"Describe yourself," Trent told Drew as they sat in the school café. Somehow, like he did Lea, he imprinted on her and became her honorary emotional support himbo older brother.
"Young, broke, and fabulous," Drew stated, blatantly lying like she was not wearing cartier rings and a solid gold necklace- though Lea and Percy were the only ones who knew that it was a magic item.
Speaking of her Brother, he and Tyson should be finishing up on their finals so that they could leave. It was the last day of school, and they were suppose to walk the siblings to the LIRR train. Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted was better than she had expected it to be when her Mother announced that they were going there. Much better than Meriwether College Prep which was the school that she had previously chosen for them.
Lea didn't know how, but she knew that her soulmate had something to do with Mother changing her mind. Either way, she had been glad to attend the school and Drew had been surprised by her.
(And Lea had been surprised to see how talented the girl was with a bow and arrow and wondered why she never showed those skills at that camp. She was a silver medalist!)
Trent and Medea had been a surprise. They were still official students of Yancy Academy, but Brooklyn Academy had an awesome exchange student program that they took advantage of so the siblings traded off weeks where they attended either school.
Lea loved it.
They met up all the time to ride the subway together when the twins went home for the weekend-or in Percy's case, when he went home everyday.
(It was during one of these moments that Percy had found Tyson, leading him back to the apartment where Mother tended to his wounds and letting him sleep in Percy's room since Lea was a girl and she would have probably killed him if she came to find him snooping through her stuff.
It was already bad enough that Mother and Percy had taken to "sneaking" away her books and notes. Sneaking being a relative turn because she had an alien soulmate who told her every time.)
Lea admittedly went home a lot also, but she stayed in the dorms an equal amount of time. She was actually roommates with Drew!
Anyway, when Trent and Medea had shown up at the subway station with Percy, Lea, and Tyson-Lea had squealed. She had nearly tackled them to the ground as they had lost contact when they moved apartments after everything that Lea was pretending didn't happen last summer. It was embarrassing, but she was so happy to see her friends. She had been quick to introduce them to Drew and they all formed their own little clique at Brooklyn Academy.
"What are your plans for the summer," Medea asked, shuffling her deck of hand-made tarot cards. Lea remembered asking about them last year because they were pretty even if she didn't believe in them. They had been a christmas present from one of her childhood friend's-Tav or some shit. But now, she could feel the power imbued within each of them.
It made her very uncomfortable.
Lea shrugged, pushing her strawberries around. "Going to visit my dad's family."
"Your dad came back?"
Lea grimaced, noting how Drew shifted in her seat. "It's a uh long story."
"Deets," Medea demanded. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell us? I told you about one of my cousins leaving his fiancée at the altar because her ex boyfriend that came to object to the wedding so that they could get back together was his soulmate."
"And I appreciate that," Lea said as Drew blinked. "What the fuck," the japanese girl stated. Lea snorted, "It was this whole thing last year apparently. Like they got into a fight at the wedding and the fiancée smashed the cake into the officiant's face and her maid of honor ran out to flat their tires and her bridesmaid jumped his groomsman and her mom tried to scratch both their eyes out."
"What," Drew blinked. The three friends laughed. Medea smiled, "Best wedding ever."
"I worry about the three of you constantly," Drew said.
"Anyway back to your Father," Trent stressed. "When did this happen?"
Lea snorted, viciously biting one of the berries. "After everything that happened last year, with the whole human-trafficking thing," she rolled her eyes when Drew snorted softly. "He drops these presents off to Percy and I. This weird ass taxidermy snake head thing for Percy that Mom threw away because it was monstrous and a pen from his Family." She fought back a smile while Drew kept her face carefully blank. "And he gave me this ring and whatnot," she finished, waving her hand around. She hadn't planned on ever putting it on, but Percy found it when they were leaving camp and told Mother who insisted that she wore it.
Though it was only because the cops that came to interview them after everything was over and she had to fake a panic attack about waking up on the side of a dirt road not far from Montauk after word came that Percy and his friends escaped their "kidnapper" were still in the new apartment and she couldn't argue about it.
And then-
The damn thing superglued itself to her friend and wouldn't come off now matter how hard she tried.
"Ugh," Medea blanched. "What does he look like?"
"You're looking at it," Lea snorted. "Percy's the one that officially met him. I wasn't interested, but he says that Dad looks like an older version of us down to the eyes and everything."
"And his family?"
"We have a stepmother, three older sisters, and an older brother. And apparently some nieces and nephews."
And a bunch of other half-siblings.
"Whoa," Medea gaped. "I mean with a family that big at least the two of you would be spoiled."
Lea snorted.
"Did he say why he left?"
"He's from Greece," she told them. "Euboea or Evia. One of them. Percy said both." Her soulmate actually told her that when she awakened after fainting when Percy was dying last summer. The twins had been placed in the bed together with towels dipped in salt water on their foreheads.
The alien-shapeshifter god being had been beside himself in worry and hooked her up to a ventilator.
Embarrassing.
And then she learned of Luke's attempt to kill her brother.
Oh, the next time she saw Blondie she was going to make a charm bracelet out of his teeth.
"Anyway he was here on business. Met mom. They started dating and whatnot before his common sense came back and remembered that he was married. Took a cruise ship to go back home, but apparently, he got on the wrong boat that got lost at sea and got him stuck on Inaccessible Island until one of those conservationists went to check on it and found him surviving through spite. Took him home to Greece and he hadn't thought about Mom at all until he came back for a family reunion."
"There's a lot to unpack here," Medea said after a moment. "But I'll just put the suitcase back in the closet."
Lea gave her a grin.
"Oh wow. So does he get shared custody or something now?"
Lea scowled something fierce. "Hell no," she snapped. "Thirteen years out of the picture and you think he can just waltz back in and get custody? No, thanks. Mom wants us to make nice so while she's had sole physical custody, she's agreed that until we're eighteen and our caseworker Praxidikê basically says that we'd be spending time with his family on our visitation schedule. It was all the more complicated because the USA doesn't have a treaty with Greece to enforce child support payments. Not that New York has that either."
"That sucks," Trent said. Lea smirked around her fork. "You do too."
A beat and the four of them started cackling.
"So you joined the nepo babies squad," Trent teased once they finally called down. Lea rolled her eyes.
"Nepo babies," Drew asked.
"Someone who is born of wealthy parents," Medea explained. "There's a lot of them at Yancy Academy and its filled with like Paris Hilton rejects except without the trauma she experienced at that fucking boarding school."
"Our Aunt actually went to PCS and she fucking hated it. That place fucked her up so bad. She has major ptsd from it and suppressed the memories so far down because of how horrible it is. She can function perfectly fine, but the second that place comes up... we just lose her."
"That reminds me of that fucking military school Mom had me and Percy go to," Lea scowled. She bit into one of the strawberries viciously.
Medea shook her head, turning back to Drew. "They used to give Percy and Lea crap all the time and the two of them didn't take it lying down. I'm pretty sure Nancy's still mad that she can't get her rematch for the fight club."
Lea smirked. While Percy was running a contraband store out of his dorm, Lea was in the old art room in the fourth floor of the abandoned dormitory snatching cash that way by beating up people. Lea was from Inwood. She had to learn to fight dirty.
"Those dweebs thought that because their families had money they were somehow better than us. They weren't and I made sure they knew that."
"And then ignored everyone outside of our table," Trent snickered. "Lea was like friends with her brother, us, and this kid named Grover and that was it. We were all part of this exclusive club that was friends with her and the people hated it because they didn't have money like the rest of them."
"And now they do and it'd drive the rest of them mad to find out that their trust fund babies too and still were kicking their asses. They'd be scrambling to try to make deals with your family."
"Or put a scandal on the family name."
Lea scoffed. "That's if I cared about what they thought. And we're not anything. That's not my family."
Lea's mark started burning and she jerked upright.
"Lea," her friends asked as she looked around her.
Where was he?
Her hand came to rest upon it absently and Drew stiffened beside her. The amulet warmed just a bit and she suddenly wished that she wasn't wearing such a low cut top. She hoped it didn't stop glowing or worse-the mark started to burn through the flimsy covering she placed on it.
"Lea?"
A hand brushed against her own.
"Lea?"
"Khaíre, Leaneíras," a familiar voice whispered in her ear. She turned in his direction, but there was nothing there. "I was passing by when I sensed you, asteri mu. I think I will sit with you for a moment before I leave."
A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped violently. The fork in her hand spearing the air. Drew's hand flashed, catching it as she looked at Lea with concern.
A breathy chuckle danced around her ears. "Tensed are we?"
Lea shuddered, turning back to the others. They were all looking at her and she shook her head. He was making her look crazy. "Sorry," she croaked, reaching out for a glass of water that she almost spit back out when she tasted salt in it. "I thought-I felt my soulmate around."
Drew tensed further, eyes darting around almost as if she could see him while Trent and Medea stared at her with wide eyes. "Your soulmate," Trent repeated.
"I thought you didn't believe in that," Medea countered.
"I don't," Lea snapped. "I'm still working on my theory, but soulmate is the simple explanation that you all would understand even if it is some cosmic bullshit."
"Since when do you even have one?"
"I don't," Lea stressed. "And since last year. I got it at twelve like most girls. It itches like crazy and I still haven't found the right moisturizer to keep it from chafing and it burns every time that green eyed freak is near me."
"Well that's not nice," she heard whispered in the wind. "Dare I mention that you too have green eyes?"
"You've met him?"
"Unfortunately," Lea drawled, scowling around her since she still couldn't see him. "He was the one that was stalking me at Yancy last year. Mr. Brunner knew all about it too."
If it weren't for the fact that she was playing up having Dissociative amnesia she would have thrown that knock-off Blitzen under the bus for human trafficking also.
"He was your stalker," Medea gaped. "And he's not in jail?"
"He fancies himself as Aladdin, I guess. a thief that cannot be captured. The prince of robbers. And unfortunately, he's my stalker-mate."
"Apollôn named me that," the voice drawled fondly. She knew that. She read it in his lore.
"Lea, be careful," Trent told her. "Your soulmate sounds like the biggest walking talking red flag."
He was most definitely a red flag but red was also her favorite color so what it do babeyyy.
Drew snorted, "Red is her favorite color."
"It does bring out your eyes," she heard whispered in her ear, lips brushing against the skin.
She shivered before rolling her eyes at her friends. "I'm always careful," she told them, gaping playfully when the three of them scoffed. There was light snickering in her ear. "I'm going to get better friends."
"You said that before," Trent drawled. "And all you came back with was Drew here."
"Speak for yourself," Medea said. "I was so betrayed even though I like Drew now."
"If it makes you feel any better, it took letting her copy my french homework packet before she even let me speak to her in public."
"It does make me feel better," the other said. "I'm glad you had to work for it."
"You didn't?"
"Playing favorites, érotá mou agiátrefte?"
Lea took another sip of water. "Don't let her fool you. She was also my roommate and even then followed me everywhere. She was always there when I got out of class and walked me to class. And then Trent here broke some dude's wrist when he put his hand up my skirt."
The wind whipped angrily around them. Drew gave her a nervous glance before it calmed.
"I would turn bone into dust, blood into vapor, life into death if any tried again."
Lea choked.
"And then she's introducing you to us and I'm like she has other friends?"
"Hey," Lea frowned. "Don't act like that."
"It's absolute blasphemy to have other friends than us," Trent sniffed.
"As if you two aren't cheating on me?"
Medea smacked the table with her hand. "I do not admit to crimes I have not committed, your honor."
Drew laughed, and it was a beautiful sound. "And what say you if I said there are two others that are considered friends?"
"Stop saying that," she immediately chided while the siblings gasped so dramatically. Lea rolled her eyes, catching sight of the clock. "Hey! It doesn't look like Percy and Tyson are going to make it. We need to leave now if we want to catch the train."
"They are currently on the way to camp," she was told. "There was an incident."
Lea stiffened, hand tightening around her cup. She wondered if it had anything to do with what Percy told her that morning. Mother had been acting shifty about camp. She opened her mouth to change the plans when Trent suddenly furrowed his brow. "No, that's okay. We still have to stop by Yancy Academy."
Oh, thank the aliens.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Medea said, waving them away. "We know you don't want to step a foot back over there so it's all good."
Lea laughed, even if it was a bit strained before exchanging hugs with the siblings. "Keep in touch," she ordered while Trent almost suffocated her from how tightly he hugged her. "Let go, Trent."
"No," he laughed. "I have to hug you enough for Percy too."
"Lame shit," she blanched before he finally released her. They gave the two of them one more smile before the siblings disappeared into traffic and in the next second, a familiar male shimmered into existence.