Loyalties

Chapter IV

Hey guys! Sorry for not updating for soooo long. I've been busy with exams and stuff, but it's over now! Also, for the exciting part, HAPPY PRIDE!!! Just remember to be who you are, cuz those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind :)

Moving on....

Lennie's POV

I'd never fainted before. Let me tell you this: it's the weirdest feeling ever. I felt like I was suspended in water, except I couldn't feel a thing. Like I was floating. I couldn't see, hear, or smell anything either. But I wasn't scared. It was kinda... calming? It was like my body had fallen asleep but my mind was wide awake and working. I was looking back on the events that had led to me being stuck in this void.

Ekko had a sword. There was a monster. Big, scary, disgusting monster. And Carlos grew a taxi? No- no- He called a taxi. It was shabby and- weird. Oh, and people completely ignored us. A typical day in Gotham, right?

Suddenly, I could feel myself again! Sure, my eyelids felt like they were made of iron and smelted together, but still. I pulled them open to come face to face with a bright light. No, not the kind of light that you see in hospital rooms, I'm talking about natural light. There weren't any IVs hooked up to me either. I groaned softly as I sat up, my head pounding.  I looked around me to find myself in a large, warm room. There were about a dozen hospital beds set up everywhere, most of them with fainted kids in them. 

There was a chair pulled up beside my bed, with Carlos sleeping in it. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he engulfed me in a hug. "Lenn!" He practically screamed. "You're all right!"

A 9-year-old in doctors' scrubs faced us with an annoyed expression and whispered loudly, "Shhhh! There are patients here! Why don't you take her outside and then explain everything?"

My day couldn't get weirder.

Carlos simply nodded and helped me get up. The exterior was much more bizarre than the hospital. There were 12 large cabins, you know, the kind that my Dad has on the Malibu beach for us to live in when we go there. Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it. . . ? A caducecoo?

He grabbed my hand and pulled me there. I was still too dumbfounded to ask questions.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation centre. They were all chatting away, paying no heed to us. Carlos clapped his hands loudly to get their attention and shouted, "Hey, guys! This is Atalanta, she's gonna be staying here with us for now."

Then the creepiest thing ever happened. Every single one of them turned to look straight at me, with wide creepy eyes and chorused, "Hello Atalanta!"

I gulped. Suddenly, two identical boys with curly brown hair burst out laughing, and the whole cabin followed suit. "Did you see her face!?" One of them hollered, chortling loudly. I shifted uncomfortably and looked at Carlos for help. He squeezed my hand reassuringly and said, "Forget about them. They're my idiot siblings, ya know, children of Hermes. We can't help it."

Confusion crossed my face. "S- siblings? Um, Hermes, like the- uh, god? How can that be uh- real?"

Before he could reply, someone in the crowd asked, "Regular, or Undetermined?"