Portal Jumpers

Chapter 20

     When we walked in, Ajax was tossing things. A pan flew past my ear and hit the wall. “We could use this at the cave!” He exclaimed, holding up a pot.
     “As long as you don’t kill someone with it first.” I joked.
     “Hmm?” He didn’t look at me, he was too distracted by the pans.
     “If she can’t handle a pan, then she can’t handle being a queen.”
     “For your information, I was joking about the pan. I didn’t even flinch. And another thing, I never said I was going to be the queen.” I huffed.
     “Tantrum queen.” Was all he said.
     I rubbed my forehead like I had a headache, only he was the headache.
     “Don’t listen to him.” Willow told me. “The grouchy man will stay grouchy forever.” She turned to him. “Back off Hecty.”
     He instantly backed up a few paces.
     “Thank you.” She said in a nicer tone. She went to help her brother sort through stuff.
     “I thought people that liked food that much would be…” Hector started.
     Willow gave him a glare.
     “I didn’t say it.”
     “Were you going to ask why I wasn’t chubby?” Ajax said, not looking at him.
     “Maybe.” Hector answered.
     “I have a fast metabolism, besides I don’t exactly like the food here.”
     “Stop being so rude Hector.” Willow warned.
     He grunted then walked out the door.
     I followed him out, but turned right when he turned left. I walked past halls and doors going all around the castle until I found the queen's room, or what my great grandmother would have been if she stayed. I saw a journal on a desk and went to pick it up.
The cover fell off when I picked it up. I flipped through it. There were lots of writings about what she’s learning. “This could be useful if I ever decide.” I mumbled. I found the pages when she met my great grandfather.
    ...They want to kill him. So I will run away with him tonight.
     The last entry she made.
     “Well, I guess my dream was correct.” I said to myself.
     “You keep wandering off.” Agathon said leaning on the doorway.
     “Am I not allowed on my own?” I asked, looking up at him and closing the book.
     “You can do whatever you want.” He nodded to the book in my hand. “Good read?”
     “Yeah, pretty good.”
     He nodded and looked around. “Whose room is this?” He wondered out loud.
     “My grandmother’s, before she left, obviously.”
     “Cool, I came to find you because the rest of us are ready to leave.” He told me.
     “Let’s get going then. I don’t want them to have to keep waiting on me.”
     “They’ll have to get used to waiting on their queen.” He joked.
     I shook my head smiling. I kept the book with me.

     “Where were you?” Willow asked when we made it back to the others.
     “Exploring.” I answered, not going into detail.
     We walked out of the castle and village and started towards the cave.
     I was flipping through the pages of the book when I stumbled over a root.
     Agathon caught my elbow to steady me. “Maybe you shouldn’t read and walk.” He laughed.
     I stuck my tongue out at him. “I thought I was in charge since you want me to be queen so badly.”
     He held his hands up in defeat. “Ok, ok, you win, but I will catch you when you trip again.”
     I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going to trip again.” I said this as my foot got caught on yet another root. I caught myself that time.
“I’m fine, I got it.” I brushed myself off in embarrassment.
     Hector went a different rout suddenly.
     “Where is he going?” I asked Agathon.
     “He probably doesn’t want to go in the cave with all of us there.”
     “I was thinking, I should probably train with Willow more, so I can hold my own against the next Wendigo.”
     “I was thinking the exact same thing.” He nodded.
     We told Willow and Ajax where we were going, and we didn’t even have to ask Willow to train me again, because she offered. We were pretty close to the cave so Ajax didn’t mind going by himself.

     “I was thinking.” I started when we took a break from fighting.
     “You seem to be doing a lot of that today.” Agathon commented.
     I looked at him with a side eye. “Can I continue?”
     “Go right ahead.”
     “My dad has no idea where I am, I should probably go back and tell him.”
     “I don’t think he’d believe you.”
     “I’d have to do it while my wings were out, but the problem is he would forget I told him and still worry about me.”
     “Or his brain would make up the closest scenario, like it did when your mother died.”
     My wings sagged remembering him thinking she died in a car crash. “You’re right.”
     “Would you like to go now, or are you rethinking the whole thing?”
     “We’ll go.”
     “Hey, would you mind if we took a break for a while?” Agathon asked Willow.
     “Yeah, I’m a little worn out from the fight yesterday anyway.” She turned and left.
     Agathon watched her leave and then turned back to me, holding out his hand.
     I hesitated a second and then took the outreached hand.
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