Miss Quinn

184 ~ Picnic at the Park

The timing of Emma and Cadmus's first kiss turned out to be both perfect and extremely inopportune. Perfect, because they spent the rest of the wedding in each other's arms, at each other's sides, and gazing into each other's eyes. Inopportune because Cadmus's European excursion started three days later. And then he'd be gone for a whole month, living his dream, soaking up all the artistic vibes he could. He wouldn't return until halfway through August, and they'd only have two weeks together before Emma went back to school. She was starting to understand how difficult it was for Venus and George to maintain their relationship, and why Venus couldn't stay away from him when they were together.

What was also difficult to understand was what exactly they were to one another. Besides the brief agreement in the bedroom at Quinn Manor, neither of them had really confessed anything. Had not put their feelings into words. And Emma wasn't the type to believe in something that she was not absolutely sure of. For all she knew, he might embark on his tour of Europe and forget all about her. He might meet someone else along the way. Might come back and laugh about how he once snogged her in a room they'd been locked in together. And for all his promises that he'd write to her, she still wasn't certain he would.

The Sunday following the Beaumont Wedding, the Quinn-Tylers slept late into the afternoon. After all, the festivities had gone on until the sun had begun to rise, and they hadn't even returned home until half past seven in the morning. When Emma finally did emerge from her blanket cocoon, she found she was the only one awake. The house felt quiet, empty. Unlike what she was used to. The smell of cinnamon still lingered, from the candles burned yesterday, but it almost didn't feel like home without the whole family together.

Emma made herself a bowl of cereal, because despite being four in the afternoon, she wanted breakfast. It had been ages since she'd eaten alone. At school, she'd always had hundreds of people around her, and recently, the Quinn-Tylers had eaten meals as a family.

She took her bowl outside and sat on a porch lounger while she ate, taking in the sounds of the woods, and soaking up the sun. A wave of nostalgia roiled through her, bringing with it memories of eating with her half-siblings at the Apollo table at Camp Half-Blood, surrounded by nature and fellow demigods. The Camp had been her third home since that first summer when she'd been twelve, and yet she hadn't visited it in such a long time.

It wasn't uncommon for demigods to live beyond the Camp's borders -- in fact, most of the campers returned to their mortal families during the school year. But they all at least spent the summer months within the protective enchantments of Thalia's tree, to train, to be safe from monsters. Emma supposed Hogwarts had been enough of a safe place for her in the past years that she hadn't needed a reprieve from the monsters of that world. The Wizarding World, however, was a different story. Maybe Camp Half-Blood could protect her from the monsters in this world just as Hogwarts protected her from the monsters in that.

But, alas, she had dedicated her summer to St. Mungo's, and her future career. She couldn't very well run away from her job for weeks to go sharpen her fighting skills. Besides, Will might not even be at Camp -- he and Nico had begun planning a quest to the Underworld last she'd heard, and it was much easier to worry about her brother from afar than it was to physically lack his presence at Camp Half-Blood.

Emma had just finished her cereal when Venus opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. Her hair was a mess -- like she'd barely removed the bobby pins from it last night before tumbling into bed.

"Morning, sunshine," Emma said to her.

"You're the sunshine," Venus retorted. "Why did you wake up so early?"

Emma tilted her head to the side as Venus claimed the lounge next to her. "You do know it's well past four, don't you?"

Venus waved a hand dismissively. "Pish posh. Still doesn't change the fact you slept less than the rest of us."