Stargazer

Chapter 5

We walk to the dining pavilion in the morning, Sybil leaning on me for support as she stumbles along, "Callie, I don't get it."

"Get what?" I ask her, grinning.

"How you can stay up all night and still be happy and smiling," She shrugs, "And I went to bed earlier and your still..." She yawned. "Never mind."

I smile as we sat down and Sybil lay her head on the table and started to snore lightly. I looked around to find a guy I'd never seen before staring at me. "Um, hi." I said, trying for a wave.

He grins, a troublemakers smile, and waves back from across the table. Travis slides into the seat next to him, and Connor gets the one on the opposite side. They both put their hands on the guy's shoulders and Travis says, "So, this is Calynn, she's unclaimed, like you, and she's gonna show you around today."

"I am?" I ask.

"She is?" Connor ask.

Travis nods, "Yeah. It's payment for..." He gestures at the red slap mark on his face and his brother's. Connor and I exchange looks then shrug, "Okay." The guy looks impressed, "You did that?"

I shake my head, "No, I'm not that nice," I pat Sybil on the back and she mutters something in her sleep, "She did it."

"Cool."

Connor and Travis exchange a look and then Travis sighs, "You can just follow her and ask all the questions you want." The boy nodded and ran a hand through his brown curly hair, "Sounds like a plan."

I open my mouth to ask his name, but Sybil sits up suddenly, fully awake, "Good morning!" She looks around sleepily and sees Connor, she leans over and pats his cheek, "Sorry about that, by the way." She stands and walks off, I turn to the boy, "And that was Sybil."

He raises and eyebrow, "Are they..." he lets his question hang for a moment, then Connor realizes what he means, "No!" He screeches, "No! No! No!" He stands up hurriedly and walks off, flustered. Travis and I exchange smiles, "I'll go get the doctor." Travis sighs, standing up and following his brother.

I turn awkwardly to cabin eleven's newest family member, "Well, let's get going, shall we?"

He nods and grabs a bread roll and stuffs it in his pocket, then another for his mouth and an extra for his hand, "Let's roll!"

The joke hangs in the air, then I snort, "That was horrible!" 

He pretends to bow, "Oh, I know." He grins at me, "Lead the way."

I turn to the boy, who's about my age, "Well, now that you know my name, how about you introduce yourself."

"I'mCecil Markowitz." He flashes his goofy smile once more.

* * *

As I finish my tour Cecil stops, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"So... the gods are real. Like really real? Like really, really, really real?"

"Yes."

He nodded thoughtfully, "It's a lot to take in."

"Tell me about it."

He laughs, and his smile makes the back of my head tingle with a memory. The memory of his laugh. Luke's laugh.

I try to push away the thoughts, "Anyway, let's continue." I lead him to the shed, the one where weapons are stored, "You need a weapon, to defend yourself and-" 

"A weapon?" He says, interrupting me.

I nod, in any other situation I would have been annoyed, but Cecil just looked so happy. I open the shed and bring out a spear, he shakes his head. I turn to get another but he slips past me and starts to look around. I watch as he lifts each weapon with care, examines it and places it back in the pile, after about ten minutes he turns to me, "If you don't mind... I don't really want a weapon just yet..."

"Um... Okay. That's fine. You can pick one out later."

He nods, but I have the feeling he's not going to come back to this shed. He studies my face, "I just don't think I'm ready..."

"That's fine, why don't we head back."

"Head back where?"

"To our cabin, it's where you'll be staying until your claimed."

"Claimed?" He asked.

I nod.

"Travis said something about you being unclaimed... Is that bad?"

I shrug as we leave the little shed, "I'm not sure, the gods just made a promise to claim all their children once they came to camp, but..."

"You're still unclaimed."

I nod once more, "Yeah, but hopefully you'll be claimed tonight at the campfire."