Book 3: Chapter 63: Seth
Book 3: Chapter 63: Seth
Seth
For the next two days, Lexy was no where to be found. Alex and Aiden both refused to give any answers about where she was. Aiden was worried that any time now Vivian would call him back to her service, so we tried to expell his nervous energy in the ring as much as we could. There was something about sparring that made me feel useful. Or maybe not even useful, just not useless. The physical exertion and the mental stimulation kept me from wondering about where Lexy was. I had only just got her back, and just like that she was gone again, and I couldn't deal with it.
"Seth!" Annabeth called out, her voice surprisingly worried when I took a particularly hard punch to the jaw and hit the deck with a thud.
"I'm fine." I muttered, but my head was spinning a little.
"Shut up," She growled at me as she crossed the ropes into the ring. "That is enough you two. Beating the shit out of each other is not going to bring her back any faster or help us find her."
"Well, it helps my head." I argued.
"Not when your concussed." She shot back as gentle tingles prickled my skin, healing all the injuries I had earned over the last several days.
"What are you even doing here?" I grumbled, not having a good retort.
"I came by to see if you wanted to go check her tent with me." She said a little nervously.
"Is she back?" I asked eagerly.
"I don't know." She bit her lip in obvious discomfort. "I haven't checked today. I thought we could go together."
I tried not to roll my eyes at the Princess but failed. She just didn't want to find Lexy first and then have to apologize for failing her. I knew that was why she didn't want to go alone. We both failed her. We all had failed her. Even Alex. And selfishly, I was glad for that little fact.
"Okay," I relented, taking her hand and letting her pull me up.
"Are you coming, Aiden?" She asked as she turned to face him.
"No, love," He responded sweetly, "I have more training to do."
She frowned slightly, but nodded just the same, and when we were far enough away she said, "I'm worried about him."
I looked over my shoulder as he grabbed a different blade and began going through another sequence of moves.
"Me too." I admitted.
Annabeth and I weren't friends. We never had been. Our common ground was Lexy. I was her guard, but we weren't close. Not like she was with Jake, Aiden or even Matt. Rae wasn't really close with anyone, so she didn't count. But we had never built that friendship foundation and now walking together felt odd. We both fell quiet neither of us willing to speak more than necessary.
"Lexy?" I called out when we finally reached her tent.
Giggles could be heard from the inside, so I opened the flap and stepped inside. It wasn't Lexy who was standing in the kitchen though. It was my mother, Calynn, and the three little kids Lexy had all but adopted.
“She's not back yet, but you can come in if you like!” Izzy answered with a giant smile on her face as she raced over and grabbed both Annabeth and my hand's.
“Oh, gee, thanks,” I stuttered as she led us into the tent.
“We’re making cookies with Calynn.” She told us excitedly.
"Do you know where Lexy is?" Annabeth tried, earning a look from Mom.
"No." Jamie snapped.
“Do you know when she’ll be back?” I asked, hesitant because I could feel Calynn staring at me. I knew she had heard about how the council meeting had gone, and I also knew that she was pissed at all of us for it.
“She didn’t say,” Jamie said coldly as he pushed some dough into Annabeth's hand. He was angry with us. He knew we didn’t defend her. He knew I had failed. “But she could be away for a few days. She took a lot of stuff with her.”
So, she had come back here before disappearing.
“Do you know where she where she went?” I asked a little too desperately as I struggled to remain calm even though I knew the answer.
“We don’t ask questions.” Izzy answered seriously, her voice not as warm as it had been a minute ago.
I raised my brows and exchanged a look with Annabeth.
“What?”
Jamie sighed. “She lets us stay with her, but we can’t ask questions when she leaves, or we go with her. She does dangerous stuff. It’s not our place to create more danger.” He paused. “Typically, she goes to meet people, or to a place that was dangerous. She can take care of herself though, don’t worry.”
Annabeth rolled out the dough that Izzy had given her and found a cookie cutter she liked as she tried to act calm, but that felt impossible. She had been gone for days already.
“Well since Lexy isn’t here, who watches you guys?” Annabeth asked as Calynn slipped out, annoyed that we were asking questions about Lexy when she blamed us for her leaving.
"They stay with me," Mom answered casually, but her face betrayed her worry as she stared off toward where Calynn had disappeared through.
“We don’t have to go over there though until it’s nighttime. We’re more than capable of handling ourselves.” Izzy answered. Her voice was cheerful and light again.
“We lived on our own for a while.” Jamie clarified. “Lexy trusts us, but if she doesn’t return by the time we are supposed to go to bed, we just sleep over at Mrs. Leah’s. We just have to follow the rules we have set, like don’t leave the camp.”
I nodded uncertainly. I couldn’t believe Lexy would just let these children live on their own, but they did seem much older than they looked.
“What are your plans today, Princess Annabeth?” Izzy asked, leaning over to help the other child, Lysabeth, who was much younger and hadn’t said anything yet.
“Oh,” It was clear Annabeth was startled by the question. “Um, I don’t know. I don't have any. I was hoping Lexy was home. That's as far as I've thought today.” She answered honestly. “I guess I’m gonna try and meet some more people.”
"Oh! We can help with that!" Izzy exclaimed happily. "We know everyone important here."
I wasn't sure that I trusted a 10-year-old with meeting important people, but Annabeth took her up on her offer. After we finished baking the cookies, we set off to meet whoever Izzy deemed important, and she wasn't kidding when she said she knew a ton of people.