"Against All Odds".
Chapter 1 – Visited by Effie Trinket
- May the odds always be in your favor. – Said the red-haired woman dressed as a leprechaun and that looked like Effie Trinket, in day my life turned upside down.
Oh, good luck. Sure. As if I was lucky at something.
Basically, my whole life has been chaotic. And I do not think a little bit of luck would help things to get any better. What I needed was someone to explain to me what was happening.
My name is Iliana Zahi. I'm fifteen and I live in Brooklyn with my father, Elijah. We moved here when things started getting very strange in Phoenix. And I'm not just talking about the mysterious rain of meteorites in the Sonoran Desert. I'm talking about things like my private teacher trying to strangle me with her tail.
Man, I'm serious, my teacher had a serpent's tail. Why would anyone believe it when I tell this story? Oh, sure. Because as if things were not weird enough that way, I always have to tell the part in which my father - who is blind - kills the monster with one shot.
I do not know how this happened, okay? It may have been just luck, or despair.
From what I know, Elijah was not born blind. But he never told me how he became like that. It was like asking anything about my mother. He never said a thing. He just simply changed the subject.
But that day, the day the Effie Trinket came to visit me, I wished I never wanted to have discovered the truth about my mother.
Let's start a few moments before I meet Effie Trinket. I had just woken up and was getting ready for school. I was a girl a little petite for my age and skinny too. The wheat-colored hair and my taste for green gave me the nickname "Tinker Bell". Yes, that fairy from Peter Pan. And my eyes were as blue as hers, just in case you want to know.
I was finishing making a braid in my hair when I heard a noise coming from downstairs, from the kitchen.
Elijah, I thought. I ran to check what was going on.
In the kitchen, I saw my father surrounded by a pile of broken glass. I seriously never understood how he could perform some activities, since he couldn't see anything. His walking stick was leaning against the wall, and breakfast was ready on the table in a way like he knew what he was doing. So, the most likely reason he dropped the dish, was that he had been frightened by something.
And that just made things worse to understand.
- Do not move! – I said, and grabbed the broom. I began to sweep the broken glass to the shovel leaning against a corner. I'd take care of it when I return from school.
Little did I know that I wouldn't return from school.
- Iliana, you know that there's no need to worry. – He said.
- Oh, sure, you spread shards of glass across the kitchen like confetti, and I don't need to worry about it. – I grumbled.
He laughed.
I didn't resist, and ended up laughing too.
- Now can I leave my post, oh supreme being of the broom? – He said, still laughing.
I nodded, but I forgot that he would not see me. Or at least, should not see me.
- Yes, you can. – I said.
My father took the walking stick, groped around to find the chair and sat down. I served coffee for us and ate in silence. An awkward silence, truth be told, because usually it was him who started the day making jokes about anything. But, by the way, the mood of the day was as broken as the dish in the corner of the kitchen.
Elijah cleared his throat and finally started a subject.
- So, the last day of school, right? – He asked, alternating bites on his toast.
- It is. – I replied. – I finally concluded a year without being expelled from school, or having to move suddenly.
- Iliana ... About this ... We need to talk. – He spoke in a cautious tone.
Judging the way he said "we need to talk", I could only imagine that there would be a bomb coming on the way.
- I know you're happy to have spent years without problems. – He continued. – But we cannot count on luck.
I should have imagined. We were going to move. It was like that in Phoenix. Elijah had told me we'd be safe in Brooklyn. They – whoever they were – would think twice before looking for us, because it was not their territory.
As for being safe in Brooklyn, I had my doubts. I could swear I saw something like a giant hummingbird landing on the roof of a... fluctuating house. No, I do not mean a fluctuating house on the river, as a houseboat. I refer to a house... fluctuating in the air.
- Just in case, this summer we ... – He began.
- We will change again, I know. – I completed in a hurry, and my father looked at me as if it was not what he meant. – I gotta go now. I'm late! Bye, Dad! – I said, and then grabbed some toast from the plate and ran to grab my backpack.
School is school. Whether you study in Brooklyn or in Forks. School is boring no matter where. And I was more than happy to be finishing the year. And if I really was going to move, there was only one person that I'd miss: Phil.
Philip, or Phil, as he liked to be called, was the strange little boy of the class. A skinny boy who had funny way of walking, like he had an ostrich egg between his legs (for this reason, everyone called him Philip, the penguin). He was fourteen, but was the only one in the class to have a beard. He said it was family genetics.
Anyway, I'd miss him.
- Iliana! I thought you had declared holidays earlier this year. – Phil received me with his awkward walking as I arrived at the school gates.
- My father. He wanted to talk. – I answered.
- Your father? – Phil was suddenly tense. – What did he say?
- He said nothing, but it is quite predictable ... We're going to move.
- He said you are going to move? – Phil exclaimed.
- Well, he did not say that ... like ... with all the letters. He said...
- To the classroom, Miss Zahi. And you, Rogers. – A cold voice cut our conversation.
Nobody called Phil by his surname, "Rogers". No one except the person who hated me the most in the world: Ms. River.
Ms. River was our monitors. A lady with gray hair who smelled like strong coffee and thought her snakeskin shoes were the latest trend. I was sure she hated teenagers. But she certainly didn't hate them as much as she hated Phil and me.
- To the classroom, both. – She ordered.
The hours dragged on that last day of class until it was time to take our results. Ms. River itself made a point of calling student by student, and publicly announce the failure of some.
- Iliana Zahi. – She said.
I got up from my desk and walked towards her, quietly. I didn't have much faith that I'd have a good result, but if this luck thing really exists...
- We have a problem with your result, Zahi. You need to attend the principal's office. – The monitors said, staring at me over her glasses.
- I'll go with her. – Phil said, getting up from his chair with such haste that he fell over Lina Brown.
- You stay! – Shouted Mrs. Rivers. – Come with me, Iliana. – She Ordered.
The monitors accompanied me to the hallway, we walk a little, and then she opened a random door. Obviously it was not the director's.
- Enter. – She said.
- But this is not the room ... – I started.
- ENTER! – She ordered.
I entered the room. And then I began to doubt that it had been a good idea.
- So... – I started, but Ms. Rivers cut the conversation with a hiss.
- They thought you'd be sssssecure here... They were wrong. – Said Ms. Rivers. It was just me, or she had a forked tongue?
- Who was wrong? About what? – I asked.
- You will not be alive time enough to know, ssssssweetheart. – She said, and then the leather of her shoes began to wrap their legs, separating into two snake tails. Waist Up, woman, from the waist down, snake. – You'll die, little demigod.
- You called me what? – I asked, and Ms. River jumped at me, mouth wide open with her teeth, and nails huge and poorly made.
I hit the ground, and tried to get up quickly. I never wanted to have been good at physical education as now.
The ex-Mrs. River leaned over me with her breath of coffee mixed with garlic, and in a reflex, I kicked her with my legs. It was nothing big. But certainly enough to keep her away from me.
It was time for the second round. She squirmed like a snake to strike, and an idea occurred to me. It was clearly impossible. What meant to say, that I would have to rely on luck.
I waited for her to jump at me, which she did in a matter of seconds. Then I threw myself to the side, and she reached the desks in the back with a real bang. She seemed confused, but still determined to bite me to pieces for some reason. I had no choice. As if the weight didn't matter, I grabbed a desk and threw at Ms. Rivers when she was preparing for another strike. She hit the wall of the room and burst into smoke and dust.
The wind opened the windows of the room and washed the dust out. A new breeze filled the room, and a green creature appeared before my eyes.
Ok, it was a woman. But still, it was very strange.
She had a medium build, and was very pretty, with red hair, green eyes, fair skin and freckles on her face. But her clothes were strange. She wore a green dress, a brown belt with gold buckle. Her fingernails were green. A tiara of emeralds decorated her hair. She looked like an elf. Or a leprechaun. Or – as I found out later – a less exaggerated version of Effie Trinket.
- Congratulations, Iliana Zahi. – She said. Her voice was sweet and pleasant. – You just took the first step to a long journey.
- Huh? – I Arched eyebrows.
- That's right. A long journey in which I'm sure you will not fail. But I must warn you. There will be many intrigues that will try to put it out of focus. There will be many temptations along the way. Do not be fooled by them, my daughter...
- Wait a minute ... You...
- Your mother is proud of you, Iliana Zahi. – She said with a smile.
- Hold on, you said you're...? – I started, but she interrupted me.
- May the odds always be in your favor. – She said, and then disappeared in the same way as it appeared.
I stared at the empty room for a moment.
What was that? Effie Trinket was my mother?