"I saw what you did back there, it was amazing" Jake complimented her in all sincerity and nervousness.
She didn't say anything, it was just as Jake had feared, the reason he was nervous. He thought or knew she might not talk to him, he was heard her talk even the day he arrived, she had hardly said a word.
"Thank you" Jake was jolted from his thoughts.
He turned to look at Anna, she walked slowly beside him, staring down at her feet.
He thought she had the nicest voice he had ever heard, her voice was velvety and soothing, it had a certain calming effect that came with it.
"Who taught you?" Jake questioned her further, hoping to keep the conversation going. "My Father" this time she replied faster than previously.
"He must be quite good then"
"Yeah, he was. He knew his way round a bow more than most others"
"Was?" Jake immediately wished he could pull back the words that had just left his mouth.
"Yes, he died"
"I'm sorry" Jake felt a pang of pain and guilt for bringing up the topic.
"It's alright" she assured him "it's been a while now"
"You have a nice voice, but you don't speak often" Anna briefly broke her usual straight face by blushing for a second.
"Not talking helps me focus". Jake was tempted to ask what she was focusing on but he thought better and decided to let the question fade away the same way it had came.
"I also saw you shoot, you're quite good as well"
"Thanks, but I don't think I'm as good as you are. I feel like I still have ways to go." After a little pause, he asked the question that had been bugging him for some time now "it was you the other night right?"
"What night?" Anna peered at him from the corner of her eyes, trying to figure out what he was on about.
"At the cafeteria, when the lights went off, you brought them back on" Jake held her gaze, he was quite sure it was her, though the snap had echoed across the room he was sure it had come from her direction.
"I guess you're quite observant" she seemed to know when she was made and didn't try to deny, she turned to face the path, the hostel already in view "would you have preferred I left us in the dark then?"
"No, that's not it. I mean it's nice, you seem to be pretty good at these things."
"I'm not as good as you make it seem" Anna replied. They were already inside the hostel, it was time for dinner so they walked in the direction of the cafeteria.
Anna made a mental note to be wary of Jake, he seemed to have a scarily accurate perception for someone without magic, she felt he was the kind that could read someone easily, like an open book.
Jake was doing his fair share of thinking as they entered the cafeteria, he usually knew people but Annabeth seemed different, he couldn't figure out what she was thinking.
The next day which was Friday, they practiced horseback riding, Saturday came really quickly.
Jake had dressed in black boots and plain shirts and pants. He walked to the girls room hoping to get Annabeth but only met Lisa and Kayla
"Have you seen Annabeth?" he asked from the doorway.
"She left for somewhere about thirty minutes ago" Kayla answered while pulling a strand of her hair.
"Thirty" Jake said to himself. "She must have had something to do".
He would have to tell Freya that she couldn't make it, though he thought it would have been nice to have someone to go out there with.
He walked through the school premises to the field where they were supposed to meet Freya, he walked through the path with trees on each side that led to the field, as he got closer he thought he could hear sounds, it was mostly the chirping birds in the trees and other little animals calling out to each other, he tried to discard the sound as sounds of nature but as he got closer the could hear a 'thunk' sound it seemed continuous.
He came into sight and was purely surprised to see Annabeth already there shooting arrows. Freya was the first to acknowledge his presence.
"Nice of you to join us Jake".
"Sorry I'm late"
"No you're not. Seems Anna kind of came early"
"Oh, I see"
They began their training in earnest, arrows were being pulled out of quivers and nocked at insane speed, the arrows flew sliced through the air with determined precision hitting the their targets less than 30 meters away.
Jake and Anna were easily nocking their arrows and letting them sail like experts, they were hardly missing any shot.
Freya would occasionally step in to adjust a knee or hand that wasn't placed right.
It went on like this for a few hours, they could now hit the center better than before, anytime they simultaneously hit the target, Freya would come up from back and grab their shoulders or ruffle their hair smiling happily at their progress.
It was almost dusk when they decided to call it quits for the day.
They helped Freya gather the weapons into the carriage, Freya had asked them to return every weekend because though they were improving, they still had a long way to go.
"You seemed out of it today. What's wrong?"
Jake asked Annabeth with a look of concern. They had already finished packing and we're on their way to the hostel.
"Nothing" she simply shook her head.
"You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah" Jake wasn't convinced, but he decided not to push further.
"I came by your room earlier, Kayla said you had left quite early"
"Yeah, I wanted to clear my head"
"Alright, I just thought it'll be nice to walk here with someone"
"Maybe next week, then" Jake nodded "What's with the locket".
Jake's hand instinctively flew to his neck. It wasn't something he let dangle freely in public.
He realized that he was on edge and immediately calmed his tense shoulders and let his hands drop to his side.
"I saw it while you were shooting an arrow" she added when she saw his hand fly to his neck.
"It's a gift"
"Hmm" Anna nodded.
His father had given him the locket some few days before he died.
He had cautioned him to always wear it around his neck at all times l, never to lose it and treat it as he would an important person.
He hadn't really given much thought to it, until his father died. He decided to always hold onto the locket as the last thing his father had given him.
On one of the nights after his father had died, his words suddenly came flowing back to him, he visualized the image of his father's face writhed in pain as his life was taken away from him clutching the locket he cried himself to sleep, he woke up still holding the locket within his fists, that was when he felt it, strange letters were carved into the back of the locket.
He had never seen such writings before, he discarded it and put the locket back into his shirt.