Young Justice: Solstice

Two

I love her boots and her scarf and her whole outfit in this pic!!

THERE ARE MORE VOTES AND COMMENTS ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK THAN I HAVE EVER HAD ON HE FIST CHAPTER OF ONE OF MY BOOKS. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan apparently held a huge secret that my parents had spent years trying to discover, just like the other hundreds of archaeologists over thirty years. We'd been all around the globe for all sorts of archaeological digs, but they had never gotten someone to believe their theories about Mohenjo-Daro enough to finance a new dig. 

Until now.

"Isn't your mother's expertise in Greek history?" I asked Cassie, standing on top of the mound surrounding the eroding citadel. To keep us busy, my parents and Cassie's mother, the famous Helena Sandsmark, sent us to the outer edges of the ancient citadel to find shards of pottery and see if we couldn't re-create a vase or other object.

She sighed and reached for another sip from the water bottle at her belt. "It is, but Wonder Woman specifically came to her and asked her to help your parents. I don't know why, though. Nobody tells me anything."

"Nobody listens to me when I try to tell them anything," I laughed. Doctor Sandsmark's work was important to both Wonder Woman and Aquaman, so her and Cassie casually dropping those names was nothing new.

"What's on your mind?" Cassie asked knowingly.

I smiled up at her. Cassandra Sandsmark was four years younger than me, but she was probably my closest friend. With a flourish, I produced the sheet of paper from of my pocket. "I recently got accepted into Delhi University, back in the old country."

"That's insane!" Cassie shouted, her voice echoing through the valley we were camped in. 

"Yeah, but I don't think my parents will be too enthusiastic about it." I sighed, sitting next to the pile we had accumulated. "They want me to go to somewhere like Harvard or Cornell, both of which I have also already been accepted to, but I want to go where they did. They want me to be a lawyer or a doctor, and I've got the grades for that, but-"

"Guts make you squirm and you don't have the guts to stand up for yourself." Cassie held up two fingers. "I know, you've told me."

I sighed and lay out on the ground. "A lot of kids hate it, but I actually want to be like my parents. I want to go to college where they went- where they met!- and I want to be an archaeologist like them. It just...it just feels so natural!" I sighed, covering my eyes with my hands to block out the sun. 

"I know how you feel." A momentary breeze blew over me as Cassie joined me in the clay. Both of us had been traveling around the world since we were in diapers. It was hard to imagine staying in one place for too long.

"By the way," I turned to look at her, "I heard your mom got kidnapped a few months back. What happened?"

It may have been the sun, but I saw Cassie's face grow pale.

"Um...well..."

"Girls! That pile's not gonna grow on it's own!" Doctor Sandsmark called.

Cassie sat up abruptly. "We're on it, mom!" She saluted and dashed off to an area we hadn't scoured yet.

I ran after her. "Cassie, is there something you're not telling- oof!"

I went face-first into the clay, narrowly missing a dagger-like shard aimed for my forehead.

"That is the seventh time this week that I have fallen!" I shouted, quickly standing up and pulling my hair back to re-do my ponytail.

"You okay?" Cassie ran back over to me and helped me brush the clay dirt off my clothes.