YOOO WATUP? SO it's SUMMAH (for us here dunno about you where you are in the world ;p )
So I've managed to get through the year and now I have nearly three whole months for writing! YAY! ^_^ So yeah. Expect more chapters. Imma do my best to reply to your reviews!
#Thaluke
Chapter 2
Colorful streamers lined the streets here and there, being put up by merry townsfolk who seemed to be in a permanent state of excitement. The smell of roasted pigs and chickens was intoxicatingly strong in the food district. Even the walls of King Hermes's palace were being bombarded with decorations.
There was only one word that could possibly describe all this: festival.
Now Thalia, being the little girl that she is, simply adored festivals. The kingdom held one every year in honor of its founding decades ago. It lasted for a full week with events being held every night at the plaza which was just outside the palace. Then, on the closing night, the masses were allowed to enter the courtyard and the fireworks from the kingdom's trade were to be displayed at midnight, lighting up the sky in a wild shower of color.
She had a fuzzy memory of a time when she had climbed onto the shoulders of her father to get a better view of the parade, her mother by his side carrying little baby Jason in her arms. That memory… she felt like they were a perfect family at the time, looking back she thought they still could be. Until two nights ago, when her mother burned the piece of parchment that was her only anchor to that thought. She knew the truth now, although she wished she didn't.
The previous year Beryl wouldn't let them go. She ended up drunk at the pubs and, on the third day of the festival, Thalia managed to sneak out with Jason and return just in the nick of time. She was just glad their mother didn't notice them covered in sweat with a few streamers stuck in their hair.
"Thalia…?" The little boy tugged at her sleeve, trying to get her attention.
Thalia was busy hanging up the laundry (after doing them herself of course) and Jason was supposed to help her, but he'd taken to annoying her with terrible jokes he heard from his friends down the street.
"Thalia!" The boy whined in his high-pitched little voice and Thalia's head snapped in his direction sending him a glare, but Jason was unfazed.
"Can we go to the festival tomorrow?" He beamed at her, making a face between enthusiastic and pleading. "Maybe we can find Papa there."
The older girl's gaze softened. She knelt down in front of him and placed her hands on each of his shoulders, a gesture her father made when she last saw him. It made her feel comforted and she wanted Jason to feel comforted too, especially now.
"Jase," she said softly. "I can't say that we'll find Papa. I don't think we'll have much time to look. But we'll go, okay? We'll go to the festival, just like last time. But only for the opening, okay?"
Despite the fact that they won't be experiencing the entity of the festival, Jason grinned widely. He was tired of the dullness and lack of color in his home. He wasn't even allowed to go that far down their street. Ever since last year he yearned to return to the festival but hesitated because he was afraid that their mother might catch them and beat them. Again.
"YAY!" Jason shouted and began to dance around in a circle and began to sing, "We're going to the festival! Going to the festival!"
Thalia immediately clamped her hand over his mouth. "Just be quiet or mom will catch us!" She hissed, although she was grinning.
The little boy simply grinned up at her. "We're going to the festival." He whispered.
Tonight. It had to be tonight.
She had one chance of escape and she wouldn't dare let it close up on her. Her timing had to be perfect so this evening could be too.
Thalia's hands felt cold and clammy, the feeling spreading out from her chest. It was like cold dread and nervous excitement pulsed through her heart. She couldn't let them be caught. Her plan… she was afraid it wouldn't be good enough.
She went over the drill in her mind as she trotted the basket of laundry towards her mother's room. Her mother had told her to keep her stack of clothes well-cleaned and maintained or else… well, she really didn't finish her sentence but Thalia was sure it wasn't anything good.
As she was folding up the clothes, she overheard her mother's voice out in the center room. She must have been talking to one of her friends outside- one of her drunken, spent and dirty friends, people who she easily fit in with.
"-orrow night?" her mother was saying. "On the opening night?"
"Yes!" the other woman replied. "They say there's going to be a gun show from the Army! Just for the fun of it!"
Beryl snorted. "I hate the festival. It's stupid, nonsense. What's there to celebrate anyway?"
"Well," the other woman drawled. "It's Lisa's birthday tomorrow. We're invited!"
"Lisa? That old fat rich-girl? She'll be at the festival?" Beryl snorted again. "I'm not going."
"Oh no, darling!" her friend exclaimed. "She's asked her daddy to rent out the pub! Free drinks for everyone! Unlimited 'till dawn. It's going to be such fun!"
There was a short pause.
Thalia had taken this opportunity to peek out the bedroom door and down the hallway. She saw her mother at the front door, back facing her. Outside was a woman Thalia recognized as one of her mother's drinking friends. The woman had a constant drunken expression, long and untamed blond hair, cloudy blue eyes and the posture of a sitting duck.
Thalia didn't like her.
"When's it start?" Beryl asked, a smile in her voice.
Her friend grinned widely. "Oh darling, we're going to enjoy ourselves so much!" she laughed. "I'll swing by here with Allison at around six, before the festival starts, okay?"
Thalia whipped her head back into the room, grinning just as wildly as the woman outside.
This was perfect. Her plan would work so much better! She excited finished up folding the last of her mother's clothes, placing them in the basket in the corner the room. She then picked up the rest of the clothes and rushed off into her shared bedroom.
"Allison! Claire!" Beryl screeched with delight as she slammed the front door shut. She had dressed her best for her friend's party. She couldn't wait to drown everything in the free-flowing booze that was to come and hopped in Claire's rented carriage.
"Is she gone?" Jason asked his sister a few seconds after he heard the horse's hooves clip-clop down the street.
Thalia carefully crept to the front door to take a peek outside and turned back to him a few seconds later- a wide grin on her face. She held up her thumb, all clear, and dashed into her mother's room. Jason begand to jump up and down, clapping his hands excitedly as he laughed.
Thalia emerged from the room a few moments later. She was now wearing a pleasant little dress with a blue and yellow design. In one hand she held a set of clothes for Jason to wear- a simple button-up and shirt and trousers. In her other hand she held a small pocket-watch that fit neatly in her palm. It was a little dusty, a glass covering and a brass frame with a looped chain of metal attached to it.
The watch read six-fifteen o' clock.
Thalia intended for it to let them know when it was time to get back into the house. She was positive her mother would stay out until dawn, as promised, but she wanted to get back slightly passed midnight- just to be safe.
She helped her brother get dressed and they made their way outside the house.
Finding the plaza was easy. Other than the fact that Thalia went there every day to buy food from the nearby market, nearly everybody in town was headed for that way. All they had to do was to follow the massive crowd and join the flood.
In no time they reached the plaza.
It was massive, usually filled with stands and stores, people simply wishing to enjoy, entertainers performing for money, and tourists marveling at the palace's glory. It had a yellow-brick floor and pots of well-organized plants, flowers, and trees.
Now, all the stores and stands were cleared out to make way for the massive crowd. Tables and tables of covered food were lined here and there. Torches hung from poles which supported the colorful streamers above. A wooden platform was set in front of the palace gates and Thalia was lucky to find a spot relatively close to it.
She stood on one of the benches with her brother to get a view over the people's heads. Looking around, she saw other children doing the same with the other benches, their parents holding them steady as they jumped gleefully.
"Thalia, look!" Jason tugged at her arm, pointing towards the stage.
A man dressed in a colorful suit, complete with a top hat and cane, came up the platform regally, head held high. He stopped in the middle and tapped his cane onto the wooden planks, successfully silencing the massive crowd gathered beneath him.
"CITIZENS OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM!" He called, his voice resonating throughout the plaza, quieting down those few who were muttering and coughing. "Tonight we start the week-long celebration of the Founding! And to open this marvelous week of festivities, here is King Hermes Castellan and family to bring upon us the blessing of joy and memory!"
The crowd cheered and hooted as the royal family stepped on stage. There were three of them: King Hermes, Queen Maylee- who preferred to be called May- and their son Prince Luke. All three were dressed in white with trimmings of gold and silver, hair fixed perfectly and posture straight and pure.
"Tonight," The King announced. "We open our ceremony with a dance!" And with that he stepped down the platform, his wife's hand in his, and the crowed was cleared from the center of the plaza letting Thalia and Jason stand in the front row.
And orchestra stepped onto the stage and began to play an upbeat and harmonious tune as the royal couple began to dance. Soon, the citizens joined in, gliding gracefully across the plaza as the king and queen. Then the children ran into the midst of the dance and began to play-dance.
So did Jason and Thalia.
The orchestra decided to join in with the children's tempo and began to use their trumpets and horns, playing a more joyful and upbeat melody. The silverware was raised and the food was unveiled, allowing the crowd to fill themselves up.
Jason was doing flips and tumbles as his sister simply swayed from side to side watching him and laughing. They were having a marvelous time, really. They danced and played together and ate some candy the colorful man threw into the crowd.
Jason just finished a failed summersault when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.
"Hylla?"
"Hi, Jason!"
Jason blushed.
Hylla was one of their neighbors. She was a little less than a year older than Jason. She had long dark hair and big brown eyes that would make any adult's heart melt with satisfaction.
"Hello Hylla." Thalia greeted the younger girl, then she bent down to whisper in her brothers ear, "Someone's got a crush, huh?"
Jason blushed a deeper shade of red. "Shut up!" he whined and Thalia laughed.
"So, you wanna dance?" The little girl asked shyly, twisting her hands behind her back.
She nudged her brother forward. "Go on, loverboy." She smirked. "Just don't go too far, okay?"
Jason made a face but went with Hylla anyway, showing off his little summersault.
She was doing fine dancing around on her own, up until she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Do you wanna play? I'm Luke."
A little cliché? Yeah, I know. Um… is it? I'm not really sure. Kinda…?
Anyway, thanks for reading! Drop in any questions or complements or complaints in that review box down there and I shall answer them! No worries! ^_^
And a little replying to the guests' reviews….
Girl123: I know how you feel. Devices that Hermes has cursed with slow internet… it hurts, man. It's HARD AF. But thanks so much for supporting Smile and I'm glad you're reading Just Trust Me! ^_^ You are one of those awesome people out there who has read my previous story and is reading this. 0.0 Keep being awesome, sistah!
~Apollo'sDaughterXD