Sorry this has taken so long to update, I have had exams so things may get a little slow for a while, but enjoy this...

The truth about packing cases

My mind was swimming with possibilities. I could go to Phoenix, I could talk to my parents. Ask them why they lied to me, but I brought myself to reality. There was no point dwelling on that for the moment. It would be ages before we reached that part of America, let alone the town itself.

"Are you okay?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

I realised I had been standing there, immobile with my ticket in my hand for quite some time. Quickly I pocketed it and sat down. Lisa looked concerned, but Merseus had a resignation on his face.

Deciding I didn't really want to talk about anything at the moment, we knew the plan of action for the moment, I turned to look out the window as the train pulled out of the station. There was nothing we needed to clear up, we were essentially improvising on this, but I had a bad feeling. What with the prophecy and the deadline I wasn't feeling overly confident about this quest.

Outside the pillars and walls faded away and we began to move into New York and soon even the streets of that giant of towns had faded. The countryside outside looked dull and lifeless and and omnipresent cloud seemed to loom over all of northern America. It was a depressing sight and even my usually high spirits felt as damp as the landscape.

I don't know how much time had passed before I was jolted from my trance by a woman's voice. I looked up, the compartment door had opened and a women in an attendants uniform stood officiously in the doorway. She was older than your average worker with appearing wrinkles and fading brown hair. There was linger of beauty on her face, but it had faded away.

"There is a problem with your cases," she told us.

I looked at my friends immediately wide awake. We had no cases. Only our rucksacks which lay now by our feet on the floor. Merseus shifted uncomfortably, even sitting down his legs didn't look human under his trousers. How had I ever been fooled?

"You must come with me immediately," she said.

Not sure what to do I stared blankly at her and Merseus made a goat-like noise. Some of the people in our carriage looked at the woman a little surprised. I wondered why, but I didn't have much time to ponder.

"Come," she repeated and for some reason I found myself compelled to stand.

Like little sheep the three of us plodded out of our carriage and down the train. We passed many others until a great metal door drew up in front of up. It had letters across it which sort of looked like Baggage Area if I concentrated really hard.

The woman produced a key card and swiped it into the keypad to the right of the door. She tapped in a code which I wasn't able to catch and the door slid back to reveal, as I had suspected, the baggage area.

We walked in after her down the aisle. She stooped about halfway down and pointed to a large trunk that looked as though it could contain a person or two.

"Please open it," she ordered Lisa.

My friend, completely bewildered at both her compliance with the order and the fact that we were even in this situation in the first place.

I wondered whether it was another of these weird gifts from the Gods. That would make two in a day. I didn't have to wait long to find out.

The case was not locked, but Lisa was having trouble with one of the belts.

"You," the attendant pointed to Merseus. "Please help her."

Seemingly unable to refuse the woman's polite manner's, he too knelt down with a bewildered expression on his face. His shoe wobbled a little and stuck out at a weird angle no human foot could manage, but the woman paid no attention to it. Perhaps she hadn't noticed.

Together the two of them managed to unbuckle it and pulled the lid open. Now I'm not one to expect a lot from life, but I had expected more than an empty case.

"Wha..." I began to say, but the attendant moved like lightning.

Before I even realised what was happening she had pushed my two companions head first into the travelling case and closed it. The belts holding it closed seemed to buckle automatically and now she was coming for me.

I looked around panicked. I moved my hand to my hip for a sword, but quickly remembered it was lying, safely wrapped up in my bag, back in the other carriage. I cursed under my breath in Greek, spouting words I didn't even know I knew.

The attendant's arm cam out of nowhere and smacked into my torso. I tried to stay upright, but there was something pushing into my knees and I fell to the floor. I groaned in pain at the hard metal floor, but recovered my senses soon enough.

The attendant now had a tube of cardboard in her hand and was wielding it like a spear. She jabbed me in the stomach and I squealed, but I was ready for her next attack. I rolled to the right to escape the mean cardboard. This brought me closer to the case my friends were in and I started to undo the first buckle. I didn't get very far as I had to roll away again to avoid another hit.

The tube came round again, but this time I parried it with a heavy carpet back from the rack. I nearly dropped it on my face, the weight of it, but the tube swung back and I scrambled to my feet. I grabbed a slightly lighter bag and got ready to fight again.

"Get in the case!" screamed the woman charging me.

The tube was now a jousting pole. Who've thought roll of cardboard would make such a formidable weapon? And so versatile? The military were investing in the wrong place.

I sidestepped her attack and whacked the pole with my bag. Designer, one should always look good in battle.

The woman was crazy, that much was obvious. There was an insane glint in her eyes. I mean for goodness sake: what kind of a lunatic attempts to lock you in a suitcase. It made no sense.

I ran over to Lisa and Merseus' case and sprung open the first belt. I had started on the second when an immense screech from the other end of the room shattered my eardrums. The woman was attacking again.

For no reason I wondered what the people in the next carriage thought was going on. That's ADHD for you, but I brought myself back to the battle just in time to whack my bag straight up at the pole.

The force and unexpectedness of the attack sent the pole careening into the air, ripping itself straight out of the woman's hands. It smashed into the ceiling and clattered to the floor by our feet.

The door at the opposite end of the carriage to the way we came in opened and a man walked in. He looked strong and he looked annoyed. I didn't think I could win a fight against both of them.

Any guesses who these people are. I'll be very surprised if you get this.