Black Star

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I run discreetly across the hallway, trying to not capture any attention.

There was a big crowd, which gave me an advantage. But you have no idea how hard it is to reach the exit without looking suspicious. I had to make sure that nobody was looking at me, especially not Apollo’s relative. And I didn’t even know who that was, which made it twice as hard.

My intentions were to go see Menodora. I know that I could’ve been patient, but that’s not me. I’d rather go right away before anything wrong happens.

I surprisingly have a flashback of when I first met Jason. I was in the hallway, looking my way to my classroom. He was new too and we stayed together to find our way. We talked and talked about many things. And then, I introduced him to Ella…I always thought that that was my biggest mistake. But now, I wasn’t so sure.

So many things changed in just a few days. And it had been a long time since I’d seen my dad. I promised myself to go see him soon.

Despite in the hurry I was in, I tried to open the door to Menodora’s headquarters without breaking it down. It reminded me that I had to tell her to get a new door and I had to ask her why she’d never thought of getting a new base.

I had to tell Menodora about the hologram and ask her why she left so swiftly. And I had to go see if she was okay, for some reason.

I had a feeling that the hologram I’d seen wasn’t her.

- Diana?

I turn around to the muscular voice and I see Ian, standing in the middle of the main room. He looked desperate like a puppy waiting at your front door, asking for a home. He seemed different from when I first met him. When I first saw him, he seemed excited, maybe even paranoid. But now, he looked so much like…Jason.

- Hey, was all I said.

My throat was burning and a feeling inside me, making me dizzy. Love? Hate? Or maybe I was just sick.

- What…, he paused and lost his words.

- What am I doing here? I ask, trying to hide my giggles with no success.

He slowly nodded, looking at me with a half smile.

- I need to talk to Menodora, I answered him.

He scratched the back of his head. He was searching for words, I knew that expression. But what words was he looking for?

- She’s…she’s in the library, he said, his voice trembling.

The library? I wanted to ask him where that was, but he somehow seemed to fragile in this moment. I thanked and took prudent steps away. When I was about to go in the dark, Ian told me:

- Diana?

His voice was steady.

- Yea? I asked without turning.

- Would you want to…like—go to…this place with—me? I mean, Colin Travis told me that there was this super cool place downtown…

He lost his words and I turned around sharply. Was he asking me out?

- Yea, I said confidently. It’s a date.

- A…date?

- Sure.

I went back and took steps away before we had a too awkward conversation. Ian was a cute guy with his blue eyes and dark hair. I realised that he and Ella didn’t have the same hair color since hers was blond, but they had identical eyes.

I ended up finding my way to the library. It was a vast room with books everywhere. Between every range of books was a space to walk between. Alongside the walls were weapons glittering the room. I couldn’t find where the light from the room came from since there weren’t any light bulbs. I read the sections.

Fantasy Stories

Adventure Stories

Documentaries on Magic

Real Love Stories

Menodora’s section—do not touch…

I stopped at the last one.

History of Black Stars

It gave me a depressing smile. My dad was probably included in there. And maybe I was. I went between the sections Fantasy Stories and Adventure Stories. A book caught my attention since it was covered with jewels. I opened it up and to my surprise, I realised that the words were written with ink. Not typed on a computer or anything I was used to. It was a beautiful but old writing and I figured that it might’ve been Menodora who wrote it. She probably wrote the book. I looked at the cover and it read: City of Shadows. I closed it and put it back in its place. I looked around the room, and spotted fairies around the room, flying with books in their hands. I discovered that they were the ones illuminating the room. I walked down the section and I admired the rest of the room. Chairs and tables across the wall and Menodora reading on a red couch. One of the fairies took one of the books off the table and flied away with it. I figured that it went to put it back in its place. I go and sit next to Menodora.

- What are you doing here? she asked, not leaving her eyes from her book.

I tried to see what she was reading. King Agamemnon:

king of Mycenae.

- Why did you visit me at school in a hologram? I asked her, jumping a little on the couch.

She took her eyes up and looked at me. Her black eyes against my blue ones. I raised an eyebrow up which made her go back to her book.

- I never did that, was all she said.

- Yes you did. And if you didn’t, then I suppose that a ghost came in your form?

She sighed and put her book on the table. She clapped her hands and I watched as a fairy took it away. The little thing nearly dropped it. Its friends helped him and at the end, four fairies were taking the big book away. Menodora got up and led me out of the room. At the exit, she took me to the training room and I knew that she probably wasn’t listening to me anymore to my protestations. She went in the training room and I refused to follow her. She told me to come in. After a while of silence, I decided to go in with her. Menodora opened the same door she got my spear from. At that thought, I rubbed my ring which was really my spear. Menodora came out with small knives.

- What are these? I asked her.

- What does it look like?

- It looks like that you’re up to no good.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. She took my bag from my shoulders and put them in.

- The spear was a gift, not a weapon. You cannot use it in battle. Knives are swift, more than the spear. And they make a less painful death. Use them. Throw them. Do whatever you want with them.

I nodded and she pushed me out of the room when I heard the knives clang each other in my backpack.

Then, I left with determination.

I went to the road, running to the most obvious place to go.

School.