Chapter VII
I sat on the cold marble floor of one of the rooms, resting my head on the wall, when I heard someone knocking.
"Who is it?" I called.
"David!" he called. I smiled.
"Come on in!" The door creaked open, and slowly, he made his way inside. It had been a few days since we found ourselves at Olympus, after the battle with the Spinyet, but he still had a ways to go before he'd be completely healed. David shut the door, and hobbled over to my bed, making sure the cane was actually hitting the ground right before continuing. I bit my lip because I knew he hurt, and it hurt for him to come in here, but I didn't know what to do. He sat down, and sighed deeply. I turned my body to see him.
"What's up?" I asked. He looked over at me.
"Why are you on the floor?" he asked. I shrugged.
"It's nice and cool down here…" He smiled. "Now, that's not what you wanted to ask me, is it?"
"Nah. I actually wanted to know something about our past…" My smile slowly vanished, becoming too faint to detect.
"What?"
"Do you remember that first week you stayed with me, while your parents argued?" I nodded.
"What about it?"
"When your mom came over, why did you threaten her with the baseball bat?" I dropped my head back, trying to think.
"Well, it was probably because if I didn't she'd have grabbed me by the throat and dragged me to the car. And I really did not want to go home. Would you want to go to a place where the only sense of sanity you had was a brother off at college? Or a sister who wasn't there?" I asked.
"No, I guess not…wait…brother?"
"Yea…" A knock sounded at my door before I could finish. I looked over, stood up, and walked to the door. Opening it, I found Cossette out there.
"What?" I asked.
"Zeus has asked our presence at dinner." I nodded, and walked back to the bed, to help David.
He leaned against me as we walked out to the "dining room," where Zeus sat, waiting.
"I'm glad you chose to come, Afni."
"I really didn't have a choice. David wished to come, and he needed help walking," I lied. He nodded, backing up my lie. Zeus smiled.
"Well, I'm still glad you came. I had this dinner made especially for you and your friends." I smiled at him. We put ourselves at the table, bunched together at one end: David, Christopher, and I at the end, Janet and Jalil to David's left, and Cossette and April to Christopher's right. I dropped my eyes to the table as the food was placed in front of us. Suddenly, I felt sick. I closed my eyes as the room spun, but it only made things worse. I began to rock a little bit. Someone grabbed my shoulder, and I sat still for a few seconds.
"Afni? You alright?" Christopher asked. I opened my eyes, and the room still spun, but I managed to shake my head and push back from the table. As I stood up, I dropped to the floor, and hurled. It splattered across the marble, creating a mess. Christopher leapt up, helped David, and they moved out of the way. I kept throwing up whatever food was in my system. After a few minutes, I was empty, but I kept heaving, feeling so sick still. Finally, the heaving stopped, and I fell backwards, thumping my head against the leg of the table.
I opened my eyes, and saw Athena above me, holding a damp cloth against my forehead.
"How are you feeling?" she asked. I closed my eyes.
"Better…what did I do?"
"Made quite a mess of the floor in the dining quarters." I reached up, touching the cloth.
"I am so sorry, Athena…how long have I been out?"
"A few hours. And it is quite all right. It has been taken care of. You have a visitor." I opened my eyes again, and saw Christopher walk in. Athena walked out, and I smiled.
"Hey, Afni. How you feeling?"
"At least I don't want to throw up anymore. But I don't want to eat, either. How about the others? Did you guys manage to eat after that little show?" I asked. He smiled.
"I was hungry, so I didn't care, but the others waited until about twenty minutes ago…" I rubbed my eyes.
"Well, I guess if you're hungry enough…" I mumbled.
"Although, it would have been nice to have a beer…"
"Beer. That's what you wanted?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yea. And not that Miller Light crap they call beer back in the real world. I'm talking a Sam Adams. But... not light. I hate light." I smiled, and closed my eyes. He looked down at his hand, and found himself holding a bottle of Sam Adams.
"Cool!" I smiled.
"Thought you'd say that." He popped the lid, and downed it quicker than I'd ever seen anyone down anything before in my life. I sighed sadly. He looked at me.
"What?" I shook my head.
"Nothing…"
"No, no, no…I may be a creep to most people, but I can sometimes tell when something is wrong. What is it?" he asked. I looked up at him.
"Nothing, Christopher. I'm fine. Really. I just wish I hadn't hurled like that…" He smiled.
"Well, your feeling better, and since David should be fully recovered in a few days, we'll be setting out, again, on horses." I nodded.
"Well, good…."
"I'm gonna go lay down. You sleep. I'll see you in the morning…" Before I could say anything, he leaned down and kissed me, then ran out of the room. I smiled, and closed my eyes.
I looked up from the book on the table as he walked into the room.
"Jason? You alright?" Jason pulled a soda from the fridge, and sat down opposite from me at the table.
"Can I ask you something?" I put a marker in the book, and closed it.
"What's up?" I asked. He opened the soda, and looked back up at me.
"What's with that Christopher guy that lives next door?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's always coming to me for advice on chicks…why?" I laughed.
"Christopher is a booty-chasing, beer drinking, racist idiot. He thinks every girl wants him, he usually thinks that most guys are worthless if they aren't like him, and he sits on his ass and watches TV most of the time…please don't tell me he thinks that you can help him get girls." Jason nodded.
"Actually, he does. It's funny, really. I mean, I figure since I'm.…you know…and since I have more girl friends than guy friends, it's not too hard to know what girls want more than what guys want. That's what your for." I laughed, dropping my head onto my shoulders.
"I'd be damned if I knew what guys wanted. I know what David wanted, but that's it…" Jason smiled.
"That's because you love David so much, you'd give yourself to him if he asked." I reached across the table, smacking his shoulder with my book.
"Shut up! You want mom to hear you say that? She'd kill me!" I exclaimed, laughing. Jason dropped his jaw.
"You mean I'm right! Hah!" I reached over, hit him again.
"Shut up!" I laughed.
We started the horses at a slow trot, heading north, towards the place where we were attacked by the Spinyet. I rode behind David's horse, watching the others. I had my sword drawn, just incase, and watched the trees for any movement.
Night had come and gone, and we were approaching the area of the Spinyet. I saw the clearing through the trees, and we heeled the horses, making them go faster through the woods. As we reached the clearing, I saw the tall, wooden fence, and pulled my horse to the side, trying not to hit the wall. The others stopped, and we tilted our heads back, trying to see the top of the fence.
"What is this place?"
"Here is where we stop, and rest for a little while. Get some food, and sleep in a bed. The horses can be placed in a stable near the hotel," Janet explained. I nodded, and we pushed through the gate, walking in to see people walking about, carrying bags of things, children running along at their sides.
"Wow…"
We set the horses up in the stable about a block from the hotel, and walked around, Janet pointing places out to us. We stopped.
"Why don't we just walk around? We can meet up at the hotel when the sun is set." They nodded, and we split, David, Christopher, and me off in one direction, Jalil, April, and Cossette in another, and Janet by herself.
I passed a house, the window's opened to let air in, and I heard the others stop.
"Dude!" I turned.
"What?" I asked. He pointed inside. I looked, and saw the two men kissing inside.
"They are so gay! What fags!" he laughed. I spun, and leapt on him, knocking him into the dirt.
"Don't you ever say a foul word about gay people, do you hear me!" I cried, gripping his collar. David grabbed my shoulder, but I pushed him back and stood up. Christopher propped himself up.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, standing, brushing himself off.
"You are what's wrong with me! Saying their fags? You make them seem like a joke! And trust me, they have as many feelings as you and me."
"Back off, Afni." I shook my head, throwing my hair about my face.
"No, Christopher. I wanna know what you have against gays. I mean, you never hassled Jason!"
"Jason?"
"Yea, my older brother! Didn't you know?"
"Know what?"
"He was gayer than Elton John in a gay strip joint!" Christopher seemed to freeze.
"No way. He was too cool."
"That goes to show that you know nothing about gays, Christopher. I mean, the only reason he knew as much about chicks as he did was because: a) he had me to talk to and b) he had more girl's as friends than guys, but you don't want to know why that is because 'gays make you queasy.'" I turned, flipping my hair, and stormed back down the street to the hotel.
I laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, when the others walked in. I didn't look over as Christopher sat on his bed.
"Afni?" he asked.
"What?" I asked, without moving.
"I'm sorry about what I said about gays…I guess they are pretty cool…" I sighed, and closed my eyes. I felt the tear fall to my pillow, but I guess the moonlight hit it just right so that Christopher saw it.
"What's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head, but this time, he pushed me over, sat on the bed, and grabbed my cheeks.
"Quit telling me nothing's wrong because you just cried a little, and I know something is wrong!" I opened my eyes, and looked up at him. I knocked his hands away, and sat up.
"If it will make you happy, it's been two years since I've heard from or seen Jason, and I miss him a lot! Now unless I have a way to make phone calls between universes, there is no way to talk to him until I go home." Christopher smiled.
"I can get his number and see how he's doing…" I looked at him.
"You can?" He nodded.
"When David, Jalil, April, and me sleep, we cross over, back into the real world…I could call your mom, and get the number from her…then call Jason and see how he's doing." I smiled.
"You'd do that for me?" I asked. He nodded.
"Jason was the coolest. Of course I'd do that." I squealed.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Christopher!" I exclaimed, and kissed him. Without really thinking about it, I kissed him. Then I pulled back, blushing.
"Sorry…I just…sorry." He laughed.
"It's alright…go to bed." I giggled, and pulled the covers to my shoulders, closing my eyes.
