Argathripe - Book 2 ~ (The Dead City Series)

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ Chapter 2 ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

     The next thing I knew was that I was in my room packing. By myself. Just me and my thoughts. Everything was in a weird haze. But I tried to keep thoughts positive. I'm sure everything will be fine. Maybe this'll be quick, and I'll be back in a week! But then the negative ones would bring me back down. What if someone here gets hurt? Maybe I'll never be able to see any of them ever again. Maybe this'll go horribly. Maybe... Soon all that I could think about were the bad things that could happen while I was gone. I'm not even able to fully control my powers yet! Much less fight or anything with them! I heard my door creak open and I turned my head to see who it was. It was Katrina.

     "Look, I know you're nervous, but I assure you no one's going to die. Not on my watch. I promise," She was trying to comfort me.

     I'll admit, I felt a bit better hearing it from her. Since she was so powerful and everything, she'd probably be able to keep in touch with my mom and Johnathon in case anything went wrong in either place. Thinking about this calmed me down a bit, but I was still quite nervous. I felt like she could tell. We were quiet as I kept stuffing things into the very large, dark grey, shiny, plastic suitcase.

     "How long will we be gone for? Like, how much should I pack?" I looked back at her.

     "Honestly? I'm not sure how long it'll take to get five random people who have to fit the prophecy. But no matter what, we'll be stopping at Inns along the way. So, I guess just pack five outfits. Maybe six if you want to be safe." She crossed her arms.

     I would rather be safe than sorry. I went to get three more outfits from my walk-in closet.

     "What kind of terrain will we be in?" I asked as I grabbed a black and blue shirt.

     She thought about that for a moment. At least it looked like she thought about it.

     "Snowy. It'll probably be 20 below zero," She saw with a level tone.

     "20 below zero?! Where in the world are we going?" I shouted at her and poked my head out of the closet.

     "Argathripe. We need to find an angel, and that's where they usually meet up in the Angel Season," She said without batting an eye.

     Over the last few weeks, I had been studying what the world was really like. Apparently all the humans were kept in a weird dome-looking thing. Only a few humans had ever figured out what the real world was like, and they turned out to be very smart, and usually were transformed into a kind of 'monster' species. I also learned the geography of the world. So you can imagine my surprise when I remembered that Argathripe was quite a ways away. On an island in an ocean. An island that was covered with snow.

     "Argathripe?! That's 600 leagues from here!"

     "I know. That's why we'll leave tonight to catch a train. That train leaves in about an hour. It takes about thirty minutes to get there from here, so let's move it so you can properly say goodbye to your family and stuff."

     "I thought we wouldn't be leaving for at least a day, though!"

     "Well, you thought wrong. Finish up so we can get everything else ready!"

     "What about you?! You have to pack, too! Also, wouldn't you be able to teleport us or something?!"

     "I'm done packing! No matter what, I had to go find the prophets. You were the only thing stopping me from leaving as soon as this weird fog appeared, and also, no! I can't teleport us there just like that! Teleporting takes energy. And I need to save as much energy as possible in case we get into trouble!"

     'You were the only thing stopping me from leaving.' I folded the last piece of clothing and stuffed it into the suitcase. She was quiet, and so was I. I put my phone into my pocket, and the solar-powered-charger in the suitcase. I double checked that I had everything, and then turned to say something but saw that Katrina had left the room. I looked back at the suitcase and zipped it up. Then I put the plastic cover on it to protect it from rain, snow, or maybe even any animals because of its distinct smell. I'm technically an animal, though. So what good will it do to other 'animals'?

     As I cuthunked down the stairs and towards the front door, I smelled something different. Something weird. My ears perked up. I stayed as quiet as I possibly could. I tip-toed to the front door to see Vici, Katrina, Jonathan, my mom, and someone else. They didn't seem to be on guard, in fact they all seemed kind of sad. 

     "Who's that?" I said out of nowhere, making Vici and the unknown person jump.

     Everyone except Katrina turned towards me. Katrina kept her eyes on the unknown being.

     "Apparently someone else is coming with you," John said unapprovingly.

     "Really? Who?" I hoped it was Vici or Johnathon or someone I knew I could trust.

     "His name is Theo, he is Katrina's cousin," My mother answered in the same level tone of voice Katrina used on me earlier.

     They must take lessons from each other. I scoffed. I made out a small smile on Mom's face. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. We'll never tell. She directed at me. Weirdo. I thought back to her. Her smile grew.