The Dove's Brother: Origin Story

Chapter XIV: Dancing with stars

Bianca

Contrary to the gloomy and desolate environment of the rest of the building, the cafeteria was a hub of activity. In the middle of the hall was the dancefloor, decorated with strobe lights, streamers and dimmer lights. On the dance floor, students danced with one another, while a few chaperones walked around supervising them. Along the breadth of the rectangular hall were arranged a few tables and chairs in which sat the teachers and remaining chaperones, each occasionally sparing a glance at their charges before returning to their tasks. Opposite to the seating area, along the parallel breadth of the hall, was a DJ stand/Tech base. A few students, seniors from their looks, stood at the stations doing their duties.

We entered the hall without any problem as the chaperones were seemingly bored to even be there. Only one teacher noticed us but before we could explain ourselves, he simply returned to writing something on his notepad. It was then I noticed the tables with drinks and snacks arranged along the walls. I tugged on Nico's hand and he immediately understood following me to the tables. Hearing a hiss, we turned around to see Annabeth glaring at us while Luke and another boy, with curly black hair and crutches, had their eyebrows raised. She angrily whispered one word, "Mingle".

The second she was out of earshot, Nico spoke, "Yeesh, someone doesn't seem to be happy." Following his gaze, I saw Luke dancing with a strange girl whom I assumed was a student while Annabeth was dancing rather clumsily with the satyr. The poor goat kept stepping on her toes and she kicked him in the shin to stop him. Nico took my hand and guided us to the dancefloor. Once the ongoing song was over, a surprisingly slow song began and we began dancing. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other was enclosed by his hand while his hand rested on my waist. We were gently swirling around keeping an eye out for the demigod the satyr had said was yet to come. As the song approached its end the doors opposite to the ones we arrived through opened and 4 people walked in. A blonde boy with green eyes and a girl with choppy black hair had their hands interlocked together. To their sides, a set of twins, brother and sister, no older than 5, held onto the teens' hands.

The instant the teens let go of the kids, they made a beeline for the snacks table. The teens however headed to the dance floor behind me while keeping an eye on them. It was only when Nico twirled me around out of beat that I saw the blondes chatting up the teens. Grover nervously looked around trying to find someone. The teens looked calm, so I assumed they hadn't been told the truth yet. The satyr had only told them of the presence of one demigod, so the question remained, which of the two teens was the demigod? The boy had blonde hair, emerald green eyes and a facial structure that resembled royalty while the girl had medium length choppy black hair, chocolate brown eyes and a soft bronze tan. It wasn't a tough question. In the short time we had been at the camp, Nico had ensured that the both of us studied the different cabins and how to differentiate them simply by looking at their appearance. While it was by no means near perfection, we atleast learnt to distinguish demigods and other mythological creatures from the mortal ones.

Before I could join the group and welcome the new demigod, I felt Nico let go of me. He suddenly began walking to the snack tables behind me. I quickly followed him only to find him lifting two glasses of punch from the hands of the twins. The twins were jumping up and down trying to teach the glasses but Nico raised them above his head making it impossible for them reach it. I intervened when the twins' eyes widened and clouded with tears, their lower lips jutting out slightly. Nico was never one to be cruel but he was getting too strict and uptight. It was almost as if being near the Greeks was making him more rigid...more Roman.

I quickly knelt before the kids with my back to Nico. I could feel the cold determination of betrayal flow through him. I turned my attention to the sniffling kids and said, "Hey, you guys okay?" The girl glared weakly at me before saying, "Of course we are not. That bully just stole our stuff." Standing up, I picked up two pieces of candy from the table and handed it to them saying, "I don't think you are allowed to drink that. My brother was just worried about you." The boy swiped his eyes with his sleeves and said, "Well you don't have to be. We can take care of ourselves." I wasn't surprised by his response, being the youngest students in sight, I knew what that meant for them. They were so much like us before all this started. I turned around to see Nico had placed the glasses near the far end of the table and was leaning against the wall. Sighing at the situation before me, I called him over and he raised an eyebrow but came over nonetheless.

The younger set of twins glared at Nico, their purple eyes almost looking aflame. Nico stood beside me and simply said, "Do you really think drinking that is worth it? What would your teachers think? What would your friends think?" For some reason, the fire in the eyes of the boy died out. He looked conflicted before whispering, "Sorry" The girl however was still furious as she nudged her brother and said "Alex, those meanies should be the ones apologising not us." The girl only calmed down when her brother placed a hand on hers and looked her in the eyes. The message was clear. He looked up at us and said in a strangely familiar voice, "I apologize for the actions of my sister and I. Now if you would excuse us, we have to meet our friend." The girl still refused to say anything, opting to just stay silent. Nico suddenly spoke scaring both me and the twin brother, Alex. He said, "Why don't we take you to your friends? Do you remember where they are?" Alex replied, "Yeah, we came with Stephen and he was with Alice. They are right.." He paused for a second, pointing to the place where the blondes were talking to the teens, before continuing, "They were right there." 

Nico and I both turned around to see that neither the teens nor the blondes nor the satyr were there. The only conclusion we could form was that the disguised monster had found them first.