "Despite these monstrosities." She took a seat on a nearby fallen log, and started pushing her feet into the skates. It took several tries for her to get into the skates, with me helping her. We both ended up slicing our fingers on the blade, but at least the skates were on Ivy's feet. Ivy sucked her thumb as it dripped with blood.

My skates somehow got on my feet too, only after a million tries.

Meanwhile, Scarlet stood there, looking haughty with her arms crossed. "They can't make me do it."

Miss Bowler suddenly appeared behind her. "Oh yes, we can," she gave Scarlet a 'pat' on the back. Really it was more like a slap. "Get your skates on! Builds character!"

Annabeth stood up after getting here's on. We both carefully walked over to the ice. I grabbed her hand and pushed off with one foot. Annabeth wasn't ready, and almost fell forward, so I was basically dragging her as I skated across the ice.

I stopped, and Annabeth steadied herself.

"How are you?" I asked her.

"Good, but I'd prefer not to be dragged across the ice." She looked around. "I wish there were some temporary walls around this place or something. It would make skating a lot easier."

I nodded. "Miss Fox did take all the funds for the school for herself, so there probably isn't much in the budget for that. Besides, I think this school prefers taking the easy way out whenever it can."

We both continued skating. Depending on how hard you pushed off, you could skate around as slow or as fast as you wanted. I kept wanting to go as fast as possible. But I figured that I'd probably end up falling over, and the impact could, most likely, do some sort of damage to my body.

We skated around, dodging other skaters and trying to stay in sync. We almost whammed straight into Scarlet and Ivy, as all of us quickly stopped. 

"Careful there girls!" Said Mrs Knight, from the edge of the lake.

"Yeah! Careful!"

"Shut up Scarlet."

She rolled her eyes and poked out her tongue.

I elbowed her.

"Ok, stop it! Both of you!" Said Annabeth.

"Or you'll go in the time out corner." Joked Ivy.

I snorted. "Not the time out corner! Anything but that!" I said, shaking Ivy very softly by the shoulders.

She shook me back, laughing. "Yes, the time out corner!"

The 4 of us decided to join together like a row of chains, skating in sync as we moved around the lake, the cold air blowing through our hair and faces.

As we crossed to the other side of the lake, and past a  rocky outcrop that was just out of the sight of the teachers, I suddenly heard shouting.

" ... ignoring me, like I mean nothing to you!"

"Do you have any idea what I went through? Why didn't you come looking for me?"

The four of us skidded to a halt. A small crowd was forming against the rocks, as if a fight was about to ensue.

I peered around, and saw Violet and Penny, standing across from each other, in the middle of a heated argument.

"How could I? I was stuck here." Said Penny, anger painted in highlighter yellow all over her face. I guessed she had just found out about the asylum.

"The twins managed to find each other, didn't they? I bet it wasn't that hard." That was Violet. Her voice was dripping with derision.

"Shut up!" Screamed Penny. "I know there's more to this! What have you been playing at since you got back?"

Violet folded her arms. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, seemingly oblivious that we were watching.

"You're lying! I always know when you're lying!"

"I don't lie, you evil witch!"

Penny was hit with a wave of frustration, as she suddenly pushed Violet as hard as she could.

Violet lost her balance. She toppled, her body trying to stop her from falling, as the ice cracked below her feet. Violet fell, through the ice, and splashed into the cold water below.