Heroes of the Future #Wattys2015

Chapter 4

"I'm feeling a bit hungry. Let's go to the snack room and and have, well, snacks." Ludwig went down a hall with lot's of paintings.

"Whoa. Who are all these people?" I wondered aloud.

"Why don't you take a closer look?" Ludwig replied easily.

I went over to the nearest painting. It was a picture of a man, with broken glasses and over-flowing black hair. Next to him was a woman with tomato red hair and freckles.

I gasped. "Is that Harry Potter? And Ginny? They're alive? I thought they were just characters in a book."

"I didn't think that you would be that surprise, since I just told you that Queen Elsa is also real." Ludwig smiled, as if enjoying our surprised faces.

I went down the hall saying the names of people who I thought were not real. "Minho, Alby, and Teresa from The Maze Runners! Fiona and Jonas from The Giver!" It went on and on, as Carter, Ashly, Avery, Kirsten, and Josh did the same thing.

Over the loud shoutings of Tris, Four, Hazel, Augustus, and others I recognized from books, I hollered "GUYS!"

Kirsten and Ashly came over and dropped their jaws.

"....Percy...Jackson.."

Ludwig left Carter and Avery, and went over to us. "You might as well close your mouths young ladies. Gasping won't help a thing." He smiled.

"And the others-?" Kirsten asked.

"Yes all of them are real." He pointed down to the rows of demigods.

"Come along."

We shuffled our feet along down the hall, sometimes pausing when we want a closer look. When we reached the end of the hall, I spied six empty frames, with our names carved in.

I pointed to it and Ludwig nodded his head. "When you have finished your mission, Your pictures will be on this wall, and everyone will remember you as our heroes."

"So, we'll be famous?" Carter grinned. "Awesome."

Ashly rolled her eyes. "Honestly."

We went into another room.

"Actually, I'm not that hungry anymore. Let's just talk." Ludwig folded his hands, as we sat down on a nicely-carved spruce table.

"Well, like I said before, you all have powers."

"As in Percy Jackson powers, or what?" I asked.

"Of course not. Like water can kill an Ice Queen. Powers as in magic, and such. I, would prefer it as science, but for you, it would be like magic." He leaned back in his chair. "Some of you can guess your powers." He waved his hands towards Carter. "Like our friend here. You could probably guess his powers."

"Uh, sports?" Ashly tried.

"Speed?" Josh shrugged his shoulders.

"Baseball?" Avery guessed.

"Being annoying?" I smiled sweetly.

"Be nice, Hien. You're not much better." Kirsten rolled her eyes.

"Well, you never know."

Ludwig shook his head as if to say "Kids. You can never understand them."

"Wait, so do you have powers?" I scanned him up and down.

"Yes, I do." Ludwig pointed at his head. "I have intelligence."

"Uh-okay." I mumbled.

"Hey, Hien. Wait a minute." Ashly squinted real hard. I squinted too. Just for good measure. I stared at Ludwig's white beard. His White eyebrows. Thin face. His scruffy tuffs or hair. Wrinkled forehead. A thought sprang into my head.