Unforgivable ➪ 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗸𝗮

CHAPTER THREE

𝘋𝘙𝘌𝘞'𝘚 𝘉𝘈𝘋 𝘔𝘖𝘖𝘋 𝘊𝘖𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘜𝘌𝘋. Barry took over her role as head counselor, just until Silena came back, a couple of days later.

Silena went to see her friends first, so when she joined their table for lunch, she seemed confused by Drew's appearance. She hadn't put on makeup that morning. She'd had to fight just to get out of bed.

"How's your dad doing?" Drew asked glumly, watching the juice in her glass swirl as she turned it.

"Good. . ." Silena said. "Um. . ."

"Don't worry about her," Barry said smoothly. "She's just a little . . . under the weather."

Drew stood up, slamming her hands down on the table. "You told me to do it! And- and- look at me now."

Barry looked taken aback. He blinked.

Drew slid back down into her seat, head in her hands. Silena patted her back, a little shyly, like she'd never expected to do this during her lunch back.

"I don't understand," Silena said.

"I did the Rite," Drew said, morose. She leaned into her older sister's touch. "I thought it would be easy."

Silena hummed. Her pats turned to soothing rubs, like Drew's father had used to do, before he realized she wasn't his wife's daughter. "And?"

Drew sniffled. "I did it, I don't know what you want me to say."

"I ended that tradition for a reason, Drew, Barry," Silena told them, a little sternly. "It wasn't easy for you, just like it wasn't for me, but think about how it is for them."

Drew looked up. She saw Charles Beckendorf, who seemed to be daydreaming in their direction, eyes never leaving Silena. She saw Evangeline, who was also watching. She seemed worried, even though Drew had broken her heart.

Drew swallowed. She had to look away.

"So what you need to do is apologize," Silena said.

"I did, I swear!" Drew said, almost pleading, like she wanted Silena to think she was still worth something. Still worth trying to fix. "I apologized and it didn't do anything!"

"You did what?" Barry demanded. "I thought you wanted this! You did Aphrodite's Rite-!"

"Barry!" Silena admonished, before turning back to Drew. "It wasn't supposed to do anything. It was supposed to let them know that you're sorry."

Drew nodded. She glanced back at the Hermes table. Evangeline was still watching.

𝘋𝘙𝘌𝘞 𝘛𝘙𝘐𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘖 𝘎𝘐𝘝𝘌 𝘌𝘝𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘌𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘌 𝘚𝘗𝘈𝘊𝘌, like she'd promised, but it was hard when her eyes seemed to pick her out of ever crowd. Before, she could just skim over all the meaningless faces. Now, she scoured each crowd for Evangeline, and when she saw her, it was hard to look away.

She tried not to stare. She tried to forget, to ignore her, but she didn't know if it was possible. She'd known Evangeline for all of two weeks, and now, she couldn't get her out of her head. Her pale-white hair captivated Drew every time it entered her sight.

Silena was supportive, although she did reprimand Drew and Barry for bringing back the Rite while she was gone. She delegated Barry to trash duty and last shower for a month, but she only made Drew clean the bathroom once. "You're punishing yourself enough," she said. "I can see you look for her wherever we go."

𝘋𝘙𝘌𝘞 𝘚𝘈𝘛 𝘖𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘋𝘖𝘊𝘒, 𝘓𝘌𝘎𝘚 𝘋𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘎. Her feet almost reached the water. In the light of the sunset, the lake's surface was shimmering. She really should've been heading back to her cabin, it was almost curfew. The nereids danced through the water. Drew didn't move.