Discovery Part II.
Tansy's Perspective:
I was sitting in Italian class, listening to Mr Russo's explanation of the past tense of the verb saltare when I heard a crash from outside the window. I immediately perked up and looked out the window. The minute I did that the entire class left their seats and scrambled to the windows. " Ugh, that's one big pile of poop", said Amber Gold. I frowned at her. There was no poop on the lawn, only the carcass of some hideous monster. As I watched, the carcass began to dissolve, melting into a mustard yellow powder, which was blown away by the wind. " Meess Denton, please reeturn tu your seets", Mr Russo said in his ridiculous Italian accent. He is possibly the worst teacher in the school. Even I never learn anything in his classes. I returned to my seat, glancing confusedly at the window.
" Sank yaw, nowu, is ee woos sayeenng", he drawled. He went on rambling about the verb saltare for the rest of the class. When class was finished, I gathered my book and went to find Lindy, as we go to the same chemistry class.
Strangely, she wasn't at her locker. I went to see if she still was in Ms Silver's room, but she wasn't. I was beginning to worry, then realised she was probably in Mr Diaz's lab by now, so I went there.
She wasn't there either. I was seriously worried now. Frowning, I took my seat at the front of the class. There was something written on the whiteboard but to me it looked like gibberish because of my dyslexia.
The rest of the class came in, followed by Mister Diaz. Mister Diaz was my favourite teacher. He was a young Hispanic man with twinkling brown eyes, a shaven head, a very short but stocky stature and a little black goatee. He stepped up to his desk and a big smile plastered his face. " Hello everyone, ready for your test today?", he said, still smiling hugely. " Everybody groaned. " Now, now, it'll be fun. You get to mix chemicals until an explosion occurs", he said. Every body smiled and a few cheered. " That's a better attitude, now let's begin". He strolled around the room, handing out papers and scientific supplies as the last few students came in. Last of all to come in was Grant Lizewski, one the football team's star players. He was huge, about 6"1 with tanned skin with spots in places, small grey eyes, straight white teeth ( paid for by his super - rich dentist daddy ), and blonde hair shaved tight. To my surprise, he sat down beside me and he said hi to me. This was very shocking to me, as he had never even looked at me before, let alone talked ( Okay, that's not strictly true, he talked to me once, and, like the rest of the boys in the school, often ogles me ). I smiled sunnily at him " Hi, Grant", giving him a little wave. There was a squeaking noise from the other side of the room. I smiled fakely at Regina Shapanka, the source of the noise and Grant's girlfriend. She looked like she was going to throw a tantrum. " You have 15 minutes to complete the written test, and how ever how long it takes you to make something explode", called Mr Diaz from the front. I started the written test straight away.
" Uh, Tansy". I turned to Grant, smiling. " Yes", I said innocently, batting my eyelids at him. He frowned, not sure what to make of that. As you may have guessed, he isn't the smartest. " Could you tell me what the answer to question 5 is", he muttered in his deep voice. " Oh, Grant, I'm afraid I can't tell you. You have to figure it out yourself", I said, ultra - coyly. " Please", he said, giving me puppy dog eyes. I melted. " Sure, it's neutralisation", I told him, smiling sweetly.
There was a strange groaning noise from the other side of the room, and I turned around to see a red - faced Regina glaring daggers at me. I smiled sweetly. Regina looked like she was about to burst. I turned, whipping my ponytail over my shoulder.
I finished the test and proceeded to mix chemicals together, as well as helping Grant finish his test. I knew that if I mixed potassium and water we'd get a nice burst of flame, but I wanted to draw it out so I could spend more time with Grant. I also knew that no chemicals could create as big an explosion as the one Regina was going to make when this class was over. I grinned evilly.
I poured some hydrochloric acid into my test tube. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and I was knocked off my chair. At first I thought the impossible happened and Regina had literally exploded but when I looked towards her, her body was very much intact ( sadly ).
I looked around the class. Everyone was lying unconscious on the ground, but as I looked, Grant began to stir. I helped him to his feet, which was a challenge as he weighed about 200 pounds in muscle. I looked at my test tube and was surprised to see a large green miasma had formed over it.
Grant and I backed away from it. As we watched it, it formed into a face. " Greetings, demigods. I am Aer, God of the Lower Atmosphere. I apologise for the theatrics, but I needed to speak to you in private", the face said. " I have come to warn you of a great danger lurking in your school. One has been dealt with, but the other one will not be so easily slain", Aer boomed, his voices causing the test tubes. For several minutes, I just stood there with my mouth hanging. After a few minutes, I managed to drag myself out of my shock. " Why did you call us demigods? What is this great danger in our school? Why do you call yourself God of the Lower Atmosphere? Where's Lindy? Do you have her?", I shouted, questions tumbling out of my mouth. " To answer your numerous questions, I called you demigods because that is what you are, half - human, half god. The danger in the school is the Teumessian fox, who cannot be caught. I call myself God of the Lower Atmosphere because, sadly, that is what I am, the god of the stinkin', dirty, foul air the mortals breath", he grumbled.
" Hey, its not that bad, now answer my question, do you have Lindy? If not, where is she?", I growled at him. Aer sighed. " I do not know where she is, and I do not have her. Her presence is being shielded from me", Aer said. " Really. that doesn't seem convenient for you at all", I said sarcastically. Aer clenched his teeth. " I am telling you the truth, if you just listened to me...". He turned his head as if listening to something. " The fox is coming", Aer said, sounding frightened. " Is there anything you can do to help us?", I cried desperately. " Not much, only hold it back. Use the boy's power". With that he disappeared in a foul - smelling poof of air. " Wait, what do you mean? You can't leave us, please come back. Please, Aer, help us - ".
I was cut off in my rants by a piercing scream that ripped through the school. Grant turned to me. " Run", he said, and run we did.
Lindy's Perspective.
I was about half - way through the park before I noticed how fast I was going. I let out a long, shrill squeak of surprise and almost tripped over another root.
Frightened by how fast I was going, I tried to stop, and, much to my surprise, I stopped immediately. Groaning, I got to my feet. I didn't feel like throwing up any more, but I still felt ill and I look like I'd spent the night drinking
The adrenalin having worn off, I staggered towards the pond and attempted to wash off the vomit and the saliva I was dribbling all over the place. Sadly, it was not enough to clean it off completely, and all I managed to do was make myself wet.
Feeling very grumpy, I trudged home from the park. As usual, Mrs Mason yelled hi to me as I passed her house, but, being in a very bad mood, I ignored her. She calling hi at me however, and in the end I waved at her to make her stop her robotic calls.
I stomped up the driveway to my house, at glared at my mom, standing in the doorway to our house. She tried to look serious. " Selinda, whatever did you do to yourself? Get inside and clean yourself up", she said fiercely, false fire flickering in her eyes. " You. Owe. Me. A. Big. Explanation.", I managed to saw, before passing out on the ground.
I woke up in my bed, completely clean and smelling of Lemon Pledge. Obviously Mom had to bring out the big guns to get me cleaned up. I sat up in bed. Beside me on my locker, there was a tray with a tall glass tumbler on it and a plate covered in some sort of pudding. I reached for the glass. It was filled with an unappealing, greenish liquid. Inspecting nervously, I downed it one. It tasted great, like my favourite grape and blueberry tarts my grandma used to make me. It didn't seem possible that the drink tasted like them, as the recipe for them had died with her.
I picked up the plate and tried the pudding. It also tasted like Grandma's grape and blueberry tart. As I was devouring the strange pudding, the door opened and my mom entered. She smiled at me tenderly. " How are you feeling, sweetheart?", she said kindly. Strange, she's never this nice to me. " Great. Where did you get this stuff? You should get it more often, whatever it is", I said, mouth full of pudding. She smiled rather sadly. " I'm afraid that's not possible. I don't have much left, but I'm sure you will have some more soon", she said, as sad as her smile. I frowned. " What is it?", I asked. " It's ambrosia, and the drink is nectar", she answered. " Ambrosia, like the food of the gods?", I queried, frowning. " Yes. I know you have a lot of questions, but please, just listen to me for a few minutes. You are a demigod, half - human, half - god. You're father didn't go away because he had a business to return to over seas, he left because he is Hermes, Greek God of the Roadways, Commerce, and Thieves. You inherited some of his talents, like you have discovered today. However, you are not immortal and are vulnerable to attacks my many foul monsters. The creature you fought today, Mormo, is something of an Ancient Greek bogeyman, a minor monster. If you are not trained properly, you will probably be killed or gravely injured by a monster. However, I cannot send you to be properly trained, so I requested help from the gods to train you".
"But Mom, you are a religious fanatic". She scowled at that. " You are always going on about God this, God that. How do you believe in that if you know God doesn't exist", I exclaimed. " God does exist Selinda, just because what an ancient primitive civilisation said about the world was true doesn't mean I have to abandon my beliefs", she said firmly. " Okay", I squeaked.
She relaxed a little. " Anyway, I have something to give you. Your father sent this to me to give to you when you were thirteen, but I couldn't bring myself to give it to you. I couldn't change your life forever", she sighed. " It's okay, Mom, I don't care much", I insisted, trying to sound casual. " Oh, Selinda, it does matter, you should care. You have every right to care", she cried. She put her head in her hands. " Anyway, I still have his gift, I'll get it now". She left the room. I pondered what she had said, about me being a demigod. Could it be true? She returned carrying a big brown paper package. As she got closer I could see the address stamped on it: Miss Selinda, 47 Cromwell Street, Liston, Wisconsin. I didn't recognise the delivery service mark. It was a thin line surrounded by loops and topped with a pair of wings. Mom held it out. " Here, I should have given it to you 2 years ago". I took the package and began ripping off the paper. " Do you know what it is?", I asked. She shook her head. I tore off the last off the wrapping. Inside was a long shoebox. Confused, I opened it. Inside were a pair of knee - high, dark blue boots with little white wings at the ankles. I lifted them out of the box. " Try them on", my mom prompted excitedly. I took off my runners and pulled the boots onto my feet. They were quite tight. I stood up. Immediately, the wings began to flap and I lifted into the air. I yelled in surprise.
"What's happening? Why am I flying? Get me down, get me down NOW", I yelled, thrashing helplessly in the air. " I'm sorry Lindy, I can't get you down. I don't know how they work.
I groaned. I started kicking my feet and I began whizzing around the room, thankfully in circles. I shrieked. I had more than enough surprises for one day. I did a high kick and fell onto the slatted floor, hard. I got up, groaning. " My tailbone, my tailbone". My mom went to inspect it and I yelped when she touched it. " Ouch, don't touch it", I grumbled. "Well, I have to do something", she said, I suppose reasonably.
I yanked off my boots and dumped them on the bed. " Well, clearly the magical flying boots don't work any more. They should come with an expiring date", I snapped. " Honey, I'm pretty sure they are working perfectly, you just don't know how to use them yet", Mom said firmly. " Fine, I'll keep them, give 'em another try", I grumbled. My mom's expression saddened. " Please keep them, it is the only thing you have from your father", she pleaded.
" Alright, I'll keep them. They could be cool if I use them correctly", I said. Then I thought of an idea.