An Adventure Begins

I checked off my last answer and lay back in my seat. "How did you do?" I whispered to Mykhol, who was sitting in the seat directly behind me. He had finished his test in only a few minutes, but still probably gotten all of the questions right on his science quiz. "I don't know, Sky," He replied, "Question twenty really had me sweating for a minute." I snorted. "Yeah, like you would ever miss a question." The bell rang, signaling the end of the day. I packed up my binder and strode out the door with Mykhol at my heels. We met up with Ian and Rita in the hallway. "How was your project going today?" I asked. They had been working on a project together for about a week, and were almost done. "Well, it would be great if Ian could maybe agree with me for once!" Rita spat. Ian shrugged, "Hey, it's not my fault if you don't have any good ideas." Rita aimed a kick at him, but he dodged it. "Break it up, ladies," I said, smirking. "Where's Ashton," asked Mykhol, "I thought she'd be here by now." Then I heard a voice from behind my head. "Hey, guys, thought I heard my name?" I laughed, "Geez, Ashton, you made me jump!" She smiled that mischievous smile that always made wonder what she's thinking. "Should we go?" Asked Ian, and we walked down the stairs and out the door. We all live next to each other, and our parents have always been good friends, even before we were born. Every day we always walked home together, conversing about something goofy. Today, Rita and I struck up a conversation about teacher's haircuts. "What do you think that my hair looks like?" I said arching my eyebrows. She giggled, "It looks like a birds nest!" I made a pouty face and touched my soft, light brown hair. "Well, your hair looks like a…" I trailed off. Her hair was flawless, perfectly straight and completely blonde. She smirked, knowing she had won. Suddenly, I got the feeling that someone was watching me. I looked around, but we were the only ones in the street. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I see something move. I look at the old Walter's home, and see a curtain moving, as if someone had pulled it back to look out of the window. No one had lived at the old Walter's since before I was born. All of us were born here, around the same time, and we all had single parents. We had grown up together, and it was hard to separate us. I looked at Ian, who was talking to Mykhol about our science test. I was about to go ask about our homework, when I saw an old woman who was walking across the street. This was normal, because our neighborhood bordered a retirement home, and sometimes the old folks would walk out and get lost. I said, "Uh oh, guys. Another senior escaped again. Let's go take her back." We all jogged over to her. "Ma'am," I said, "Are you lost?" And then she turned, and I'll never forget what I saw. Her eyes were golden, and when I looked into them, I saw images of fighting, of love, hate, joy, happiness, and sadness. And then she spoke, but her voice sounded older, like I imagine a mummy's would. She looked me right in the eye and said: "My name is Hera. Tell them that it is time." "Who? I asked, but then she disappeared. And not like ran away, I mean into thin air! I stood there in awe, and then looked at everyone else, who wore similar expressions on their faces. We were completely silent for the rest of the way to our houses. When I got home, I ran straight to my dad, who was out gardening. I had never known my mom, who left when I was little. "Dad, you would never believe what just happened," I said. I told him about the old woman, and when I mentioned the name "Hera," he paled. When I finished, he ran to the phone inside, and called over to Rita's house. Her mom said that Rita told her about the same story. Then, he called everyone else, who said pretty much the same thing. After a minute or two of talking, he motioned for me to go back to my room. I came in and sat on my bed, thinking. Who was this "Hera," and what did she want? Suddenly, a thought struck me. I ran to my bookshelf and pulled out a book about Greek mythology. Looking in the "Gods and Goddesses" section, I found a page marked "Hera." I was about to start reading, when my dad barged into my room. "Come on," he said, "Grab only what you need. We need to go now."