Unbelievable Circumstances

Chapter 7: What's A Gambit to A Pawn?

She brought the books back to her room and splayed them out onto her desk. She opened the first one up and skimmed over characteristics of veela. She already knew they tended to have pale blond hair, but it was iridescent and sometimes a shiny gold. They also emitted a healthy glow especially when around their partners.

None of the characters in Hermione's book had these yet; she wondered when they would appear. She grabbed that book and her story and headed down to the reading nook hidden in the corner of the living room. She summoned her jar of almonds from the cupboard to snack on while reading.

Catrina smirked and wiped away the bit of blood that had dripped from the cut on her cheek. "You'll have to try harder if you want me to look less attractive."

Aramis glared at her intensely. He pulled against the rope ties and clenched his teeth. He turned faced the open seas, refusing to look at her.

"Don't worry, my ugly duckling. Once we get to Lake Guatavita, I will leave you there to die."

He turned to her eyes wide. "Why wouldn't you just leave me on the island? That would be quicker. I would never go looking for you."

She picked up a green apple from a basket in the boat, bit down on it, and took a seat closer to him. "When you first came to seek me, Aramis you knew so little yet were so...arrogant. It's clear you never looked into what you were searching."

He lifted his chin and sucked in his cheek.

"Only interested in the gold, not paying attention to the cost. It's clear you didn't know you can't enter the jungle by yourself or take this trip by yourself."

"Why you're native to the region, it's not as though you don't know what to expect."

She rolled her eyes began braiding her thick long black hair. "You'll lose yourself; people have outsmarted the ocean, but never the jungle. It tricks your mind, makes you see things that aren't there, traps you so that you become one with it. It has been cursed. So one man can never enter on his own to seek glory. I know being a woman, I might be immune to this, but I don't want to change it."

He tilted his head. "Why do you need gold anyways? You're richer than the king. Do you only want to be wealthier?"

"Aramis, you do flatter me. It's not gold I seek rather the one thing money can't buy."

He still did not understand and raised his brow. She noticed his skin was flushed and that his dirty blond hair stuck to his forehead. She brought up her llama skin sack and held it up to his mouth. "It's not poison drink."

After he took a few sips, she plugged it back up. "Life. The one thing money can't buy. I want to be immortal. I know there is magic inside me. I know I am related to one of the Gods. A lake by the city can help with that."

"A lake of magic. It's clear you've already lost your mind."

She thought back to the glass in the hallway. "It's not a vow it's a paper towel! Take it." A tiny, unimportant glass of water...and the sickly boy she handed it to. A shatter came from the kitchen and snapped her back to reality. 

"Sorry!" Blaise yelled.

She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of an embarrassed Head Boy stepping into the living room. She raised her eyebrows and gestured toward the kitchen.

He squinted at her and replied, "like accidents never happen to you."

Hermione shrugged.