The Lost Ones

III

Alessandro hovered over her body for a minute longer, wanting to make sure she was still breathing. Worried that at any moment, she would attack again.

" You think she knows '', Zale sarcastically whispered as he tossed himself onto the plush coffee-colored sofa. Alec chuckled while Alessandro held back a glare.

"How did you find out, Zale?" Alessandro held his tongue.

They were too mentally drained to deal with him at the moment. They had spent months searching for the son of Poseidon, and this was him.

" Learn to take a joke. My dad trained me around the same age you guys were trained. You know fighting, the powers, the basics of being a god,'' folding his hands behind his head, Zale stretched himself out after rolling his eyes and commanding them to wake him up when she regained consciousness.

" Now what? " Alec whispered. Allesandro shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. How could Zale confide in them so easily? The son of a Greek God certainly isn't the easiest thing to find in the world. But they felt it wasn't enough to blindly trust the first person with powers and a similar birth stone.

"I'm gonna find the bathroom," Alec whispered, standing up and disappearing into the darkness. Had Luciana's powers not developed? What exactly is her power? She passed out after she panicked. She probably didn't even know she had powers. Allesandro was more confused than when he had arrived in the little town. Something led him here, but he was always overly cautious about who he could trust. Only those that carry the symbol were even considered to be a potential demi god in his book.

Even so, he had seen nymphs try to copy the symbol in hopes of being considered. Carving it themselves in stones, they hunted the earth for. His brother may have found out at age 16, but Allesandro has known since his childhood. A part of him was always jealous of his brother's carefree childhood ways. Alec had been homeschooled and his contact with humans had been regulated and limited. He wandered the apartment, searching for any sign that she could be like them.

Alec found his way into her room, skipping over the bathroom completely. Her apartment smelled of soft linen and fabric softner. He didn't like her. His mind came up with question after question. Why pass out when you see your powers? Yet she fought like a trained soldier in the park? It made no sense, he thought. Her room was simple. A beige and brown bed spread. A small nightstand with a picture of her and what looked to be her mother. Nothing else personal or unique touched the room or gave any indication of a personality. If someone had said the apartment was used as a photography studio for commercial products, he'd believe them.

She's so boring, he thought. It's too boring. It was an almost perfect sense of boredom, he wondered. His brother's words echoed in his mind,'the perfect place to hide is in plain sight'. He lifted her mattress as Zale walked in.

"Look under her bed as I lift it," he ordered just above a whisper.

"Alright, but this seems wrong," Zale responded. Worry creased his forehead, which seemed to be accustomed to the lines that formed as his eyes scanned the wooden boards holding up the mattress. He shook his head, looking at Alec. Zale's nose scrunched as he breathed in the dust that floated off the bottom of the mattress.

"Dude, let's just wait until she wakes up," Zale pleaded. He didn't want to get on her bad side. They had just met. Plus, he didn't like feeling like a delinquent while rummaging through her personal belongings.

" How do we prove that she's one of us? Just because she has powers and seemingly has the same ring doesn't mean anything!" He almost yelled. Something in him hated her. He didn't know why. Only that he felt he couldn't trust her. His sore jaw silently agreed.

" Do you want to wait for her to lash out again? Who knows what she's capable of? " The vein in Alec's neck was throbbing.

"Whatever, dude, I'm out," Zale left Alec in the darkness of Luciana's room. Alec ran his hand through his hair. A throaty groan left his lips as he stared at her ceiling. The white popcorn lumps almost seemed like stars. He waltzed back into the living room and noticed Alessandro going through the contents of her briefcase.

"I thought you hated snooping around?" he questioned. His brother was never one to pry through personal belongings. He didn't blindly trust either. One of his annoying skills was being able to tell demigods apart from others. It didn't matter how hard nymphs and other creatures tried; they could never fool him. They went out of their way to mash herbs to hide their scent. The more deplete ones had even cut off the tips of their ears for a more human-like appearance. We had visited three groups so far. None of them a demigod. Children of satyrs and centaurs littered the empty spaces. Zale had told us stories of sirens in his hometown, but they wouldn't tell him where he could find more. There always seemed to be nymphs.

"I'm not snooping. The briefcase opened after she hit you with it." He smirked at his brother. A scowl appeared on the right side of Alec's face as he remembered the pain. He bent down and began picking up what looked like legal documents.

"Her fever has gone down or whatever you want to call it." Zale picked up the towel and water just as Luciana began to stir. Her eyelids fluttered against the darkness. She laid still for minutes, staring at the ceiling, her eyes open. Silence hung in the air as they waited for her to do something. Would she lash out again? Had they ruined the one chance they had at rounding up another demigod? Did she hear them look through her stuff? Alec couldn't care less. His once expressionless eyes had a small fire growing behind them. A spark going off in them, like someone trying to light a match. He didn't like feeling this way and tried to swallow it down so that whatever monster was brewing inside wouldn't dare show its face. Alessandro noticed it in his brother. He didn't want to bring it up, but he could notice the disdain for Luciana in his eyes. It was there when they met Zale and every other magical creature. But as fast as it appeared, it was gone.

"I'm sorry for hitting you guys," Luciana whispered into the darkness.