Lost in the Forest {Private with Alec}

Lysander pushed the branch aside, pressing it against the tree trunk so his sister could pass through. He followed behind her, eyes burning with exhaustion, but they had to keep going. They still didn't know where they were and, despite the long night, they needed to find some sort of refuge before they stopped to rest. But he could see the fatigue in his sister, the way her shoulders drooped and how she walked as if she were Atlas with the sky on her back. He hated to see her this way and he wanted to just stop there and tell her to rest, but that was not an option at the moment. They had to get to the destination their mother had given them direction to. The only problem was she hadn't told them what it was. It could've been anything.

"Can't we rest?" Ariadne asked, glancing at her brother. Her long, sandy blonde hair was an utter mess. Strands stuck out everywhere and she was sure it was dirty and would need a good washing if they ever got out of there. She stopped between two trees, leaning against the shadier one, as she waited for her brother to catch up. He feet ached from hours of walking and she was pretty sure she and her brother had gotten lost and were no longer on the path directed to them. She could only imagine where their mother was leading them to anyway.

"No," Lysander replied sternly, catching up to her. He passed by her without a glance, focused on the mission at hand. He had come to believe that any task was a mission due to his time in military school. He had several scratched and cuts along his bared arms and hands, his hooded military jacket hanging over his left shoulder. The sweat from this endured workout gleamed in the sunlight and streaked through the dirt of his face. Ariadne's face carried the same sweaty look and, as much of a nature girl as she was, she found it disgust. It was also irritating to feel the sweat drip slowly down her face.

"Why not? For all we know, mom sent us on a wild goose chase," the younger sister stated, anger apparent in her voice. Lysander withheld a sigh, knowing that Ariadne wasn't truly angry. She was frightened and her self-esteem was taking a hard blow. Ariadne had always been close to their mother. Being sent to boarding school hadn't been too much of a big deal to her. She figured her mother just wanted a better education for her. But deep down, there was an insecurity that rested, waiting to make itself known. Ariadne was afraid her mother no longer loved her and that saddened her. She figured doing her best in boarding school would make her mother happy, but her assumption appeared to be wrong. The truth of the situation, though, was something Ariadne could not understand yet. "She sent us off to boarding and military school. And now she doesn't want to see us over the summer, the one time we get to see her for a long period of time."

"I know what she did, Ariadne," Lysander said through clenched teeth. He continued through the forest, hearing Ariadne follow behind. He figured the heat was pushing her mood even further and he didn't want his own temper to snap with only her around to take the verbal blows.

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Humans could be unbelievably loud, especially when others were trying to sleep. Julie didn’t appreciate being forcibly awakened to the sounds of someone loudly tromping through the forest. What was worse, once she was awake, the girl could never get back to sleep. Grumbling, the wood nymph sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes to fully rid herself of drowsiness. If the humans were going to wake her up early, she might as well make the most of the day. First, however, she should find these loud humans and see what they were doing that just had to be so noisy.

Now how to go about doing that? The simplest way would be to just go introduce herself, but that was no fun. Besides, the humans deserved some small revenge for disturbing her sleep. Nothing big; Julie really liked humans, and didn’t want to scare off these newcomers, whoever they were. But maybe she could mess with them, just a little bit. Smiling at the opportunity to cause mischief this early in the day, the nymph got out of bed, threw on her tunic, and jumped out of her tree, landing on the branch of another. She jumped again, and was soon making her way quietly through the forest and toward the source of the commotion that had woken her.

Along the way, Julie spotted a river and stopped by it to see how she looked. After all, if she was going to scare some humans she wanted to look suitable. The nymph smiled into the river, and her reflection smiled back. Long brown hair hung all around her head chaotically, filled with twigs and leaves as was the norm. Her face was dirty, the only bright spot on it being her eyes, which were their usual green in color. Her tunic, while nowhere near filthy, wasn’t as pristine as it could have been. In short, she looked perfect. Smiling wider, Julie stood, grabbed a nearby tree branch, and soon was once again on her way.

In just a few minutes the nymph found the humans who had been making all the noise. There were two of them, a boy and a girl. They looked similar. Maybe they were siblings? Julie liked that idea. She sat concealed in a tree behind the two, wondering how best to mess with them. Looking around for some ideas, the girl spotted some acorns on the ground and smiled. She loved using acorns in her tricks. She moved to a low branch, snatched up a few acorns, then got moving again. The humans kept moving through the forest, and she had to keep up.

Julie waited until the two reached the middle of the forest, where the trees were closer together, making it harder to get through them. She knew that the humans would have to slow their pace there, giving her time to take aim with the acorns. Standing in very leafy tree so that the humans wouldn’t be able to see her, the nymph sized up her targets. Which one should she go for first? She settled on the boy. He seemed like he was trying to be tough, so it would be fun to see him shaken up. Taking careful aim, Julie threw an acorn, aiming for the back of the boy’s head. As soon as the nut left her hand, the girl retreated further toward the middle of the tree so that the humans wouldn’t be able to spot her and ruin her fun. This was already shaping up to be a great day.

"Why are you so calm about all of this?" Ariadne exclaimed, throwing her arms up past her waist, but she stopped there before letting them flop back down by her thighs. Ariadne was the more uptight twin and occasionally a worry wart. Her brother, on the other hand, always held a calm and cool attitude. He didn't like to let things get to him. Why should he be bothered? It only caused more problems. At least, that's how he explained his behavior. He was the laidback one, but deep down, he could be worrying just as much as his sister.

"Because one of us has to be," Lysander replied. A sharp pain spread over the back of his head, causing him to reflexively grab his head. He rubbed it tenderly. "Oww." Ariadne arched an eyebrow as her twin brother looked up toward the sky. It was barely visible anymore. The forest was becoming denser, closing out the sky. Lysander looked at the forest floor behind him, turning his torso. He noted the acorn on the floor and turned to pick it up. He study the piece of nature, tossing it into the air casually.

"Where'd that come from?" his sister asked, looking around. All she could see were trees. She looked up like her brother did, noting that none of the trees around them carried acorns. She looked at the acorn as her brother tossed it up before glancing around again.

"I dunno. Maybe there are monkeys that live out here or something," Lysander guessed with a shrug. Ariadne gave him a look of disagreement and incredulity. Ariadne was a bit more book smart than her brother. This mainly because she tried harder in school than he did.

"In New York?" Ariadne asked rhetorically, her tone expressing the same attitude as her expression. Lysander looked up from the acorn an shrugged. He was just happy he was hit by an acorn. The impact wasn't as bad as the bullet hanging from his necklace. He adjusted his bag, looking around again.

"Come on. Let's keep moving," Lysander said, continuing through the trees. He dropped the acorn.

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Julie frowned. These humans were no fun. They were supposed to get scared, or go crazy, or something. All they did was look for her. Of course, they didn’t find her. She’d made sure of that. Still, they were so boring. The nymph would have to get more creative in her attempts to mess with them. The forest was dense, making their surroundings dark. Maybe she could play off of that, scare them a little. Humans were scared of wolves, right?

Julie grinned now that she had a plan in mind. Now all she had to do was figure out how to implement her strategy. That couldn’t be that hard, could it? No, of course not. The nymph jumped quietly out of her hiding place, moving to a tree some yards in front of the humans. Pausing to make sure she was completely hidden from view, the nymph waited until the humans were in the darkest part of the forest that she could see. Once they were, she opened her mouth and let out a howl identical to that of a wolf’s. Julie was great at mimicking animal noises. She’d had years of practice.

Just as the first howl ended, Julie jumped to another tree and howled again, then moved to another and did the same thing. She continued to do this until it sounded as though the humans were surrounded on all sides by an excited, hunting pack of wolves. If that didn’t scare them, not much else would. Hopefully these weren’t the kind of humans who would actually like the howling and try to find the wolves. That would ruin everything.

Hearing the first wolf howl, Ariadne grabbed her brother's arm. Her eyes widened. She'd already been afraid of being here. They were in the middle of an unknown forest, lost no doubt, two city kids. Their mother had abandoned them. Now there were wolves. Could this day get any worse? She soon answered her own question. I could die, she thought mirthlessly. Her brother stopped as well, looking around with shifty eyes. If Ariadne was going to reprimand him for thinking monkeys may live in this forest, he had to ask himself a question. Did wolves live in New York?

"That was a wolf," Ariadne breathed softly., eyes staring ahead of her. She something shift and her grip tightened on her brother's arm, grabbing it with her other hand. Lysander nodded slowly in correspondence. They were surrounded it sounded like. But they couldn't just wait here for them to close in. "What do we do?" his sister asked, the panic expressed in her tone.

Lysander looked at her. His military training hadn't prepared him for wolves. Sure, he knew how to pitch a tent, how to survive in war, how to fight, use a gun, etc. But being surround by a pack of seemingly excited wolves had not been something he learned. He tried to think quickly and rationally while also being panicked and frightened, but that was difficult.

"Run," he said. Ariadne looked at him as if he were crazy. But in Lysander's mind, if one of them, if not both, could outrun the wolves, it was better than standing there, waiting to die. Lysander looked at her, pulling his arm from hers. He shoved her forward aggressively, but not hard enough for her to fall or trip. "Run!"

Ariadne nodded silently before facing front again and running. Lysander followed. Both teenagers were athletic, but seeing as they'd been walking all night with no rest, they were a bit slower than usual, but adrenaline made up for it. Lysander picked up a large fallen branch off of the floor, prepared to attack anything that came his way.

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The howling had done the job. The humans were definitely scared now. But maybe she had gone a little too far. The boy was fine, but the girl was obviously panicking. Julie had just wanted to scare them a bit, not make them think they were actually in trouble. The nymph sighed. She didn’t know where to stop when it came to tricking people. She should apologize to the humans, or at least let them know that they weren’t in any danger.

The girl jumped to a tree a good distance ahead of the running humans and howled again, her voice a little softer than it had been before. She moved further ahead and howled again, and repeated this a few more times, until she figured she’d done enough. She’d gotten far enough away so that hopefully the humans would think that the wolves had moved away from them and were leaving them alone. Still, the boy looked like he meant business with that branch of his. It might be best to introduce herself and calm the humans down before they did some serious damage to the forest or themselves.

Julie made her way back to the humans, keeping pace with them until she found a suitable tree from which to speak to them. Once they had slowed their pace enough that she didn’t have to keep moving quickly to keep up, the nymph moved to a tree in front of them and sat on a low branch hanging above their heads. She wanted to stay out of reach in case the boy tried to attack her. He didn’t look like he planned to, but she wanted to be sure.

“You know, you humans get scared really easily,” she called down. “A little howling and I had you two running for your lives.” The girl laughed, her body and, in turn, the branch on which she was sitting, quaking as she did. She may have gone too far, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed herself.

Lysander noted the fainting of the howls. They were getting softer and softer up ahead as if they were running off as well. He sped up, grabbing his sister around the waist and stopping. Ariadne squealed softly, but realized she'd been grabbed by her brother. She gripped the arm at her waist. Her heart slowed from its racing, coming back to its normal rate. She glanced back at Lysander, listening to the softening howls. She took a few moments to catch her breath.

Lysander stared ahead, waiting for the howls to completely dissipate. His body was tense, completely still as he waited. It was a habit he'd picked up in school. When the howling was over, he relaxed, releasing his sister from his grip. She took a slow step to the side, looking around.

"They're gone," she whispered. Hearing another voice, she jumped a bit in shock. She pressed a hand to her chest where her heart was. It had begun to race again. Lysander was also surprised and his head snapped in the direction of the voice that he recognized wasn't his sister. His grip on the branch tightened reflexively. "Who are you?" Ariadne asked.

Lysander studied the girl in front of them before glancing at Ariadne. This newcomer looked like she lived in this forest. Her hair was a mess, more so than Ariadne's was. It was all over with twigs and dirt in it. And his sister thought that hers looked bad. The girl was also dirty, dirtier than the twins which surprised him quite a bit. How long had she been in here?

"You did that?" Lysander asked sternly, gesturing around the forest with branch, barely lifting it. "The wolf howls? That was you? How?"

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

She’d gotten one final scare in, which made the girl happy. If she was going to stop scaring them, might as well go out with a small bang. The nymph dropped off of the branch on which she had been sitting, landing on the ground in a crouch before standing and smiling at the humans. As the two studied her, she absentmindedly pulled a twig out of her hair, looked at it, snapped it in half, and threw it behind her. Then she focused back on the humans, just in time to hear the girl’s question.

“I’m Julie,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” She really wished the boy would lighten up a little and stop glowering at her. All she’d done was scare him a little. When he asked about the howls, the nymph grinned. She threw back her head and let out another loud howl, the returned to smiling at the humans. “I’m good, right? I’ve had years to practice.” The humans had studied her, so now she studied them. Up close, she could see that they were quite good-looking, if a little dirty and sweaty right now. Not that there was anything wrong with dirt. Living in the forest, Julie had gotten used to always being covered in the stuff. For some reason humans didn’t seem to like being dirty, though. Oh well, they didn’t know what they were missing.

The girl focused on the branch the boy held. “You know, you should probably put that down. It fell off of someone’s tree, and they might want it back.”

Ariadne took a step back when Julie howled again, standing a bit behind her twin brother. She grabbed his arm, looking at the forest floor, ashamed that she'd been frightened again. Lysander glanced at his sister before looking back at Julie. At the mention of the branch, he looked down at it. He'd forgotten that he'd had it. It felt natural to have in his hand at the ready and he considered dropping it until she said her last sentence.

Lysander looked at Julie pensively. His grip on the branch was certainly much looser now, but he wasn't letting go just yet. Was this girl insane or what? Someone might miss it. Like who? The tree it fell from? She must have really been in this forest for a long time. Maybe she'd gotten lost like them. And if she had, what did that mean for Lysander and Ariadne?

"'They might want it back'?" he repeated. "What do you mean 'someone might miss it'?" Lysander had lived a pretty average life. Sure, he was stranger than most children, because he had an immense imagination, but normal nonetheless. He'd lived in an apartment with his mom, two sisters, and stepfather. Nothing out of the ordinary except maybe their mom's art and the occasional dreams of Greek monsters and myths.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie smiled at the girl when she flinched. She was really easy to scare. Julie liked her. The guy, not so much. He seemed like he was much too concerned with appearing tough. And right now, lost in the forest, appearing tough really didn’t do him any good. He should really be focusing on getting wherever it was he was going.

When the boy asked his question. Tough, and dumb, too? She really didn’t like him. In response to the question, the nymph smiled slightly. “You really don’t know anything, do you?” she asked, her tone condescending. “That branch you’re holding came off of a tree. Someone lives in that tree, which is now missing a branch. So, chances are they’ll want that branch. Maybe not. I don’t know. But either way, you should leave it where they can find it.”

How did the guy not know something as simple as that? Julie remembered a couple years ago when a passing hellhound had taken out her favorite branch on her tree. She’d been furious, and that hellhound had left the forest with a few wounds. This branch might not be that important, but its owner should at least have a chance to get it back.

Lysander cracked a smile and laughed. This girl had completely lost it. Maybe he and Ariadne should just be on their way then, whatever way that was. No need with dealing with someone who was psychotic. Ariadne, on the other hand, just stared at Julie, taking in what she'd said seriously. Some people believed that nature was alive like humans and had feelings. Ariadne wasn't one of these people, but who was she to stomp on someone else's beliefs. Just a mere mortal herself. Or so she thought.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lysander chuckled. "You're telling me people live in these trees and are going to miss a branch? You're joking. If there are people living in this forest, why are you the first we've met?" If people did live here, they sure were cruel for leaving him and his sister to wonder through in the dark of night with two heavy bags and no food to eat. At least give them food. That would've been helpful, but no. Not even so much as that.

Ariadne slapped her brother in the arm for his skepticism and insensitivity. It was wrong for him to laugh at the girl's belief's. At least wait until she wasn't in earshot. She would verbally reprimand him later. Right now, she wanted to be out of the forest and this was probably the best way.

"Do you know how to get out of here? Our mom gave us directions to get somewhere, but I think we got lost last night," Ariadne explained politely.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Now the boy was laughing at her? She had half a mind to…no, she wouldn’t attack him. That would be rude, and would get her into trouble. Besides, then the girl would hate her. Julie liked the girl, and figured that they could become friends. The chances of that happening would be severely reduced if Julie killed the girl’s boyfriend/brother/cousin/whatever he was. So the only reaction Julie allowed to slow was the smile slipping from her face to be replaced by a frown.

Though she did appreciate the slap the boy received, it wasn’t even to improve her mood. “Every tree and every branch is important,” she said, contempt clear in her voice. “And you haven’t seen anyone else because most of the people who live here are pretty shy. Though really, it’s not much of a loss for them. I’ll probably tell them to stay away from you.”

When the girl asked a question, Julie looked at her and smiled, glad that, for now at least, she was done dealing with the guy. He was really rude. “I can get you out of the forest, but that won’t be much help if you don’t know where to go from there. Did your mom give you the name of the place you’re supposed to go to?”

Lysander rolled his eyes at Julie's reply. Because his sister asked a question, though, he ended his part of the conversation. He was in agreement with his sister. They both needed to get out of there. Ariadne needed sleep desperately. Lysander could see it in her eyes and was worried she might pass out from exhaustion. He could easily carry her to their destination, but he'd prefer she stay awake.

Ariadne sighed at the question. Why hadn't their mom told them at least what the place was. The idea of their desperation made Atiadne want to cry, but she withheld her tears despite her burning hazel eyes. She shook her head slowly, softly.

"No," she mumbled. "All she said was that we'd come across a tree on a hill and we'd know we were there. She didn't tell us we'd have to travel through a forest, though." Lysander nodded, looking at Ariadne.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie saw how the boy rolled his eyes, but ignored him, focusing on the girl. She looked like she was either going to collapse or burst into tears, or both. The nymph felt sorry for she. She'd help this girl any way she could. If that meant dealing with the boy too, well, she'd deal with that.

When the girl described their destination, Julie;s eyes widened and she gasped. "A tree on a hill? Then you're..." She clapped her hands together and grinned. "Oooh, that's exciting! I know where you're going and I can get you there. Just follow me!" Before either human could say anything, Julie took off, running ahead of them. she stopped a few yards away and looked back at the two, her foot tapping to show her impatience. "Come ooooooon!"

Ariadne and Lysander looked at one another, reacting to Julie's sudden excitement. They could only assume she was excited for something good. Then again, they barely knew her so it could've been over something bad. But it was either follow her or stay here in the forest which neither wanted to do. What also concerned them, though, was something she said. "Then you're..." They were what? What was that supposed to mean? Why didn't she finish?

At her impatient demand, Lysander nudged his sister forward, taking up the rear in case something came behind them. As they walked, Ariadne occasionally looked at her brother, wondering if he'd pieced any of this together. She certainly had no clue as smart as she was. Lysander shrugged at one point, saying, "At least someone knows something."

With that simple statement, he was silent. He adjusted his duffel bag on his shoulder, finding it to be heavy now. He had no clue what was in it. He'd never checked to see what his mother had packed for them and neither had Ariadne. Now that he thought about, it probably would have been wise to see what he had with him.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

It took a little time, but eventually the humans began to follow her. Once she knew that they were actually going to move, Julie dropped her pace to walk beside the girl. If they were going to walk together for some time, they might as well talk. And the nymph would much rather speak to the girl than the guy.

"So why'd your mom leave you here?" she asked. "I mean, I know why you're here, but leaving you here in the middle of the night's a little creepy, don'tcha think? I mean, she could've at least waited until the morning, or given you better directions. But maybe she didn't have time for that...but if she had time to drop you off at night..." Julie stopped, realizing that she was probably talking too much. She smiled at the girl. "Sorry, I tend to babble when I meet new people. Feel free to tell me to shut up. What's your name, by the way?"

Ariadne had asked herself the same questions Julie did. She honestly hadn't found a good enough answer and that saddened her. Why hadn't she at least told them where they were going? All she gave them was a tree on top of a hill in the middle of the night and then she was gone. Seeing what they thought was a tree on top of a hill was what had led them here in the first place. Hopefully this trip would be worth it.

"I'm Ariadne. This is my brother, Lysander," the girl introduced, gesturing to her older twin brother. She smiled softly. "We live in Los Angeles, so our mom had to drive back to the airport in time for her flight I guess. I don't know why she didn't schedule it until later to help us, though." What Ariadne didn't know was that because her mother was mortal, she wouldn't be able to get past a certain point. The twins would have been on their own anyway.

"Probably because we can handle ourselves in Virginia and Paris. Why not in a New York forest?" Lysander said. The last part was said with a hint of sarcasm. Virginia was where he'd gone to military school and, ever since he was twelve, he'd had to get from the airport to the school on his own as well as other locations. Paris was where Ariadne had gone to boarding school and she had gone through the same thing as her brother.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

The boy's name was boring, and made him sound stuck-up (he was, so it fit), but the girl's was exciting. "Oooh, you're named after the Ariadne who helped Theseus! I heard she was a horrible flirt, though Mr. D was drunk when he told me that, so maybe he was lying. I don't know. It's a really pretty name though!"

Julie didn't quite understand why their mom wouldn't help them. Though, maybe their mom was mortal. Mortals couldn't get past the Camp's barrier. That meant that their god parent was male, which helped narrow down the possibilities. Julie immediately began to think of each god she knew, comparing that knowledge to the siblings. She was so engrossed in that she almost missed Lysander's comment--almost being the key word there. She turned to him.

"Well from what I saw you two were handling yourselves pretty well...at least until I came along." The nymph smiled.

Ariadne smiled, hearing Julie discuss the origins of her name. Growing up, she, like her brother, had hated the name. Lysander was teased for his. For Ariadne, no one could pronounce it and that always upset her. She'd thought it was pretty, but no one seemed to be able to say it except the teacher. As a child, she couldn't understand why her mother would name the twins such strange things. Not until Lysander became interested in Greek mythology.

"Lysander told me the story. There are four endings to hers, though. I wonder which one it was. If it's the one where Theseus dumps her on the island of Naxos on purpose, then I'll be heartbroken," Ariadne said. She admired the story of her namesake and had since Lysander told it to her when they were ten. He'd even drawn a picture of her as the Grecian princess. She suddenly wondered and hoped her mom had packed it with her things.

"You're quite the romantic, Ariadne," Lysander teased with a smile. His sister nudged him playfully. His smile grew, hearing Julie's compliment although he ignored her phrase on her arrival. His ego wouldn't allow him to acknowledge it. "Thanks. Military training. Guess it came in handy a bit."

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

As Ariadne mentioned that the story she had been told had had multiple endings, Julie thought back to when she had heard the story told. "I don't know the end. Mr. D fell asleep before he could tell me how it ended. Oh well, it doesn't matter. That Ariadne's dead, and you're not, so in my mind that makes you more important."

Lysander was actually smiling at her? That was a surprise. Julie hesitantly smiled back, her mind on their past verbal exchanges. "Military training? Ew." The nymph stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Why would you want to learn how to train to kill your own species? You humans are weird."

They were reaching the end of the forest, which saddened Julie. She didn't want to separate from her new...acquaintances. Oh well. They still had a little time left, so she'd enjoy that. The nymph once again thought about who the humans' dad might be. They weren't stupid, which ruled out Ares. They weren't anything like Mr. D. Maybe they were Zeus' kids? No, didn't seem like it. Julie had no idea. Hopefully she'd find out somehow soon.

Ariadne laughed, hearing that Mr. D, whoever he was, fell asleep during the story. There was something anticlimactic, yet comedic about it. And possibly the way Julie said it helped, too. She also appreciated being told she was important. Ariadne was prideful like her brother, but her self-esteem had been taking major blows the past few months and quite a few minor ones before that. She needed to hear that from something other than her twin brother. There were times where she thought he just said it to make her feel better and that thought made her feel worse.

"Our mom sent him to military school," Ariadne explained, sending her brother a sympathetic smile. She rubbed his shoulder comfortingly for a moment. Lysander ran his hand over his cropped hair, missing its length. It had been down to his shoulders when they were eleven. Now that he was fourteen, most of it was gone. He wondered if he'd ever get the chance to grow it back out again.

"Worst three years of my life so far. It'll soon be four," Lysander said. As they left the forest, the twins looked at the sun and smiled. "Thank, god. I never thought we'd see the sun again." Ariadne smiled and nodded in agreement. "Although, it almost doesn't seem as bright as it is in LA."

"I think you're just biased," his sister replied.

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Whoever the humans' mom was, she didn't seem like a very nice person. First she sent her kid to military school, then she dropped him and his sister off in the middle of the night with only directions to get them to Camp. She really could have done much better than that. Julie didn't mention these thoughts to the humans. If she'd been able to reach that conclusion about their mom, surely they had too.

Though the humans smiled when they left the forest, Julie's smile left her face. As annoying as some of their interaction had been, the nymph had enjoyed spending time with the newcomers, and didn't want them to leave. Sure, she could lead them all the way into Camp if she wanted, but she had never felt all that comfortable in the camp itself. It was a place for demigods. Her place was in the forest.

Still, at least she'd had time with the humans. She couldn't keep in the forest forever, nor should she. The nymph smiled again and pointed at Half-Blood Hill, atop which sat the tree the twins had been searching for. "That's the tree you want," she said.

Ariadne and Lysander turned their attention to the tree. Lysander squinted a bit to get more details of the tree. He couldn't see beyond the hill, though. Did their mom want them to go to a tree? He didn't understand. Maybe she was abandoning them like Ariadne hypothesized, but he couldn't let that frame of mind take too much control of his mind. He had to stay confident for his sister's sake. And possibly for his own.

"Is there something beyond the tree?" Ariadne asked, practically reading her brother's mind. Lysander looked at Julie, waiting for an answer. He was slightly nervous about what they were getting themselves into. They had no clue what journey their mother was sending them on, the fate she'd decided for them when she slept with their father.

Posts : 250 Join date : 2011-01-15 Age : 32

Julie didn't understand why the humans were staring at the tree rather than walking over to and past it like they were supposed to. When Ariadne finally asked a question, Julie burst out laughing. It took her several seconds to stop. Once she had finally gotten herself under control, the nymph spoke. "Of course there's something beyond the tree, silly! What, did you think your mom was just sending you to go see a tree? I mean, trees are important and all, but that would be a lame trip. You want to go past the tree to get where you're going." The girl shook her head in disbelief. "Honestly. Humans."

Ariadne and Lysander watched as Julie laughed, not finding the hilarity in this. The girl had obviously forgotten about the twins utter ignorance. And yes, for once the prideful twins were willing to admit that they were ignorant. It was rare that the two were uninformed. Or at least it wasn't often that both were ignorant. Usually one of them at least knew some information. But their mother had left them clueless as to what was going on. They didn't even know if they were going back home after this was over, if their mom was going to come get them or not.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she did send us to see a tree," Lysander said, looking toward it. "She's that artistic. She took us to see a ball of yarn once." Ariadne glanced at him and took his hand. She gave him a look to ask if he was ready. Lysander returned the look before nodding.

» Walking in the forest... No I am not lost! (Private to Depressio)
» Just hanging out ( Private to Kristen, Alec and Krayven)
» Never trust a blind 15 year old with a knife. [private to Alec]
» Being at the forest (PRIVATE)
» Fog in the Forest (Private)