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Alexandra Orlova

Chapter 6: Part 1

It’s been around two days Alexandra was in bed, and she was getting sick of it.
She wanted to move, to get up and go out or something, but, hey, for her to do that, she’d have to drag her paralyzed left leg around or walk on crutches. She didn’t like any of those options so she chose secret option 3: stay in bed, do nothing, and wonder how’d you get into this shithole. Alright, in Camp Half-Blood’s defense, it wasn’t a shithole, and their infirmary was pretty well-organized and clean, and the demigods here were nice.

Well, whoever had visited her.

As Alexandra thought of all that, the Apollo girl, Celine, came in to check up on her. Even after everyone assured her that Alexandra wasn’t out to get her, she still approached her slowly and cautiously. “Have you slept well?” asked Celine. Alexandra raised her head and simply looked at her.

Celine hated it when she did that. Bad enough that girl had terrified Celine half to death, she also had those eyes. They were beautiful, admittedly, but they were so emphasized, that their gaze was intense.
It made Celine even more nervous and terrified than she was already. “A simple ‘no’ would be nice.” Said Celine. The girl, Alexandra was her name, simply put her head down and looked at her hands as she was flexing them this way and that.

Celine knew she had to ask other questions but ever since the girl told them her name was Alexandra, she hadn’t spoken a word or even made a sound.
The girl’s communication these past two days was looks and barely any body language. So, every time someone wanted to ask questions to her, she wouldn’t say a thing. Heck, not even acknowledge that the person was in the same room as her. Maximum, she’d simply lift her head up and look at you, which was worse than ignoring. And how much did they find out about her? Nothing. Except her name. Actually, just her first name. Nothing else.

Celine turned to leave, as something came in through the draperies. It was Samson, Leila, Henry, and Zoe. The kids that were rescued.

The kids were the only ones that seemed pretty happy with Alexandra being there, they weren’t afraid or wary of her. Plus, Chiron agreed to let them go and visit her whenever they wanted, despite the arguments of the cabin counselors that Alexandra may be a potential danger. Another thing that made Chiron agree was the fact that Zoe, the youngest one, would only communicate with Alexandra, she didn’t want anybody else.

“Hi!”, that was Samson, he was waving at Alex. Samson was the sweetest 9-year-old kid Celine had ever met. He had tousled dark brown hair, he had warm hazelnut eyes, and was pretty polite with everyone. He was holding a rather large package that was covered with a sheet. “You forgot someone.”, that was Lila.

Lila must be the most spoiled and arrogant little kid Celine has ever met. Lila was 11-years-old, and had goldilocks that made her pretty cute and bright blue eyes. Unsurprisingly, she and Drew Tanaka from the Aphrodite Cabin, got along well. “He didn’t forget. He’s simply excited.” That was Henry.

Henry was the oldest amongst all of them. He was also tall for his age. He had a military haircut (thanks to the Ares cabin) and he had brown eyes.
He turned to Celine, “Good morning, Celine. How are you?” Celine couldn’t help but smile. Henry was really polite with everyone.
“I’m good, and you? Here to visit Alexandra?” Celine tried not to look towards the girl on the bed.
“Samson insisted.” that was Lila with a puff, “I don’t understand why we have to visit her.”
Lila looked at Alexandra, “I mean, all she does is stay in bed and do nothing. OW!” The youngest one, Zoe had hit Lila on the head with her teddy bear.

Zoe was the little sister of Samson. She had the same dark brown hair and warm hazelnut eyes, but Zoe refused to speak or do anything with anyone. People guessed was because she was shy until Samson told them she never really talked. So Zoe spends most of her time in a small corner playing with her teddy bear.

“Zoe!” that was Samson, he turned to face his sister, “Don’t hit! Think of your poor teddy bear! Don’t you know that Lila’s head is like a brick? He must be in pain by now!” Samson then took the teddy bear gently from Zoe as if checking for injury.
Lila gave Samson a dirty look which he promptly ignored. Zoe seemed pleased with herself. Henry and Celine were trying not to laugh.

Celine turned to Henry, “I believe you have control of the situation. I’m going, alright? If you need anything, just holler.” “Sure.” And Celine left.

After Celine left, Lila turned to look at Misty. Even after learning her name, Lila kept calling Alexandra Misty, because she preferred it to Alexandra. Unlike the other children, Lila didn’t like Misty. All the girl did was sit in bed doing nothing but stare at people AND she wore black. That was a big no-no to Lila, who believed that no one should wear black unless they were going to a funeral.
But still, like any proper lady, Lila remained polite. “So how did you sleep?” she said. Misty didn’t respond, all she did was look. Lila also believed that Misty was rude so she took it upon her to teach her some manners. As befit a lady. “Misty, do you know that it’s rude…” she emphasized the word, “... not to answer when someone is asking you a question?” Misty didn’t respond, she simply kept looking. “Oh, come on, Misty. It’s a simple question! Don’t do what you did yesterday!” Yesterday, Misty also didn’t bother talking, all she did was look. How rude!

Lila turned to Henry. “Well?”, “Well, what?” responded Henry. Lila did a dramatic sigh, “Aren’t you going to do something?”
“With what?” Henry started looking confused.
“Ugh, nothing!” Lila turned to Samson, who was still checking if Zoe’s teddy bear had any injuries.
That made Lila mad. “What are we doing here? Misty doesn’t seem like she’s going to do anything! Let’s go!”
Samson stood straight and turned to look at her, and said, “First of all, her name isn’t ‘Misty’, it’s Alexandra” he pronounced the name in syllables so Lila can understand, “Second,...” he passed Lila, and started heading towards the bed in which was the girl, “... we’re here to give her company, and third…” He turned back to help Zoe get on the bed, “... Zoe needs a friend, which Alexandra is.” Samson kept looking at Lila.

Lila puffed indignantly and Henry was looking at both of them. “Oh please.” Lila responded, “Zoe can get friends if she simply tried.” Zoe didn’t even react, she simply proceeded to hug Misty and went on to show her teddy bear. That didn’t discourage Lila to keep talking, “And by friends, I mean people who try to talk to her but because she’s so stupid…” Lila didn’t manage to finish when something behind her grabbed her shoulder, it was Henry.

“That’s too far.” Henry sounded angry. Lila then noticed that Misty had put her hand on Samson’s shoulder to stop him from doing something. The look Samson gave her scared her.

“You may get out.” Lila and Henry were shocked when Misty, no, Alexandra, started talking. Alexandra had lifted her head to look straight at Lila. Both Henry and Lila stood there, frozen. It was the first time they had heard Alexandra talk, and it gave them the chills.

Samson broke the silence, “Yeah, get out.”. As he turned to Alexandra, he added, with a confident smile, “ I’ll meet you guys at the pavilion for dinner.”

Henry didn’t hesitate. He dragged Lila who was still in a state of shock and went out.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Samson sighed, “I’m sorry. If I had known she was going to do that…”, “It’s alright.” came the response. Alexandra was looking at Zoe and was playing a small game with her hands. Zoe seemed completely unaffected by the whole scene. Samson wished he had that ability to not care.

“Anyway, back to business.” He hauled the white package onto the bed and started uncovering it. “I was surprised when Harvey told me it was finished. I mean, it was only two days!”

“Well, Hephaestus kids are rather talented in such things. Shouldn’t be a surprise.” Alexandra somehow found a marble and was shuffling it in her hands, then she put them out in front of her so Zoe can see them.

“Yeah, still. This is Harvey we’re talking about. He’s, like, seven or eight years old. Anyway I hope it fits.” He took off the white sheet, and he couldn’t help but gasp. It was a mechanical boot made out of polished celestial bronze, but Samson knew that there were metal gears and different machinery inside.
“Wow.” said Samson. He looked at Alexandra, who was looking at the boot herself. “Isn’t it cool?”

Alexandra nodded, but her expression didn’t change. Samson didn’t know if she was pleased with the result or not. His smile slowly faded and he became serious, “Alexandra if you don’t like it, I could you know take it back to Harvey and ask him…”
Samson was surprised when Alexandra seemed to laugh silently.

Alexandra liked the kid. When she had woken up, he was the only one who came and smiled at her, despite his experienced and older comrades, but he always seemed to try to act older than his age. Maybe because he was a big brother or Henry’s influence.
“It’s alright, Samson. You don’t have to take responsibility of almost everything.” seeing his surprised expression Alexandra added, “You’re only 9, for goodness’ sake. Relax. Besides...” Alexandra picked up the mechanical boot, “... it seems your friend did a very good job.” She scrutinized the boot and saw little rune markings around it. “Seems like you also gave the notes I wrote.” she looked at Samson, “Did a Hecate kid help?”

“Of course.” answered Samson, “They were rather surprised when I asked that they had to collaborate.” He paused, “Of course, they were also rather surprised by the request and the notes. You should’ve seen their expressions when I asked for one boot.” Samson smiled remembering their bewildered expressions.
“You didn’t tell them that some of the notes, especially the runes, came from me, right?” Alexandra’s expression didn’t change, even though her gaze was rather intense.
“No. I told them I found the measurements and the runes in a book that I found in the Athena Cabin.” Samson frowned as he tried to remember his fellow campers expressions, he shook his head, “I believe they bought the story.”

Alexandra seemed relieved. Now there weren’t any more questions that’d she’d have to answer, but she still reminded herself not to put her guard down. Just because their suspicion hasn’t increased doesn’t mean that she won’t be discovered. Alexandra’s train of thought was interrupted by Samson:
“Something up?”
“No.” she said it so abruptly, that Samson flinched. Seeing that Alexandra quickly added, “Help me with this boot.”

Samson shook his head and started helping Alexandra put the metallic boot on. “Harvey told me that the boot has an automatic refiguring system that enables the boot to fit to whoever wishes to wear it. The fact that it is also fused with magic helps.”
“Will it help me to use my left leg?” Alexandra took the cover off her paralyzed, left leg, dragged it off the bed, the right leg joining.
“Yes. The mechanical part is to help move everything that is below the knee and the magic helps it respond quickly and effectively. Like any normal leg.”
Samson knelt and pressed a button on the left side of the top of the boot. The mechanical boot whirred as it was turned on.
“Here.” Samson slipped the boot on Alexandra. It reached right at the bottom off her knee, exactly as he measured.

As the boot recalibrated this way and that to fit perfectly, Alexandra asked, “This is temporary, right?”
Samson, who was focused on the mechanical boot, stood up, “Uh… what?”
“I mean, I’m not going to use this boot for the rest of my life, right?”

“Oh.” Samson tried to remember if someone did say it was temporary and how, “Uh.. yeah, it’s temporary.” he scratched his head, “ Crystal, that’s the Hecate kid that helped with this project, explained. But the explanation was confusing.” Samson looked at Alexandra, “Go on.”. He took a breath and went on, “Well, she explained that one of the runes was meant for healing and that another one means regeneration.” He paused to think, “So, I guess, she means that the boot will help with the 'nerves'? To either heal or regenerate?” Samson looked distressed and frustrated, “I’m sorry. I got so confused.”

Now Alexandra really laughed. It sounded sweet. “Sam, you’re only 9. It’s OK.” Samson pouted, “Still… As your friend I should’ve at least tried to memorize.”

“You did.” she held up her hand before he can argue, “Let me explain.” She looked at Samson and took a deep breath, “ In our body we have these things called nerves. What are nerves? Nerves are whitish threads that are inside our body that from our brains…” Alexandra brought her hand up and pointed at her head, “... through our spinal cord…” She then went on to caress her back where she can feel the bone, “ send different messages to different parts of our body, such as our arms and legs.” Samson was looking at her with interest. Even Zoe had stopped what she was doing and was listening. She went on, “Usually, the messages sent to our arms and legs is on how to move. You know, like, brain says ‘move left arm this way’” Alexandra put her left arm straight up, “Or brain says, ‘move right leg that way’” She straightened her right leg so it came back up on the bed, the kids looked at her in awe. This was really interesting to them, “But what happens when a leg or arm refuses to move? What has happened?”

Alexandra stared down at her left leg, where the mechanical/magical boot was still recalibrating itself. Alexandra resisted the urge to itch, that thing was getting hot,
“Well, when a leg or arm refuse to move, are not moving correctly, or cannot move, it means that the message wasn’t delivered correctly which means there is either a problem with the arm or leg…” The boot was finishing its recalibration and was starting to cool down, “Or something with the nerves. You see, when someone gets into a shocking and critical injury, such as a terrible car accident, some parts of the body get hit. Some get hit even worse than the others, so some bones break or something worse. Such a shock to a part of the body can lead it to shut down all communications to the brain, aka unresponsive nerves.”
The boot seemed to have cooled down and had stopped whirring.

Alexandra, Samson, and Zoe looked at it, then both kids looked at Alexandra. Waiting. Alexandra put both her feet slowly on the ground, took a breath.
“So, because of these unresponsive nerves,”she started pushing herself off of the bed, putting a little weight to her feet, “when the brain tries to send a message…” she started slowly getting up, the knees and legs straightening, sending more weight to both, legs and feet. “... it isn’t received.” Alexandra stood up straightening and balancing herself, getting used to the celestial boot.

She took a step forward with her left leg. “So, the leg or arm, since it hasn’t received the message…” It worked. She started bringing the right leg in front, taking her slowly forward. “.... the arm or leg moves wrongly or doesn’t move at all.” Slowly, slowly, Alexandra walked towards the draperies and back to the makeshift bed. She looked towards the two kids that were staring at her in awe. “And that my friends, are what nerves are, and what they’re for.”

Notes

As you have noticed, chapter 6 is called part 1. Why? Because Chapter 6 was pretty big and I had to cut it into two parts... Wow... I just HAD to explain that. Anyway, guys. Keep reading and stay cool!

*Lolig out!

Comments

If you dont wanna read chapter 9 part 2 and 3, at least read the notes. It is mostly dialogue anyway.

Lolig Lolig
8/26/16

This is great! I love how you explained everything in detail. Update soon!

A.D.R. A.D.R.
7/11/16

Update!

@Edge of Tartarus
Ms. and Thank you! :D Means a lot. *thumbs up*

Lolig Lolig
4/28/16

So far, so good. I am expecting big things from you Ms/Mrs/Mr Lolig!