Face of a Girl, Heart of a Warrior
Chapter 1: Trojans
Carrie Nolan was walking home from school. Usually Carrie took the bus home, but today was an unusually nice day, so Carrie had called her mom to tell her she would be late. It was the beginning of spring and Carrie could hear the birds chirping in the trees. She even had a bird nest in the tree in her front yard which she watched every the morning. The baby birds were so cute!
Carrie was a pretty normal girl. She had wavy, light brown hair, and sharp, blue eyes. She usually wore khaki pants (Her mom thought they looked good on her) and a plain, colored shirt, but today she decided to wear a tie dye shirt. The only abnormal thing about Carrie (and it really wasn't that abnormal at all) was her birthmark. It was a dark red splotch on her heel which, in the darkness, looked like a splatter of blood. This had always intrigued Carrie and her friends. One of her best friends, Emily, had even said that maybe she had been shot in the heel when she was a baby, but Carrie didn't think so. That seemed so unlikely.
When Carrie finally reached home, she found her house in ruins. Instead of its normal wooden boards with a sloppy, yellow paint job, it resembled the haunted houses you see at Halloween. With smoke trailing from the windows and doors, her house appeared to have been burned to the ground.
"What happened? Help! Someone!" shouted Carrie over and over again. She was about to run to Emily's house when a voice spoke.
"They're not here. I'm sorry. They're gone. They're probably in a better place, though. They were heroes in raising you safely." A man and a woman had walked up behind Carrie. It was the woman who spoke.
"Who are you? And what do you mean 'they're probably in a better place?' Not that I care. They didn't even like me."
"Well, it depends what you mean by who are you. If you mean like-" the man was interrupted by the woman
"My name is Samantha. This is Andrew." the woman said, gesturing at the man. Carrie looked them up and down. Samantha was tall and had shining, golden hair. Her eyes were a deep blue that you could gaze into for hours without getting bored. Andrew, on the other had, was not as beautiful- or handsome you might say- as Samantha. He had brownish gray hair and light, knowledgeable green eyes. They were both wearing jeans and a light colored t-shirt (Samantha had green, Andrew blue).
Then a surprising thought struck Carrie. "How do you know my name? And you still haven't answered my second question."
"Well, let's say we're old friends-well, more like acquaintances- of yours. You wouldn't remember us." answered Andrew mysteriously.
"As for what I meant about where your parents are…" Samantha paused. "First I need to explain something. The people that killed your parents- the Trojans-"
"Whoa…. The Trojans? I remember them from History class! Didn't they live in Troy and steal Helen and-"
"Yes, yes. Now. We need to get away from here before they come back." Samantha interrupted.
"But the Trojans died out years- centuries- ago!" Carrie insisted.
"Yes, but they were reborn, reincarnated." Andrew answered, solemnly. "Just like us. Just like you. My real identity is Odysseus. Samantha is Helen of Sparta, or as they sometimes say now, Helen of Troy. You, Carrie, are the legendary warrior Achilles. Now, let us go. We brought a car. Let's go."
They walked over to a bright purple Bug.
"I'll call the asylum later. Now, do you really expect me to ride in this?" Carrie asked incredulously.
Andrew gave her a stern look. "Unless you are intent on turning out like your parents, get in the car now. They're coming."