One week of being fourteen years old and somehow Elli still couldn't believe the turn of events. She met her mother for the first time, made actual friends, and yet she found herself here, at the New York Police Department. It was the only place she thought she could go. Although Annabeth warned Elli not to interact with the police department it was the only way Elli could figure out anything on her own.
Unlocking the door to the set aside room, Elli sighed. There was a ton of stress on her shoulders before a week ago and until she met Annabeth, she thought the world could have felt that heavy. Shuddering, Elli regained focus, stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
These room set aside for her were the closest to peace as she could get. Taking out the mirror from her bag, Elli slid her back down against the door and brought her knees to her chest. The room was silent and Elli didn't bother to turn the light on since she knew the mirror would provide it's own shimmer.
Leo Valdez. Elli thought. The memories of the other flashed before her. How could she miss someone she never met? How could she feel someone's death and yet not death? The dead was Nico's expertise not Elli's yet somehow Elli knew there was something wrong with this death.
"Your intuition says he's alive..." Nico smirked.
"And me and Hazel's gut knows he died." Nico said a moment after.
"So which is true? Your instincts or ours?"
Nico's eyes indicated that he wanted to believe her. He knew she wasn't lying. That's not what she did. But he also knew his instincts didn't lie either.
"Leo..." Elli said as she looked down at the faint reflection of her face. "Show me the truth." She said in a hushed whisper.
Meeting her own eyes, Elli frowned. The truth was unclear. Or, could it be possible that Elli, Nico, and Hazel weren't lying? He could have died but he could be alive. The statement baffled her. The possibility was slim. As she stared into the mirror Elli was taken aback by a slight change in image the longer she stared.
The Arai. Elli thought making the mirror show her the marks. To Elli's surprise, she wasn't hurting. The Arai was quiet which was a lot to say since most of the time she had other people's memories washing over her. Running her hand on the left side of her face, Elli wondered if it was possible to communicate with the curse.
"Why are you doing this?" She whispered. Hearing nothing, and seeing no reaction in her mirror Elli sighed again.
“How am I supposed to fight someone with the opposite strength and yet not know what that strength is?” She frowned and gripped her mirror tightly.
“Sounds complicated.” A voice from the shadows emerged. Eyes, widened, Elli looked in the direction of the voice, remembering where she kept the dagger Annabeth had given her.
“Relax.” The voice said in response to her action. “The officers said you were in Missouri. They didn’t think you’d be in any time soon but I guess they were wrong.” The voice was of a sixteen year old. The same age of Percy and Annabeth.
“Why are you here?” She asked. Knowing the answer but testing the boy’s honesty.
“I was stealing.” The boy shrugged. Elli’s eyes adjusted to see the boy sitting on the bed. “The officer brought me in here and told me to rest and if he caught me out there again he’d send me to Juvi.”
Elli shook her head. She knew he was telling the truth but how much of the truth could she hear after all that had happened to her?
“You’ll have to do better than that.” She said, receiving a glance in her direction. “Not all officers take pity on the street kids. And they also know not to let ‘anyone’ in the rooms they designate for me.”
The boy snarled. “Well I’m sorry to rain on your parade princess but it’s true.”
“Not all of it.” Elli replied, grasping the mirror tightly. The boy was hiding something and she couldn’t pick it out, again. Maybe the opposite strength could deal with her losing her own abilities to tell the truths from lies.
“If you’re so good at telling if I’m lying or not why don’t you tell me something true or not and maybe it might clear your head?” The boy said, watching as Elli stood.
Flipping on the lights, Elli met the boy’s eyes after he rubbed them in annoyance. “A warning would have been nice.”
“The full truth would be nice, but obviously I’m not getting it so why did I have to warn you?”
The boy frowned. “Okay, so the officers let me stay yesterday and he told me to leave yesterday but it’s too cold out there.” He frowned. “I managed to get back in here and I was hoping you weren’t going to go berserk on me for using your bed for more than one day.”
Elli frowned. “The officers aren’t allowed to let anyone use the rooms because people leave behind memories.” Elli sighed, receiving a baffled gaze. “Somehow though, you’ve kept your memories from unwinding. Why don’t you tell me how you’re doing that?”
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