chapter
επτά
'seven'
THE CONSTANT FEELING that something was going to happen. The hyper-vigilance of someone who's been through so much more than you can tell from an eye gaze. That’s what Eurydice Kane’s life was filled with. She had grown accustomed to being hyper-vigilant and having a quick reaction.
That’s why as she dragged herself from her room, she was quick to notice the sounds filling the home and the method of steps that everyone was taking. She walked to the bathroom and jangled the door-knob, waiting for it to open and the person inside to walk out.
The door opened ever so slightly, revealing Kaz trying to style his hair with an insane amount of hair gel. Eurydice let out an annoyed huff as she ran a hand through her hair, which ended up getting stuck due to the number of knots that riddled her curls.
"Out. Now." The girl said sternly while Kaz kept messing with his hair, she was simply in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of men’s underwear serving as shorts.
"But Eurydice! I need to make sure I look perfect for the ladies!" Kaz protested as he shot himself a grin in the mirror along with a wink, this is where Titus gets it from.
"Yeah, no, I do not care. Move or I will shave your head in your sleep," She growled out as she tapped her foot expectantly, her face was stern as she was not a morning person.
Kaz turned on his heel with wide eyes to face her, clearly shocked and horrified by her threat, "That is evil! You would do no such thing!"
"One!" Eurydice held up one finger as she started the countdown, ignoring Kaz's statement and his horror.
"Eury -" Kaz tried to stop her from counting while still taking up the bathroom which only made her count faster.
"Two!" She said much louder as she held up her second finger showing Kaz that she was not playing any games.
"Alright! Alright!" Kaz threw his hands up as he slid past Eurydice and out of the bathroom door, "It is yours now calm down."
Eurydice smirked as she shut the door while yelling, "Thanks!" Acting innocent when she was far from it.
The girl made sure to leave the door unlocked, in case anyone needed to come in and get ready before school. The girl stripped before entering the shower, making sure to pull the curtain shut in case anyone did come in. She turned the silver knob before flinching at the sudden fall of cold water.
Her eyes shut tightly momentarily before she pried them back open. Slowly moving more and more under the water as it beaded down against her skin. She inhaled sharply as she ran her hands through her hair making sure to get it all wet.
After a bit, Eurydice managed to step out and put on a towel. Brushing her teeth and blow-drying her hair before stepping out of the bathroom and striding to her room. Eurydice shut her door behind her before she pulled open her closet door.
Eurydice pulled on a pair of tattered mom jeans, the dark color seemingly made her skin look more washed out. She added a belt and a few chains before picking out a ripped-up ACDC shirt and sliding it on. Quickly throwing on her Doc Martens upon hearing her family call for her.
Eurydice grabbed her bookbag quickly before exiting her room, popping up beside her brother before the four demigods piled into their vehicle and sped off. Eurydice driving instead of the others this time.
“Go go go! We’re going to be late!” Kaz yelled, only adding to Eurydice’s stress and annoyance.
“Kaz,” Newt warned, knowing how his sister reacts under stress.
Eurydice shoved down the gas harshly speeding way above the limit. She made a few sharp turns and drifted a few times, but they did make it to school in one piece.
“Dios. Maldita mujer, casi comencé a rezar para que no muriéramos así,” Damn woman, I almost started praying that we wouldn't die like this. Titus sputtered out.
Eurydice scoffed as she put the car in park, “Oh shut up. Be grateful I got us here on time.”
“You sure did,” Kaz looked traumatized, Eurydice couldn’t help but find it rather comical.
Eurydice rolled her eyes before bolting into the school building. Ignoring the look she began to get from other students.
"Eurydice?" Cardan questioned, seeming amused by her running around, "How much Adderall have you had?"
Eurydice turned and looked at Cardan, resisting a snort, "Really? You peg me for a druggie."
"No, I don't. Well not intentionally at least," He joked before nudging her arm, "Where are you headed?"
"Uh, Meyers, shit - Titus has the class with me and I ditched him!" Eurydice began to internally curse.
"Hey, little man is a tough one. He's probably hitting on random chicks," Cardan reassured her with a small smirk, "As I will be."
Eurydice faked a sigh as she tightened her grip on her bag, "Of course, Cardan. Go find some hot chicks - maybe find me a few to screw with," She joked.
Cardan blinked in shock, "Wait hold on-"
Thus the warning bell began to blare.
"Gotta go!" Eurydice offered no explanations before she began to run off.
"Wait!" Cardan yelled through the crowd, "We have a lot to unpack!"
“Nope! No we don’t,” Eurydice yelled out with a smirk before slipping through the crowd.
In all honesty, Eurydice wasn’t too sure how her sour morning turned her to an overly happy person. She hadn’t taken too much Adderall and she hadn’t smoked anything. She slipped through the crowd as her mind pondered different scenarios in her head.
Eurydice moved to her seat, ignoring the look she received from Titius and the one that she could feel Rosalie Hale give her. The burning of the teen’s eyes caused her to instinctively become defensive.
“Well Eury, you’re in quite the mood,” Titius mumbled teasingly as class started.
“Shut up,” Eurydice kicked his ankle causing a groan.
“Oh come on! Not in Docs,” Titus was trying to stay a bit quiet.
Eurydice simply grinned as she began to listen through the lesson. Mr. Meyers gave the same boring talk. Occasionally, he’d throw glances at slight disruptions from the two demigods. Eurydice occasionally ends up slipping from her chair.
“Ms. Kane!” Mr. Meyers yelled at her finally having enough, “Please either settle down or leave this classroom.”
Eurydice faked a sigh, "I am settled down," She made a face of false sadness.
Mr. Meyers did not seem happy, "Out."
Eurydice rolled her eyes before she grabbed her bag and began to walk out. Trying to retain her laughter as she headed to hide in the girl’s restroom. Eurydice dropped her bag on the tiled floor before moving to lean against the wall.
The dripping of the water from the faucet didn’t bother her at the moment. She blinked as she began to rub her eyes. The random happiness she had felt seemingly crashed. Panic. Eurydice mentally cursed herself for not realizing it sooner.
Her breathing picked up as the sound of the water dripping began to get louder before her hands covered her ears. She should’ve noted her own signs earlier. In the shower, the sound of water made her flinch before she had to practically force herself to breathe. The speed she seemingly sped up with, as if she were running from someone or something. Not to mention the random flash of happiness and fun before it disappeared.
It always happened in the same order. As if replaying the same sick song that held a grasp on her life throughout every bit of damage she had gone through.
She began to try to breathe in fours, a method she had been taught by a son of Apollo who often encountered her. Pacing back and forth before she stopped completely in front of a mirror.
Looking at herself, all that she could see was the girl she was during the war. The war she had taken a break from despite the weight of everything that she had lost. She had lost herself, a dear friend, and a newfound family.
“Hey, Eurydice,” Rosalie Hale’s voice was barely able to get through to the girl, she turned quickly, almost grabbing her dagger from her jeans, “I need you to breathe slowly.”
“I’m trying - I’m trying,” Eurydice couldn’t help but repeat her words as she tried to back away, only backing herself up into a wall.
“It’s alright, I won’t come closer because it seems that’s scaring you as well,” Rosalie went quiet before seemingly remembering something, “Tell me five things you see.”
“What?” Eurydice stuttered out confused, “What does-?” Her breathing began to speed up.
“Come on, Kane. Just tell me five things you can see. Five things here, in this bathroom,” Rosalie stated trying to stay patient.
Eurydice kept putting more and more pressure on her ears as she tried to calm herself, “Uh… I see the sink… my bag on the floor…”
“Good, three more things to go,” Rosalie spoke softly as she nodded encouragingly.
“You uh you’re wearing a chunky crest necklace,” Eurydice’s voice wavered, “My reflection in the mirror. I - uh I can see the soap dispensers.”
“Good. Now four things that you can touch,” Rosalie went to see if she could move closer but stopped seeing the fear in Eurydice’s eyes.
“My bracelet. My ring, uh the chains on my jeans… uh my shoes?” Eurydice let out a cough feeling as if her airway was closing in on her.
Rosalie gave her a smile once again, it was a bit unnerving, “That’s good. Perfect. Okay, now three things you can hear.”
Eurydice was forcing herself to concentrate, “Your voice. Shoes moving - I can hear people..” She tried to explain.
“No, I understand. One more thing to go,” Rosalie spoke in a calming manner, “You’ve got this.”
Eurydice’s eyes scanned over multiple things rapidly as if trying to grasp any sound, “My heartbeat.”
“Good. Okay now two things that you can smell,” Rosalie slowly took another step.
Eurydice’s breathing began to mellow out, “Your perfume… the soap.”
“Good, now if you can try to say one thing you can taste or think about your favorite thing to taste,” Rosalie eyed the demigod.
“Cinnamon. I like cinnamon,” Eurydice sighed before she began to rub her face, “Gods, sorry.”
“No it’s fine, it’s normal for teenagers to have a panic attack,” Rosalie gave her a kind smile, surprisingly not forced, “Eurydice it’s okay. It’s normal.”
“Not for me,” Eurydice huffed under her breath before fixing her composure, “You remember my name?”
“I tend to remember names, besides, Titus repeats it a lot,” Rosalie hummed as she eyed the girl, “Look I understand that you don’t trust me or my family but we just want to protect you.”
Eurydice looked at her, her eyes narrowing, “Do you know what I am?” Eurydice simply asked.
“No but I know you aren’t normal,” Rosalie states cautiously, “But neither are we.”
“You radiate death,” Eurydice whispered, deciding that talking normally wasn’t safe, “You aren’t alive. I do know that and I have my series of theories.”
Rosalie had a dark flash that went through her eyes before she spoke, “You’ll find out in time but we aren’t out to get you. We want to help, as rude as I can be. It's because I want to protect you even if it means shoving you away,” Rosalie held out her hand, “But it seems our paths are crossing a lot faster than we all thought.”
Eurydice eyed her hand before ignoring the chill of death as she shook the hand of the dead, “If anything happens to my family I will make sure that you all suffer.”
“If anything happens to your family, we’ll help you bring pain to those who inflicted harm on them,” Rosalie countered as their hands broke apart.
“I guess that we will see,” Eurydice pulled her hands back before placing them inside of her pockets.
Rosalie tilted her head, her perfect face framed by her golden curls, “You’re sitting with us at lunch, right?”
“I supposed that I don’t have much of a choice anymore, though I do suspect either my friends coming over or me going over,” Eurydice began to rock on her heels as her eyes remained trained on the teenager.
Time seemed to fly after that, Elijah had been informed of Eurydice’s movement for lunch and he wasn’t that thrilled. Leia was confused by it and Cardan decided he’d be the one to go between tables. Eurydice found it quite funny to see the different reactions.
“Sitting with the Cullen’s? What happened to us?” Elijah pouted as he nudged Eurydice’s arm.
“It’s not an everyday thing,” Eurydice made sure to make that clear, “Definitely not an everyday thing.”
“Good,” Leia hummed as she ran her hands through her hair, “I don’t need to lose my favorite girl to those people.”
“You aren’t losing me and I’d appreciate it if none of you speak of this to my brother,” Eurydice spoke as they pulled back the cafeteria doors.
“Remember, never too much trouble to be careful,” Cardan nudged the teen’s arm.
“Oh trust me, I know,” Eurydice gave him a look before grabbing her tray of food and heading over to the table belonging to the Cullen’s.
Eurydice decided to pick her seat carefully. She had seen Rosalie more and the woman had gained at least some trust by helping her. Alice was a bit too much and Jasper barely spoke. So, she’d sit between the Hale twins. And she did.
“Eurydice,” Alice grinned happily, “How are you?”
“Good,” Eurydice stated simply as she looked over at Rosalie.
I don’t like this.
“Neither does your brother,” The auburn-haired Cullen spoke.
A dead silence fell over the table. Eurydice’s head immediately turned to look at him with wide eyes, her hand instinctively going to her dagger. Red flag.
Seemingly realizing he had messed up, he shook his head, “Not here.”
“Why not?” Eurydice questioned as her eyes narrowed, “Not like anyone would know what I’d do.”
“In plain sight, they would,” He stated, huh. Is this a dumb monster who forgot the mist?, “What is the mist?”
“You can read minds,” Eurydice mumbled as she began to get out of her seat, until two hands grabbed both of her wrists, “What.are.you.”
“Eurydice, I promised you-” Rosalie was trying to get this over with, “We will tell you everything soon.”
“Not soon enough,” She snapped as her eyes flickered between everyone before landing on Cardan who looked on edge.
“He’s worried, tell him don’t come over,” The auburn-haired vampire spoke again.
“No chance in hell,” Eurydice sneered before ripping her wrists away, “I don’t trust you, the only person who has any sense of trust is Rosalie and Emmett I think? He stopped her from ripping Titus’ head off.”
“I’m Edward by the way,” The auburn-haired vampire said.
“Well Edward, stay out of my mind,” Eurydice snapped before sighing, “Gods I’m going with the feeling that one of you is an empath because I can’t control my emotions and I swear when I find out which one it is I will rip you to pieces and burn you! Maybe burn first,” She growled.
“Sorry, let’s not get there,” Jasper managed to get out.
“Then stop toying with my emotions,” Eurydice tilted her head before going silent as Cardan approached, causing the table to go dead silent.
“Told you I’d be between tables, how's the darkness herself,” Cardan joked as he stood in front of the table, between Alice and Edward.
Eurydice held back a laugh, “I’m fine Cardan. Oh, meant to ask, you’re coming over tonight right?”
Coming over? For less than a minute. Taking Eurydice out to a party? For most of the night.
Cardan grinned as he winked, “Can’t drop my plans that easily, Eury.”
“Oh I’m not dropping them, gotta run from the house before my family comes after me,” She grinned, ignoring the looks of worry that Alice shot her.
“Good. Gotta have a memorable day before school ends next week for winter break!” Cardan shot her finger guns before going back to his table.
“We're going to have some fun. Alice, don't look so worried. As shocking as it may be, people can take care of themselves while well existing,” Eurydice hummed while biting into her apple, “I expect an explanation tomorrow, five pm. Find me and most likely my brother where you two dropped us off,” Eurydice states before rising from her chair, “Now I’m going to go walk around. Cardan, come on.”
Eurydice did not wait for any more comments from the others, Edward reading her mind was bugging her a bit too much. She made a motion for Cardan to follow her out of the door since he hadn't moved from his spot. She walked outside before ignoring the practical screaming of her brother’s shadows, clearly he was mad.
But Eurydice didn't just leave because they were bugging her. She still couldn't sit that long with that much death while in a school full of so many living things. She still wanted to know what was up - why were they dead but alive? It made absolutely no sense, but, when did anything ever make sense.
"Sorry, I'm just lost in my own mind," Eurydice crossed her arms as she broke herself from her thoughts.
“As someone who understands your stress, it’s understandable,” Cardan spoke, causing Eurydice to raise an eyebrow.
“Πιστεύεις ότι ένας κανονικός θνητός θα είχε επιβιώσει από την ποσότητα αλκοόλ που έχω καταναλώσει?” Do you think a normal mortal would have survived the amount of alcohol I consumed?, The dots started to connect.
Eurydice nearly choked on the air within her lungs, her eyes widening before she let out a small laugh, “You son of a bitch. Son of Dionysus.”
“Legacy of Athena as well, though, my brother fits that better,” Cardan spoke as he grinned, “We had to split up.”
“I had to split up with my family for a while, in the end everyone will come back together,” Eurydice couldn’t hide her grin as she jokingly hit Cardan's arm, "That's for not saying anything."
“I believe that too, especially with the need for all of us,” Cardan said vaguely, not needing anyone else to understand, "Hey! I couldn't just start the conversation with that. I wasn't sure what you were at first but when you got defensive I noticed how you reached for something. Believably a weapon of sorts."
Eurydice nodded before laughing, Cardan smirked at her before lighting up a joint. “We’ll all be holding the weight of the war soon.”
“Let’s not think of that now, I’m sure you’re in for it with your family soon and I most likely will be too,” Cardan offered Eurydice a joint but she declined.
Eurydice felt a pair of eyes resting on the two, "They’re watching.”
The Cullen family had walked out, and stood by the door. Their eyes were trained on the two demigods who were standing together as one smoked.
“They’ve been there all along,” He stated.
Eurydice raised her eyebrows, “So they know…?”
“That I’m not normal nor am I human. Well, fully human,” Cardan explained with a small laugh.
“Oh you’re now high, that easily?” Eurydice shoved his arm, "You are so out of it already!"
“I’m a son of Dionysus,” Cardan simply shrugged, "Comes with da genesss."
Eurydice shook her head, “Uh uh. A god of wine not joints.”