The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 5- Back to the Action.
Recap: (Not into these, but it is necessary) Chiron led her into the Big House, where three boys and three girls were sitting around a Ping-Pong table. "Dessa," he said, "Meet Conrad, Bernadette, Kenji, Akilah, Ekon, and Ayra."
Dessa waved shyly to the six kids. Conrad shot her a flirty wink, Bernadette scoffed, Kenji ignored her, Akilah turned up her nose, Ekon glared at her, and Ayra jerked her hand sideways in a hello.
More than ever, Dessa missed Raya, Raya who would have called Conrad a player, Bernadette a stuck up… well, Dessa didn't even like to think that word, and whatever else it took to make these six kids not matter in Dessa's head anymore.
"It is time," Chiron announced, "For all seven of you to hear the prophecy."
Bernadette stood up, smoothing her floral miniskirt over her butt. "I've already heard it, so I'm just gonna go." She started taking long, purposeful strides that made her kitten heels clack against the floor of the Ping-Pong room. Chiron stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We're going to discuss it too, Bernadette." Bernadette glared at Chiron. He held her gaze. Fuming, she sat back down beside Conrad, on the edge of the table.
Chiron turned pointedly back to the seven sitting around the table, as Dessa had quietly sat herself down next to Ayra while Bernadette made her escape attempt. "Akilah? Would you like to read the prophecy?"
Akilah had been quietly buffing her nails as they spoke, and at this, she turned her head, brows furrowed into a glare. Chiron balked, and Akilah went back to her nails.
"Kenji?" Chiron offered the parchment to him. He accepted it.
It unfurled, and, as he shoved his glasses higher up on his nose, he read, "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, To storm or fire the world must fall, An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death." He almost sounded bored, even though what he was foretelling was ominous.
Chiron looked at them expectantly. He looked like he wanted them to share ideas and fears about this quest and start baring their souls and developing a strong and stout friendship to weather all hardships…
Dessa was too shy to talk, and she was easily the most likely to begin a conversation in this group. An awkward moment reigned for a few seconds, before Chiron spoke up.
"Well," he said, "Before I explain why you have been selected to go on this quest, I need you to swear to stand by each other and this quest, no matter what."
Bernadette looked up from her nails and said, "Of course, Chiron. Me and Connor'll do this, totally." She grinned, looking the very picture of an easygoing, sweet, and social girl. Dessa didn't trust her though, and plain didn't like her jerk of a jock brother.
Connor jerked his head upwards when his sister said his name. Then he went back to flirting with Akilah, being ignored, and chewing some gum. Dessa thought she smelled spearmint.
Kenji glanced up from some thick book he was reading and nodded briskly. He shot a quick glance at Akilah, who condescended to roll her eyes.
Sucking in a deep breath, she said, "Fine, I promise."
Dessa glanced at Ayra before saying, "Um… I promise that too."
Chiron was nodding. "Good, good. Ekon? Ayra?"
Ayra sighed and look up from her knife that she was polishing. One side of her mouth quirked up, and she nodded, making her beautiful curls catch the light.
The second she started nodding, Ekon said, "I'm going. Promise, whatever, can I leave now?"
Chiron looked mildly disappointed at the unenthusiastic response."Well, it's been a long night. Get some sleep, eat breakfast, pack, and then head out tomorrow."
Dessa, shocked at her own courage, asked, "Head out where?"
Chiron coughed. "Ah, yes. I forgot to explain the quest." Sure, Dessa thought. I don't believe that you forgot. "You'll be going to recover the sacred lot cards."
After a short pause to let this sink in, Chiron explained, "I presume you have heard the rumors of the Hades-Zeus war?" After the popular kids nodded, he continued. "You are here to quell those rumors. You must discover where the cards were hidden, as Apollo says it is against his vows to say, recover them, and send them to Olympus. Hades claims that Zeus never let him see his card, that he merely took the Underworld because Poseidon and Zeus took the sea and the sky. He claims that Zeus actually drew the Underworld and that his card that the Fates assigned was the Sky.
"You must recover these cards, because if Hades takes control of the universe, the results could potentially be disastrous."
The children looked at Chiron, horrified. Whatever it was that they were expecting, no one expected anything quite so awful.
Dessa was the first to leave.
There was just so much to deal with. It had been, in short, quite a long day. Dessa had come here expecting a simple camp full of therapy classes for her mental disorders, and had found an entirely different universe, fit into that universe, and was promptly asked to save said universe.
Then the thought occurred to her as she held her expectations next to what happened.
What if it was a hoax? What if this was a dyslexia/ ADHD camp? This quest could be some hidden therapy thing to kick-start her life here.
Almost the second this thought came into her head, she dismissed it. She had seen Chiron's… hindquarters and girls not much older than herself melting into trees.
But what if that was all fake? Or maybe Dessa had finally cracked and gone insane. Yes. That was it. She must be insane.
She realized that she had been dawdling outside her cabin as she ruminated over what had happened to her.
Shaking her head to clear it, Dessa walked inside and collapsed into a dreamless sleep.
At dawn the next day, Dessa woke and dressed quickly, climbing to the top of Half-Blood Hill, inside the safe zone, of course, just in case. She liked watching the sun rise, even if it wasn't as fun without Raya next to her.
She set up her camera to take some nice pictures. Dessa had an instinctive eye for graphic design elements in photography- rule of thirds, light, etc. She missed Raya asking her how she framed it.
Dessa needed to stop thinking about Raya and feeling so pitifully alone. She started sketching the woods- innocent enough. It looked awful, but what Dessa really remembered was the life teeming in the woods. She saw boys with hooves and hindquarters, girls with green skin that disappeared and reappeared, and horrific monsters grossly oversized and over-limbed.
Dessa internally slapped herself. How could she be so dumb as to think this was a hoax. This was real, real and the most interesting thing to ever happen to her. Every kid in Suburbia longed to be a part of something, anything important and bigger than their little lives. And now Dessa was. It was unbelievable.
A part of her still didn't believe it. But, for better or for worse, she was stuck in this fairytale, and she intended to find the ending.
What was she doing, photographing the sunset? She should be home- in her cabin, she internally corrected herself- packing for the big trip. She raced home, intending to tell Jellybean everything she innately understood she couldn't tell Raya. That startled her for a second, and she stood, shocked into stillness.
She had to keep this from Raya. She would have to disappear from her life today, and Raya couldn't know why. Dessa let out a choked, quiet sob in the silence of a still-dewy grass. She would keep a secret from Raya. Raya would detect it, as she tended to do, and Dessa would have to keep her mouth shut. Raya would get pushy, Dessa would get upset, and their friendship would end.
This situation became entirely different. Doing this, allowing them to tell her what to do, staying in her comfortable passiveness, would butcher her friendship. Was that friendship worth the world?
It was to Dessa.
But she had to think of the random little people living their lives who would be affected by this decision. She had to be strong. Maybe she would break the rules and tell Raya, maybe she would't, but she had to do this quest.
With a part of her deader than it had ever been, and a part of her more alive, Dessa walked back home, her camera in her hand.
Sorry for the delay. Cliched? Realistic? Please, drop me a line.
xoxo,
bekeyboo ;)