The Assumption (The Hypothesis of Giants Series, Book One)

Chapter 8: Mrs. Xiomy

Aurora quickly slid the note onto the top of her father's history magazines as she glanced down at her watch. It was nearly the time of the Awakened Hour, and she felt her heart cringe as she glanced around at the pigsty that was her house. Everything was still in its proper place, exactly where she had left it the day before; the magazines still piled high, the beanie babies and stamp collection still towering like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Soon everyone would be off to work and school, following their early morning routines, listening to the same satellite radio disc jockeys reporting on the weather and traffic jams. Aurora saw her reflection through the microwave glass. The dirt had been showered away, and her indigo dress was on the floor of her room. She'd torn it to shreds since there was no way she was going to be able to unzip herself out of that harness by herself. She was now more comfortably dressed in jeans and a black short-sleeved shirt with her horoscope sign embroidered on the front in pink stitches. She was an Aquarius and bore the symbol of the water bearer. She always thought it was ironic that her sign was bearing water, though the element was air. Two squiggly lowercase M's were depicted on the cotton fabric of her shirt.

The Common Good approved of astrology and had voted that it was more on the same line as psychology, giving the people an inside glance at themselves and the inner workings of their personality. The stars were balls of gas and had been proven as such. They were not molded by the hands of a god or goddess, spinning them through the atmosphere and dictating a human's life through a crystal ball.

Otus was hiding in the Candlewick Park cave, which was right on the coastline of the south shore where the waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashed their foamy hands against the solid brown rock that had formed after thousands of years of erosion. This cave was closed off to park dwellers due to some kids being found smoking in the dwelling. To prevent trespassers, a large sturdy wooden plank had been built to completely cover and seal the mouth of the cave. It hadn't anticipated a giant. In one fluid motion, Otus ripped the wooden door off its hinges and managed to keep the barrier intact but allow passage for them to enter the hiding place. They had asked Otus to replace the barrier while they were away. When they returned, the teenagers would knock on it three times. Boreas had told him that if someone else tried to enter then Otus was to eat them.

"I don't eat people," Otus replied, horrified. "I'm not a cannibal."

"Oh, I guess I watched too much Jack and the Beanstalk growing up," Boreas laughed. He instead instructed Otus to impersonate a ghost and holler so loud that its sound would reverberate off its hollow walls and sound so frightening that the trespassers would flee for their life. The cave's notorious legend of being haunted would help in that matter too.

Aurora closed the door to her house quietly behind her, careful to not awaken her parents. Once they received her letter they wouldn't be so worried. She doubted her parents would believe the story she made up about going to try to find Mary Fray in Iowa, but at least they could rationalize it once they saw wanted pictures of herself around town (five of which she had noticed on her way back to Wishbone Avenue). She flung her backpack over her shoulder, having packed some necessities; extra pairs of underwear, clothes, sweatshirt, gloves, boots, flashlight and some food provisions that she had borrowed from her parent's pantry. If they were to travel toward the northern lights, she couldn't dress in only t-shirts and tank tops.

Boreas was sitting on the curb at the corner stop sign, and she stopped short for a second, remembering when she would meet Mary at this same spot so many times before school. This same corner stop sign was where they had shared so many fun memories. Aurora stood looking at that red octagonal stop sign and wished she had known Otus earlier. Then maybe they could have saved Mary. Now she was somewhere in Iowa or wherever the Inspector had forced her and her family to go. She pictured Mary's owl eyes smiling at Aurora and knew that Mary would be proud that Aurora was chosen for this quest. Mary would know she was doing what she thought was right, and doing what was right was helping Otus.