𝓓𝓪𝔂𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓻 | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

i - This can't be real

"Miss Quinn, if you could pay attention, please," the teacher called from the front of the class.

Lyanna Quinn is a 13 year old middle schooler but was forced to repeat seventh grade due to poor grades. It's not her fault she's dyslexic and has ADHD, she can't help it if she can't focus on a boring lesson she can't even understand. The sound of the other seventh graders laughing at her lack of attention made her look away from the window and towards the English teacher, Mr Kadence.

If she was being honest, Lyanna found Mr Kadence extremely creepy. Often times when zoning back into lessons, she'd catch the man staring at her with an odd expression on his face that she couldn't quite explain. Every single time she caught him doing it, it sent shivers down her spine. She didn't even want to know how many times he'd look at her like that without her catching him.

"Miss Quinn? You still with us?" Mr Kadence chided with a small laugh, causing the rest of the class to collapse into giggles once again and Lyanna to flush scarlet.

"Y-yes sir, sorry sir," Lyanna stammered abashedly, wishing she could just sink into the floor and disappear.

"Right, seeing as you weren't paying attention, perhaps you can answer this question for us, Miss Quinn," Mr Kadence drawled. Lyanna gulped anxiously as she hadn't been paying attention since Mr Kadence called the lesson into session. "Miss Quinn, 'Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't' in Act 1, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' is used to represent what?" Mr Kadence questioned, peering at her over his black tinted reading glasses.

"Uhh... being stealthy? The snake is hiding under the flower so it represents Macbeth being sneaky?" She said quietly, unsure of whether her answer would be correct or not and not wanting to look the fool if it wasn't.

"Taking the words at face value, yes, you are correct. However, what I am asking for is the hidden meaning, masked behind the words on the paper, do you think you can find it?" Mr Kadence asked, encouragingly.

Lyanna furrowed her brow and looked down at the handout containing the passage of 'Macbeth' they were studying. She watched as letters skated and fluttered across the page, words became jumbled and she couldn't understand a single thing written at all. She looked up at Mr Kadence and shook her head 'no' to his question.

Mr Kadence tutted, "That's quite alright. Can anyone else answer?" Lyanna began to fade him out as she felt a tsunami wave of exhaustion crash over her. She placed her head on her interlaced arms, her strawberry blonde hair fanning out on her desk, and fell asleep swiftly.

Lyanna opened her eyes to a beautiful grassland sprawling away from her, rolling hills silhouetted in the distance. The sun was high in the sky and beating down on her face, making her amber eyes glow golden. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, the scent of wheat - or barley, she couldn't tell which - filled her senses.

She stood up and dusted the dirt and grains off her skirt and stretched. She began walking along between the rows of crops, stretching out both arms to brush her fingers along the top of the plants like she'd seen in 'Gladiator'. She eventually reached a cross section: the entrance of the field she was in. Instead of continuing in the field, she decided to cross the road and walk into a forested area that didn't look too dissimilar to the one her mother once brought her to on a road trip when she was younger. She broke into a sprint, dashing in and out of the large oaks with a wide grin on her face. She knew this was a dream - of course it was a dream - but she'd always felt more free when inside of them.

"–nn."
She wrapped her hand around a tree and did a full circle around it before continuing her leisurely run.
"–inn."
She jumped up and swung off a low hanging branch, giggling as she weaved through the giant trees.