The dream started out as normal, but it wasn’t far in when I could tell it was going to be a bad one again.
The light unveiled the haze to reveal their faces, and I knew it was too late to go back to the nothingness. A moment passed, and then I heard their voices. It’s almost like I’m one of them, but they couldn’t see me.
“Maia, Maia, Maia,” Orpheus sighed, his half-mutilated face coming into clearer focus. “You managed to get some supply of power, but it is hardly adequate; not to mention you consumed most of it yourself.”
She shrugged. “I would’ve gotten more, if it hadn’t been for that Starry Knight person, or whoever she was, and that strange kid.” I knew she was talking about me.
“I see. You’re going to blame your failure on human children?”
Maia’s eyes snapped up, looking unusually alert for someone as lazy-looking as her. “I’d hardly call their powers human,” she huffed. I had to agree with her. But I didn’t want to think of what it made me if I was not human.
Orpheus sighed again. I got the feeling he did that a lot with Maia. “I don’t believe it. Starry Knight is one thing, but to blame your shortcomings on a high school teenager and his friends… that’s a new level of low for even you, Maia.”
“Yeah,” The one I named Elektra agreed. I faltered here in my vision, as I took a good look at her. Her orange glow made me think of cheap tanning lotion.
“Maia, you’re so lazy,” Meropae – the pinkish-toned one – complained. “There are plenty of people out there to coax into giving us their souls. You think you were just so unfortunate as to find the only four who would resist? And on top of that, you managed to get our beloved ally, Gibliom, thrown from this realm?”
“I almost had the girl,” Maia shot back. “If it hadn’t been for that Starry Knight girl, I would’ve succeeded.”
“Sure, sure,” Alcyonë spoke up. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen her before up close either. She looked sick; her skin was greenish in color. Made me think of the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. “You’re just jealous the rest of us have more power.”
Orpheus cleared his throat. “Excuse me, ladies, but let’s not forget Maia did bring back more than anyone else this week, small and relatively useless as it is. I say she goes out again. As you all well know, slothfulness is one of the easiest deadly forces used to access humans. And it is one of the most readily available, too.”
Slothfulness? What the heck is that? I was not sure, but I thought it meant laziness. Yes, that’s it. And I supposed that would explain why Maia was so lazy, if her chief power source was laziness.
The others huffed, rolled their eyes, or just stared with no particular expression at all.
Orpheus’ one-eye blazed at their reaction. “This is not a game, you incompetent morons! Do you think it is funny, that you will run out of energy and be forced into the Prince’s submission? Might I remind you, we are trapped here until we can gain enough power to break through Time!?”
“Orpheus, just –”
“No! You girls need to take this more seriously. You have no idea how fortunate we are to be here on Earth.”
What was he talking about?
“If we’d been properly sentenced, we would have been sent back inside our prison – or even worse, sent to the broken realm where our master resides! Do any of you want that?”
“No.” Several of the sinister ladies muttered that out quickly enough.
“Fine. I want to see more effort.” Orpheus nodded. “Maia! You have until the end of the week to redeem yourself.”
“Oh, all right. I’m going then.” She slouched and dragged her feet along the floor as she walked out of the darkened room. The scenery, even though it was darker than night, looked familiar. It had to be somewhere in the city.
“Great,” Maia spit out bitterly, “Another mission where I have to work! This is getting ridiculous.”
And then I woke up, sweating and breathing heavily, in my bed in my room, but feeling more than a little out of my mind.
14
Sidetracked
I walked down the crowded school hallways, waving to my friends, who cat-called me from all angles, and said hello to some teachers, surprising them with sincerity (I knew they would more likely respect me if I faked respect to them.)
School resumed on the Monday following the attack along with some sense of normalcy, for which I was grateful; you have to admit, as much as school was a bother, it had its perks. A few, anyway.
The damage to the school was reported, despite witness accounts to the contrary, as due to thunder and lightning. The play was postponed until further notice; the football game against Shoreside was rescheduled for the following week. I couldn’t really complain, but I would if asked for my opinion on the matter.
After all, I had a reputation to consider.
My school was small, especially for a public high school – probably because it was in the older part of town. I’d lived in the Lake County Heights – a subdivision basically created for the most financially secure families of Apollo City – for nearly all my life now. Cheryl and Mark had moved to the city when Cheryl was first promoted in her law firm. And Mark, well, he was a cardiologist; he could find work anywhere as long as a hospital was around.
But Apollo Central, in my opinion, was a good school for me. Here, I was the popular guy nearly everyone liked, and everyone else was too jealous to like. I liked that better than going to some prep school where mommies and daddies are the only reasons students could brag. I was better than that. I was cultured and mature. I was capable of making other people envy me on my own.
I usually enjoyed going to school, though I was smart enough not to admit it. But there were a few days when I considered school a hassle or problematic.
Such as when Elysian followed me to school.
The small dragon had ignored me for most of the weekend, primarily because I intentionally avoided him; I’d been ‘busy’ calling Gwen to see how she was doing, going over to Mikey’s house and Jason’s house, sleeping in late and other important things like that, trying to forget all the things I’d seen and heard and felt.
It wasn’t easy, but I managed to succeed.
The dreams which haunted me were crushed by the relentless onslaught of activities and ‘concerns’ I had on my mind.
I sighed. This week was already starting to look bad, I thought gloomily. It had been predicted to be so – it was the final week of the football season, on top of everything else.
Mrs. Smithe smiled as the bell rang. I thought she looked a lot more cheerful this week now that the apparently cursed rain was gone and the sun was out again. “Okay, class, time for your exam. I hope you’ve all studied hard over the weekend.” Everyone gave her a blank stare until we all simultaneously recalled there was a huge test today.
No wonder she was so happy.
“Crap!” Drew punched his fist down on his desk. “I completely forgot. I’m going to fail.”
“Me, too,” Poncey added. “I thought for sure Martha would push it back until Tuesday, at least.”
I personally felt stricken. Of course today was the exam worth fifteen percent of the final grade. Of course. I put my Game Pac away and sighed.
It had been years since I felt unprepared for a test. But the test was passed out before I could even try to pass out.
“Okay, class, do your best. You have both periods to finish.”
I, along with the rest of the class, groaned and/or grumbled in response.
“Psst! Hammy!”
I looked to see Gwen waving in my direction with her arm in a newly-covered cast. “Good luck,” she whispered.
I winked at her. “No problem,” I smirked. I waited until she turned her attention back on her test to shudder at the thought of mine. Shooting one last
look out the window at the tiny dragon, nonchalantly clawing his way up the waterspout, I sighed and began filling out my answer sheet.
An hour and a half later, I walked up, handed my test to Martha, and left the room, not saying anything. Worst test ever, I decided.
Gwen came up beside me. “Did you do all right?”
“Piece of cake,” I lied brightly and brilliantly. “Martha’s going to have to try harder to stump me next time.”
Gwen laughed. “I didn’t study at all,” she admitted. “I forgot about it entirely. I hope I don’t fail.”
“I’m sure you did fine,” I assured her. “You can study with me next time.”
Gwen nodded. “I might have to. You always do so well on her tests.”
“Hey, Gwen, how are you feeling today?” Tim suddenly popped up beside her. It’s more than a little creepy. Like stalker creepy.
“Oh, hi, Tim,” Gwen smiled. I was a little surprised. Usually Gwen was a lot, well, less fake about pretending to be nice. “My arm’s doing as well as expected.”
Tim slowed down a bit. “Did you hear about the meeting for the play?”
“What meeting?” she asked. “I don’t remember any play practice being scheduled.”
“Well, Ms. Carmichael’s coming in from Rosemont on Wednesday,” Tim replied. “You should come, if you can. The Rosemont students will be here, too. If you’re not feeling well, I can give you the details later.”
The gloomy expression on his face made me so happy I could almost forget the history test.
Gwen nodded. “We’ll see,” she repeated. Then she waved good-bye to Tim and began to walk with me again. “I wonder if there’s a chance of reopening the play,” she mused.
I shrugged. “Well, it was postponed, not canceled, technically.”
“That’s right.” Gwen gushed. “I hope it opens. I did really want to be a star.”
“Maybe you’ll be a star one day, like in Hollywood. You’re certainly pretty enough for it.” (Cheesy, I know, but it worked.)
“Well, I don’t know about that,” she giggled. “Well, see you later.”
I waved as she walked away. So Gwen and Tim weren’t so friendly this week. That made me happy (very happy.)
However, my happiness was short-lived (of course); looking out the window of the classroom, I saw Elysian again. The happiness inside of me popped like a soap bubble. That thing was getting annoying. Really annoying.
“You can’t follow me to school!” I nearly shouted on my way home. The newly November air was chilly, but I didn’t realize it as I glowered at the tiny dragon on my shoulder. “What do I tell people if they see you?”
“You can’t keep ignoring me, or your mission,” Elysian huffed angrily.
“I’m not ignoring you. I’m yelling at you! And I don’t know what mission you’re talking about,” I seethed.
Elysian shook his head. “I was under the impression you were mourning, so I let you be. But now I see you were just trying to ignore the truth, so you could get on with your life.”
“So?” My voice nearly cracked. A couple of people passing by me on the street gave me funny looks. I glared at them and waited until they were out of sight. Then I turned back to Elysian.
“Now, where was –” I started to hassle Elysian again, only to see he was gone from my shoulder. “Huh?” I looked around, feeling my anxiety build. I could only imagine what someone would say if they saw a dragon sauntering down the street. “Where’d you go?”
I caught sight of that slimy tail of his soon enough; Elysian had disappeared to look into a window across the street.
I hurriedly picked up the small animal, nearly choking it as I tucked it halfway inside my backpack. “What are you doing?” I asked through gritted teeth. “You’re making me upset.”
Elysian snarled. “I’m making you mad? Excuse me, but who’s the one in charge here?”
“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes. “I’m in charge of you, not the other way around!” And I shook my backpack with Elysian inside, to prove I was the bigger, stronger one.
“Uh, Hamilton?”
Oh, great. Someone had seen me.
I looked up to see Rachel smiling down at me from an open window. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Uh, nothing. Hey, Rachel.”
She gave me an odd expression before waving me in. “Come on in, I’ve got a new drink I want you to try!”
“Okay! Be there in a minute!” The second she left, I glared at Elysian. “What were you thinking, coming over here? You’re in the human world, where no one has ever seen one of you before. You’d be placed in a museum or a zoo or maybe a freak show carnival faster than you can say –”
“Are you coming?” Rachel asked, opening the door.
“Uh, yeah. Just making sure all my stuff’s here,” I lied.
“Oh… well, come on in. Business is slow right now; and Grandpa Odd’s here, just warning you.”
Ah, no wonder she was bribing me to come inside. Grandpa was home.
“Judgment Day’s coming!” the old man greeted me with a raised drink.
Rachel rolled her eyes. “He was reading O’Connor earlier, if you’re wondering. She is one of his favorites,” she explained as she handed me a drink. “This is a pumpkin chai smoothie. It’s sugar-free, low-fat, and full of healthy nutrients.”
“And yet, it tastes like a regular, drinkable pumpkin chai smoothie,” I smile after the first sip. I had an over-appreciation for the normal things in life lately.
“Judgment’s Day’s coming,” Grandpa Odd squeaked up again.
“Uh… Rachel?” I raised my eyebrows in a silent question.
“No, he’s just insane; I don’t let him drink.”
Grandpa Odd was slouched over in his chair, his head down on his folded arms (like a student in a boring class.) I tried not to laugh. “He’s well named, really. I’ve never met anyone so ‘odd’ before.”
Rachel grinned. “That’s part of our family’s Norwegian side. We’re actually related to the founder of Apollo City, Ogden Skarmastad.”
I supposed that explained the insanity. Hereditary.
“Judgment Day’s coming!” Grandpa Odd straightened. “You’ll see! When Judgment Day comes, no one will be expecting it.”
“But if you know it’s coming, then doesn’t that mean it’s not coming?” I snorted.
The old man looked at me intently. “Just because I know it’s coming, doesn’t mean it won’t. It’s coming soon, but you will not be expecting it… not expecting it at all.” He leaned in closer and added, “And you won’t escape the consequences – or making a choice…” Then he sat back down, and began to brood into his cup once more.
Elysian was mesmerized by Grandpa Odd’s presence. “Hush!” I hissed at him, before he could no doubt make some kind of comment. “You’d better be good.”
“So you think it’s good?” Rachel smiled brightly. “You really like the drink then?”
“Sure do,” I nodded, thankful for the opportunity to cover. “In fact, I’ll buy another one for the road, if you don’t mind. And throw in a sandwich, too, with lots of turkey and roast beef and cheese; seriously, no organic stuff.”
“Sure, I’ll get it right away,” Rachel grinned.
A few moments later, I was once again headed on my way home, a bag in my one hand and another smoothie (already half gone) in the other. I liked going to Rachel’s. Too bad every time I showed up it seemed that odd man was there.
“Can I come out of here yet?” Elysian asked, his voice muffled from the inside of the backpack, and his body squashed between the textbooks.
“No,” I still burned with anger at his earlier antics.
“Please? This has to be considered pet abuse.”
&nb
sp; “No it’s not; and my mother’s a lawyer, and you can’t testify anyway. We’ll be back at my house in a couple of moments, would you relax?”
“Come on.”
“Look, you’re irritating me. Why can’t you just go back to whatever radioactive sewer pipe you crawled out of and stop bothering me?”
Elysian slithered out of the backpack and dropped to the ground. “First of all, I did not crawl out of a radioactive sewer pipe. I was sent down here from the Realm of Immortality. Second, you need me. I told you this before. How else are you going to be able to fight the evil your world now faces?”
“What evil!?” If I didn’t feel so radically annoyed, I would have thought the very idea was laughable. “There is no evil! This is a postmodern society, moron. Nothing is able to be considered bad. I’m sure you’ve got it all wrong, whatever it is you’re talking about.”
Elysian sighed. “I can’t believe you’re really the one I was sent to come find –”
“Who would send you along to come find me?”
“I’ll tell you everything, if you’ll only give me the chance.”
“I don’t want to know!”
“Your ignorance is impossible to deal with!” Elysian roared, as he jumped up on his hind legs. His wings grew bigger and his body became longer and fuller. He transformed into his real dragon self; I briefly heard some young children nearby scream as Elysian tossed me onto his back and took off for the sky.
15
Beginnings
Whoa!” I yelled in surprise as I dropped my sandwich bag. “No! I paid good money for that!” I complained, grabbing onto a pair of Elysian’s horns just before I almost fell off Elysian’s back.
“Be quiet!” Elysian’s voice was deeper and scarier to me in his true form. He hauled me up further and further, until the city was a glimmering speck on the dirt below.
“Where are we going?” I asked a moment later. I was having trouble keeping my breath as we went up higher.
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