I didn’t want to admit that I was a little scared of not having him there.
“She will be okay, as long as you stay near her.”
“Yeah, why is that?” Hip asked. “She snapped out of it the moment you showed up.”
“Mates.” Ajax grumbled.
My eyes shot to him. He looked disgruntled, his focus fixated on Atalanta, who was curled up in my lap.
“My parents said the same thing, but we never performed the ceremony. We can’t possibly be mated.”
“Technically, you are not, but you cared about her when you turned her. Assuming she had similar feelings at the time, those feelings are amplified by the connection the two of you forged by the change. It’s very similar to a mated pair. You are anchors for each other, mentally and physically,” Percy said.
My eyebrows shot up and I remembered how Ajax had demanded for me to stay close to her during her transition, that it would help her. This is what he must have been talking about. I looked down to Atalanta’s sleeping form. Even now, my skin tingled where it met hers and I felt more centered than when I was separated from her. An anchor, huh? I kind of liked that.
“This is bullshit. So what? She’ll love him more now because of some connection they have? Where does that leave us?” Hip stage whispered, his posture stiff and fists clenching and unclenching at his side.
I had hoped that we had made some progress in the last two weeks. This had just set it back about ten steps as he glared daggers at me.
“I bet she wouldn’t feel the same if she remembered what you said to her that day.” Theseus muttered.
I felt that one right in my gut. Guilt that I had been trying to shove down came back to the surface. He wasn’t wrong. It was only by the grace of the gods that she never asked what I’d said to her that day.
My eyes widened as I studied the others. All of them were now glaring at me, including Percy. Would they tell her?
Feeling defensive, I leaned back away from them into the headboard. I gripped Atalanta tighter to me, causing her to grumble in her sleep.
Percy sighed and rubbed his face, almost pushing his glasses off his head before he straightened them. “I think we are all a little worked up at the moment. Yes, what Mr. Monroe said that day was wrong, and he will have to atone for it in the future. But right now we are all tired, and fighting about it will get us nowhere. We should try and get some rest.”
After that, the guys all reluctantly acknowledged Percy’s words and began to leave the room. Ajax, instead of going back to his spot on the floor next to the bed, grunted something about working and stormed off. Hip and Theseus went back to their spots in the living room, leaving me holding Atalanta alone in the room with Percy.
We were quiet for a few moments before Percy asked, ”Where were you earlier?”
“I went on a walk.”
“Any particular reason you went on a walk in the middle of the night?”
“I needed to clear my head.” I said as I carefully moved Atalanta out of my lap and laid her down on the mattress. She immediately curled up into a tiny ball, grasping the pillow in her arms.
A small smile ghosted my lips. She was so cute.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
My flicked back to Percy at the door. “Not really.”
Percy sighed and then did something that surprised me. He crawled into the bed and laid down next to Atalanta and I.
“I am here for when you want to talk.”
“Percy…”
Percy removed his glasses and placed them down on the nightstand next to him. He always looked so handsome without his glasses. His sharp features softened, making him seem somewhat approachable. “Get some sleep, Jason. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
I nodded and settled down on Atalanta’s other side, my hand resting on her hip. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I felt another hand land softly on top of mine.
The next morning, Atalanta was acting strangely. Since waking up, she had been distant, constantly staring off into nothing. The only one she seemed to respond to was me, which wasn’t doing anything to reassure the others.
All of us except Ajax were sitting at his kitchen table eating a late breakfast. Several times, we all had tried to strike up a conversation with Atalanta but she would just stare into her bowl of Captain Crunch.
“Do you want to try to shift today?” Theseus asked, looking at Atalanta, his expression hopeful.
When she didn’t answer, Theseus’s gaze cut to me, turning from hopeful, to resentful, and then finally to pleading.
I nodded and turned to Atalanta. “Hey, Atalanta.”
Her eyes slowly moved from the bowl to meet mine. “Mmm?”
“Theseus was wondering if you wanted to try and shift again today.”
Her brow furrowed and she glanced at Theseus. “Why didn’t he ask me himself?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her. “Do you want to?”
“Not really,” she grumbled and went back to looking into her cereal bowl.
I looked over at Percy, Hip, and Theseus, their faces reflecting the concern I felt.
‘We need to do something’ Hip mouthed, gesturing desperately to Atalanta’s forlorn face.
Percy nodded his head towards the living room, and slowly all of us stood and walked towards the door and out of earshot of Atalanta, who didn’t even look at us as we left.
“Maybe something fun?” I suggested. “Something she likes.”
“Okay, but what would that be?” Hip asked.
“Reading? Watching movies?” Percy threw out.
Theseus shook his head. “We need to get her out and about. Being stagnant won’t help.”
At that, an idea popped into my head. Smiling, I said. "The aquarium. The university is holding an event there today and there will be all sorts of booths set up.”
Hip nodded. “She did really like that reef. It might not be the same, but I doubt we will get her back into the water just yet.”
“I like the aquarium,” Theseus smiled.
“Then it’s settled. Percy, are you coming with?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to look into what happened last night. I want to know if her memory loss has something to do with trauma or something else.”
“Okay, what about Ajax?”
“I’ll go ask,” Theseus said before giving Atalanta one more glance and walking out the door.
“I’m going to get started.” Percy said before stealing his own glance at Atalanta and leaving.
Hip and I locked eyes.
“Listen…”
“I’m sorry.”
My eyebrows shot up, surprised.
“Percy was right. I was really tired last night and I was just worried about Atalanta. I…well, I did mean what I said, but—” He stopped again, not finding the words.
I chuckled. In all of the years I had known him, it wasn’t often he was at a loss for words.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I get it, man. It might be hard, but I don’t want to come between you and her. I can see she’s liked you from day one. I’m still jealous, actually. But I know if I tried to keep her for myself, she would resent me. Truce?”
“Truce,” He agreed and then scrunched his nose. “This whole thing is weird.”
“A bit.”
“And the other three are just so okay with it!” He hissed.
I mirrored his expression and nodded. “Maybe it’s like they said, because they’re older?”
“Whatever it is, there’s no way they aren’t at least a little jealous.”
“Oh, I’m sure they are.”
Hip was silent for a moment, looking pensive before asking, “Is it true? You know, that this is normal for our kind?”