“Obviously you do,” she said in a deadpan voice and turned to face me again.
“Why do you even care?”
“Open your eyes Anastasia, ” she put emphasis on my name and smirked at me, “I’m beginning to think Mom was wrong about you.”
“Mom?”
“My mom.” She raised her chin with indignation, “My full name is Olivia Noel Campbell.”
My jaw dropped. Olivia was Dr. Campbell’s daughter? That couldn’t possibly be true! Dr.
Campbell was so caring and understanding. Olivia was so…not. Speechless, I sat down in one of the oversized leather chairs facing the couch. Phoebe, Carmen, and Willow all sat down too, completely engrossed in our conversation. Olivia remained standing and glared down at me. I looked up at her in shock.
“Dr. Campbell’s your mom?” I saw Phoebe ask Carmen who Dr. Campbell was but she just shrugged her shoulders and they kept listening intently.
“She told me to look out for you, and believe me I’ve tried. But if you are so hell bent on getting yourself killed, then who am I to stop you?” She counted on her fingers, “Almost drowning, saving some dumb sea turtle eggs in the middle of a hurricane, swimming alone with Finn Morrison in the middle of the night which is the last person you should be hanging out with, and now swimming alone with sharks at midnight?!” She threw her arms up in frustration and I stood up suddenly irate.
“You’ve been spying on me!?” I was so angry my hands were shaking, and I could feel tears burning my eyes. All those times I felt like I was being watched… “Why won’t you just leave me alone!?”
Instead of yelling back, she pointed at me and said, “I’d love to. Unfortunately everyone thinks you’re part of that stupid Legend. And if that’s true, which I’m beginning to seriously doubt, every Siren on the planet will want you dead before your eighteenth birthday. So don’t come crying to me when the shit hits the fan.” She waved her hand at me like I was a piece of gum she had pulled off of her shoe and headed for the stairs, “I’m done.”
I was too stunned to produce a comeback for her rant. Legend? That woman in the water was definitely a Siren. I sat back down on the leather chair and stared blankly at my roommates.
“Will someone please tell me what she was rambling about?” I asked them wearily. They exchanged looks and their eyes hit the floor in shame. Willow spoke first.
“We didn’t want to tell you yet. We didn’t want to scare you.”
“I didn’t want you to freak out and leave,” Phoebe whispered.
“Plus we have no way of knowing if it’s true yet,” Carmen shrugged her shoulders and looked back down at her feet. I rubbed my temples, trying to figure out what was going on. I didn’t understand why everything had to be such a secret. Finn wouldn’t answer any of my questions, no one had told me what to expect here at this school, and now my roommates have been keeping things from me. Who was I supposed to trust? I let out a loud sigh and tried to reign in my anger.
“Just tell me,” I pinched the bridge of my nose, but my head was already pounding.
“There’s a Legend. A very old Legend, ” Willow began hesitantly, “Back in the day, the leader of the Nerieds, Thetis, was destined to bear only one son. That son would be stronger and more gifted then the father. Neither Zeus nor Poseidon wanted a son that would eventually overpower them, so they forced Thetis to marry a mortal. They had a baby boy, Achilles, and in an effort to make him immortal, she dipped him in the River Styx by his heel. Then he was killed in the Trojan War when an arrow pierced his heel, the only unprotected part of his body. Thetis was so distraught; she vowed never to have another child. This is where the legend comes in. Thetis had the ability of foresight just like her father Nereus. It is said that when she foresaw her own death, she knew she would give birth to a baby girl who would take her place as the leader of the Nerieds. The girl would grow to be stronger than her father like Achilles, but also stronger than her mother, Thetis. Her name was destined to be Anastasia.”
Chapter 31
At least that explains the weird looks when I introduced myself at school. A smile crept across my face and I chuckled with relief. “Well I can clear everything up real quick. I chose Anastasia when I came to Lorelei because of a dream I had and I thought it was a pretty name. The state of Georgia gave me my previous name, Hannah. I never knew my true name given to me by my parents. So the chances of me being The Anastasia are pretty slim. Problem solved.” I left out the part about the woman I saw crying in my dreams who called out to an Anastasia. I pushed that from my mind.
“There’s more,” Willow gave me a harsh look and continued. “When you told us you could breathe underwater, I started to do more research, so we could be sure that you were the one. I found other things associated with the Legend that I’d never heard before. Like, Thetis’s daughter would have the same abilities as her mother and more – foresight, an affinity for all sea creatures – which goes along with breathing underwater - and manipulating not just the ocean, but also the shore and wind.”
Phoebe looked at me, hopeful, “So… from what we know so far you definitely have foresight, an affinity for sea turtles and it sounds like sharks? Have you ‘felt’ any other animals?”
“Maybe sea horses…and the dolphins,” I said and shrugged, running my hand over my trace.
“Sea horses?” Carmen said in disbelief, “Okay, so that means the ones we can check off are foresight, an affinity for all sea animals-“
“Not necessarily – I mean four isn’t really a good judge of the hundreds of animals and fish out there.” I tried to convince her, but it didn’t work.
“Anyway,” She raised an eyebrow at me, “you’ve got foresight, an affinity for all animals, we know you can breathe underwater and manipulate the ocean. Have you ever tried to manipulate sand or wind?”
“Of course not. Look, you guys are on crack. This Legend or whatever could just be some story somebody made up. It doesn’t mean anything.” Deep down I didn’t really believe what I was saying, but I wanted to think about this on my own. I didn’t want anyone else dissecting me and telling me who I was. I got up and went to find Olivia while they kept picking me apart. I found her outside on the back deck.
“What do you want?” She didn’t look up from the magazine she was reading.
“I want to apologize,” I said and sat down beside her, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“I’m touched, really, but I’m not taking back the things I said. I meant every word.” She kept reading. She was the most stubborn person I’d ever met.
“I’m not taking back what I said either, I’m just saying I shouldn’t have yelled them at you.”
“Maybe next time you could try hand signals.” I saw a ghost of a smile on her face. “I’m really good at those.” She flipped me off and kept reading.
“I’m better at smoke signals, but I know a few hand signals too. Apparently I need to work on the whole punching one.” This got me a full grin. She didn’t have a bruise or scratch on her. I was a miserable fighter. She set her magazine down and looked at me.
“Fine. You’re forgiven. Happy now?”
“Almost.”
“What else do you want?” She sighed and turned towards me.
“Willow explained the Legend you were talking about, but it can’t mean I’m that Anastasia. I chose my name when I came to Lorelei-“ I stopped abruptly as a memory surfaced and something in my mind clicked. I scratched my head, “I met your mom when I was still going by Hannah. Why would she have thought I was part of the Legend before I chose the name Anastasia?”