Night of November 4, M.D. (Mortal Date)
Written about October 30, November 1, 2 and the Morning of November 3.
Fayliom Rebakah Wang
Okay, this really isn't a diary… it's not a journal either. (Just because it says diary on the cover doesn't mean it is one.) I'm only writing down the events of everything that happened because one day another demigod could look at this and use it to survive. Like Percy Jackson said, "Being a demigod is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways." You don't want to be a demigod. Then again, you can't help being one. It's fate. You shouldn't meddle with fate. Okay… I'm beginning to sound like Chiron now so I'm going to stop lecturing myself about fate. Most of what I just wrote down is more of a reassurance to me than it is information to whoever is reading this.
Then there's another thing I'm worried about… seventh grade. Seventh graders don't make prank calls or try to be the fastest runner anymore. We've got other things to worry about, like BO, bad breath, cool clothes. And boyfriends.
I'm taking up too much space. I'm just going to start on the day my class took a field trip to Camp Nuhop.
"Hey, Fayliom! I'll give you twenty dollars if you ask Mattias Fiqqel out." That was my best friend, Alish. We were on the bus with our luggage in the back. Matt- Mattias Fiqqel- was sitting two seats in front of us.
Anyways, Alish was teasing me about my crush, Matt.
"Shut up!" I giggled and gave her a nudge.
"I'm serious, Fayliom." True enough, she had her serious face on. (I didn't know Alish had a serious face until that moment.)
"I don't know… promise you'll give me twenty dollars?"
"Ten if you want me to do it."
I thought for a while. "Okay… fine."
We shook hands. "Give me a piece of paper. I'll write a message to him." she told me. I rummaged in my backpack and brought out my pencil and notebook. I ripped a page out and handed it to Alish along with a pencil. By now my heart was beating so hard it could've thumped out of my chest if I let it.
"What if he says no? What would I do then? What if…" I pinched myself. "Shut up little negative Fayliom bug in the back of my mind."
"Done! Hey, Jack, hand the paper to Matt!" Alish yelled.
"Alish!" I complained. "I didn't even get to see the note!"
Just then Matt poked his head into the aisle and asked, "Who wrote this?"
A warm feeling trickled down my spine and I hid behind my bangs.
"Me, but Fayliom asked me to do it." Alish answered.
"Is that true, Fayliom?" I nodded and blushed a deep shade of red. Matt was extra cute that day. He had tried to straighten out his curly brown hair with not much of an improvement since it was still curly. His green eyes twinkled with amusement. Even though it was like 30 degrees outside he was only wearing a thin dark blue jacket over his gray shirt.
"Soooo, what's your answer?" Alish asked with a wink.
"Sure." He shrugged and went back to talking with his friend like I didn't just ask him out. I would've still be sitting there with my mouth open, gaping at what just happened but instead, fate took another course.
"Hey Fayliom. Are you and Matt going out?" came the voice in the seat next to us. The voice belonged to TJ. (A.k.a. Mr. I-poke-my-nose-into-everyone's-business.)
"What do you think?" Alish asked. We got TJ's answer nice and clear. TJ stood up and yelled above everyone else. "HEY, EVERYONE! FAYLIOM AND MATT ARE GOING OUT!" He grinned at me and I blushed redder. As TJ sat down I cursed him under my breath. What did I do that made him hate me so much? Or is he just extra nosey today?
Finally someone broke the silence, "We're here!" I looked outside the window to see a sign that said: Ketchup Hop.
Wait…what? Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you that I'm dyslexic.
I concentrated and found out it actually says: Camp Nuhop. At least I got the "hop" part right. When the bus stopped all the seventh graders tried to get off at the same time which caused quite a problem until Mrs. Valenting came over and restored order.
On the third day I had my hand on my luggage as I made my way towards the third bus. I wasn't sure why but I was really jumpy today. Then I saw something in the bushes that sent a cold feeling down my spine. Two glowing red eyes. Then I blinked and the eyes were gone.
"Must've been a trick of the light." I thought. Awhile later on the bus we were joking around making mad-libs when the bus shuddered and slanted sideways.
"Ahhhh!" we had all screamed. (Alish said she doesn't scream. She yells. But whatever.) I kept getting squished by my luggage. Then, slanting once more, the bus came crashing down to its side. The window on my left broke as it hit the pavement, shattering glass all over me. My forehead burned with pain as one piece of glass made a cut there. Something warm trickled down the side of my head. I placed my hand there then took it away to see red liquid. My stomach fluttered and the world spun as I stared at my blood. Suddenly a horn blew and brought me back to my senses. I grabbed my jacket and covered the cut with it, trying to slow the flow of blood. I quickly followed someone out of the emergency door on the roof.
"Fayliom!" Alish rushed over to me. "What happened?"
"The window shattered and cut me. I'm fine."
"You're bleeding!" Matt exclaimed. He took off his jacket and pressed it to my forehead. There was chaos all around us. All three buses were overturned and there were injured kids too, though most made it out unhurt.
"Awww! How sweet!" TJ said sarcastically. "I didn't even scream! You guys are such cowards!"
"I saw you!" I said, my fists balled up. "You were screaming like a girl with your hands over your head, you coward!"
"Wow is that the best you could come up with, girl?"
"Sexist pig!" I muttered.
"What?!" TJ scowled.
"Ohhhhh!" a kid said.
"You cursed idiot!" I yelled at him. I turned away, and walked straight into a very angry, growling-with-glowing-red-eyes, black dog. The dog was unnaturally big (not the fat kind of big) and had huge black paws with really, really, knife-sharp claws. He snapped at me with huge yellow teeth.
"You should really brush your teeth and get a breath mint. Your breath stinks!" That was my first thought. My second thought was: "Ahhhh!" Run away! He's gonna eat you!" And my third thought was… um… I'm not even going to write that down. Aunt Lily would've washed my mouth with a bar of soap by now.
I backed away slowly. For a moment the super-giant dog and I just stared at each other. Then it growled and charged at me. Naturally, I ran. Time slowed down. I hate it when this happens. (My counselor said it was because of my ADHD.) I saw a log in front of me but it was too late. I tripped and fell, rolling down the hill towards (awesome, more bad luck!) the lake! Cold water wrapped all around me and I sunk deep down towards the bottom. I held my breath until I felt the world go dark and stupidly took a deep breath of water. But instead of water, I found out I could breathe normally!
"Oh no!" a dreadful thought passed through my head. "I'm related to Percy Jackson! Great!" Then I looked down at myself and screamed in my head: "Ahhhh! I 'm a giant goldfish!"
True enough I had the body of a koi the size of a thirteen year old kid. I was related to Percy and Frank.
"Turn back into a human!" I told myself and concentrated, like Frank does in the books. (Now that I think about it that was a really stupid thing to do.) Suddenly I was fighting for a breath of air again. I broke through the surface, gasping and spitting out lake water. I've read books about mythology and the dog thing isn't an ordinary dog. Whoever sent this creature really wants me dead because the thing they sent was a Laelaps, a dog destined to always catch its prey. If that thing was after me, I was already dead.
I swam to the shore and got out, shivering and cold.I heard the voices of Matt and Alish.
"Hey, guys! Over here!" soon they found me, wet and exhausted, sitting on the dead trunk of an oak tree that had fell over, roots and all.
"How do we get back?" I asked.
"Get back?" Alish scoffed. "We couldn't find a single teacher in sight. Even the bus drivers have all disappeared. We've all split up, even though it wasn't a good idea." She handed me my brown bag. "This is all we could find, not counting the two sleeping bags. The luggage has all disappeared too!"
"No way! That was my last pair of good jeans!" I sighed. We all sat down on the log.
"First we need to find a good place for shelter and gather some food." Matt finally said.
"I saw a small cave down by the shore. I also saw a raspberry bush down there somewhere." I pointed down the hill by a big rock.
"We could build a fire too. I learned how to make one in survival class." Alish offered sounding like it was the proudest person in the world. She held up two small stones. "And we collected flint!"
We all set to work. I led them down to the small cave. Alish made a fire in the cold afternoon. I picked berries while Matt, with his strong arms, gathered fire wood. Finally as the sun set we gathered around the fire. The fire Alish had made was nice and warm. Alish had gone to gather more fire wood when I sat down beside Matt.
"Berries?" I offered him holding up a small plastic Wal-Mart shopping bag that I found in the front pocket of my bag.
"Sure."
We stared into the sunset.
"Is your cut okay?" Matt finally broke the silence. He gently placed his fingers on the cut on my forehead. I winced. "Sorry!" He said and took his hand off. "How did you stay in the water so long without drowning?"
I told him what happened. His eyebrows arched up in a surprised face. "That's some fantasy story. But for some reason I believe you."
Now it was my turn to be surprised. In the dim light of the last rays of sunlight I looked at him. He was shivering in the thin jacket he had pushed against my wound to stop the bleeding recently. There were bloodstains on the jacket but it was hardly noticeable against the dark fabric. "Do you think they're testing our survival skills?"
"No way!" Matt said. "Not like this. The teachers said we were going to be home today! My mom's gonna be worried sick! Though my step-siblings probably wouldn't care. For all I know they could be celebrating right now."
"Then where are the teachers?" I'd stumped him. We sat in uncomfortable silence until Alish came back. She took one glance at both of us and grinned. I scowled as I hid behind my bangs.
"You guys enjoy the fire. I'm gonna set up the sleeping bags." Alish headed for the cave and out of earshot, maybe.
"What was that all about?" Matt asked.
"Alish was the one who set us up in the first place. Actually it was Anita, but whatever." I told him. "She knew I liked you ever since fourth grade."
"Really?" He mused, eyebrows raised in that cute Matt-like way.
"Yeah. When did you start liking me? And Alish, you could stop eavesdropping on us now."
"Awww! You just got to the good part! And how did you know?"
"Well, if you paid attention and remembered that your glasses reflect the light you wouldn't have been noticed." I said. Now it was my turn to grin.
"Aw, shucks. Fayliom, you ruin all the fun."
"You two can fight all you want. I'm going to bed." Matt got up and headed for the hill, opposite of the cave, to another little cave we found for him to sleep in. Even if we're in danger of getting killed by the Laelaps it would still be awkward for a boy to be sleeping with girls. Oh, that sounds messed up.
"Good night, Matt!" I called after him. He turned, smiled, and waved at me before the darkness swallowed him up.
That night I tossed and turned, thinking about the Laelaps (Alish slept like a hibernating polar bear). Finally, my weary eyes closed and I slipped into the world of nightmares.
I was standing in the middle of a beach, the summer breeze blowing in my face. I turned and saw Matt walking towards me with the forest to his back. He was laughing like I had said something funny and we played in the water, getting soaked in the cool, salty ocean. Suddenly, out of nowhere, came the Laelaps. It pounced on top of Matt. Matt yelled my name, screaming for help. But I couldn't move. My feet were stuck in the sand, slowly sinking, lower and lower. The earth tugged at my feet, saying my name, telling me to forget Matt and go with someone called Gaea. I screamed at the earth, telling it to leave me alone when I found myself back in the cave.
Alish was gone, though her sleeping bag still had warmth in it. Matt was beside me, his hands on my arm, calling out my name. It was thunder storming outside, which explained the little puddles of water forming at the foot of my sleeping bag. I found myself all sweaty and freaked out, still screaming at Gaea to go away. I silenced myself immediately and took a deep breath.
"You okay?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, I had a nightmare."
"About Gaea? Isn't she the earth titian?"
"Yep, she was really evil."
"I know. She killed her husband the sky god, right?
"Titan. And Kronos killed Ouranos, not Gaea."
"Whatever." Then thunder boomed making us both jump. For a second we stared at each other, then we both fell over, laughing. Then I heard a low growl. I straightened up and yelped. At the mouth of the cave was the Laelaps. The Laelaps suddenly barked and turned, just in time to get hit in the head with a log as big as the Laelaps itself.
"Are you guys okay?" Alish asked, putting down the log. The Laelaps had fled. Probably it was going to come back again as soon as the world stops spinning.
"Thanks. We're fine." I answered. "Where were you?"
"Looking for breakfast. But I found something else you might find interesting. Come and see." Alish walked out of the cave.
"I'm not sure about this. And what if the dog thing attacks us again?" Matt asked.
"The dog thing is a Laelaps, and stop worrying. It's gonna be fine… I think." I grabbed Matt's arm and towed him out of the cave.
We followed Alish down to the beach. At first I didn't know what she was looking at. But as we got closer I saw it.
It was beautiful, with purple and turquoise swirls and little yellow flecks caught in between the middle. The swirly colors tugged at everything around it, making the sand swirl at its feet.
"What is it, the Northern Lights?" I asked.
Before anyone could answer my question something hit me right in the stomach. I doubled over, clutching my stomach so I won't throw up. The world suddenly turned upside down as something dragged me by my leg right into Rainbow Swirly and the world went black.
I was running through the forest, the Laelaps close behind me. Suddenly I stopped. "This is my dream" I thought. "And I can do whatever I want to do with it. And I want to dream about something else." The dream shifted and suddenly I was on the hill behind my house. I saw my father with a woman. She had long black hair and an athletic body like me. She turned toward me and smiled. Her gray eyes matched mine.
"Hello, daughter." said the woman. "I've missed you."
Behind her my father disappeared.
"You're my mom?" I asked her with doubt in my voice. But then again she did look a lot like me, except the Chinese features. She looked strangely familiar but I didn't know why. "Why didn't you come back and visit me all these years?"
I know. You must think I'm crazy, asking questions to a woman in my dream that probably didn't exist.
"Oh… I had problems…"
"You had problems?" I snapped. "Who do you think you are? Your problems couldn't possibly even come close to the problems I've had! Do you know how hard it is to move to a different school every year? You know how being dyslexic feels like, having to read struggle while other people could read Harry Potter in like… two days? Do you know the cruel jokes other kids play on me, saying they're better because they have parents and I don't? You could at least have come back once! Do you know that Dad barely smiled anymore, working overtime so we'd have enough to eat? Until… until the car crash that killed him. And you weren't at the funeral either!" I poured all my anger from my life into those last words. Not bothering to think how my eyes made her uncomfortable like it did to my friends. "Do you? Well, do you?"
The woman sighed, her startling gray eyes filled with sadness. "I guess it's time to tell you the truth. First my name is Athena, goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war."
"Wait, did I just hear you right? You said you were Athena. The Athena?" I stared at her in disbelief. She nodded.
"And you're right. I don't know how I'd feel because I've never been to school. But that's not the reason I'm here."
"Then why are you here?" I asked.
"I need to warn you. And my father, Zeus, has only allowed me a few minutes to talk. You are going into an unknown world beyond our reach." As if on cue the dream flickered, like TV with bad cable. "There's only one way to escape. But you have to find it before the sunset of the third day, or you'll be lost forever. But be careful. If fire brings down fire all will be lost to the Great Unknown. I love you." The dream flickered again and went black. The last thing I saw was two great balls of fire circle each other until a gust of wind blew them out, leaving the world in infinite darkness.
"And… she's alive!" that was the first thing I heard when I woke up. Alish was beaming down at me. "Hey, you missed this awesome stuff I did to the Laelaps while you were out! I went like hey-yah and wa-cha and stuff like that and it got scared and ran away. Right? I even did an awesome Jackie Chan move that really kicked butt!"
"Uh huh…" Matt nodded dubiously.
I looked around. "So… what exactly did I miss?"
"Awesome stuff! So we followed you and Mr. I-need-a-breath-mint through this rainbow portal thing into a whole other world. Then my hands burst into flames and for a second I was like 'flame on, baby!' and then the only thing left was a big pile of ash! I was like awesome! Flaming Alish! How does that sound to you? Awesome or super awesome?"
"Actually you were running in circles yelling; "AHHHH! My hands' on fire!" and accidently set the Laelaps on fire." Matt said as-a-matter-of-factly, badly mimicking Alish's voice.
"Well I was pretty close with my version of the story, wasn't I?" Alish said with a wink. With that comment we all started laughing, glad to be rid of the Laelaps. When we finally came around Alish pointed out the obvious; "So… what are we going to do now? I mean, how do we get out of here?"
I told them about my dream, though I skipped the part about Athena being my mother. I wasn't ready for the world to know that secret yet.
"Wow. This is really sounding like Percy Jackson." Alish said, once again pointing out the obvious thing.
"How do we even know it's real? It could just be a dream." Matt said.
"All three of us having the same dream? That's the biggest coincidence I've ever heard of." I exclaimed. "Anyway, Athena said we have to find something in order to get out of this place. And we only have three days to find it. Or we'll be trapped here forever. I wonder what Aunt Lily is doing right now."
"Yeah. My mom would be going out of her mind!" Alish said.
"Mine too." Matt agreed.
"Lucky." I sighed.
"How are we lucky?" Matt asked. He doesn't know my secret yet.
"Fayliom's father died in a car crash when she was seven." Alish explained. "Her mother disappeared when she was a baby. She was placed in a horrible orphanage. The kind that makes you clean the floor with a tooth brush if you do something bad and never let you go outside. So she ran away to her Aunt Lily's house and her aunt's taken care of her since then. Actually, Aunt Lily's her godmother, but same difference"
"Hey, that's my line." I slapped her
"Wow, that's way worse than my life." Matt said. "The only bad thing that happened in my life is getting kicked out of every school I've ever attended."
"Me too." Alish said.
"Same with me!" I exclaimed. I tried to get up. That's when I realized the Laelaps had bitten me. I yelped and fell back onto the sandy beach. "Ow!"
"What's wrong?" Matt asked. He knelt down and placed his fingers on my leg, right on the wound. My leg burned with a sudden pain. Then as soon as the pain had started it was gone. Slowly, the wound closed and the blood disappeared, leaving only a small scar where the Laelap's bite was a few seconds ago. Matt gasped and took his hand off. I gaped at him.
"Dude, what the heck!" Alish exclaimed. "You didn't tell me you have awesome magic healing fingers!"
Matt frowned at her like he didn't know what she was talking about. "What?"
"Earth to Matt! You just made that bite thing disappear with your freakily awesome magic fingers that heal things! Even though my flames are way awesomer, that was still awesome! Did you see…?"
"When I touched her leg something happened." Matt said before Alish could freak out more. "I saw something. It looked like a crystal something or other. I also saw flames. And… and…"
"And what?" I asked.
"I don't remember anymore." He huffed in exasperation. His eyebrows scrunched up with his head tilted a little to the left. And the way those light green eyes sparkled… sorry, kinda got distracted.
"Let's get going. We should head thataway." Alish pointed to some hills in the distance.
"Okay, let's follow Miss Know-it-all and try not to get killed." I grumbled sarcastically and picked up my brown bag.
"Well, I picked that direction because there's noise coming from that way. It sounds like there's a town or city there."
I listened hard and found out she was right. There are sounds coming from that direction. "Let's go."
We are setteling settling in for the nite night. I'm two too tireed tired. I'll right write more in the morin morning.
November 3, M.D.
Fayliom Wang
We were walking by a highway we found leading into the town, which as we got closer looked more like a city than a town. A sign told us the city's name was Iceville (which is the crappiest name I have ever heard of). The city was magnificent. It was in the shape of a circle, split into quarters, each quarter representing a season. Each season was split into three sectors, representing the months. In the middle of the four quarters a big mountain rose from the ground into the clouds. For a second I could swear there was light coming from those clouds. Then thunder boomed and the lights disappeared.
We walked into the March sector of the circle. It suddenly dawned on me that the noises were gone, replaced by silence.
"Hey guys," I said. "Doesn't it seem a little quiet to you?"
"I was just thinking that." Matt said.
"There's not a single soul around here." Alish gasped. "Not even the clerks in the stores. Wait… are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Alish looked at us with a sly look in her eyes. The ends of her lips curled up into a mischievous grin.
"You're not thinking…!" I gasped.
"Yep," Matt said looking down at his muddy t-shirt. "Let's go shopping… or should I say looting?"
True enough there was no one around. We walked down a street until we found a store called Medea's Fountain. Inside we split up and said we'll meet each other at the front entrance in an hour. I looked around the youth section. I looked in the mirror and saw the cut on my forehead was only a scar. Probably because of when Matt touched my head when we were sitting by the fire. I chose my outfit carefully and made my way to our rendezvous point. Matt was already there, biting into a cream-filled doughnut. He was wearing a purple T-shirt that said: Epic Purple T-shirt, Level 85. (I don't really know what that means.) He had on long jeans and a leather jacket. Typical.
"You look great, Fayliom."
I was wearing an orange t-shirt with a navy blue GAP sweatshirt on top. Underneath I wore jeans and a black leather belt. I tousled with my hair, finally deciding to put it up in a ponytail. I pushed my glasses up and told him. "You too."
"Where's Alish?" he asked.
"I don't know. She's probably still trying on "awesome" clothes." I said making air quotes as I said "awesome". We grinned then waited in silence until Alish came back. She had on these weird pants that were gold with black crisscross designs. On top she wore a black tank top. She also had those long gloves that almost go all the way to your shoulder. I know, her fashion statements are so weird. She still had the crazy grin on her face and that sly twinkle in her eyes, like she's planning what lame joke or prank she's gonna use on you.
"Uh, nice outfit." I said sarcastically.
Apparently she didn't catch the sarcasm because she said, "I know right? Check this out!" Suddenly her tank top changed shape, becoming harder and harder until it became a Greek armor. "And the weight doesn't even change!"
Suddenly we heard a sound coming from beneath us.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Let's find out." Matt said.
We followed the noise down to the basement where we found a trap door that led down to some tunnels. After sending Alish up to grab some flashlights we went into the tunnels to investigate what was making the noise. We followed the tunnels right, then left, the right twice more to our first split in the path.
We stayed on the main path. After a while we reached an opening that led into a cement room filled with cardboard boxes. It looked like somebody's basement. A staircase led up to a painted hot pink door. Then the pink door opened. A man in Greek armor stepped through, another following in his step. They wore helmets and held swords. The two men looked us up and down, nodded to each other, and strode toward us.
"You three, come with me." The first man growled in a low, gruff voice.
My two friends and I backed up. "What do you want with us?" I asked.
"Just come with us."
"My mother told me not to go with strangers, or ugly people. And you definitely qualify for both." Alish scowled.
"Come with me, or else!" the man growled.
"Run!" I screamed.
We ran back into the passage with the two soldiers on our heels. We made a left then a right and up the stairs back into Medea's Fountain. We were losing our pursuers but we were not fast enough. When I looked back I found out two more soldiers had joined the group. The two new pursuers each took out something. I realized what it was as soon as one of them took a shot. They were bazookas. And somehow they were loaded with Greek fire. The ground shook and threw me off balance as the Greek fire made contact with the floor and exploded, billowing green mist. The floor cracked under us and we ran faster through the aisles of clothing. Up the escalator we went with them shooting at our heels. We dodged a rack of clothing and I ran into Alish.
"Dead end… literately." Alish groaned. In front of us was a rack of clothing. Behind the rack was that floor to ceiling windows that looks over the whole city. I didn't have much time to take in the scene. There were hills in the distance, rolling into the horizon. I just had time to register we were three floors above the streets when another shot fired from the Bazooka carriers. The floor crumpled beneath me.
"Matt, Alish!" I yelled. Matt just had time to grab me by my hand before we both slipped from the crumbling floor and fell through thin air. Suddenly we weren't falling anymore. I opened my eyes. "Are we dead?" I thought. But I didn't feel any impact. What had happened? I looked down at myself and screamed in my head. I had changed into a dragon. Great! Matt was dangling in my claws.
"Fayliom? Wha…?" He trailed off as his eyes met mine. I roared, blew fire and flew back into Medea's Fountain straight into the middle of a battle. Alish was sweating with concentration, Blasts of fire bursting from her hand but she wouldn't be able to hold them off for much longer. I blew fire at the Bazooka people. They burst into flame and all that was left was some ashes. Matt was throwing stones at the other two soldiers with deadly accuracy. One made its way into the skull of one of the soldiers. He turned heels and ran when he saw me. Alish blasted fire at the other soldier and our problems were gone… for now.
We went back into the passageway after I turned back into and human with Alish freaking out. After making our way around we came to a storage room filled with stuff. We looked around. I found a dark blue pouch with endless space and took it. Alish found an "epic" stick and kept that. Finding nothing else interesting or dangerous we settled down for the night.
Now I write in this journal in the dim light of a flashlight. Alish still sleeps like a hibernating polar bear, occasionally mumbling something in her sleep. Matt sleeps a few feet away from me on my right. He tossed around, probably having some nightmare. My eyelids are getting heavy. I am going to sleep.
November 5, M. D.
Fayliom Wang
I woke up and found myself leaning on Matt's shoulders. I gasped and scooted back as Matt woke up and did the same thing.
"A little too close for my taste if I do say so myself." Matt said.
I blushed and hid behind my bangs. "Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing."
"What day is it?" Matt asked suddenly.
"Why?
"Just wondering."
"November forth. What's wrong?"
"I had a dream. We have to find it tomorrow."
"Find what?" I asked perplexed.
"In my dream there was this red crystal incased in fire. Someone was guarding it… I don't know who. It was in this big dark room. A voice told me we have to find that crystal tomorrow or all will be lost. It said something like if fire brings down fire all will be lost the Great Unknown. Isn't that the prophecy you said Athena gave to you?"
"Yeah. I've been trying to figure it out. Maybe it's about Alish, with her fire powers and all she could be one of the fire. I saw an image of some type of dragon combined with a lion in my dream last night. It was spitting fire. That thing could be the other fire. This is all so confusing. We don't even know who the villain of the story is."
"Um hum… score! Chocolate!" He was digging through a candy jar filled with golden coins. I took the jar from him and gasped. It was filled with golden drachmas.
"What?" he looked over and froze. "Are those real drachmas?"
"Yes." I answered. "I'll put it in my pouch, in case if we need them later."
"Good idea." Matt said and went back to enjoying his chocolates. Somewhere he had found an iPhone and was listening to songs. I couldn't hear them because he had also found a pair of earphones. Typical.
"Hey, where's Alish?" I asked. Matt didn't answer. I ripped off one of his ear phones and yelled in his ear. "Have you seen Alish?!"
"No. Not since yesterday. Why?"
"She's gone." I growled.
"Okay, okay. You want to search for her. Let's pack up, stuff everything in your pouch and then leave." Matt said and we packed up, stuffing everything in my pouch like he wanted.
"Come on. Let's go find Alish."