Chapter 1
Birthday
Today was Mary's thirteenth birthday. The sun was shining, a couple of ravens scrapped and crawked over who knows what, and Mary was standing on the lawn in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, faux leather holdall over her shoulder, feet wet from the sprinklers.
"Can I just go see Tessa first?" she begged her parents. "She might have something for me and I won't see her again for ages!"
"Oh all right," her mother sighed. "But be quick; we can't miss the flight."
Mary's birthday was right in the middle of summer vacation and so her parent's had decided that a great birthday present would be to go visit cold, wet London for the week, and watch Les Mis at Queens Theatre.
She ran across the empty road to Tessa's house and rang the doorbell. Tessa opened the door almost immediately, she must have been waiting.
To look at her, there was nothing especially unusual about Tessa. She was a tall, slim women in her late twenties. Not overly chatty, but not painfully quiet either. Foundation spread on a little thickly, perhaps, but that wasn't that unusual. You'd never guess she wasn't human.
Of course, that was the point of it all. Foundation and gloves to cover her blue skin, leg braces over her tentacles to help her walk like a human, bangs to cover her third eye. As a spy for Monstropolis, Tessa couldn't be discovered.
"Boo, how lovely to see you before you go! Happy birthday and come in, I have something for you."
Mary followed Tessa into the house. The wallpaper looked a little shabbier, the carpet worn down, but apart from that, it looked pretty much the same as when Tessa had moved in, almost seven years before. Tessa hadn't done any redecorating since then.
"Now where did I put it... Aha!" Tessa handed Mary a small box. "Open it."
Inside was a little silver owl pendant, shaped like a rounded tear-drop. Black stones – obsidian? – glinted in its eyes.
"Oh, it's beautiful..." she murmured. She looked up at Tessa. Thank-you so much!"
Tessa smiled. "It's the symbol of Athena, goddess of wisdom in battle. I got it to remind you to think before you do things."
Mary gasped in mock outrage, then laughed. Outside she heard a car horn. "That'll be my parents, gotta go. Bye!" Tessa laughed as she sprinted to the car. She liked Mary, she really did. She was the only human she could trust.
###
Hurtling back across the road, she practically swung into the car.
"You took your time." her father grumbled as he reversed out of the driveway.
Mary shrugged. "It didn't take that long."
"If we miss the flight it's your fault."
"Whatever."
"Don't 'whatever' me, miss."
"'Smy birthday."
