Chapter 15 If the Sparkly Heart Fits
BESIDE ME, FIFI SQUEALS WITH joy as Dr. Dione whirls around in a swish of red and pink fabric and heads toward the nearest exit.
“How did she do that?” I ask, glancing around to see if any of the other hall directors have done something similar.
Turns out the answer is no, they haven’t. The closest thing any other hall has to sparkly, floating air hearts is the very neat Athena placard carried by a student at the front of the two lines currently exiting the amphitheater. It has an owl on it and reads This Way.
So, no. Definitely not the same as sparkly pink hearts at all.
“Do what?” Fifi responds to my question as she grabs both Arjun’s and my hands and drags us out of our seats and down the one step to the ground.
She sounds so confused that I start to wonder if I’m the only one seeing the bright pink hearts. Did I hit my head during that whole waterfall situation and not know it? Maybe this is just a horrible hallucination and I’m actually in Athena Hall after all.
“Just kidding!” Fifi says with a laugh, completely unaware that she’s just destroyed my last hope as she hooks her arm through mine and continues to pull me along.
“I know you mean the hearts. Charlie says she’s always doing stuff like that, and nobody knows how she does it.
But Levi says she has a lot of power because she’s an actual descendant of Aphrodite. ”
“Really?” I can feel my eyes go wide as I look at Dr. Dione in a new way. “If she’s an actual descendant, wouldn’t that make her—”
“A demigod?” Arjun pipes up for the first time, looking as shocked as I feel. Which is nice—I’m tired of being the only clueless one in this place.
“I didn’t say that,” Fifi answers with a shrug. “But if the sparkly heart fits…”
“I think it’s probably just her gift,” Arjun tells her as we watch the sparkly hearts continue to follow Dr. Dione across the orchestra.
“Seriously?” Fifi rolls her eyes. “You don’t really think the ability to make sparkly pink hearts is a gift that the gods would give someone, do you? Especially someone as fabulous as Dr. Dione.”
She makes a good point. Everyone who graduates from Anaximander’s gets a gift of some kind or another from the patron god of their hall.
Athena gave my mom what she calls the eye in the fog, which is the gift to see something in people or situations that no one else can see—mostly she uses it in her job as a therapist to figure out how to help people move forward, even when they feel like there’s no way for them to do that.
As for my dad, he can slip between seconds.
Not in a superhero-time way, but in a way that lets him process information really fast. As a trial lawyer, he can literally think faster than anyone else in the courtroom.
And as a dad, he can always outthink Paris when he tries to make up a story to get out of trouble.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped my brother from trying, though it’s definitely stopped me from doing anything in a really long time.
“Hey, you three. Get a move on, will you?” Levi says as he tugs on a couple of Fifi’s braids. “You’re holding up the line.”
“More like you’re falling down on organizing the line.” Fifi swats his hands away from her hair. “Touch my hair again, and I’ll light yours on fire while you sleep.”
Levi runs his free hand over his short, black curls. “I think I’ll be all right. You, on the other hand—” He wiggles his brows as he reaches over to tug another one of her braids, then dashes off before she can retaliate.
“He’s our hall manager?” The words slip out before I can stop them.
But Fifi just laughs. “Right? He’s the worst.”
As we enter the hallway where Paris had me drop my stuff earlier, I catch a glimpse of him and his infernal suitcase walking out the door. I want to call to him, to beg him to take me with him. But he’s already too far away to hear me—or to help me.
I really hope that’s not a metaphor for how the rest of the year is going to go.
A frisson of loneliness works its way down my spine as I watch him chat with another first year as they both exit the amphitheater. Not because he’s found a friend, but because he doesn’t even look back to check on me.
I’ve never felt so alone. Or so confused.
Suddenly, I’m desperate to know what he’s thinking. Did he already text Mom and Dad that I didn’t make Athena Hall? Or is he waiting for me to tell them?
Dread congeals in my stomach at the thought that they might already know. I pull out my phone to check, but it’s totally dead. And not because it needs to charge.
Nope, water is dripping out of the thing from all sides. Ugh. Note to self: Next time you plan to jump into a giant waterfall, make sure you take your phone out of your pocket first.
Terrific. More good news for me to share with my parents. I can hardly wait.
“Hey, you okay?” Fifi asks.
I shove my phone back in my pocket before she can see it. “I’m fine.”
She doesn’t look like she believes me, but before she can say anything else, Elysia calls, “Make sure to grab all your stuff. It’s a long walk to the dorm, and you don’t want to have to do it twice!”
In front of us, Levi stops to help a couple of first years find their suitcases in the same giant pile Paris and I left ours in. He laughs and teases the whole time, and I watch as the nerves fade from their faces.
“Why is he so annoying?” Fifi grumbles as she starts digging through the pile for her bags. “And why did he let me pack so much?”
“I don’t think he’s so bad.” Arjun pushes his glasses up his nose before wading in as well.
I can’t help thinking that he’s right. If I were hall manager, I’d do what I could to put the first years at ease too.
I mean, I’d do it differently—Aphrodites are way too wild for me—but as I glance back at the last of the very regimented Athena line and the very nervous faces in it, I can’t help but think that maybe Levi’s strategy isn’t so awful.
“Spoken like a boy,” Fifi says with a sniff before turning to me. “Do you have any brothers?”
I nod. “One.”
“Oh, really?” Fifi’s eyes grow big. “Is he here at Anaximander’s?”
“Yeah. He’s in—” My throat threatens to close up, but I clear my throat, determined to push past the sadness. Athena girls don’t wallow and—this bizarre detour to Aphrodite Hall not withstanding—I am an Athena girl. “Paris got into Athena.”
“Got in—you mean he’s a first year like you?” If possible, her eyes get even bigger. “Are you a twin?”
She says the word “twin” like it’s a combination of unlimited candy and straight A’s for life. Which, I can assure you, it isn’t. Especially not right now.
“Yeah. He’s three minutes older.”
“Oh my gosh! Twins are the coolest—I always wished I had one. What’s it like?”
Before I can answer, Arjun adds, “It’s kind of sad he got stuck in Athena, though. They’re so boring, he’s got to be jealous of you.”
“Right?” Fifi pretends to shudder. “Athena is the absolute worst!”
I stiffen. “I don’t think that’s fair. Hades—”
“Is the bomb! I almost wish I’d been chosen for that hall.” Arjun whispers it like he’s telling a secret—or making a confession.
Fifi has no such compunction when she answers, “Right? They’re the coolest, no doubt. Except who wants to wear black all the time?”
“Black isn’t a requirement—” Arjun counters, only to be interrupted by a snort from Fifi.
“It might as well be.” I nearly laugh because Fifi looks just like Levi when she waggles her brows. “I mean, have you seen the Hades boys?”
Because I have seen the Hades boys, or at least, one particular Hades boy—it takes me a second to realize she’s directing that question to me.
“Um— I— They—” Suddenly I’m stumbling over my words without knowing why. It’s not like the Hades boy was anything special. I mean, except for his stormy green eyes and—
Fifi laughs knowingly. “Oh, yeah. You’ve seen them. And believe me, I feel exactly the same way.”
“Do I seriously need to be here for this conversation?” Arjun runs a hand through his long bangs.
“Everyone should be here for this conversation,” someone comments from behind us.
I turn to see two older Aphrodites—probably fourth or fifth years—both of whom are wearing knowing smiles.
“Trust us,” the boy says. “Hades guys, and girls, are exactly as much trouble as you want them to be.”
Something uncomfortable ticks in my stomach as I think of the smirk the Hades boy in the forest was wearing. Like he had a secret he almost wanted to share.
Because there’s a part of me that wants to know what that secret is—and is embarrassed, because I’m still thinking about him even in the midst of this total and complete disaster—I sound more uptight than I mean to when I answer, “I don’t want any trouble, actually.”
The girl laughs as they walk past us, and Fifi knocks into her gently with her shoulder. “Leave her alone, Charlie.”
Oh, so this girl with the larger-than-life laugh is Fifi’s sister? I guess that tracks. “It’s nice to meet you,” I tell her, belatedly remembering my manners.
She laughs again. “Nice to meet you, too. As for the Hades kids, give it a few years. Pretty sure you’ll learn to like that kind of trouble.” She grins before taking off at a jog to catch up with her friend.
“We haven’t even met anyone from Hades yet,” Arjun quietly rebukes Fifi and me. “It’s not fair to judge all of them based on some ridiculous, outdated ideas about the Underworld.”
“I—” I start, then break off before I say something I’ll regret.
Except Fifi can apparently read minds—or maybe she’s somehow already gotten a gift like my dad’s, because she crows, “Oh my gods! You did meet a Hades boy! Is that why you were late?”
I can feel myself blushing, can feel the heat creeping up my neck to my cheeks until my whole face feels like it’s going up in flames. It’s one of the (many) curses of being a redhead. My too-pale skin shows everything.
Which means no matter how hard I sputter or try to explain that I didn’t meet a Hades boy, I just talked to one for a few seconds, Fifi has already made up her mind.
“You have to tell me everything!” She casts a quick look at Arjun, then whispers, “Later!” Like that will keep him from hearing when he’s standing right next to us.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I say, using the excuse of looking for my bags to get out of the very embarrassing conversation about a Hades boy I’ll probably never talk to again—and who isn’t the slightest bit important to my life at this school.
On the plus side, Fifi changes topics a lot. If I’m lucky, she’ll be onto something else by the time we’ve all found our stuff.
I’m a little worried it’ll be hard to find where Paris dumped my sensible navy-blue suitcase and backpack in the middle of the giant pile, but it turns out that it’s exponentially easier now that Athena Hall has already collected their bags.
Because, as it turns out, Aphrodites don’t believe in sensible navy-blue anything.
Every single backpack and suitcase in the pile is either brightly colored or has wild designs on it. Plus, most of them are also covered in stickers—rainbows, hearts, the names of bands or video games, the list goes on and on. Every backpack and suitcase, that is, but mine.
So while the others are digging through bags ranging from bright red to hot pink to neon green, I find mine right away.
Which, I realize, gives me the chance I’ve been looking for to speak to Dr. Dione, who is currently watching what has to be the most disorganized suitcase search in the history of searches with a fond look on her face.
Deciding that it’s either now or never, I slide my backpack on. Then I straighten my shoulders, clear my throat, and head over to her, determined to solve this Aphrodite mishap once and for all.