Thursday, July 11.
"It's just through here" Marina said in the warm tone that he voice always seemed to have as she led Arabella into the Hephaestus cabin.
"Thanks for doing this for me, Marina" Arabella said, glancing around at the cabin. It was a little messy but nothing too extreme. Far from what she was used to in the Aphrodite cabin, though.
"Oh, it's no trouble at all" Marina waved her off and walked over to her bed. She sat down and patted the spot beside her for Arabella. Curious, Arabella gingerly sat down beside her, looking around. There was a moment of nothing then suddenly, the bed was moving. Arabella squeezed her eyes shut until they stopped moving. When she opened her eyes again, they were in a room with a work bench and a lot of tools.
"Well....that was unexpected" Arabella said with a little laugh, looking around and nervously getting to her feet, which were shaking a little. She had never spent much time in the Hephaestus cabin and she certainly hadn't been in the basement. Arabella has always been a little bit curious of the brick cabin, though, and she's always respected the Hephaestus kids for what they could do. She watched as Marina brushed her hands off on her jeans and walked over to the work bench.
"You have it with you?" She asked.
"Yeah, right here" Arabella gingerly placed a delicate and broken necklace into Marina's outstretched hand.
"How did this even happen?" Marina asked as she moved back towards the bench and started to work on fixing the gold. Arabella blushed at her question but she tried to keep her poker face on.
"I'm not even sure" Arabella laughed lightly. "I think it got caught on a tree branch or something like that during the capture the flag game last week" She told her. But that wasn't exactly the truth.
The truth was that Arabella has broken it herself in a rage the previous week. After the game of capture the flag, after Daniel had walked in on Arabella and Daniel, she was left alone in the cabin and she was angry. Arabella was angry about the situation that she was in and she was angry at herself. She had yanked the necklace off because it was the present that Ethan had given to her for her birthday. Arabella was so frustrated with him so she had yanked it off threw it across the room. Throwing it didn't really do too much damage but yanking it had ruined the clasp.
Once she had gotten a bit of sleep, Arabella felt guilty. That had been a present from Ethan and it wasn't his fault that things were getting so complicated, right? It wasn't his fault that Arabella was sending him confusing messages about taking their relationship to the next level. Ethan had asked her about it when he first saw that she wasn't wearing it and Arabella made the decision to get it fixed. It had been a week later, however, when she had some free time and Marina was able to help her.
Arabella was glad that she was getting the necklace fixed but she didn't really care about it anymore. Things with Ethan felt off for the past week and she had been avoiding him as mush as possible. Arabella was embarrassed about what they had almost done and she was afraid that if Ethan and her spent some more time together, he would try to make a move. Arabella didn't know how she would turn him down because the truth was, she wasn't ready. Yes, Arabella loved him and yes, she wanted to be with him in that way but not like this. Maybe once things settled down a little bit and she was feeling a lot better. But for now, she was much too confused and worried to sleep with him.
She let out a sigh and glanced over at Marina, who was busy working on the little necklace. Arabella wished that she could just go back to being able to hang out with Marina and Jake and Hunter. Hunter. Arabella had been avoiding him, too. That moment in the woods during capture the flag had been so awkward and she was left so jumbled up. She just couldn't stand to be around him too much.
Arabella started walking around the room, looking at the stuff. There were a lot of broken weapons and things, waiting to be fixed. She smiled a little bit to herself then glanced over and saw something that made her heart stop. Arabella moved towards a shield that was leaning up against a wall. It was bent out of shape but she couldn't forget it. This was the shield that she had used last summer. This was the shield that had belonged to the guy that saved her, Ethan. This was the shield that she had used to knock out the stupid Ares kid. Arabella leaned into it until she was so close, her breath fogged up the metal. "Where did you get this?" She asked Marina suddenly.
"What?" Marina asked, looking up. "Oh! That was Hunter's shield. I couldn't believe that he was using such a bent shield but he seemed really attached to it for some reason. I meant to fix it but I've been rather busy..."
"Is my necklace done?" Arabella asked in a soft voice, her head spinning.
"Yep! Just finished it" Marina said, holding out the necklace. Arabella took the necklace and tried to force a smile but she failed horribly.
"Thanks, Marina. I need to go" Arabella told her. She wasn't sure how she left. She wasn't sure how she managed to stay on two feet. The next thing she knew, however, Arabella was rushing into the empty Aphrodite cabin and closing the door behind her.
Her breathing was heavy and her heart was pounding. Full blown panic attack. Arabella leaned against the wall and slid down, placing her forehead in her knees. What did this mean? That shield was the one she had used and the one that had belonged to the guy who saved her. There was no doubt about that. How could it belong to Hunter, then? Arabella closed her eyes, wishing that she could just forget about this whole thing.