Persephone Incarnate [Wattpad Prize 2014] | ✔️

{27} Alexander

And he was running toward her.

Oh, how he was running. He was so tired too – he’d been walking through the maze of a palace, all night and half of a day, with barely any rests in between. But it was just that burst of energy that mothers get when they see their poor child wailing under a heavy car, or when a soldier is about to make his last stand. It was just a desperate try to reach the end, the body’s final push.

And it propelled him toward her, toward a girl with caramel hair and deep chocolate eyes, a girl with musical fingers and lovely voice, the girl he had resolved to love and never let go now.

They collided into each other, so excited, so filled with energy that they were stunned for a few seconds, just looking at each other.

He wasn’t sure who started laughing first, him or her, but suddenly they were hugging each other, laughing, and in between, just sneaking glances at each other, as if neither of them could believe that they were really there, in each other’s arms.

“I can’t believe you’re here! Why are you here?” she said first, when they pulled away.

“Well…” he couldn’t figure out where to start explaining. It was such a long story. Should he start with Ramsey, or the chariot, or the three girls coming to him after school? He blinked. Wait, that was in the wrong order.

Before he could even begin to start, he heard footsteps behind. He stepped toward Sophie’s side, putting his arm protectively around her. Who could it be? Was it Morgan? Hades? Whoever he was? He still couldn’t exactly get the grasp on the gods/goddesses and anchors thing. 

To his relief, and some disappointment, it was just the girls and Ramsey. And a guy who he had never seen before.

“Hey, Alexander, I see you made it here before us,” Anna greeted casually. She didn’t seem to have a hair or piece of clothing out of place – it was like she hadn’t run miles and miles of maze and palace just to get here. She wasn’t even slightly panting.

He finally dismissed it as just her goddess powers kicking in – extreme athleticism and flying or something along those lines. “Yea…I just got here too,” he replied to her lamely.

“Guys, we’re risking a lot just being here, so hurry up,” he heard Ava from just around the corner of the door, where she was probably standing guard.

Anna shot her – or rather, her back – a look, as if she were saying, I know already.

“Okay, Alexander, just stay here with Sophie. And sleep. Or eat. Or whatever you feel like doing. Oh, here’s a backpack.” She turned to Ramsey, and the boy nodded and pulled out of his own backpack another smaller one. He brought it over to Alexander, and he took it with some confusion.

The backpack was heavy despite its small size. He took his arm off Sophie’s shoulder and unzipped it, trying to make out its contents in the dimness of the room. When rifling through the bag turned out difficult with only one hand, he propped it on the bed and reached in it, taking out whatever he could be find and setting it on the rumpled blankets.

There were some granola bars, some trail mix, four bottles of water, his phone, Sophie’s phone, some earbuds, and one of those things that go around your neck when you go on a long flight. He tried to think of the name, but his mind remained blank.

“Open the second one,” Ramsey prompted, staring at him intensely with wide eyes.

Alexander quickly unzipped the second pocket and found a small cotton blanket, a can of Coke, a book on war strategies, a small bouquet of flowers, a shirt tie-dyed rainbow, a janitorial uniform, some lotion from Bath & Body Works, a small Ziploc bag with…mascara and lip gloss, and a crumpled piece of paper that looked like someone’s essay.