HalfWorlder #Wattys2017

Chapter 25-Laundry day

Quiet normality is unnerving after riding in a giant fish mouth, talking to living statues, and meeting wolfy people. I mean, I used to read comic books. Now I was in one. I used to play video games. I practically became one yesterday. But now – here I was – sitting on my bed realizing all my clothes were trashed and the only thing that needed doing was laundry. There's nothing more normal than that.

Not even a clean pair of boxers left.

I picked up a plaid pair and sniffed them – and dropped them quickly to the floor. I would need to find an industrial grabber to get those with later. I was pretty sure they were toxic. I collapsed on my mom's bunk and stared up at the room's bland ceiling. My hand tapped my chest in monotonous repetition warding off the inevitability of what needed to be done. I sat up quickly.

"Neter. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need to do a load of laundry."

We were flying slowly over the North Atlantic Ocean now, finally heading down to Palenque. Neter had made enough repairs to fly independently, but she wasn't 100 percent. Still, we decided to gamble and leave for Palenque anyway even knowing she would have to continue repairs on the way. Conditions were decent enough for flying and who knew how they would change in another day? Anything seemed possible.

"Laundry is on each level, Section 2, Door Teth." Neter interrupted.

I nodded my head and scooped up the toxic underwear with my bare hands, tossing them into my open suitcase which rested in the corner of the room. I figured I could handle them after the whole tsunami incident, toxic sludge or no. I grabbed my suitcase awkwardly in my arms, still gaping open like it was a laundry basket, and headed down the hall.

I wished I had a headache. Then at least I would feel something. My head should be pounding from all the thoughts that chased each other around, but it wasn't. I felt numb. And why wouldn't I? Last night, walking to my room, I ran into Wep and Alexandra. She was leaning against the wall, and Wep was practically standing over her. She flinched, but I didn't stick around to see anything else. I swore things hadn't gotten that far with them. I swore there was still a chance for us.

I practically raced back to my room to put on the Bes amulet so I didn't destroy anything. The way she had looked at me in that moment catching them standing there, I couldn't shake it. Her eyes betrayed a million different emotions. I couldn't place them all. But Wep's eyes said plenty. He had won.

Back in my room, I noticed a scrolling mass of alerts on my phone. Now I added guilt to the mountain in my mind. My phone had finally connected with a satellite and downloaded all my voice mail messages. And there were lots of them. Mom had figured out we weren't at the ranch and her messages had become more and more frantic as the days and our silence progressed. The last ones had been more steeled. They hadn't found dad and Elaine either – or the Aten. The messages said as much.

It was hard hearing my mom so scared. I wanted to feel for her, but all my emotions had solidified into a tiny pinprick buried somewhere deep in my brain. Not even I knew where it was. I guessed my brain was protecting itself. Otherwise, maybe it would implode – especially after Neter pounded that concrete wall of information in there. All of it together was overwhelming. I hadn't forgotten about Isis either in all my jumble of thoughts. We still had to locate the ventilation shaft and all we had to go on was an obscure rhyme. Then, of course, there's the key that I have, but don't know I have. Right... now where did I put that? I should be worried. But, I was numb – just numb at this point. The fate of the world rested in my hands, but it was a simple girl that kept me prisoner in my head.

I wandered down the hall to the laundry room, letting another stray thought in to join the rest. Just how does Oasen laundry work? I stopped outside Door Teth to think, but I couldn't even have that quiet moment. If I wasn't on a ship with intelligent moving doors, then I would have had to knock it open with my knees myself. As it was, Neter kindly opened the door immediately at my approach.