Chosen Fate

Chapter 4

    After Atalanta had finished freshening up, Lillian waited for her in the lobby of the restroom. Atalanta was even surprised at the grand architectual work that went into the smallest of things. The mural on the ceiling, the corinthean columns, even the continuous frieze going around the edges of the ceiling. "This place is amazing," Atalanta sighed in awe as she dried her hands.

    "Yes it is," Lillian smiled.

    "So how is this tour going to go?" she was curious to know what they would see, she was more anxious than anything but didn't want to seem too eager.

    "Oh ya know the usual like any other school, the dinning hall, the dorms, the auditorium, the room of victory, the hall of enlightenment, the library. Things like that, but the things I've heard rumors about is what I'd like to see. The things that aren't on the tour, the places that are forbidden."

    Atalanta's curiosity was now peaked, as soon as she heard the word forbidden, her eyes lit up with sparks. "Forbidden? Have you ever been in these places?"

    "No, never. i wouldn't risk getting in trouble, even if i am curious, i wouldn't."

    "Why not?"

    "They're forbidden for a reason Atalanta, even the things read in a simple book can be dangerous. Now let's go, the headmaster's waiting, we don't want to keep him."

    When they returned to the foyer of the academy, everyone, including the headmaster was still waiting. Ever since Lillian mentioned that there were forbidden areas in this place, all she wanted to do was go explore every shadow she could find, anything mysterious. "Now that we all are here lets begin, Lillian, Gabriel, and Thea, return to class or whatever research you are required to do." The three nodded, they knew when the headmaster said to return to class, they knew he was actually telling them something else. "Zareck, Landon, and Atalanta, come with me please."

    The group dispersed as the headmaster took the new faces down the long corridor to start the door. "So this is an academy of specail arts," Zareck said. "Where does the special play part in this?" The headmaster smiled at the boy's question, he could sense he would be the type to question everything, look for any loop hole, think everything through to the last speck. It fits, with him being the son of Athena.

  "Through every door is something special, something new to learn and explore."

"That didn't answer my quesion." The headmaster smirked and shook his head, the boy was impatient, and also seemed hardheaded.

"To those who are impatient, come unsatisfying results."

The four continued to walk down the long corridor, te headmaster stopped when they reached  what was the size of a grand ball room. But there were  dinning tables, servers with food on a silver platter. "This, my young friends, is the dinning hall, where of course you can dine to your heart's desire, you can eat whatever you like."

"Lobster?" Atalanta asked.

"Yes."

"Tacos?" Landon asked.

"Yes."

"Even frog legs, if we asked?" Zareck cut in.

"...Yes even that."

"So its like a restaurant?" Landon asked,

"Very much so, yes"

"With a thirty minute wait?" Zareck questioned.

"I suppose, but it'll be as if they give you your food in the blink of an eye, I assure you, now if you'd kindly follow me to the next destination." So they went on with the tour, Zacharias showed them the library that was at least one yard long and 1 yard wide filled with stories and stories of books. He next showed them the hall of enlightenment where most studies and demonstrations take place. He lastly showed them the auditorium, which was like an arena if anything, and the dorms, which was more like a five star hotel.

When they returned to the foyer of the academy, they walked down another hall in front of his office so they knew where he was. However, Atalanta's eyes were caught by a gold plaque that was on the wall across from the headmasters office. It had images of water, lightening and fire, with a forest in the backround and it all seemed to be held in the clouds. The inscriptions on it were in Greek, so she hadn't the slightest idea of what it could possibly say. "What's this?" she finally asked.

The headmaster turned, "Ah yes, that is the prophecy of the sapphire flame, it is the story of-" as he began to speak a woman approached him, stopping him.

"Headmaster, you have a call, its quite urgant."

"I see, well I will see you three another time."

"What about the prophecy?" Atalanta urged.

"Ask anyone here, they'd know as well, goodbye" the headmaster turned and walked into his office. Even though this place was amazing beyond all the stars in the sky, there was something the three finally thought about, the headmaster and the other three couldnt just expect them to stay here. They couldn't just drop everything they knew and start a new life. They couldn't just leave their lives behind, school, family, friends, everything they had from where they came from. They didnt even know why the others wanted them to stay their, when it came down to ti they werent even sure how or why they came to chicago in the first place. They just had a feeling and went for it. They all had to think this over at least, their parents by now had to be worried about them.

Atalanta, Landon, and Zareck were making their way back to the foyer as Lillian, Gabriel, and Thea approached them. Lillian, as cheery and welcoming as she is was of course the first to speak. "Hey guys, how'd it go?"

"Well i liked it here before," Landon said and then smiled towards Thea and she returned the smile.

"Well, yeah its pretty cool, you guys could have some music or something though," Zareck said while shaking his head.

Gabriel noticed how quiet Atalanta was, she hadnt put in her opinion, she seemed in her own thoughts. "What about you Atalanta?" her eyes snapped to him at the sound of his majestic voice, she never really noticed him until now, and she liked what she saw. She felt drawn to him, like she could tell him anything. "Do you like it here?" Gabriel had a hard time talking to her for some reason, he felt nervous, which was rare for especially someone like him.

"This place is amazing, and I'd like living here...but don't people usually get accepted into schools like this. How do you know if we're qualified? And could you really expect us to drop our previous lives and stay. We could be tied up in things we're already commited to." Atalanta was the bravest of the three to speak what they had been thinking. They didn't want to seem rude, but she had the right idea, this was something that needed to be heard. How could they just pick them off the street, show them their school, and expect them to make it their new home. They couldn't because in this moment in time, their homes were still somewhere else.