2 2

Lumi woke up with her body drenched in sweat. Her chest expanded and collapsed with each staggering breath. She brought a shaky hand to her face and tried to calm her stampeding heart.

What was that?

She had...a dream? Something like it. She remembered her brother being in it. He and her had...an argument? She couldn't remember. She just remembered feeling a deep-seated terror freeze her joints and steal her life. She had never felt such fear in her life.

Well you know that's a lie.

She jumped, searching the room frantically. Was that her voice? The thought didn't feel like her own. But it had to be her. It came from her head. She needed to...do something. She just could not remember what it was she needed to—

"Hey sis!" Came an exuberant male voice. It accompanied her door being slammed into the wall.

She glared at him, already too exhausted to deal with his antics.

"Oops," he murmured sheepishly.

Rolling her eyes, Lumi scooted to the edge of her bed before swinging her legs over the side. She paused in her actions, feeling her body shake from exertion. She couldn't believe that that dream had made her so shakened.

"Hey..." her brother said, his voice coming above her. "Are you okay?"

She reared back onto her bed, moving away from him. She and her brother stared at each other, Him with a shocked expression, her with a frightened one. Her brother didn't get offended. Instead, Perseus just gave her a gentle smile. This was what calmed Lumi down as she slowed her breathing.

That boy wasn't her brother.

The boy in her dream, though he had the same ash colored hair, had a more angular facial structure. Her brother had a youthful face. His cheeks were rounded, his chin more curved than squared and his eyes were a kind shade of amethyst. Not that hard, solid black.

"Sorry," Lumi apologized to her brother. "I had a dumb dream."

"It must have been scary, huh?" He asked as he ruffled her hair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She didn't know why, but the sympathy he showed in his eye caused her chest to constrict.

I never was shown any mercy.

She didn't know where these weird thoughts were coming from. Yes, it was just her and her brother, but they always had a good life. They never wanted for anything because they had money left behind that took care of all of their needs and provided enough luxuries for them to enjoy life to the fullest. She always went to the best schools and she had the two bestest friends—shoot!

"Iris and Lorna are gonna kill me!" She bursted out, pushing her brother off to the side as she ran for her bathroom. She called back a rushed "sorry!" as she slammed its door shut.

"That's why I came in here," Perseus muttered as he rubbed the spot on his head the bumped into one of her bed posts. "You got five minutes." As petty revenge he didn't inform her of the last part.

****************************

"I said I was sorry," Lumi had her hands clasped together in a placating gesture.

Not like it was doing much, Iris still had her head upturned in a haughty manner. She made sure to stay turned away from her.

"C'mon now," Lorna tried to appease her. "She already apologized four times. Just cut her some slack."

"You know that my nerves are already shot!" Iris growled at her.

Iris wasn't usually so combative. Sure, she was headstrong and sardonic, but she usually had more patience.

Lorna rolled her eyes at her antics. This upset Iris to the point that she just began to stalk off in a random direction. Lumi ran after her and grabbed her arm. Iris tried to shake her off and she would have succeeded if Lumi did not use all her strength to force her to face her.

"What?" Her tone brooked no room for foolishness. That when she saw it. Iris has beautiful, dark brown skin. It reminded Lumi of dark chocolate. Her eyes were a deep brown, and she had a beauty mark under her eye. Her skin usually had a healthy glow but for some reason it had taken on a grayish pallor. Her eyes had heavy bags under them.

"Aw..." Lumi murmured to her. "What happened?"

Iris' eyes filled with tears. At this point both Lorna and Lumi had corralled her to an empty table outside of a cafe nearby.

"I had this...horrible dream!" Iris burst out. "I was being held down and—hic—being forced to apologize for a crime I never committed!"

Lumi felt chills run down her back.

That sounds like—

But she pushed the thought away. Her dream was of her and her brother. She wasn't being pressed down nor was she being forced to apologize for something she didn't do. Sadly, she did have the displeasure of face her brother's disdain for her.

"That's strange," came a new voice. Well. Her brother's voice.

Perseus had left the girl's earlier as soon as they met at their checkpoint. He didn't mind hanging out with them, but he had claimed that he needed to take care of some personal errands. Still all the same, he caused the three girls to jump at his impromptu appearance.

"Didn't you have a bad dream too, Lumi?" He asked his sister ignoring the girls' reactions.

Lumi felt herself sweat as everyone turned their attention towards her.

"Yeah, but..." her mind scrambled as it tried to recollect the images from her dream. "It was about me and bro-bro going on a picnic and—"

And you told me you hated me.

Now Lumi knew this to be true. The scene was blurry, but she was sure that Perseus and she had gone on one of their regular outings. But it had derailed from the normal routine. Instead of enjoying the snacks they had packed, she had to be subjected to his tirade of her shortcomings. As more of the scene cleared up in her head, she felt herself tremble, once again assaulted by the anxiety from earlier.

"Hey," Perseus put his hand gently on her shoulder. Lumi jerked back and stared at him in shock. Again, he ignored her over-reaction and just turned his attention to include the other girls in the group.

"How about I get you guys some drinks?" He nodded his head towards the café. "They have lemonade refreshers; favorite flavors, right?"

"Sure," Lorna smiled at him, though it was weak.

"Thank you," Iris nodded towards him, her own smile now bright.

Lumi answered belatedly. "Yes, thank you."

Perseus smiled at her and headed into the café.

The girls stared after him.

"You have an awesome brother," Lorna complimented her. "Much better than my obnoxious ones."

Lumi couldn't disagree with her.

"Yep," Iris agreed. Lumi saw that her complexion was better than before. She was going to ask if she wanted to get something small to eat. Then she continued.

"He's much better than the other one."