Daughter of the Crow

Chapter 15

December 2006

Argus slid the door of the van shut with a bang, the lack of a van weighed heavy on Kiara's mind. There were not enough campers to warrant three vans. This time they would just make do with two. It was strange. Everything came in threes, the three fates, the three graces, the big three. Three was a magic number. Multiples of three were magical. Two vans not three, fifteen campers gone. Fifteen they were not sure if they were alive or missing or working with the titans. Kiara had no clue how many faces she would recognize on the other side of the war. How many she had talked to and cared for? How many were gone?

With definitely too many people in each row to be legal, they made final checks. Kiara had fought tooth and nail to get the front seat. Malcolm was nursing a sore arm—not that he was really injured. His grumbling joined the cacophony of the rest of the protesting campers. Kiara could not pinpoint where specific complaints were coming from but she could guess. She turned around and sent a sharp look to shut up most of the campers.

"Numbers!" Kiara called out before Argus started the van.

It was standard camp procedure after losing Charlotte for the seventh time. Everyone had a number and called theirs out in order to make sure everyone was there.

"One!" Lacy responded, starting the chain reaction.

By the end of the loud call and response, Kiara felt the start of a headache growing. Argus gave her a sympathetic glance before starting the van. The quiet that she had just begun to sink into erupted into chatter. That along with the rolling in her stomach caused Kiara's headache to worsen. Looking at the side mirrors Kiara saw the other van following them down the dirt road. Maybe next time she should have sat in Chiron's van. On the other hand, he might force them to all listen to Dean Martin the whole way. She held her bag in her lap with clenched hands as they rumbled down the road. Kiara did not know if closing her eyes or keeping them open would help her situation but the endless rumble and noise was not.

After a few excruciating minutes of what was not much more than a dirt path, they made it to the main road. Kiara's tense form slowly relaxed as the ride grew smoother. The occasional bump still made her head spin but overall she was better. She looked back to check on the campers in their van. Bryan's eyes were closed trying in vain to sleep but it was hopeless with the noise of the road and the chatter of the campers. He huffed and opened his eyes to glare over his shoulder before leaning back against the window. Kiara threw her sweatshirt at him, which smacked Bryan's face. At his dirty look, she gave him an apologetic smile and gestured to the purple hoodie half covering him.

"Put it on. Pull on the hood." At his confused look, she smirked. "Trust me."

He pulled it on after a moment and Kiara watched, waiting for his response. A few seconds after he lifted the hood his eyes widened. He looked around the van in surprise. He gazed amazed at Will who was very loudly arguing with Alexandra. Kiara knew the reason for his actions.

Two weeks ago, Regulus helped her charm that specific hoodie with an altered silenco so that it blocked any noise from passing through the fabric. They had been assigned as a group in the only class they shared, Magical Theory. Hours upon hours were spent researching and perfecting the spell for their semester finals. The silencing charm was not the only spell they had imbued the fabric with. The original prompt was so simple the two of them got bored and explored past the requirements. They found that while warming charms did not stick to clothing long if they imbued the sweatshirt while dying it, the threads of magic seeped into the makeup of the cloth. There were a few other spells they had practiced on it. Kiara was pretty sure it was indestructible at this point. At least it could not be burned.