Like “completely, absolutely left the building and doesn’t care where I am or what kind of predicament I’m in” blank.
Which is pretty blank, considering when he asks “Hey there, you okay?” all I can do is giggle.
Again, to be clear, I didn’t even know Icouldgiggle. I definitely didn’t think I could do it for a boy. My humiliation is complete.
“I’m fine,” I finally manage to choke out, because what else am I supposed to say? I mean, besides “Thanks for catching me. Can you let me down now, please?”
“Oh, right.” His grin grows even bigger as he sets me on my feet. “Did you get it?”
“Get what?” I ask, because my brain still isn’t firing on all cylinders.
“The coin. That’s why you were up there, right?”
“Yes! The coin. I got it!” I hold out my hand to show him, only to realize that it’s empty.
The coin is gone.
“I must have dropped it,” I mutter as I fall to my knees to look for it. It can’t have gone far, right? Sure, the thing has got a mind of its own, but it’s only been a few seconds.
The boy squats down next to me, so close that I can feel the brush of his hair against my cheek. It’s surprisingly soft. “Do you need help looking for it?”
“No, I’ve got this,” I answer, even though I’m not sure that’s the truth. Still, he has his own coin to find. He already saved me from a whole lot of pain. He doesn’t need to waste any more time helping me out.
“You sure?” He sounds skeptical. Probably because I’m currently crawling around on my hands and knees like a baby as I search for a coin I’m not even sure I want. The thing is definitely more trouble than I need right now.
“I’m fine,” I tell him more forcibly. “Thank you.”
“Okay, then.” He shrugs before standing back up. “It was nice meeting you…”
“Penelope,” I fill in, because it seems rude not to.
“Nice to meet you, Penelope. I’m Sullivan.” He gives me a little wink before sauntering away. Seconds later, a coin comes flying straight at him. He catches it, then turns back to see if I’m still watching him…which, I’m ashamed to admit, I am.
“I guess I’ll see you back at the amphitheater, Penelope. Good luck with that coin.”
“Good luck with yours,” I call after him, even though he’s already got his. Could Ibemore embarrassing?
When he laughs, I duck my head and go back to searching for my coin. A glance at the timer on the wall tells me thirteen minutes have passed—which means I’ve only got fourteen minutes left to find this annoying coin and get back over to the amphitheater.
Athena girls never fail, I remind myself as I look everywhere. And I’m not going to either.
I finally find the ridiculous piece of gold, right between Perseus’s sandaled feet. Thank the gods. But when I reach for it, the obnoxious thing jumps straight into the air again.
Ugh. What is even happening here? And why is it happening to me?
“Fine, whatever.” I tell the coin as I push to my feet. “I’ll just go find another one.”
I turn around to do just that, but the moment I take a step away from it, I feel a tug deep in my belly, like some kind of invisible string is pulling me back to it.
Darn it. Looks like this really is my coin, after all.
I scan the room, hoping my brother is still here to help me corner this thing. But I don’t see Paris anywhere. And while I’m glad he found his coin, I’m also a little sad that I’m really going to have to do this alone. He might be annoyingly obsessed with video games, but he’s also my twin. And we’ve spent a lot of years doing almost everything together. It feels weird that he’s already left me behind twice when we’ve only been at Anaximander’s about an hour.
What does that say about how the rest of the year is going to go?
Not that I have time to obsess about that right now—how can I when I still have to worry about the fact that the coin that is very definitely my coin wants absolutely nothing to do with me?
To be fair, at this point the feeling is completely mutual.
