Chapter Text
The first thing I feel when I open my eyes is the pain. It comes in waves, with every little movement it gets worse. I look down at myself and find bruises running down my arms and legs. I try to get up but my leg is twisted in an odd angle, refusing to let me get up. I use my other leg and my hands to push me towards the wall. I inch upwards until I am standing on one leg. My muscles were burning, telling me to sit back down and give up, but I didn’t. Instead, I pushed myself off the wall and stood straight, still slightly holding the wall. I close my eyes and focus on teleporting. My powers were still new to me when I was 4 so I struggled to use them.
I teleport to the east village, where I spent most of my time just walking among the mortals. I land on my twisted leg and fall to the ground, a sob coming out. I feel tears rolling down my face, but I look up anyway. There is a little mortal girl around my age maybe 2 feet away from me. I try to call out to her but all I can manage is a strangled sob mixed with a yell. She turns around and spots me on the ground. I didn’t have the power to keep my head up much longer, the black in my vision creeping closer to the point of passing out. I felt her hand on my back carefully examining my wounds. My ears started to ring, but over all my thoughts and the ringing I heard her yell for her parents. I heard their running footsteps as they came over and joined her. By now my mind was turning numb, unable to comprehend what's happening. I felt myself get picked up by strong arms. I felt the vibrations of footsteps as we walked. Slowly the darkness consumed more and more until all I could see was empty void. My mind was silent for the first time in forever. I could finally be free of my life and…
Relax.
I awoke to find myself in a bed that was not my own. I looked down at myself and noticed that all my cuts and bruises were carefully bandaged, and my leg was wrapped in a cast. I looked around the room, panicking slightly, to find a girl sitting in the corner. She was looking at me, her gaze soft, not like my father's hateful gaze. She gets up and yells for her parents, rushing towards me.
“Hi, I’m Nyx. What's your name?” She looked down at me, her smile light and genuine.
“Hi…I’m Circe.” My voice came out hoarse, and tired. I tried to smile back at her, but I didn’t have the energy to, so instead I nodded. Her father walked into the room carrying a tray. On the tray was a cup of water and some food. He placed it down next to me and handed me the water.
“Here, take this, it will help.” The man said. He had kind light green eyes, looking like the grass on a warm and sunny day. His light brown hair was fluffy in the front like a chocolate cloud.
I bow my head and thank him before taking a sip of the water. The liquid flows down my esophagus and I clear my throat. His wife walks up behind him, and he smiles as he puts an arm around her waist. Her beautiful blonde hair flows straight down her back and her eyes are a gray blue just like Nyx’s. She puts her head on his shoulder as her arm drapes around his neck. She puts a gentle hand on Nyx’s shoulder and smiles at me.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart? Any better?” I finally smile—a weak one but a smile nonetheless—and nod.
“Yes, thank you.” The woman gently grabs my hand and squeezes it.
“Of course, darling. We couldn’t bear to see you like that and not help. My name is Phoebe, and this is my husband, Sam. I’m sure our daughter introduced herself?”
I weakly squeeze her hand back. “She did. It is nice to meet you all. My name is Circe.” I say. Phoebe’s hand goes limp in mine. Sam and Phoebe share a look.
“Circe?” Sam says, “Like Circe, the daughter of Helios and Perse? Goddess of sorcery?” I freeze. I blink at them and nod slightly. I had not known mortals have heard about me.
“Yes, but please you do not need to call me lady Circe or whatever mortals refer to gods as. I am merely an injured girl.” They nod and Phoebe squeezes my hand once again.
“Well, we are going to try to contact Lord Apollo to see if he could help with your leg. Circe we will leave here with Nyx. Call if you need anything.” I smile and thank them. Sam and Phoebe walk out and hold hands. I stare as they walk away, at the smiles on their faces. Why aren’t Mother and Father like that?
“Circe? Can you do magic?” Nyx tilts her head at me smiling sweetly. I stared at her face, the way her gray-blue eyes unexpectedly complimented her wavy brown hair. Her cheeks were flushed pink against her tan skin making it seem like she was running around. Her clothes are stained with bright color splotched.
I laugh. “Yes, I can. Would you like to see?” She nods eagerly at me. I smile and summon my wand. I scan the room and my gaze lands on a plate. I grin and close my eyes focusing on my will. I whisper under my breath the sacred words I use to use my magic. Nyx gasps as the plate levitates towards us. She gets up and I float it above her and place it gently on her head like a little hat. I keep it balanced and open my eyes. I laugh at the silly girl, her tongue sticking out at me and her eyes crossing. She walks over to me, careful not to drop the plate. She bows down and gets her makeshift hat on my level. I laugh, and in the goofiest voice I’ve heard she says,
“My lady, can you please take my hat for me?” She’s grinning as I take the plate from her head and hold it like a trophy. She cheers and starts laughing and I joined in too. Soon she collapses on the bed and rolls around wheezing as I sit there shaking from laughter. She lays like a starfish on the bed and sighs.
She pushes herself up next to me and relaxes. I stare at the ceiling and feel my eyelids get heavy. I blink and look down at her. She is already asleep next to me, curled up, her brown hair laying straight out onto the pillow. I push myself down so my head rests gently next to hers. My eyes flutter closed and I drift into the darkness and let Hypnos guide me.
I awake and find that Nyx is gone from next to me. I look around the room. The windows are open wide and sunlight is shining brightly, illuminating the whole space. Obviously, it was my father's doing. I sit up, pressing my back to the backboard and stretch. Phoebe walks into the room, carrying a cup of tea. She smiles at me and places the cup down next to me.
“How are you feeling sweetie?” She sits on the bed and rests her hand on my arm lovingly.
“I’m ok, thank you” I take the tea and take a small sip of it. The hot liquid ran down my throat and I sighed. I placed the cup down again.
“We are going to try to call Lord Apollo so he can heal your leg.” I nod. I look up at the ceiling.
“If you want, I could call him.” She blinks.
“You can do that?” I nodded.
“Ok then.”
I smile and start to yell “Apollo! It’s Circe! Can you help me?” Phoebe jumps slightly, probably startled by my yelling. The air shifts in the way that I would grow to recognize as teleportation. Apollo appeared in the room, his golden blonde hair reminding me somewhat of my fathers. A worried look crosses his face when he spots me in the bed.
Phoebe bows to him. “Lord Apollo, thank you for coming. We are honored to have you here.” He gestures for her to stand.
“No need, it's my pleasure, especially to help little Circe.” He turns to me, “What do you need, Circe? Another injury healing?” I nodded at him and removed the blanket draped over my legs. He shakes his head solemnly. He walks over and hovers his hand over my injury like he has done so many times before. I feel his magic seep into my leg, fixing the bone and putting it back in place. It mended the skin around it and slowly, my leg came back to normal. I sighed and all the tension in my shoulders released.
“This was your fathers doing again.” He said it like it was a statement. It was. I nodded to confirm what he said. A horrified look crossed Phoebe's face and she grabbed my hand.
Apollo lifted his hand from my leg. “There. Good as new. Please try to avoid your father when he is angry, Circe I hate seeing you injured.” I nodded and said goodbye to him. Then he left and it was just me and Phoebe.
“Y-your father d-did this to you?” Her voice trembled as she spoke, her words laced with sympathy. I smiled weakly at her.
“Yeah, all the time. I’m used to it so it’s ok. Besides, it happens to everyone, why does it matter?” Phoebe choked back a sob.
“Sweetheart, that’s not normal and it’s not ok. What he’s doing to you, isn’t what a father is like, that’s not how a family should be.” I felt tears sting my eyes. I shook my head.
“What? No. That’s how it works…that's why I take it…it’s normal.” She shakes her head at me and tucks a stray hair gently behind my ear. Tears rolled down my face freely now, and Phoebe hugged me tightly. She rubbed my back in a soothing circle as I cried on her shoulder.
I don’t know how long we sat there, minutes bleed into each other and soon I lost track.
Little footsteps echoed through the hall. Nyx stood in the doorway smiling at us. She walked over and curled up on the bed next to us. She hugged me. Not in the way my father would, like he was trying to impress someone. No, not like that. Her arms wrapped around me, careful and gentle. My breathing relaxed, my sobs quieted and my tears slowed. Slowly, I relaxed, the tension that seeped into my muscles earlier, releasing. I don’t know when Phoebe left, saying she needed to go make lunch. Nyx stayed with me, sitting on the mattress. I pulled away from her and looked at her beautiful gray blue eyes, like the ocean waves crashing into each other.
“Thank you” I whispered.
“Of course,” she whispered back to me.
I took her hand and walked out of the room, dragging her behind me. I stumble out of the room, but Nyx holds me steady. She catches up to me, and we walk together, swinging our hands back and forth between us. She starts to giggle and starts to drag me as she runs. I trip over my own feet but soon I follow her laughing. We run into the woods, going deeper and deeper, until we come to this big oak tree. She lets go of my hand and runs towards the tree, starting to climb it. I laugh and watch her struggle slightly to grip the bark. She soon finds her footing and climbs up and up until she gets to a thicker branch. She sits and smiles down at me, patting the spot next to her.
I feel the tingling spread through my body, the feeling I get before teleporting. In the blink of an eye, I went from on the ground to next to her on the branch. She stares at me, her eyes wide with awe and I start to laugh.
The branch was so big that we could sit side by side on it and still have more width to spread out, or maybe we were so small that we didn't take up much space. I lay down next to her and she follows, resting her head on my shoulder. We stared up at the now dimming sky, the stars peeking out of the rips in the sky.
“My favorite thing to do is look at the stars and imagine being one. Looking down at the world and watching us.” She whispered to me.
“Mine too” I stared up at the sky, my eyelids getting heavy. I felt Nyx relax next to me, the tension releasing in her muscles. I sighed and let my vision go black. Nyx’s breathing deepened and we both fell asleep, sitting together on a branch. I fell asleep next to the only friend I’ve known, the only person who loves me, and you know what? It's the best I’ve felt in a while.