by Travis Hall
“So then you know what we found?”
“Yes, and you are to make sure you keep it hidden and safe. There is no telling what would happen if Salazar’s agents got a hold of it.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“I made a promise to Ben that if you chose to go down that path, I wouldn’t interfere.”
“Is that why you kept me in the dark for all those years?”
“I kept you in the dark because I wanted you to experience a normal life. I wanted you to grow up in a world where you could be carefree and not have the look that I see now in your eyes. It’s a look that I saw in so many on the battlefield.”
They looked at each other for a few long seconds as the sun began to rise in the eastern sky. Birds outside sang as the blue light expelled the night’s shade.
“Now what?”
“Well, since you’re awake, you can go feed the chickens while I make breakfast.”
Aunt May came into the room fully dressed and began making coffee while Allora went to change her clothes. As the sun began to crawl up into the sky, the air grew hotter. Early September brought a scorching heat wave. The humid Oregon air caused anyone stuck outside to sweat profusely.
After feeding the dogs and making her bed, she went to the chicken coop that her uncle had built when she was young. It was made completely of wood and was enclosed by a steel fence, and it was filled with about twenty hungry chickens. Allora threw the feed at the edges of the cage so that the chickens would leave the coop. Then she went about cleaning.
The putrid aroma of poop and sawdust made Allora gag as she entered. She swept out the old hay and sawdust, walking on the creaking wooden floors. In the far corner of the coop, something caught her eye. One of the chickens had laid an egg. She picked it up and examined the small white egg. A slight splintering sound escaped from the boards beneath her feet, and then the floorboards snapped and she flew downward, landing on a large pile of hay. She exhaled, having saved the egg that she held in her hand. Then she felt something crack on her head, and warm, gooey liquid slowly dripped down her face.
“I guess the chicken had twins,” she said, wiping the yolk with her hair.
Allora glanced up at a wood ladder leading up to a hole beneath the chicken coop. It was dark and muggy, with the only light coming from the splintered wooden hole that she entered through. There was a candle and a box of matches on a table to her immediate right. The oddity of her surroundings gave her pause as she glanced around the hidden underground room.
She lit the candle and scanned the area with the candlelight. The space was small but extended back into what seemed to be a storage area. In the back of the cave, the walls were made of metal, and there were weapons hanging on the far left side. It still smelled like the chicken coop, but Allora sniffed the faint smell of a familiar aroma. Swinging the light to the right, she found the distinctive bottle of cologne on a desk. She opened the bottle, taking in the musky smell that her uncle had worn every day. She put the candle down on the desk and pulled out a few dusty newspapers. The circled articles involved different sightings of UFOs and strange occurrences around the world. She, again, scanned around the dugout pit, at odds with the strangeness of her situation.
Underneath the newspapers, there was an odd jewelry box. She blew off the dust and opened it, revealing a small black marble. Allora rubbed away the blackish-blue grime. Then the marble hovered above her hands, spinning and floating down right above the ground. From the top of the round object, a holographic image of her uncle appeared, projecting upward.
“Uncle Ben,” Allora said, reaching her fingertips into the light, longing for his presence.
The image smiled, looking down as if reacting to her movement.
“Hello, Milly,” it said. “If you are watching this, it means I have failed. I hate to say it, but you were right. Hades has infiltrated the guardians. I feel like I have thwarted his quest in finding the Scroll of Alexandria. I still don’t know what sort of information it holds, but I believe Hades thinks it’s crucial to the king’s plans. Look, I know you don’t believe in the SSS or our methods, but this scroll may be the advantage we need to protect this world. It also may have information about how we can find or use the Eye of the Titans. Please believe me. I know how much you want to protect our family. This may be the only way we can. All the information you need to find the lost city of Alexandria is contained within the memory orb. And, sis, remember your promise to me. When she’s old enough, you must tell her the truth.”
Uncle Ben placed his hand over his heart, with his index and middle fingers pointed to his shoulder and his thumb toward his chin. Allora took in his masculine shape, strong jaw, sweet smile, and crystal-blue eyes. She couldn’t help but cry upon seeing the image fade. Left alone in the dark hiding spot, she took the marble off the ground and located the small orb that her uncle had mentioned. She placed the orb in her shirt and rubbed away the dirt. It was black and looked like the Eye of the Titans but was much smaller. She sniffed, sucking in her emotions and blinking away her tears.
“Well, here goes nothing,” she said, pointing her index finger at the memory orb.
Allora pulled in a few hadrons, focused them to her finger, and shot a spark into the black orb. The room exploded in light, and Allora shot backward into a pile of hay in the corner. Sudden pictures flashed in her mind. Her uncle…a dark man…her school…a tomb filled with skeletons…the desert…a large city in a cave…a pyramid…a dark chamber with hieroglyphs…the horizon in Sandy…and then darkness.
Allora heard her name in the distance. Muffled sounds of yelling followed. The outburst of energy exploded upward. Bright sunlight beamed down into the hole. Allora blinked rapidly. Her eyesight was fuzzy, and her head pounded as if it was in a vise. She went in and out. Fuzzy figures appeared, climbing down the wooden ladder.
Her body felt limp. Allora watched the green haze of grass flow beneath her feet as she was carried inside her house. Slowly, her eyesight came back, but the pounding headache continued. She was handed a bag of frozen peas and placed it on top of her head. Then Milly appeared, hands placed sternly on her hips.
She turned to look at her sister. “Did you know that Ben had a secret hideout underneath the chicken coop?”
Aunt May shook her head.
Milly knelt down, placing her hands on Allora’s knees.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?”
“It feels like I got hit by a bus.”
Milly shook her head. “What were you doing down there?”
“I’m not really sure,” Allora answered. “What was that thing?”
Milly dug into her pocket and pulled out the black obsidian marble.
“It’s called a memory orb. They are used as storage devices, kind of like a hard drive, except you can store visual images based on experiences.”
“Why am I only able to see glimpses or short images?”
“That is because you’ve just downloaded a lot of information. It’s going to take quite a while for all of it to be processed by your mind.”
“Why would Ben leave it for Allora?” Aunt May asked her sister.
“It probably just had a hadron encryption that would allow anyone with our family hadron signature to access it. I don’t think Uncle Ben thought it would take this long for us to discover it.” Milly turned over the small black marble, pointing to the strange small blotches. “Look, it has deteriorated. Ben must have been in a hurry and accidently left it out of its casing.”
“What do you mean?” Allora asked.
“Memory orbs require a constant cold temperature of zero degrees Celsius, or else the processing chip inside will overheat and slowly burn away the memories stored inside. You may only be able to see a few of Ben’s memories. When those memories do get triggered, you must tell me everything.”
Milly got up and went to her room. When she came back, she was dressed in a very tight, black bodysuit with a silver tube strapped to her back, a pistol
on her thigh, and a sword slung around the other side of her back.
“Allora, I’ve got to go somewhere, and I need you to do me a favor.” Allora stood up, walking toward her mother. “I need you to go to Swan and tell him about Ben’s memory orb. Tell him everything that you saw. And please make sure not to get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
“Where are you going?” Allora asked as her mother went quickly out the back door.
Allora placed the bag of peas back in the freezer and went to the backyard. Milly took the metal tube from her back and sparked the end. The metal split along a seam and then unrolled, hovering in midair. The flat plank was about an inch thick, with no other markings. Allora ran her finger along the edge. It was cold and stationary.
“This is called a skipper,” Milly said, watching her daughter examine the metal board. “During ancient times, the humans called it a magic carpet. It’s changed quite a bit since then.”
“What does it do?”
Milly sparked the metal again. The interior seemed to melt toward the ground in varying length and depth, creating what looked like the seat of a motorcycle. In the front, two handles rose up, and a clear screen formed. Milly placed one foot onto a slanted backing, put her knee into the depressed section on the side, swung her leg over the middle seat, and placed her chest into the slightly depressed resting area in the middle.
“Whoa,” Allora said, standing next to the hovering motorcycle-like vehicle.
“I’ll be back in a couple weeks,” Milly said, inputting something into the front panel. “Make sure to feed the animals, and take care of your sister.”
With that said, Milly sparked the front panel. The sides of the hovering metal spread over Milly’s body, connecting in the middle. Then the odd-looking metal contraption accelerated like a rocket being launched. The skipper flew toward the edge of the forest, pulled up vertically, and zipped across the sky, hovering above the tree line before disappearing over the foliage.
“That thing is so cool,” Allora said as Aunt May walked up with her hands in her pockets. “Will I get to ride in one of those?”
“Eventually.”
Allora’s head began to pound again. She closed her eyes hard and held the side of her head.
“That’s going to probably hurt for quite some time.”
Allora shook her head as the pain subsided slightly. “Where did she take off to so quickly?”
Aunt May hesitated and jerked her head toward the house. They walked inside. Aunt May got a bag of frozen corn from the freezer and stuck it on top of Allora’s head and then brought her into the living room.
“To find help with protecting the town. The information you just downloaded is very dangerous and important. It’s now even more imperative that we keep this area secure, and she’s gone to the only place where there are still people we trust.” Aunt May gave her a look, pausing to see if she could guess it. Allora racked her brain and then shrugged her shoulders. “Sonora.”
chapter
THREE
Seniors
The knock at the door came rapidly and then changed into a rhythm, like the beats of a drum. Allora heard the familiar pattern and ran out into the living room as her aunt opened the door. Katie had her hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing a pink baseball T-shirt with pink lettering on her chest that read “Seniors.”
“Hey, May,” Katie said. “Thought I’d drop by and see if your overachieving niece was ready for senior year.” From behind her back, she pulled out another T-shirt. This one was purple. Katie tossed it to Allora, who displayed it in the air. “The other senior girls want us all to be wearing those tomorrow.”
“It’s kind of weird that we’re now seniors,” Allora said, putting on the shirt to see if it fit. “It feels like only yesterday that we were crossing the street from the junior high for our orientation.”
“It feels like yesterday that I was changing your diapers,” Aunt May said, rummaging through her pocket. She pulled out a set of keys. “Since you are now a senior and your mother is out of town, I figured you could start driving yourself to school.” Aunt May handed Allora the keys and smiled. “You break it, you buy it.”
Allora wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly, grinning emphatically.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Just don’t let me regret it,” Aunt May said, leaving the room.
The next day Allora got dressed and ate breakfast quickly. She grabbed her book bag, pulled her sister out of the door while she was eating toast, and got into the van. Turning the key in the ignition was almost as satisfying as when she’d found the Eye of the Titans. Allora relished the moment as she drove onto the main road.
“Why are you so happy?” Bell said, noticing the grin on Allora’s face.
“I got a car.”
“You mean you got a minivan. Not exactly something to be that excited about.”
“Well, aren’t you the little snob. I had no idea that you were such a princess.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, pipe down, you little pipsqueak. I like my big boat of a van. And this will probably be what you’ll be driving when I go off to college.”
“You really think that you’re going to college?” Bell said, her eyes dropping down as she put her chin against her chest.
Allora was speechless. It was almost as effective as if she had been punched in the stomach. Bell’s question was filled with emotion. It was like a scream that nobody had heard. The entire summer Bell had kept to herself. Allora was so caught up in trying to find more information about the Eye of the Titans, along with training, that she had never noticed her little sister’s struggles.
“You know that I’m never going to let anything happen to you, little squirt,” Allora said, pulling into the school parking lot.
Bell nodded and exited the van. She looked back at Allora, forcing a smile as she left the parking lot. Katie pulled up next to her. She could tell something was wrong.
“What’s up?”
“I don’t know,” Allora said, noticing Tanner and Dax at the edge of the school property, hanging out by the old wishing well. “My little sister is acting strange.”
“What’s new?” Katie said, as they walked over to the boys. “Your whole family is strange.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“What up, senior ladies?” Dax said, jumping off the edge of the old stone well. “You two going to do a little freshman hazing today?”
“Absolutely not, Dax,” Allora said sternly, slamming her index finger into his chest. “I see you harassing any of those poor little freshmen, and you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Whoa! I was just kidding, Allora.”
“Bad memories?” Katie asked, laughing.
“First week of freshman year, I was cornered in the bathroom by a bunch of senior girls who gave me a swirly,” Allora admitted.
“You never told me about that,” Katie said.
“Not exactly something that you go around bragging about,” Allora said, looking down into the dark well. “It was completely embarrassing. I had to change into an old sweater out of the lost and found, which made me itch all day.”
“Gross,” Katie said, scrunching her nose.
Tanner pulled four quarters from his pocket and handed them out. “It’s tradition to place a coin in the wishing well at the start of your senior year.” They all walked up to the old stone well and looked down into the dark waters fifty feet below. “Here is to a fun, safe, and successful senior year. May this year be the best yet.”
“Booyah,” Dax said as they dropped their coins. The plopping sound echoed up the stone walls. Allora squinted her eyes at something that seem to reflect off the splashed water. It was somewhat abnormal against the moss-covered grayish black stone.
“Come on, Allora,” Katie yelled back as they were walking toward the high school. “I’m craving one of those sugar-glazed donuts before first period.”
“Fatty,” Dax said.
Katie punched him hard on the shoulder. Allora looked one last time but couldn’t find the odd reflection in the dark well. She gave up on it and caught up with the other three. They watched the pint-sized freshmen scurry out of the buses, unsure about where to go. They clutched textbooks to their chests. Juniors hung around on the front lawn, playing hacky sack and sitting in the sun. Sophomores made their way to the back hallway where they could seclude themselves from the rest of the school. Seniors were littered about everywhere, either helping the new freshmen find their classes or hazing them when the teachers weren’t looking.
Allora, Tanner, Dax, and Katie walked toward the front double doors, side by side. Small groups of kids lingered on the lawn talking quietly, their voices turning to whispers as the four walked by. Darting eyes turned away as Allora scanned the other students’ scared expressions. They had spent most of the summer together, so they were unaware that the student body had been spreading rumors about their run-in with Kim in the spring. Allora gripped onto the strap of her backpack tighter as she walked through the front entryway.
Allora pushed open the front double doors of Sandy High School and smelled a mix of wood, sneakers, and air freshener. It was an odd combination that was unique to the school. After getting their class schedules at the front desk, they walked down the senior hall to their lockers. At the end of the hallway, there was a tall, dark-haired boy harassing one of the freshmen. Allora peered around the older boy’s body to see a black-haired kid with glasses, wearing a plaid, tucked-in shirt and pleated pants. He looked scared as the older boy pushed him up against the locker. Allora stomped down the hallway, feeling infuriated by the sight. Tanner tried to stop her in a feeble attempt to try to justify the hazing of freshmen. Allora grabbed the taller boy by the shoulder and twisted him around.
He dropped the smaller freshman. “Hey!” Allora pushed him up against the locker. The older boy had a look of shock on his face. “Wow, you are strong.” He smiled. His teeth were perfectly straight and ivory white. His hair was neatly gelled, flowing down over his ears. He had a strong jawline, a distinguished nose, and dark-brown eyes. Allora had to struggle to keep from staring at his large, muscular chest and arms.