Chapter 2! I hope you'll notice that I drew a picture for this story. It took some research to find out enough information on Jo's godly mother for this fanfic, and even at that I had to make up some information to fill some major gaps in the mythology. But I hope you enjoy and please review!
I stood in the doorway of my mansion, halfheartedly waving Mrs. Chesterfield away.
"Goodbye Jo!" she called over her shoulder. "I'll see you in two days!"
Yea, and after that never again, I thought. I had a prank in mind that would drive her away without a moment's notice.
I shut the door, sighing and rubbing my head. I plopped down in the sitting room, my head swimming with all the facts and numbers I had absorbed, or at least tried to absorb. I asked a maid for a glass of water, and she hurried off to get it. I sat up on the couch, crossing my legs Native American style, an act that would have gotten me in trouble if Holly saw me.
The maid came by and handed me a glass filled with water. I thanked her and she left without a word. I stood up and drank half the glass. I walked over to the window, where I realized it was starting to rain. I leaned against the wall, looking out onto the big iron gates that separated the mansion from the rest of the world. I wondered what had changed since I last saw it, the world. When my father and I first moved in I was delighted and dazzled by everything I saw. Now, two years later, I found what I had left more intriguing. I had literately never left those iron gates since Dad's marriage to Holly.
Since Dad's death, I've stopped pranking Holly. But I still prank, all the time. When Dad died I moved my target from someone I disliked to any and everyone. I guess I just wanted to be noticed again. And pranking was the only way I was ever noticed.
I went to bed that night with a heavy heart, as I often did lately. I looked over at my desk, where a photograph of my Dad sat, smiling widely as if nothing were wrong. I could almost hear his voice, telling me that it was ok.
I had a dream that night. I stood in a subway, people bustling all around me. A loud WOOSH! Sound behind me voiced a subway car zooming by.
"Well well," said a voice. I turned and saw a woman cloaked in a robe the color of amber. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell she was smirking. "What do we have here? Another helpless soul in need of my aid?"
"Um, no mam," I said, taken aback by her language. "I was just…" just what? I was dreaming. I wasn't doing anything.
"Hm, quite," the woman said, examining a map. "Well, it is your dream. You brought yourself to me. So what do you want?"
"I—" what was she talking about?
The lady looked at me, and although I still couldn't see her face, I could've sworn I saw her eyes glitter with amusement. "Oh, I understand. You halfbloods and your crazy dreams. Half the time you don't even have the slightest idea of what's going on. Ha!"
"Um, I'm sorry mam," I said. "What did you just call me?"
"Look kid I've only got so much time, so I'm only going to say this once: if you're to be accepted, you have to prove yourself". The woman reached in her pocket and pulled out an apple. She bit into it.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, utterly confused now.
The woman held out the apple to me, turning it in her palm. "Life is like this apple here. It tastes sweet, but can only be earned the right to be eaten. Apples are precious things. They represent the youthful, carefree things in life".
"How does that make any sense?" I asked, exasperated. This woman was crazy!
The woman looked at me with a cold stare. "I'd watch that mind if I were you, godling. Remember what I said: you're gonna have to prove yourself". She placed the apple in my hand. I looked up at her, but she was gone.
I woke up, gasping and confused. I had crazy dreams, but this one took the cake. I shook my head and got up out of bed. Morning light streamed through my bedroom window. I opened the curtains and opened the floor length windows and stepped out onto the widow's walk. I stretched and yawned as I took in the morning air. It was early June, one of my least favorite months. I looked down at the huge garden, at all the gardeners and hedge trimmers and flower planters. Then I saw something that caught my eye. There, on the south side of the garden, was a hulking man with worn jeans, a dirty white shirt, and suspenders. It was Mandy. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. He was still here? Usually after a prank like the one I pulled yesterday would have sent him running away to find a less lethal gardening job. I ran into my room, pulled on some clothes, and sprinted down the stairs and out the door.
I crept around a tree, peering out from behind it at Mandy. He was digging a hole with a huge shovel, a small unplanted tree a few feet away. Mandy had his back to me. Suddenly he stopped digging and said, "Child, if you please, I feel uncomfortable when I am being watched".
I stepped into view. Mandy struck the shovel into the ground and looked at me. I couldn't read his expression. Mandy's face was covered in sweat, even though he had just started his shift an hour ago. He was bald, with an enormously bushy mustache. We eyed each other for a few moments, unsure of each other.
Finally I spoke, "Mandy, I'm sorry—"
"Don't be," Mandy said.
My eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"I know it must be hard for someone with your…history, in this world".
"I…uh, thank you sir," I said in shock. No one had acted that way to my misbehavior since…well, since Dad. I looked at the hole in the ground. "What are you planting?"
"This apple tree," he said, gesturing to it. "By the end of the summer, it should have apples to harvest".
I looked at the tree. I thought about my strange dream last night, and how the woman had been so partial to apples. How ironic.
Mandy went back to his work. I watched him curiously. After a few minutes, Mandy looked at me, sighed, and put the shovel down. "If you don't mind, could you leave me to do my work?"
"Why did you stay?" I asked, ignoring his question. "You do realize that most would have quit".
"I believe in giving the defendant a second chance," he said in a hinting tone. He went back to his work, but I didn't move an inch. When Mandy noticed I was still there, he sighed and said, "Don't you have some studies to do or something?"
"Today's Friday," I said. "And my homework gives me a headache".
"Well, don't you have any friends to socialize with?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I've never had a friend in my life". And this was true. Dad was the only person I had ever needed.
"Oh," Mandy said, his eyebrows lowering. He looked at me, then at the ground, then sighed and said, "All right, you can stay. But don't bother me".
I spent the whole afternoon watching Mandy work; planting the tree, trimming the bushes, planting new flowers and pulling weeds out of the beds of the old ones. I even made conversation with him, and it turned out that he was good company. He seemed rough around the edges but inside he was just a normal person.
Finally Dinner came, my least favorite meal of the day. It was the one meal where I was required to sit and eat with Holly. She called it "Bonding time" but really it was just to extract every little detail about my day, and if I had done anything wrong that she hadn't heard about.
"Jo, dear, eat your broccoli," Holly said, gesturing with her fork.
"I know," I said, stabbing the green vegetable with my fork.
"So how was your day Jo?" she asked like she asked every day. "What did you do? I've noticed that the house has been unusually quiet today".
"Nothing Holly," I said, looking down at my plate.
"Jo, sit up straight," Holly said sternly. I sat up straight. "Now, tell me what you did today. Please".
I sighed. "I watched the garden tenders today. You know that one from yesterday, Mandy, is still here".
"Yes, I was surprised when he said he wanted to stay," Holly said. "You didn't bother him again today did you?"
"No! Geez Holly, you act like I'm a bad kid or something".
"Well you're not exactly the nicest kid on the block," she said. "It wouldn't kill you to just be nice to people!"
"Ugh, that's it. May I be excused?"
"Not until you finish your food," Holly said sternly.
I shoved the last few bites of food into my mouth and ran upstairs to my room. I closed the door behind me and fell asleep angry.
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For the next three weeks I spent the days with Mandy, and we got to know each other well. Every day before and after tutoring I would find him in the garden and we would talk while he worked. He was the only person I didn't prank.
"Mandy?" I asked him on a particular day.
"Hm?" he asked. "What is it Jo?"
"How do the flowers know when it's going to rain?"
"What?" he said, looking up from his work of planting tulip bulbs.
"The flowers," I said. "They close up right before it rains so the weather doesn't destroy them. Why? None of the flowers elsewhere do it, only the ones in this garden, and only recently".
Mandy raised an eyebrow. "I think it may just be your imagination Jo. The flowers in this garden aren't any different than all the other flowers out there".
"And it's not just the flowers," I continued, "Recently the grass has seemed greener. And all of the plants as a whole, they seem livelier, don't you think?"
"I—I'm not sure what you mean," Mandy said. "There's nothing unusual about the garden".
"And come to think about it, I just started noticing after you showed up".
"Child! There is nothing different about this garden!"
I fell silent. Mandy looked at me. "Oh, I'm sorry Jo," he said.
"It's ok," I said.
"No, I shouldn't have yelled at you," he said.
Suddenly I heard someone calling my name.
"That's Holly," I said. "I have to go eat dinner. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Mandy nodded and we parted ways.
I was about halfway to the mansion when all of the sudden I heard a clicking sound. I looked around, but didn't see anything. I heard it again. I turned slowly, and there, before my very eyes, was a huge, hairy spider of unnatural size. It was bigger than a dinner plate, with brown hair and long fangs and beady red eyes. It was on the trunk of a tree, but I could have sworn it was looking me in the eye. It landed on the ground, hissing and stalking towards me. It wanted to kill me.
I couldn't move. I thought spiders like that only lived in places like the Amazon rainforest. It lunged at me, and I jumped as its fangs bit the air next to my ear. I heard the fizz of poison from the spider's fangs. I screamed.
Suddenly I heard a roar, then a sound like a goat bleating, and then Mandy stepped out carrying a huge tree branch.
At least, I thought it was Mandy. But what I was seeing couldn't have been real. Mandy stood before me, but from the waist down instead of pants, he had the furry hindquarters of a goat. I was frozen in complete shock. I couldn't move
The spider lunged at me again and Mandy shouted, "Move Jo!"
I felt a force like a freight train push me out of the way, then I was sprawled out on the ground. I heard Mandy shout in agony as the hiss of poison seemed to have made contact.
"Mandy!" I screamed, and managed to stand up. Mandy was clutching him arm. The skin around it was turning a sickly green color. Mandy looked at the spider and tried to lift his tree branch. Just before he brought the branch down on top of the creature, it turned to me and said in a voice that hissed in my head like the acidy venom, "You think you can make it? You will never have what it takes to be a daughter of impishness, mere foolhearted one". Then Mandy brought the branch down, and the spider burst into golden dust.
Mandy took off.
"Wait!" I called. "Mandy! Come back!" I chased after him, but he seemed to have just disappeared. I walked back to the place where the spider had attacked, but the only thing left was a small pile of golden dust and an eerie feeling in the air. Then I looked down and saw a small piece of paper. I picked it up. It read, "Mandy Sterling: searcher, satyr, guardian of the wild. Halfblood Hill, forest, four miles past Zues's Fist". I wondered what that meant. The last part seemed to be some sort of address, but it didn't make any sense.
Suddenly I heard a maid calling me in for dinner. I ran to the mansion, safely tucking the card in my pocket.
Well, that's chapter 2! I didn't intend for it to be so long, but I guess that's a good thing.
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