Mostly Normal: Hearts and Spades

Chapter Five: Śmierć

The next morning, the Polish girl was woken by Ethan, who looked excited. "Something's happened," he whispered as Victoria blinked in the sunlight, muttering in Polish for her half-brother to leave her alone. Just those two words were enough to wake her up.

"What's happened?" she asked, sliding off her bunk and zipping behind a Chinese curtain to dress quickly.

Ethan shrugged. "Don't know yet," he said, "but the conch horn blew, and I heard Chiron yelling something about how all campers must meet at the dining pavilion as soon as possible."

Victoria caught the hint and finished dressing in a flash. Then she and Ethan ran out of the cabin, pulling coats over their shoulders as they went.

The day was cold and brisk, a chilling wind nipped at their ears and noses as they ran to where the rest of the demigods were gathered.

Chiron was pacing at the front of the gathering. Some satyrs were hastily lighting the fire, and most of the campers were ruffled and sleepy-looking. Percy Jackson and his Cyclops brother Tyson sat together at the Poseidon table, looking alert. Tyson was, as always, tinkering with something in his lap, though his full attention seemed to be on Chiron.

No one sat at the Zeus or Artemis tables, not since Thalia Grace had joined the Hunters and the Hunters never came anymore anyway. Victoria and Ethan slid onto the black wooden bench of the Nemesis table and Ethan glanced fleetingly at the nearby Janus table.

The only remaining Janus kids, Rio Wellton, Elliot Holle, and Nora Benda, were slouching in their seats, their hair everywhere. Nora yawned and glanced toward Ethan as if sensing that she was being watched, and Ethan hastily glanced at his own goblet, which was empty. He realized he hadn't told it what drink he wanted yet, and hastily did so. "Orange juice," he stammered, and the goblet calmly filled with the vivid breakfast drink.

Ethan looked up and saw that Victoria was giving him an odd look, so he shrugged and started fidgeting in his lap. He had been telling the truth about not having feelings for Nora; he'd just been wondering how she'd been was all.

Victoria smirked and said something to her goblet in Polish. It filled with chocolate milk and she giggled. "I didn't know if that would work," she told Ethan, "but the goblets obviously understand other languages!"

Ethan nodded, not really listening, and turned his attention back to Chiron, who had begun to speak.

"Campers," he said gravely, "I have a touch of bad news."

"Last night, there was a terrible accident that took place just outside of camp. One of the Apollo children, I believe his name was Ludwig Beilschmidt, decided that he was going to leave camp without notice. We believe that he had been talking with someone outside of the camp. I am sorry to say that he has passed on," Chiron said with a sad look.

There was a choked sob from across the dining pavilion. Victoria turned, expecting to see the now deceased Apollo child's twin, but instead, she saw a wood nymph. She gave the wood nymph a confused look and then got up, she walked around through the crowd of demigods, searching for Gilbert.

She found the German demigod at the Apollo table, slumped over his breakfast, his dark eyes wide in shock. She didn't dare sit down, so she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and she saw with a jolt that he had tears in his eyes. "He's gone," the boy whispered. Victoria nodded, suddenly feeling a little sad despite her rocky relationship with Gilbert's twin.

She placed an arm around her...friend? Boyfriend? At this moment none of that mattered. All she wanted was to make sure that the sad German male was at least a little emotionally stable.

"Are you alright?" she asked with a small smile. Her English was improving. When she had started dating Ludwig, he'd barely understood her, so to solve this, she had worked very hard at learning her English. Though her efforts had been in vain.

Gilbert shrugged. "I guess," he muttered, "now, go back to your table before you get caught. Besides, breakfast is calling you." he pointed back at her table. Victoria turned and saw Ethan waving at her. She snickered because she understood that Gilbert had called her half-brother 'breakfast'. The Polish demigod winked at her possible boyfriend and walked back to her own table.

When she sat down, the wood nymph from before was now sobbing next to Ethan, as if he would give her support. Victoria still could not understand why she was this upset. She plopped down at the spot across from where she normally sat, seeing as there was a wood nymph with the water works sitting in her regular seat.

"What is wrong with her?" she asked, accent thick in her voice.

"What's wrong with me? My boyfriend just DIED, and now I'm not supposed to be upset?" Cedar, the wood nymph, cried as she looked up at the children of Nemesis with puffy eyes.

"Boyfriend?" Victoria asked, "Until yesterday, he had been dating me."

Cedar rolled her eyes and then started to speak, though the sound of her voice was getting on Victoria's last nerve, "Well then he cheated on you. Who would want to be with some wench who barely speaks any English?"

Victoria looked down at her food, strands of blond hair fell across her pale face as she continued to pick at her food. Suddenly, Cedar began to scream, when she looked up, her puffy eyes were wide with fear. Just as suddenly as she had started screaming, she stopped and her eyes became filled with rage and hate.

The wood nymph launched herself at Victoria. She wrapped her hands around the Polish girl's neck, cutting off her air supply. "Die. You're the one that drove him away. If you had already been dead, then he would have never left!" Cedar cried.

The bench that Victoria had been sitting on toppled over with the added weight of the wood nymph. Victoria struggled for breath as Cedar's hands tightened. The last thing the girl remembered was the world going dark.