The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 6: The Knowing

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A few weeks later, everyone in the entire county was getting restless, especially all of the kids who were stuck in school for a few more hours. The next day was the start of summer, after all. So, when the last bell finally rang, students immediately poured out of the double doors at the front of the large, brick school building and raced to their parents' idling cars as quickly as possible. However, the rest of the Monster Watch and I just sat on the concrete steps before watching the school bus and all of the cars drive away, leaving us in the dust.  

As soon as the four of us were completely alone, we exchanged excited grins with each other. "Race to Pan's hideout?" Zeus suggested in Greek, raising one eyebrow. He took off without even bothering to wait for an answer, and Poseidon and Apollo let out loud whoops from behind me as we sprinted down the empty street, cutting into the woods as soon as we were out of the larger town called Pine Grove. We didn't stop running until we had reached the part of the huge forest that was in the vicinity of our own tiny town, the Woods, specifically the hideout by the waterfall.

For the rest of the afternoon, we played a few rounds of reverse hide-and-seek and then happily chatted with  Pan, Persephone, and a few nymphs as we munched on some delicious, juicy berries. Needless to say, the rest of the Monster Watch and I headed back to our houses late that night with huge smiles on our faces. When we reached Maple Street, I bid them farewell and walked up my porch steps, opening the screen door with a creak. I didn't see either of my parents, so I heated up some leftover pasta from the night before and ran up the stairs to my room. I then sat on my bed and began eating the pasta as I pulled up my laptop.

I was video chatting with Zach and Luke, trying to decide when to have our next battle practice, when my dad suddenly walked into the room. He leaned against the door for a moment, and I quickly signed off the chat. Whenever my father came to tell me something, I knew it was important, since he almost never stopped by my room for  visit and I certainly never stopped by his. I slowly turned to face him, and he took a deep breath before he said, "Your cousin Katie and her parents are coming to visit tomorrow."

I cursed. But not out loud, of course, not in front of my dad. You see, I didn't like my cousin or her parents, really. But mostly I despised Katie. She got to travel the world with her parents year-round, and she always acted like she was so much better than me, even though we were the same age. Most of the time we were together, Katie was constantly annoying me by trying to give me a makeover, but contrary to Katie's belief, even Becca admitted that I dressed perfectly fine, except for the fact that I didn't own any fancy skirts or dresses. Anyway, I seriously doubted that Katie had the guts to kill a monster, and I knew for a fact I was way smarter than her, so I didn't believe she had the right to give me any lectures at all.

Naturally, I didn't tell my father any of this. Instead, I just gritted my teeth and tried to hide the annoyance in my voice as I asked, "How long are they staying?"

"Just three days," he answered, and I groaned. That meant three days of being banned from the forest. Three days too many, in my opinion.

Then my dad ran his fingers through his thinning, light brown hair and mumbled, more to himself than me, "I just don't get why your cousin is such a problem. She is a very nice girl."

Yeah, nice to you, but not to me, I thought to myself bitterly, but again, I didn't answer him out loud and turned right to face the glass doors that opened to my tiny balcony. Across the lawn next door, I could see a light on in Zach and Luke's room. I wished I could go over there for a while just to get out of my own house and finish our conversation, but I couldn't exactly do that with my father looming there in front of me.