Chapter 2 – Genesis

Getting out of her seat, Velma walked over while Marco was rummaging through his bag and placed a piece of paper on his desk containing her e-mail address and name. Then without a word, she walked out of the room.

Marco POV:

I stood at the door of a small single-story house, holding a piece of paper with its address in my hands. My assigned partner, Velma Taylor, had been surprisingly prompt when replying to my e-mail and provided her address to get this essay done. I just wanted to get this over with. I had gotten into another fight with Will at home. So, I figured that I might as well come over here and be done with it. When I rang the doorbell, a girl about sixteen years old with light brown hair, wearing black jeans, and a black wife beater answered. Looking at me for a second, she motioned with her head for me to get inside and closed the door behind me.

The first thing I noticed was that the place was filled with books, but in an orderly manner. The second thing I noticed was a very large dog growling at me. I jumped back in alarm before hearing Velma placate the mutt, "Adonis, he's fine." She then turned and started inspecting me with her light blue eyes. "Don't worry. He will only hurt you if I tell him to." Warning heeded, I shrugged my backpack higher up onto my shoulder and followed her into the living room. She motioned for me to sit down and walked over to a book shelf on the far wall. While inspecting the titles, she spoke, "Okay, Campbell. Let's see how good you are at learning with all those classes you skipped."

I was surprised, not that she knew my family name, but that she was so blunt. No one other than my mom and her husband had dared to talk to me that way. "What did you say to me?" I demanded, not sitting down.

"Oh, come on," she said, not turning around. "Do you actually think that I would let anyone into my house without finding out more about them? Besides you wouldn't hurt me; not if Adonis or I have anything to say about it."

Pulling out several books the size of my head, she put them on the round metallic-accented wooden table in front of me. Then, she sat across the table in a black leather seat. "Please, sit and you can cut the tough guy crap. It doesn't affect me." I sat down feeling out of place, stunned, and amused. But as requested, I relaxed a bit slightly and mentally foreshadowed, 'This should be interesting.'

[ Marco POV In 3rd Person:

Marco stood at the door of a small single-story house, holding a piece of paper with its address in his hands. His assigned partner, Velma Taylor, had been surprisingly prompt when replying to his e-mail and provided her address to get this essay done. He just wanted to get this over with. Marco had gotten into another fight with Will at home. So, he figured that he might as well get this done with rather than stay at his house. When Marco rang the doorbell, a girl about sixteen with light brown hair, wearing black jeans, and a black wife beater answered. Looking at him for a second, she motioned with her head for him to get inside and closed the door behind her visitor.

The first thing he noticed was that the place was filled with books, but in an orderly manner. The second thing Marco noticed was a very large dog growling at him. The teen jumped back in alarm before hearing Velma placate the mutt, "Adonis, he's fine." She then turned and started inspecting him with her light blue eyes. "Don't worry. He will only hurt you if I tell him to." Warning heeded, Marco shrugged his backpack higher up onto his shoulder and followed her into the living room. She motioned for him to sit down and walked over to a book shelf on the far wall. While inspecting the titles, she spoke, "Okay, Campbell. Let's see how good you are at learning with all those classes you skipped."

Marco was surprised, not that she knew his family name, but that she was so blunt. No one other than his mom and her husband had dared to talk to him that way. "What did you say to me?" he demanded, not sitting down.

"Oh, come on," she said not turning around. "Do you actually think that I would let anyone into my house without finding out more about them? Besides you wouldn't hurt me; not if Adonis or I have anything to say about it."

Pulling out several books the size of his head; she put them on the round metallic-accented wooden table before him. Then, she sat across the table in a black leather seat. "Please, sit and you can cut the tough guy crap. It doesn't affect me." Marco sat feeling out of place, stunned, and amused. But as requested, he relaxed slightly and mentally foreshadowed, 'this should be interesting,' while opening one of the massive tomes. ]

3rd POV:

After what seemed like hours of reading, Velma put down her book and summarized, "Well, I guess we'll start by writing what we know so far about Mordred. We know Mordred was a druid, who formed a close bond with Morgana, Arthur and Merlin. But Merlin betrayed him and they have seemingly become enemies. Mordred was the first person to call Merlin by his druid name 'Emrys'. Kilgharrah, a seer, foresaw that Mordred would be responsible for the death of Arthur Pendragon and warned Merlin not to help the young druid. When Mordred had to choose between Arthur and Morgana, he chose Arthur because he believed in the good inside him. This made him a Knight of Camelot, but Merlin still did not trust him. When his love interest Kara was captured and executed by Arthur, he decided to turn against Camelot and ally himself with Morgana. He revealed Merlin's true identity to her. This may have been the reason for him bringing down Arthur. He succeeded in mortally wounding Arthur, but Arthur still had the strength to fatally wound Mordred."

"Mordred was either both the son and nephew of Arthur or his half-brother," Marco added.

Getting up, she stretched and walked into an adjoining room. "By Morgana, how time flies."

Looking at his phone, Marco saw that hours had indeed passed: it was seven now. He had arrived at five. Marco started packing up when he heard Velma moving around in the other room

when she called, "Marco! Have you eaten?" Shocked, he stopped what he was doing. No one had ever cared to ask if he had eaten "No," he replied. "Why does it matter?"

For several long minutes, all he heard was the sound of pots moving and buttons being moved about. Then, she called out in response, "Because, one: you're a guest in my house; and two: you're a growing teenage boy. Now, sit." For a second time, he found himself being told what to do by a virtual stranger. He opened his mouth to speak, but Velma interrupted and placed two plates of steaming food on the table, where they were researching. "No buts. Now, sit and eat." And so, he sat.