Chapter 1: The Tablet
It was a bright, sunny day on June 26th, 1997 in Greece. Cleopatra Yair, a seventeen year old student at Atlas High School, was in Greek Mythology class which was taught by Mrs. Rose. Cleopatra Yair was a fair skinned girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes with glasses. Cleopatra wore clothing that reflected a lot of her favorite television shows and movies. Cleopatra was a skinny nerd and she liked to read about all sorts of nerdy stuff like Dragons, wizards, and Mythical beings. She was very into Medieval Times though, Greek Mythology, because of the boring white dead old men that created some of texts about the gods, goddesses, and heroes of Greece, was not her forte. She wished that Greek Mythology was more hands on with cool, old artifacts. Jennifer, her best friend and only friend, did not have the same interests. Although both shared the common hatred for Mrs. Rose's class, Jennifer was more of the artsy type. Jennifer played the cello as well as painted and sculpted in her free time. She wore very artsy types of clothing and was not into the nerdy stuff like Cleopatra was. Jennifer was also fair skinned with dark black hair. She did not wear glasses and she wore a lot of make-up all the time.
"Come on just ten more minutes to go" Cleopatra whispered to Jennifer looking at the clock on the wall next to the blackboard.
Jennifer whispered back to Cleopatra saying, "I know. This is just taking so long. I just want to go…"
"Is there something the two of you would like to tell the class?" Mrs. Rose says looking rather annoyed at Jennifer and Cleopatra.
"We are good, Mrs. Rose" said Cleopatra having a look of guilt on her face.
"You two need to listen more as it might help you succeed in life. Both of you need to see me after class" Mrs. Rose says. Mrs. Rose turns to the class and says, "This is important for all of you to learn about our school's history; about this city's history. Legend says, that back then, this city was told to have a lot history with the greek gods. That is the reason for so many weird rocks in this town. This was said to be an ancient Greek City where the God Atlas was supposed to be holding up the heavens. It was where the heavens and earth met."
"This is where boring and boring-er meet" Jennifer whispered to Cleopatra. Cleopatra was biting her lip trying not to laugh.
"This is why our school is named the way it is. The ancient city part is true because we have artifacts as well as the ruins of the city but the other part about the gods and goddesses is more of just a fable, a story. Again, the ancient Greeks were more of Pagans and didn't really believe in gods and goddesses but they sort of worshipped them just incase." said Mrs. Rose. The bell rings right after she finishes speaking. "Okay kids! Have a good summer! Stay out of trouble and please do not forget everything that you have learned. You will need to remember it for your exams to graduate high school next year." Mrs. Rose yells above the sound of students getting out of their seats and packing up their school bags. Jennifer and Cleopatra try to sneak out hoping that Mrs. Rose would not notice but, sure enough she did. "Jennifer. Cleopatra. Come here." She said coldly.
"Shit." Cleopatra whispered to Jennifer. They both walk to Mrs. Rose's desk from the door really nervously thinking about the lecture they are going to get about talking.
"Listen, you guys have not been keeping up with your homeworks and you gave them in, last minute and subpar, this last week. You guys don't even pay attention to my lectures. It is like both of you are wondering around in your own little dimension. Some of this stuff can help you later in life even though you cannot see it now. These stories of the Greek Gods and Goddesses have a lot to offer you. I do not understand why you would give up learning about the gods and goddesses of Greece. It is just so fascinating. Please for the love of god, I hope you both got something out of this semester." Mrs. Rose spoke calmly but irritably.
"We are sorry Mrs. Rose but, it is just that we don't see why we would ever need Greek Mythology and plus I learned my morals when I was five. I don't need any weird stories telling me what is right and what is wrong." Jennifer exclaimed.
"You guys just don't understand" Mrs. Rose said with a sigh. "Here let me show you something." Mrs. Rose goes into her office as Jennifer and Cleopatra follows her. "If you guys think Greek Mythology is so boring, what do you make of this!" She says excitingly. In front of Cleopatra's and Jennifer's eyes they saw a cracked tablet with a bunch of greek letters engraved on it. It was really dusty and seemed so old and dirty.
"This is the thing that you wanted to show us? Some old rock?" she says as she snickers.
"This old rock as a matter of fact is from thousands of years ago and no scientist knows what it is made out of. It was beautifully preserved given the date and I don't appreciate your tone young lady. This is my life's work and I have been trying to figure it out for ages."
"Geez, I am sorry." Jennifer says not in a very sorrowful tone. Although on the side Cleopatra was wide-eyed. She seemed to be interested in it but she snapped out when Jennifer said this.
"Yeah, look we are just not into it as you are. Please let us enjoy our summer." Cleopatra lied.
"Fine, fine just go." Mrs. Rose said in disgust. As Jennifer and Cleopatra go to leave Mrs. Rose whispers to herself, "I just cannot wait until I leave for two months for Hawaii tomorrow. It is going to be so nice." Jennifer and Cleopatra look at each other restlessly.
"Goodbye Mrs. Rose. Hope you have a nice summer!" Jennifer says.
"Goodbye! Have a great summer!" Cleopatra says. They both walk out of the office, into the classroom and exit through the door into the hallway. The both turn right and walk towards the exit of the school side by side. "That was a weird thing that she showed us. Right?" She asked.
Jennifer snickers and says, "And it was supposed to interest us in Greek Mythology."
"I don't know. I felt that it was sort of interesting" Cleopatra said in a small voice.
"Wait, stop." Jennifer said. They both stop before the door to the school. "You mean to tell me that you thought it was interesting."
"I mean it was just weird is all. I thought it was cool." Cleopatra said as she shrugged.
"You are weird." Jennifer exclaimed. They both exit the school and walk towards the bus stop. They both take different busses because they live in different parts of the city. Cleopatra lives on the south side of the city and Jennifer lives on the North side. The busses are called the G65 and the G66.
"Anyway, any plans this summer? I was thinking that we can hang out every day. Oh my gosh we could even have sleep overs."
"Um. Sorry to say this but my family and I are going to travel in Europe a lot over the summer. We are going to see some of the tourists sites." Jennifer said looking rather glum that she disappointed Cleopatra. They were now at the bus stop waiting for both busses.
"Oh. So you aren't going to be here." Cleopatra said gloomily.
"Sorry Cleo. I know it sucks not doing anything for the summer." Jennifer said with empathy.
"It is okay. I'm used to it. Have a good summer and have fun. We'll see each other during the start of the next term." Cleopatra said neutrally as the bus, G65 pulls up. Cleopatra begins to get on.
"I'm sorry Cleo. We'll call each other and I'll write letters and stuff and send you post cards. Have a good summer." Jennifer promised. This made Cleopatra feel a bit better.
"Thanks Jenny! Have a good summer as well!" The bus doors close and the bus departs from the bus stop. On the way home, Cleopatra feels glum about Jennifer doing something over the summer. She wished that she was doing something but her mother and father have to work. Her bus arrives at the stop on her block and she walks to the house. She gets her keys from inside her pocket and opens the door. "Mom! Dad! I'm…" She screams but, stops suddenly to find a note on the counter in the kitchen. The note reads:
"We are out on a date. Will be home later. Order anything you like honey for dinner!
Love, Mom and Dad
Cleopatra sighs and orders some food from the local restaurant. She orders a dish called Sousakakia Souvlakia. It is lamb on metal skewers with rice on the side. When she finished the food, she goes upstairs to take a nap. She goes onto her bed and lets out a big sigh and falls asleep. She then wakes up a couple of hours later. It is 9:30 at night. She gets out of her room and goes downstairs to see if her mom and dad are home yet. "Mom? Dad?" she says in a groggy sort of tone as she is walking downstairs. She sees that no one is downstairs. "Oh." she exclaims in a disappointed tone. She looks outside the window and there is no car outside. She lets out a sigh again. "I wonder when they will get home" She says to herself. She goes to the kitchen and walks past the counter. She then proceeds to open the fridge but then she stops and wide-eyed she turns around leaving the fridge door open. Right there in front of her eyes is the same tablet that Mrs. Rose had in her office. "How did it…" she says as she picks up the tablet and examines it. She thought to herself if she was dreaming. She pinched herself and it hurt. Nope, she definitely was not dreaming. She quickly rushes to the phone and dials Jennifer's number. "Come on Jen. Pick up." she says frantically. It rings and rings for a thirty seconds and it goes to voicemail. "Shit. Okay. What do I do?" How did it end up…" Cleopatra says. All of a sudden the tablet starts to glow. It then begins to levitate off the counter and float around her head. "Okay this is not funny." she exclaims. It starts to get really windy with gusts that felt very much like a hurricane. Everything in the kitchen starts to crash. She screams until a spoon hits cleopatra's head. She gets knocked out. All of a sudden the chaos suddenly stops and the tablet falls to the floor. Cleopatra has vanished.