Chapter IV

I pushed passed Christopher, and ran out into the hallway. A servant came down towards me with a tray, so I dropped and slid between his feet, leapt up and continued running. Christopher came running after me. So did David, who was still in the hall.

I surpassed all the people outside, in the streets, and grabbed a hold of a cart, to try and catch my breath. When I stood back up, I spun around, and searched for my window. Found it. Turned to the man behind the cart.

"Did you see a girl with blue eyes and grayish hair?" The man thought for a moment. I continued trying to catch my breath.

"Yes, I did, actually. She went that way, said something about Zeus." I turned, and started running back towards the palace we came from.

"Afni! What are you doing?" I kept running, them right behind me.

"Ciniya! I saw her! She was here!!!" I burst through the doors at the top of the stairs, and looked around. A servant was walking towards me.

"Zeus wishes to."

"I'm on it!" I called, running passed him. I came bursting into his chamber, and he looked up at me. My hair was sticking to my face, which was covered in sweat. My clothes were becoming sweaty as well, and I looked, and felt, like I had run the mile three times in a row.

"Sweet Afni? Are you alright?" Zeus asked.

"I saw her!"

"Who?"

"Ciniya! She was in town, at the market! I saw her with my own eyes. But she seemed to have dis.appeared." My eyes dropped onto the face of the girl from the town, the one I knew. I froze. David had stopped beside me, and he froze, too. Zeus was faintly smiling in his chair, and Athena stood beside him. The girl faced me, surprised, seemingly unsure of why I had stopped.

"Afni, this is.what did you say your name was?" he asked.

"Ciniya? Please tell me that's you." The girl shook her head, finally understanding..

"No, I'm afraid not. I am Cossette. Wandering minstrel, warrior. I have come to Zeus, because I heard that he was looking for a girl, named Ciniya. I have seen her, I have met her. I have fought her, and she has run, but I can show you where." My heart leapt.

"You know where she is?" David. I looked at him, and smiled. He was always saying things before me, if they had to do with my sister. Cossette nodded, and she smiled at me.

"You must be Afni." I stepped forward.

"Yes, I am. Sorry. I have been searching for my sister for so very long, but I would never give up searching. Ever." Zeus raised his hand. I looked up.

"Why don't the six of you go get prepared, and we shall have a feast? It is a joyous occasion!" I laughed.

We went to our rooms, Cossette's room opposite of Jalil's, and changed. A servant brought in a nice dress to wear: it was a shimmery green, it hung about my ankles, and it was sleeveless, which made it even nicer. There were light green sandals along with it, and I thought, why not? It might be nice to get out of tennis shoes for a while. I slipped into them, and stepped into the hallway. April walked out in a similar dress, though hers was black, and her sandals were a mud-color. Christopher came out in a toga, and so did Jalil and David, which made me giggle with April. Cossette walked out in a blue dress, and sapphire sandals. Together, the six of us headed to the main hall, where we saw the greatest feast we'd ever attended. Endless tables of meat and drinks, provided by Dionysus, no doubt. Christopher and David were attracted to the hundreds of half-naked females dancing and swirling about the room. Then they were gone, running after them. Jalil wasn't as low. He stayed, and talked with us girls for a while, before he chose to go eat. I had sat down beside Cossette and April off to the side, smiling at the dancing and people running about, acting insane.

"So, Cossette? You say to can lead me to my sister?" She nodded.

"Yes, I can. I know where, I know how, but the only thing is that as soon as I do this, I must leave you. I have a family, that is not too far from where Ciniya is at. So, when you find her, I must go home." I nodded. Then a thought struck me.

"How long have you lived here? In Everworld?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Forever. Hm.my whole life, anyway." I nodded. "What about you? How long have you been in Everworld?" I thought.

"Well, about nine and a half months.I miss my home." Cossette smiled.

"One more question. Why are you taking those four about with you?"

"I promised I'd take them home." Cossette looked at April, and smiled.

"Can you excuse us for a second?" April nodded, and Cossette and I headed into the hallway.

"You are taking them home? How?"

"I found the gateway, the nonhuman gateway, that they can take." Cossette nodded.

"Well, there is a certain way that that must be done, and only one person knows exactly how." I was confused.

"You mean, aside from wishing it would open so you can go home?" Cossette nodded.

"Yes, Afni. I do not know what it is, but I can take you to someone who does."

"Who?"

"Jeminna. She is a demigod, who is on our side. She is an enchantress, but very kind. She can tell you what it is you need to know." I nodded.

"Alright. She is on the way to my sister, I can guess?"

"Yes."

"Okay.why did you pull me away?"

"Because you seem to be getting along fairly well with those other humans that you have with you, and I thought that you may know something about the gateway that they don't." I shrugged.

"I know what I know. Let's get back. I'm kind of hungry."

I collapsed onto my bed, and tired and worn from the feast. Christopher had ended up chasing me around, thinking I was one of the women he'd been tailing a majority of the night. I ended up throwing the wine into his face. He was pretty upset, too, because it not only got into his eyes, but it was "perfectly good wine gone to waste." Dionysus thought it comical, though, for him to be running about with closed eyes and a red face.

I lay, staring at the ceiling, for quite some time, trying to think. Christopher had been so drunk, we carried him to his room, but after the show he and I put on, David put his glass down and traded it for water. I had only one drink, and Jalil had a couple, but April and Cossette were clean by the time we headed to our rooms. A knock sounded at my door, and I barely lifted my head off the pillow.

"What?" I called.

"Can I come in?" a voice called.

"Who is it?" I called back. Silence. Then,

"Christopher." I sighed.

"Alright." He walked in, closing the door behind him.

"What is it?" I asked him, dropping my head again.

"Well, I kind of wanted to know why you threw wine at me." I laughed.

"You were chasing me like I was some.slut that was playing keep away. And when you wouldn't get off me, I threw my drink at you." He smiled.

"Oh. Well, I didn't realize that." I nodded.

"I noticed. Is that all?" I asked. He shook his head.

"So, what's the game plan? Where are we going?" he asked.

"Won't know until tomorrow, when everyone wakes up sober," I said, smiling. He nodded, waved, and walked out of the room.

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He was sitting on the couch, working on his math homework. I was making dinner in the kitchen, because his mom was gone. A knock sounded at the door. David stood up, and went to get it.

"Hello?" he asked, opening the door. I poked my head out of the kitchen, and stopped. It was my mom.

"David? Where's my."

"Hang on a second, Mrs. Waters." He closed the door, and walked into the kitchen.

"What do you want me to say to them?"

"Get the bat, and protect me. I'll see them." We walked to the door, his baseball at his side. I opened the door.

"Hi, mom."

"Get in the car." I shook my head.

"I won't go back there, not while you two are at each other's throats." My mom didn't move.

"Get in the car, Afni. Now."

"No. You can't make me, and you can't touch me. It's against the law to hurt a child, understood? And we've got a weapon here. You touch me, he hits you. Or.I'll hit you.whichever is easier." She still didn't back down.

"Go get in the car, we're going home, and you are not to see him anymore, got it?" I took the bat, and raised it to my shoulder.

"You get away from me, got it? I am not afraid to use this on someone who doesn't care about their own daughter!" I cried. She stepped back this time, unsure.

"What are you talking about? I love you."

"Not me, mom. Ciniya. Ever since she disappeared, you've been leaping for joy. You and dad, but dad still loves her, I know it! It's you I don't know!" She reached inside the doorway, and carefully lowered the bat.

"I love you, and your sister. And I miss her terribly, but there isn't anything we can do to get her back because there were no witnesses."

"You go home. I'll come back when I'm good and ready, alright?" My mother nodded, and left. I closed the door, and dropped the bat to the floor. David held me, kept me from crying. I knew he loved me, but I just wasn't sure about anything anymore.

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Morning came, and I walked into the hall to meet a servant who handed me a glass of water, to wake me up. I gulped it, and headed into the hallway, switching instantly into a pair of light blue jeans and a green shirt with threads covered in beads hanging from the bottom. I wore a belt that had the end resting against my thigh, and a pair of tennis shoes/worker boots. Cossette, April, Christopher, David, and Jalil sat in the "waiting room," I guess you could call it, and lifted their eyes as I walked in.

"Morning." They nodded, and acknowledged me. I sat down in a chair, and looked at Cossette.

"What's the plan today?" I asked her.

"Well, to reach Jeminna, we must walk to the north for a few days. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I will ever be." She stood, and so did the rest of us. We headed down the hallways, and down the steps, and stood in the city. Pegasus landed, with his sons, and two of them had to carry two of us, but they didn't mind. Once again, David and I sat on Pegasus.

We watched the horses fly away, higher and higher, and I opened the door of the wall. We stepped out, it closed, and the place was invisible once again. We stepped away, and stopped.

"We go north, but you can lead the way, if you wish," she said, nodding to me. I looked at David, but did not answer her. She looked at the others, and cleared her throat.

"Afni? Do you wish to lead the way to Jeminna?" I lowered my eyes to the ground, and clipped my sword around my waist. They waited for me to answer the question. I stepped ahead, checked the holster of my weapon, and turned to face them.

"No. I think David should lead us."