Ch. 1: A Hydra steals Aida's spotlight
Italy is still hot even when the sun goes down. I sighed and rested my chin on my palm. I was in Verona, AKA, the "city of love", but personally, I don't see what so lovey dovey about it is. I mean, yes, this is the city in which Romeo and Juliet took place, but apparently, Shakespeare didn't see the city he was talking about.
Anyway, why am I in Verona, may you ask? I am on a trip with a summer camp. We are a group of seventeen kids studying to become opera singers. Haha. Laugh all you want. I know what you're thinking. It's usually the same response that I get from lots of teenagers. They say that opera is boring and all that jazz, but it's really not. The music is beautiful and I'm pretty darn good at singing it, so I think I'm going to stick with it.
The notes of Aida's soprano voice somehow made their way from the stage and to my faraway ears. I smiled a little; thinking how amazing it is that I'm in Italy, listening to amazing singers. My whole six days in Italy was sadly coming to an end and I wanted to make this moment last forever. The set for the opera was goregous. There was a revolving pyramid, sphinxes and some statues of the Egyptian gods and goddesses themselves. But what made it even prettier is that there were candles on the steps above the set in the arena.
They were as if the stars themselves came down and decided to watch the opera too. There was a slight breeze that somehow made its way through the concrete of the arena, which teased the viewer's arms and made the candle's flames do a quick dance. My eyes slid around the arena; I could see audience's paper fans going still. I gave up on mine a while ago, my wrist started to hurt.
My feet were bare against the ground and I swear that I could've felt a slight vibration that tickled my toes. I just ignored it; there were always cars running at anytime of day or night in Italy. However, a couple of minutes later, I think my ears registered a distant roar. I still don't think that I can shake off the sound of that roar; just remembering it makes my blood go cold. Soon enough, Aida's aria was over and there was a boom of applause, along with a couple of "Bravos" and "Bravis" here and there, but the roar that I heard next totally out did the applause.
My eyes flickered up from the stage and up to where the roar came from. I could hear the steps it was making and it shook the foundation of the arena, but a second nearly passed when the wall behind the stage somehow combusted; showing a humongous green monster with five heads.
My eyes widened and people screamed as the five-headed creature let out a horrible roar again. People were already scurrying towards the exits, but I decided that I couldn't run away from this thing, I had to kill it. I got up from my seat and ran towards the beast. One of the campers, my roommate, grabbed my hand.
"Althea! What do you think you're doing?" I shook my hand out of her grip and continued to push my way through the crowd. I looked up; the monster was using its heads to terrorize the singers by shooting balls of fire at them, making the set go aflme in some parts. I had to get up there and fast. Looking down as I ran, I noticed that my dress was keeping me from getting to my goal. Thank goodness that I had shorts on underneath and I ripped my dress, making it a shirt now. I hated dresses anyways; you can't run in them. So what's the point? They're death traps.
I threw the cloth onto the ground and climbed onto the stage, running up the little steps that took me to the monster. I looked around frantically; how was I going to take down this monster if I had no weapon? I frantically searched for some kind if weapon when I felt a slight pressure on my back.
To my surprise, I pulled a bow made of gold out of a quiver of arrows that were suddenly attached to my back. I shrugged and quickly loaded the bow with inexperience, even though I knew I couldn't miss. I aimed and fired; making it land in one of its five heads, close to its eye. I swear I could've felt the ground shake when it let out that roar of pain. The collection of its heads snapped towards me. Crap, I thought and screamed as two of its heads let out columns of fire at me, but I managed to somersault out of the way. I had to think fast and I bit my lip; my brain frantically searching for an answer. If metal couldn't kill this thing, what would?
My eyes caught a sight of a flame from one of the candles, giving me the idea to fight fire with fire. I had no idea why, but something in my mind told me that fire would kill it. With no delay, I ran over to one of the candles and lit three arrows on fire, loading them carefully into the bow. I aimed and eagerly let go of the string; the trio of flammable, golden arrows soaring through the night sky. The arrows shot into three of the five necks and the two heads of the beast could barely yell out in defeat before collapsing dead in flames.
I let out a sigh of relief and looked around, noticing that everyone in the crowd was looking at me. I looked around uneasily and gulped but then everybody started clapping. I put on a small and shy smile, taking a quick curtsy, unlike Aida did. I darted out of that place before you could say pizza.
Ch. 2 My roommate gets kidnapped
The ride back to the hotel was agonizing; so many questions were being thrown into my face. What was it? Did it really breathe fire? Are you okay? Where'd you get the bow and arrows? How'd you learn to shoot like that? Why on earth did you rip your dress? That was such a cute dress! Yadda, yadda, yadda. I could only really answer the dress question because it's the only thing that I knew that actually happened; the whole night seemed like an unrealistic dream.
"Seriously, Althea, why did you rip it?" I sighed sleepily and glanced at the questioner.
"Are you really asking that question after all that just happened?" She rolled her eyes but I wasn't really shocked by her question, since she was my fashonita of a roommate. Her name was Lacey.
"Fine, fine," I grumbled, "It was in my way." She shook her head.
"That is no proper way to treat a dress." I shrugged.
"Well, it was the only proper way to deal with that...thing!" She shook her head again, but it was from her dissaproval of my action. I was getting a little fed up; she was worrying about a dress when a whole arena full of people were in danger. I angrily looked out the window as we were just pulling up to the hotel.
I rubbed my eyes and flopped onto the bed; I guess I was more tired than I expected.
"Hey, Althea?" Lacey asked.
"Hmm?" I responded dozily.
"You wanna take a shower first?" I could her her voice echo in the bathroom.
"Yeah, sure, whatever." She came out of the bathroom undoing her hair and I got up, shutting the door once I entered. The bathrooms in Europe are ridiculously small, but we made it work. I turned on the water to hot and got in once the clear walls were full of steam. I opened the little door and stepped in; instantly feeling the hot water on my muscles. I sighed and leaned against the wall, my eyes closed. I let the water fall down on me, just letting my thoughts wander. What on earth was that thing? And how did I take it down? Especially with a bow? I never have even touched one before in my life until now.
I let out a sigh full of confusion; how would I explain this to my parents? Do they know that any of this would happen? Nah, they're most likely just as clueless as me. My thoughts stopped when I heard a loud noise that sounded like glass was breaking, accompanied with a terrified scream. I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me, opening the bathroom door. What I saw definitely described what I heard; the window in our room was completley smashed and Lacey was nowhere to be found.
I longlily looked out the window of the airplane; the wings were slicing through the clouds that surrounded us. Where did Lacey go? The whole group of us searched the hotel and the streets of Verona, but, it was no use; she wasn't in Verona anymore. The Italian police even searched the area outside of Verona, but she wasn't there either. They promised us daily updates on their search. All I wanted was her to be returned to her family safe and sound, but hey, this is life; you barely get what you want.
Everyone was expecting me to know what had happened to her, but I was just as clueless as they were. No matter how much I explained them to this, they still didn't listen. It really bugged me because they all make it seem like I did it or that I don't want her back, but truthfully, I want her back even more than they do. She was really my only friend at this camp, even through all of the pointless fashion advice that I would never use. I did a mental sigh. All I really want to know is who or what took her. When I find that person or...thing, I would kill it, no matter how dangerous. Lacey didn't deserve this; she was just an innocent teenager. I eyed my book and suddenly felt a pang of non-interest in it. I marked the page and closed the book, resting it on the tray in front of me. How would I tell my parents about this? Would they think that I did this to her? I just hope not. My book bounced on the tray as the pilot landed the airplane. Good, I can't wait to get out of here. I don't know what it is, but I always disliked airplanes.
I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. My hair was a mess in its loose ponytail; my light brown eyes looked tired, but the pale face was just a cherry on top. All together, it looked like I stayed in snowy Siberia for days instead of sunny Italy, where the sun always shone down on you. I collected my carry-on and shuffled my way out of the bathroom, walking over to the group. We made it through Customs in one-piece, but my whole body felt like it was going to shatter into a million. We still had to get our luggage from baggage claim.
Ch. 3 I tell my parents the news
A rush of relief swept through my chest as my mother hugged me.
"Oh, Althea, how was it?" I bit my lip but managed a tiny smile when my mom pulled back and inspected me.
"It was," I paused and searched for a word, "Interesting."
"Ah," My mom nodded in understanding, but I though that I heard a little disappointment ring through her tone. She helped me to my room with my bags and I sat on my bed; glad to hear the headboard clanging on the wall again. She sat down next to me.
"Is that all? It was only interesting?" I wanted to jump up and say it was amazing but the burden of losing Lacey held me down like a depressed anchor. I fought the lump in my throat; making it burn with sudden sorrow. Fighting a monster was one thing I could do, but fighting tears? That seemed impossible. Soon enough, those unwelcomed tears slipped down my cheeks. My mom wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
"Althy? What on earth happened? Do you miss Italy already?" I shook my head and sniffed.
"No, mom," I sniffed again, "My room mate, she got kidnapped." My mom pulled her arm back and looked at me, her blue eyes alert.
"Who stole her?"
"That's the part I don't know, mom, but I need to find her." My mother shook her head.
"No, that is not an option. You let the Verona police deal with that." I was enraged and stood up.
"No! Mom! She's not in Verona anymore!" She scoffed.
"How do you know that?" I didn't really know that I did, but I had this feeling that she wasn't. I sighed.
"I don't really know, mom. I just have this feeling."
"Feeling schmeeling," She countered, "You don't need to get involved in this."
"But I have to, mom. It's the only way to get her back." My mom looked me straight into the eyes.
"No." My mom got up and left the room and I sat down on the bed, frustrated. The stupid police wouldn't be able to get her back, only I would. Why couldn't my mom see this?Oh well, I thought, at least I know someone who would.