Chapter III
As I dropped the sword back into the sheath, I smiled and ran my hands along a wall that they could not see. I hit a bump, and pressed my palm against it. A beep, and suddenly, a door opened. They followed me in, surprised, and amazed. A smirk stayed my face as we walked to the bottom of this mountain. I looked up, and smiled. Horses came flying down: Pegasus and his three sons, flying about on wings that wouldn't hold up a horse from the real world. However, this wasn't the real world. This was Everworld, a placed where anything was possible. They landed.
"Pegasus, can you lift us up to the top of Olympus?" I asked. He looked behind me and smiled.
"Sweet Afni, you've brought known humans to the Mountain?" he asked. I nodded.
"David, April, Jalil, and Christopher. All have been here. All have ridden with you and your children. I've to ask only one of you children, or you, to carry two of the others." Pegasus nodded.
"I shall carry you and one other." I stepped up onto his back, and looked over.
"Who wishes to ride alone?" They raised their hands, but since David was slower than the rest, he rode with me. The horses lifted us up, into the air, and all the way to the top. I looked over at my friends.
"What do you think so far?" I called over to Christopher. He looked over.
"About what?"
"How I helped them!"
"Really cool, Afni!" he called. I smiled, and watched as they set us down. The horses landed, and we hopped off, David first, then me. We waved as Pegasus and his children flew off, and then turned. Zeus' palace stood what seemed to be miles away, but we started walking. April stepped up beside me.
"Hey, you alright? You seem to act weird every time you and David look at each other." I shook my head.
"Everything is fine, April. You can calm down. Look, they have a wagon going near Zeus' palace. Let's get a ride." I waved my hand, and ran forward, catching up to him.
"Can I help you?" he asked, looking at us.
"Yes you can. Would you please give us a ride towards Zeus' palace?" I asked. He smiled.
"Of course. Hop on." We started off, down the beautiful marble roads that glittered in the sunlight. I pulled my knees underneath me, and looked over at David. He looked back at me, and smiled. I faintly smiled back.
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He slid across the floor, and pushed open the door. My lips closed as I realized I was awake. Awake in a different room, a different house.a different family. He hurried to my side, and turned on the light.
"Af? What's wrong, why were you screaming?" Tears were still sliding down my cheeks, and my eyes were red, but my voice was silent. I dropped my head against his shoulder, unsure of what had happened.
"Afni? Are you alright?" I looked up at him.
"I.I think so. I just had a dream about Ciniya. She was all alone, in a cabin, but someone.someone came in and.and." With my hands I motioned a gun, pointed at my face, and pretended to pull the trigger. He wrapped his arms around me, and held me close.
"It's okay. Your sister is alright. She's alive, she's well, and she misses you."
"How would you know unless you've seen her recently?" I asked, pulling back. He looked at my face.
"Because I know her. She knows how to survive, just like you. Remember: you are her role-model."
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I sighed, and looked down at my hands. The wagon stopped, and I looked back up.
"Here we are." I smiled.
"Thank you." We got out of the wagon, and I led them up the looming staircase before us.
We arrived at the top, and servants rushed up to me.
"Sweet Afni! You have come back!" one servant cried, dropping to his left knee. I smiled.
"Stand up, please. I have come back, only to speak with Zeus for a few moments. I must ask him something." The servant nodded.
"Let me tell him you've arrived." The servant ran off, but three came back with trays of food and wine. The five of us sat down, in a waiting-type room, and took what we could off the plates. After about an hour or so, the servant came back.
"He wishes you, and your friends, to see him in his chamber." I nodded, and followed him to the chamber where Zeus almost always was. We walked in, and looked around. Zeus sat in the center of the room, and some men and women were strewn about the room. I saw Athena off against a wall, being fed by little nymphs. Hephaistos sat, in his golden wheelchair, nearby. I saw Dionysus behind everyone, not paying attention to anything but his wine. Artemis was opposite the room of Athena, sitting with her legs crossed. Hera stood beside Zeus, watching us. And off, in a distant, dark corner, was Ares, holding his sword so that it glistened in the minimal light he had. I nodded to Zeus, and he smiled.
"Come forward, Sweet Afni." The five us made our way across the marble floor to Zeus.
"The servant says to have something to ask of me?" I shook my head.
"No, I have to ask you a question."
"Ask." I stepped closer.
"Have you any luck on Ciniya?" He shook his head, sadly.
"No, I'm sorry, Afni. I haven't luck on finding her." I nodded.
"Alright, Zeus. That's alright. I will find her, if it takes me an eternity to do so. But as I do this, I must take my newfound friends home. They wish to return to the Old World." Zeus looked over my shoulder. Athena stood.
"General David." He nodded towards her.
"Athena. I see that you know them, as well. From when they fought with you against the Hetwan?" I questioned.
"Of course. Not since then, have we had a war. Not since then, because of you. Thank you." I smiled.
"That is quite alright. You helped me find my courage. It was the least I could do. Zeus, would it be alright with you and yours if my friends and I stayed here for the night? It has been quite an arduous journey, and we are exhausted." Zeus nodded.
"Of course." He smiled a smile that you'd normally see on a kind, gentle grandfather who loves everyone and everything. I smiled back.
"Thank you." Zeus clapped his giant hands together, and servants came racing into the room.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Please escort my guests to their rooms for rest." We turned, and followed the toga-wrapped servants down the corridors of the building, and finally, in one wing, we stopped.
"Alright, Sweet Afni, you will be in this room. The blonde boy may stay in here, the brown haired boy in here." Another servant took over, and pointed out a room to Jalil, and a room to April. When they took off, I checked out the arrangement. David's room was to my left, Christopher's was across the hall from me. April was across from David, and Jalil was on Christopher's other side. Then I pushed open my door, and smiled. The ceiling was a shimmering white marble, going so high up that Zeus, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, and Ares could fit in there, one on top of the other, with room to spare. The floor was a blue marble, lined with gold, the reflected the light from the sun brightening the room. In one corner stood a bed, giant, enough to fit David, April, Jalil, Christopher, and me in it twice. Opposite the door was a window, curtains pulled back to let the light inside. Opposite the bed was the kind of couch you would see in a psychiatrists office, a long table in front of it. Littler tables, rugs, and chairs were strewn randomly around the room. I pushed my door somewhat closed, and slid across the floor to the window, where I dropped the curtains. They were fairly thick, enough to stop the light from blinding me. I pulled back a corner, looked down at the city below, and smiled.
"Afni?" a voice asked. I turned around. Christopher stood in the doorway.
"Hi, Christopher."
"Can I come in?" I smiled, and nodded.
"Sure." He walked in, and closed the door.
"I wanna ask you something." I pointed to the couch.
"You can sit down, Christopher." He smiled, and walked over, sitting down.
"What's up with you and David?" he asked. I had just dropped into one of the chairs, and snapped my head up to see him.
"What?"
"Well, I mean, every time you look at him, you seem to freeze, like he just insulted you so bad you don't know what to do." I sighed.
"It's a long story." He nodded.
"Well, I think we have time." I looked at him. Sighing, I sat back in my chair.
"You see, four years ago, David and I started going out. We never told anybody, because he thought it might be cooler if it were a secret. But about seventeen months ago, my sister.disappeared." Christopher leaned close, interested.
"You had a sister?" I nodded.
"Ciniya. She was three years younger than me. The sweetest person you'll ever meet in your life. She loved everyone, and everything. But one night, she and I were walking home from one of her friends house. It was getting dark, and there weren't many cars on the road. She tripped, hurt her ankle. I sat her down on a bench, and went to hail a taxi. As I waved, I started to laugh and turn to say that it was going to be her first taxi ride.but she wasn't there." I closed my eyes, the images running through my mind.
"I ran through the streets of Chicago, alone, at night, looking for her. By morning, I had gotten my parents, the cops, and our neighbors involved. But no one could find her. It was as if she had just.vanished. About three months after that, my parents began fighting. Every night, when I came home, all they'd be doing is bitching at each other. Yelling about money, about their jobs, me, my sister.everything. There was one night in particular. I was in my room, laying awake, listening to my father accuse my mother of stealing fifteen grand from his safe. I heard someone in my room, and rolled over to see David standing at my window." Christopher smiled.
"Midnight orgy, huh? Cool." I reached out, and hit him in the shoulder. Hard. He grabbed his arm and moved back.
"It's not an orgy unless you have more than two people, asshole. Now do you want to know or not?" I asked. He nodded.
"Then shut up. Anyway. I stayed the next few weeks at his house, and you know that scar on the back of his left hand?"
"Yea.why?"
"The first night I was there I helped him put away the dishes, and accidentally cut him with the knife. About two weeks before I vanished from there, and came here, he invited me to Starbucks, where he works. He broke up with me, without any real reason. It sucked so bad. But the day I disappeared, I was thinking about him, and my sister, and about how much I cared about them both, then about how much I hurt for them both. Then I drove my car off the road-by accident-at the same spot where I last saw Ciniya. And technically, I'm glad I'm here. My parents continued to act as though they were pleased Ciniya had been kidnapped. But there was no way she was kidnapped. I would have heard something. She was right behind me. And she would never run away. Not without me." I stood up, and walked to the window, pulled the curtains a bit, and stared down at the city again.
"I just wish I knew what happened to her." Christopher walked over, and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry." I looked up.
"I know what it's like to lose someone special." I smiled.
"Ganymede." He nodded.
"I mean, not special, like, I loved him or something, but special, like, he was my friend, and I couldn't pay him back, not like I should have." I nodded, and dropped my view to the streets.
"Understood." As I scanned the streets, just to see what was going on below, I froze. A girl stood near a cart, speaking with a man who seemed to be in a hurry, maybe running an errand for someone important, like the gods. Her blue eyes were shaded from the sun by her hand, and her grayish hair shimmered in the sunlight. Even though she was far away, on the ground of the city, I could tell she was wearing a long, sleeveless blue dress, that flowed around her feet.
"I know that girl." Christopher looked over my shoulder, out the window.
"What girl?"
"I know her." I leaned further out the window, trying to make sure I was right.
"Afni?" I didn't answer. I didn't even really hear him. "Afni, what are you talking about?" he asked. My eyes widened.
"Ciniya.?" I whispered.
As I dropped the sword back into the sheath, I smiled and ran my hands along a wall that they could not see. I hit a bump, and pressed my palm against it. A beep, and suddenly, a door opened. They followed me in, surprised, and amazed. A smirk stayed my face as we walked to the bottom of this mountain. I looked up, and smiled. Horses came flying down: Pegasus and his three sons, flying about on wings that wouldn't hold up a horse from the real world. However, this wasn't the real world. This was Everworld, a placed where anything was possible. They landed.
"Pegasus, can you lift us up to the top of Olympus?" I asked. He looked behind me and smiled.
"Sweet Afni, you've brought known humans to the Mountain?" he asked. I nodded.
"David, April, Jalil, and Christopher. All have been here. All have ridden with you and your children. I've to ask only one of you children, or you, to carry two of the others." Pegasus nodded.
"I shall carry you and one other." I stepped up onto his back, and looked over.
"Who wishes to ride alone?" They raised their hands, but since David was slower than the rest, he rode with me. The horses lifted us up, into the air, and all the way to the top. I looked over at my friends.
"What do you think so far?" I called over to Christopher. He looked over.
"About what?"
"How I helped them!"
"Really cool, Afni!" he called. I smiled, and watched as they set us down. The horses landed, and we hopped off, David first, then me. We waved as Pegasus and his children flew off, and then turned. Zeus' palace stood what seemed to be miles away, but we started walking. April stepped up beside me.
"Hey, you alright? You seem to act weird every time you and David look at each other." I shook my head.
"Everything is fine, April. You can calm down. Look, they have a wagon going near Zeus' palace. Let's get a ride." I waved my hand, and ran forward, catching up to him.
"Can I help you?" he asked, looking at us.
"Yes you can. Would you please give us a ride towards Zeus' palace?" I asked. He smiled.
"Of course. Hop on." We started off, down the beautiful marble roads that glittered in the sunlight. I pulled my knees underneath me, and looked over at David. He looked back at me, and smiled. I faintly smiled back.
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He slid across the floor, and pushed open the door. My lips closed as I realized I was awake. Awake in a different room, a different house.a different family. He hurried to my side, and turned on the light.
"Af? What's wrong, why were you screaming?" Tears were still sliding down my cheeks, and my eyes were red, but my voice was silent. I dropped my head against his shoulder, unsure of what had happened.
"Afni? Are you alright?" I looked up at him.
"I.I think so. I just had a dream about Ciniya. She was all alone, in a cabin, but someone.someone came in and.and." With my hands I motioned a gun, pointed at my face, and pretended to pull the trigger. He wrapped his arms around me, and held me close.
"It's okay. Your sister is alright. She's alive, she's well, and she misses you."
"How would you know unless you've seen her recently?" I asked, pulling back. He looked at my face.
"Because I know her. She knows how to survive, just like you. Remember: you are her role-model."
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I sighed, and looked down at my hands. The wagon stopped, and I looked back up.
"Here we are." I smiled.
"Thank you." We got out of the wagon, and I led them up the looming staircase before us.
We arrived at the top, and servants rushed up to me.
"Sweet Afni! You have come back!" one servant cried, dropping to his left knee. I smiled.
"Stand up, please. I have come back, only to speak with Zeus for a few moments. I must ask him something." The servant nodded.
"Let me tell him you've arrived." The servant ran off, but three came back with trays of food and wine. The five of us sat down, in a waiting-type room, and took what we could off the plates. After about an hour or so, the servant came back.
"He wishes you, and your friends, to see him in his chamber." I nodded, and followed him to the chamber where Zeus almost always was. We walked in, and looked around. Zeus sat in the center of the room, and some men and women were strewn about the room. I saw Athena off against a wall, being fed by little nymphs. Hephaistos sat, in his golden wheelchair, nearby. I saw Dionysus behind everyone, not paying attention to anything but his wine. Artemis was opposite the room of Athena, sitting with her legs crossed. Hera stood beside Zeus, watching us. And off, in a distant, dark corner, was Ares, holding his sword so that it glistened in the minimal light he had. I nodded to Zeus, and he smiled.
"Come forward, Sweet Afni." The five us made our way across the marble floor to Zeus.
"The servant says to have something to ask of me?" I shook my head.
"No, I have to ask you a question."
"Ask." I stepped closer.
"Have you any luck on Ciniya?" He shook his head, sadly.
"No, I'm sorry, Afni. I haven't luck on finding her." I nodded.
"Alright, Zeus. That's alright. I will find her, if it takes me an eternity to do so. But as I do this, I must take my newfound friends home. They wish to return to the Old World." Zeus looked over my shoulder. Athena stood.
"General David." He nodded towards her.
"Athena. I see that you know them, as well. From when they fought with you against the Hetwan?" I questioned.
"Of course. Not since then, have we had a war. Not since then, because of you. Thank you." I smiled.
"That is quite alright. You helped me find my courage. It was the least I could do. Zeus, would it be alright with you and yours if my friends and I stayed here for the night? It has been quite an arduous journey, and we are exhausted." Zeus nodded.
"Of course." He smiled a smile that you'd normally see on a kind, gentle grandfather who loves everyone and everything. I smiled back.
"Thank you." Zeus clapped his giant hands together, and servants came racing into the room.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Please escort my guests to their rooms for rest." We turned, and followed the toga-wrapped servants down the corridors of the building, and finally, in one wing, we stopped.
"Alright, Sweet Afni, you will be in this room. The blonde boy may stay in here, the brown haired boy in here." Another servant took over, and pointed out a room to Jalil, and a room to April. When they took off, I checked out the arrangement. David's room was to my left, Christopher's was across the hall from me. April was across from David, and Jalil was on Christopher's other side. Then I pushed open my door, and smiled. The ceiling was a shimmering white marble, going so high up that Zeus, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, and Ares could fit in there, one on top of the other, with room to spare. The floor was a blue marble, lined with gold, the reflected the light from the sun brightening the room. In one corner stood a bed, giant, enough to fit David, April, Jalil, Christopher, and me in it twice. Opposite the door was a window, curtains pulled back to let the light inside. Opposite the bed was the kind of couch you would see in a psychiatrists office, a long table in front of it. Littler tables, rugs, and chairs were strewn randomly around the room. I pushed my door somewhat closed, and slid across the floor to the window, where I dropped the curtains. They were fairly thick, enough to stop the light from blinding me. I pulled back a corner, looked down at the city below, and smiled.
"Afni?" a voice asked. I turned around. Christopher stood in the doorway.
"Hi, Christopher."
"Can I come in?" I smiled, and nodded.
"Sure." He walked in, and closed the door.
"I wanna ask you something." I pointed to the couch.
"You can sit down, Christopher." He smiled, and walked over, sitting down.
"What's up with you and David?" he asked. I had just dropped into one of the chairs, and snapped my head up to see him.
"What?"
"Well, I mean, every time you look at him, you seem to freeze, like he just insulted you so bad you don't know what to do." I sighed.
"It's a long story." He nodded.
"Well, I think we have time." I looked at him. Sighing, I sat back in my chair.
"You see, four years ago, David and I started going out. We never told anybody, because he thought it might be cooler if it were a secret. But about seventeen months ago, my sister.disappeared." Christopher leaned close, interested.
"You had a sister?" I nodded.
"Ciniya. She was three years younger than me. The sweetest person you'll ever meet in your life. She loved everyone, and everything. But one night, she and I were walking home from one of her friends house. It was getting dark, and there weren't many cars on the road. She tripped, hurt her ankle. I sat her down on a bench, and went to hail a taxi. As I waved, I started to laugh and turn to say that it was going to be her first taxi ride.but she wasn't there." I closed my eyes, the images running through my mind.
"I ran through the streets of Chicago, alone, at night, looking for her. By morning, I had gotten my parents, the cops, and our neighbors involved. But no one could find her. It was as if she had just.vanished. About three months after that, my parents began fighting. Every night, when I came home, all they'd be doing is bitching at each other. Yelling about money, about their jobs, me, my sister.everything. There was one night in particular. I was in my room, laying awake, listening to my father accuse my mother of stealing fifteen grand from his safe. I heard someone in my room, and rolled over to see David standing at my window." Christopher smiled.
"Midnight orgy, huh? Cool." I reached out, and hit him in the shoulder. Hard. He grabbed his arm and moved back.
"It's not an orgy unless you have more than two people, asshole. Now do you want to know or not?" I asked. He nodded.
"Then shut up. Anyway. I stayed the next few weeks at his house, and you know that scar on the back of his left hand?"
"Yea.why?"
"The first night I was there I helped him put away the dishes, and accidentally cut him with the knife. About two weeks before I vanished from there, and came here, he invited me to Starbucks, where he works. He broke up with me, without any real reason. It sucked so bad. But the day I disappeared, I was thinking about him, and my sister, and about how much I cared about them both, then about how much I hurt for them both. Then I drove my car off the road-by accident-at the same spot where I last saw Ciniya. And technically, I'm glad I'm here. My parents continued to act as though they were pleased Ciniya had been kidnapped. But there was no way she was kidnapped. I would have heard something. She was right behind me. And she would never run away. Not without me." I stood up, and walked to the window, pulled the curtains a bit, and stared down at the city again.
"I just wish I knew what happened to her." Christopher walked over, and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry." I looked up.
"I know what it's like to lose someone special." I smiled.
"Ganymede." He nodded.
"I mean, not special, like, I loved him or something, but special, like, he was my friend, and I couldn't pay him back, not like I should have." I nodded, and dropped my view to the streets.
"Understood." As I scanned the streets, just to see what was going on below, I froze. A girl stood near a cart, speaking with a man who seemed to be in a hurry, maybe running an errand for someone important, like the gods. Her blue eyes were shaded from the sun by her hand, and her grayish hair shimmered in the sunlight. Even though she was far away, on the ground of the city, I could tell she was wearing a long, sleeveless blue dress, that flowed around her feet.
"I know that girl." Christopher looked over my shoulder, out the window.
"What girl?"
"I know her." I leaned further out the window, trying to make sure I was right.
"Afni?" I didn't answer. I didn't even really hear him. "Afni, what are you talking about?" he asked. My eyes widened.
"Ciniya.?" I whispered.
