House of Forbiddens [COMPLETE NOVEL]

15: Life Was Good

Audrey

You know, when we're not all running from monsters and such, life is pretty good, and it certainly wasn't always like that. But in a way, I feel like the bad times only further emphasize the good; the distant rumbling in your stomach only makes you savor a meal more; the memories of friends, caught in a battle for their lives just as we are, and losing, only makes us cherish our loved ones more; shrill terror can make absolute boredom o-so-sweet. So, as we all sat in Kaden's van, I made the most of every second of peace, because I was with my friendsㅡmy friends that were more than friendsㅡmy friends that were my family. And life was good.

Notice the key word there? "Life WAS good," but we'll get to that later... For now, we're sitting in a van, and we're all doing great, considering the ordeals of the last day.

Jack and I sat in the next-to-back seat with Will. The row behind us was reserved for everyone's backpacks, deadly weapons, dead bodies they needed to bury, etc. (I was just kidding about the dead bodies... maybe...)

Jack's fingers were laced in mine, and that's it. See, even before we started dating, we agreed on this simple fact: touchy couples are really annoying. So we have a creed that we will go no farther than holding hands and hugging as a greeting and a farewell when other people are present. We put other's wishes above our hormones, because we're just awesome like that.

Will was unconsciously twirling a black ring around his finger. Once we got back to Kaden's house, we'd arrange to get him back to Camp Half Blood.

In the row before us, Riley, Ian, and Christine sat together. Riley was reading a book that easily could've passed as a boulder, and Bob the cat was walking around Ian's neck and shoulders.

In the front, Kaden sat in the driver's seat with her hands gripping the wheel so tightly her knuckles were white. Her dad was trying to give her tips as we went, but she really didn't need it. She was doing pretty well. I only felt endangered for my life once in awhile. Soon enough she'd be driving us all around on mad quests.

As we pulled up to the house, dawn was breaking, but we all knew that the bus would still be here in about half an hour, and we'd have to be ready for a full day of school. Yippee... Come to think of it, with everything that's been going on, lately, I haven't even started on that research paper that's due fourth period.

We all tumbled out of the van blurry-eyed, Kaden petrified, but on the bright side wide awake.

A few minutes later, I was thrown into first period: French II. Now, on a normal day, I would have loved French (even though it doesn't seem like something a child of Artemis would enjoy), but not when I'm sleep deprived and still have the remnants of poison coursing through my veins.

Mr. Kaden's-Dad never lets us skip schoolㅡwe had already missed a day, and none of us could afford to miss anymore.

If there was any one little thing that was good about this period, now, it was that Christine was in the class with me. And the crazy thing is: I had barely even seen her until Scylla had attacked us. That's the sad thing about a big school: too many people who could be great friends never take the time to say hello.

I plopped down on my desk. I totally did not feel like conjugating verbs, right now.

She sat down next to me in a similar fashion. "How's your poison?" she asked.

I shrugged and winced. "I'm good... How's your stab wound?"

She shrugged and winced. "Healing."

We were too tired to pay heed to the looks people were giving us as they walked into class.

Suddenly, it struck me. In the midst of all this chaos, we had forgotten about how Christine felt. Not physically, but mentally. She had lost her parents!

"How are you feeling?" I asked, a sympathetic tone now etched in my voice. "You know, about you parents."

That must've struck a chord, because she burst out crying. You can imagine I was pretty shocked at the sudden outburst. I didn't know what to do! Now people were really staring.

My guess is that it was either her sleep deprivation, the pain from her stab wound, girl problems, or all three that drove her over the edge. Then again, maybe it was just her parents. I remember when I lost my dad. I must've cried for weeks, or at least what felt like it.

The thing, though, is that with both of our parents, they aren't dead dead, they're just missing. But the hope only makes the hurt more painful.

Madame poked her head into the room, and Christine tried to dry her face.

"Christine, Audrey," she said our names with a thick French accent instead of just using our French names. Something didn't seem quite right. "Sortir dans le couloir, s'il vous plaît." Translation (I know that not everyone knows French); please come out to the hallway.

"Oui, madame," I replied for both Christine and I.

We somehow managed to help each other out of our desks in a weird, contorted fashion that must have been quite comical, and we walked through the door and into the hall. The door closed, and the hallway was empty except for a few stragglers.

We didn't even have time to ask why we had been pulled aside before Madame's form changed.

And that's all I remember. Yeah, I'm not gonna make up some dramatic fight scene for the point of manifesting our quest, because that's not what I remember. Nobody remembers the last few minutes before they go unconscious, and this was my second time going unconscious in less than twenty-four hours, so of course I wasn't going to remember anything.

I woke up in a prison cell. Christine was already awake, and we were separated by metal bars.

The same woman who had been posing as Christine's mom sat before us.

"Good, you're both awake, now," she began, "Lucky for me, I survived this morning's encountered, and was able to take you both into Eris's custody once your guard was down." She looked at me. "I had no idea there was another child of night! Eris will be so pleased! Maybe she'll take a century or two off of my indentured servitude!" At that point, I almost felt sorry for the creepy lady.

"Why are we here?" Christine asked. There was a strength in her voice that I had never heard before. Courage is derived from pain, after all.

"Because, one of you two is supposed to stop Eris from conquering the nine worlds. But this way, neither of you can!"

"You say that now," I stood and approached the barrier that separated us, "But our friends will find us, and then all of your plans will be squished like little pancakes. And not the fluffy buttermilk kind, either. The gross, flat kind." I must admit, that sounded better in my head.

She cackled. "No they won't! Matter of fact, I hate pancakes. Why would I make my plans pancakes?"

"It was just a meta-"

She cut me off. "Besides, your friends are distracted, right now. School just got out, and they're being faced by quite the adversary. This adversary will lead them on a quest, no doubt."

"What adversary?" Christine inquired, "And what kind of quest?"

"Now, now, I can't divulge too much. Where's the fun in that? But I can say that you two might as well get cozy. You'll be here for a long time." With that, she was gone. Disappearing through the only door in the windowless room.

Remember how I said that life was good? We had a calm moment, a lull in the waves... for about half an hour. Then Christine and I got kidnapped.

By: Elizabeth Pallan