Planning the next great prank (Beanie and Sabrina)

Naren felt comfortable around Alec, and she was happy to be around him. It had been a while since she had felt a close relationship with her siblings. Giving him a small smile at his comment, Naren started to look over the blueprint. Many of them had died in the Zombie Apocalypse, and although it didn’t seem to affect Naren much, she had lost many of her brothers and sisters, who were, to her, more than just half-siblings who spent the summers together. They were her family, her only family. In a way, Naren had closed off her heart, shutting her emotions out until she didn’t need to feel them to feel anything but a happy smile on her face. She shrugged off whatever questions you threw her way about her dead siblings, made her face into a tight line upon seeing a dead body, and fought back tears at night. By this point, Naren didn’t even need to fight the tears off. Her mind did that for her. She would not cry, even if there was no one around. She was still there, wasn’t she?

Naren had grown up around death, among many things. Pranks and traveling and all of the things Hermes stood for, but also death. Back when Naren was young, people died all the time. She had grown up with it, she had gotten used to it, she had closeted and shut out her sadness, and it barely affected her anymore. It was a bit cruel, to think that if the boy in front of her were to die at that very moment, Naren would barely bat an eye, perhaps giving a grimace for Alec, who was someone who she might be able to come to trust with her life, someone she liked very much. But it was necessary. If she shed tears over every single person who died, she’d be out of tears at this point. If she did not shed tears over Vinnie, over Luke, over every single person who had died, why should she start now?

Pushing those thoughts out of her head, Naren focused her mind on the task at hand. It wasn’t often that an ADHD half-blood could focus, but for Naren it came easily when she was planning pranks. Her mind worked like clockworks, the pieces of the puzzle that would become their prank coming together quickly. She could see it happening now. Naren gave Alec a big smile, as if saying ‘good job, I love this.’ ”Brilliant.” Naren’s eyes flashed with excitement, lighting up the way they only did when someone brought up pranks. ”I totally agree. Which one do you like the best?” Naren continued to riffle through the papers, ignoring the truth of the matter, that camp was quiet because everyone was dead.