Plight Of Olympus

TWO: WEIRD WEATHER (I).

The ground shook.

  Not like one of those violent, earth shaking earthquakes, but the ground shook steadily. I could feel the measured, but strong vibrations that shook the surface. Diana slowly looked up at me. From where I stood clutching her little baseball bat, I could see plainly in her eyes the growing fear. My heart was racing too, but my legs felt paralyzed.

Aunt Jane is still in the house.

  I snapped my gaze from Diana to our house and back to her again. The gradual earthquake was turning more violent, and Diana was on the verge of crying. No doubt, she’s as equally afraid to move as I was.

Suddenly, the muscles in my legs came back to life and I sprang to where she stood.

“Stay here Diana! I’ll get mom, and then I’ll come get you!” I screamed over the raging wind that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“I’m scared!” she shouted back, her voice thick with tears.

   “Diana, look at me!” I commanded and she obeyed. I held her frightened eyes, trying to will some courage into her. “You’re a warrior! You’re brave, and strong. Just hold on to the ground, close your eyes, and count to twenty. I’ll be back before then.” I quickly encouraged, noticing the wind getting stronger, and the earthquake more violent.

   My words seemed to work as she dropped down and held on to the overgrown grasses, her little form shaking from her own sobs, and the earthquake.

   I bolted off towards the house just as Aunt Jane appeared out of the doorway, crawling, and struggling against the wind. I reached her as the old door came crashing down out of its hinges, directly above her. However, she twisted out of the way, the aged wood barely missing her ankle as it crashed on the ground, turning to splinters.

Aunt Jane’s sharp eyes held more fear than I had ever felt my entire life. Her blonde hair whipped and flew everywhere, as she struggled to get on her feet and hold my outstretched hands.

Finally, she caught it, and I dragged her back towards where Diana still held on to the grass.

I have no idea how long the earthquake and fierce wind lasted, but we stayed there on our lawn, holding on to one another as Diana cried. The wind came along with a strange black fog, which prevented us from seeing. It was like nothing I had witnessed before.

*****     *****     *****

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5 HOURS LATER:

     I stayed together with Aunt Jane, in the half destroyed sitting room full of broken antiques, fallen books, and dust. Both of us were staring into space without uttering a word.

The disaster had shaken all of us. What was freakier was the fact that the disaster had only affected a small part of our town. Evenwood High, which is only a ten minutes’ walk from my house was not even affected. But to us, it felt like the world as we know it, was ending.

Mama Teresa, the nice old lady who lived in the house across from ours had to be rushed to the hospital due to a sudden heart attack. Thank God there were no casualties, but the residents of west side Evenwood were deeply stunned.

   I turned to Aunt Jane, and noticed her eyes were more sunken, with darker circles embracing them. She was deep in thought, more than she had been in the past few days. Knowing that Diana was safely tucked in bed for the night, I decided to talk to the disturbed woman before me.

“Diana will be fine. She has witnessed an earthquake before, you know…” I started with a smile, hoping she might open up.

“I know...” she simply replied and trailed off, going back to staring at nothing. I sighed, and then shifted closer to her.

      “Are you alright?” I enquire.

   Aunt Jane smiled weakly.  For a moment, she seemed to contemplate a reply, but then she looked back at me and sighed. “I’m having bad feelings these days…” she mumbled. “Cali, whatever happens, promise me you’ll protect Diana. Darker days are on their way, I can feel them.” She quickly ushered in a worried voice barely above a whisper.

  What does she mean?

  My heart rate accelerated, and I kept my eyes trained on hers. “What do you mean?” I voiced out my thoughts. She appeared to shift from a sort of trance, and then stared at the floor before abruptly getting up.

“It’s almost half past midnight Cali. Get some rest.” With that, she swiftly moved into the house, no doubt to get into her room, and away from my questions. I sighed again. I couldn’t comprehend what she said about darker days coming soon. Maybe she was more shaken than I had thought.

     I do hope she’ll be alright.

*****     *****     *****

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The next morning, I found myself dragging my backpack, and my feet along the long hallway of Evenwood high. There were comments here and there from people that I knew, asking if I was fine, and telling me how sorry they were.

It wasn’t like my whole family died.

   My eyes searched for Helen in the crowded hall. Normally, I would have waited until lunch-time to see her, but I had something important I wanted to ask her. She was a huge fan of magic, myths, and stuffs like that, so I was thinking she might be able to tell me more about a weird dream I had last night. I know I should just ignore it. It was probably Aunt Jane’s words that made me a bit uneasy. But a part of me still wanted to find out what the dream meant.

Just when I was about to give up and head to class, I saw Helen’s newly dyed black hair a few feet away speaking animatedly with Torren. When she saw me coming closer, her eyes lit up and she met me halfway.

    “How are you?” she questioned worriedly, doing a once over of my body to check for any injury. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m fine. No broken bones.”

“Well, I cannot tell you how glad I Am.” her light British accent peaked through her words. “I need to ask you something. I had this really weird dream last night. Are you free?”

    I saw her eyes cloud over with confusion and worry. “I was gonna skip anyway” she whispered to me conspiratorially, and quickly dragged my arm before I could protest.

   We went to Greg’s Sip and Drink, a little coffee shop that was three blocks away from the school. It was Helen’s favorite place, because they always gave her free samples of new brews, ice cream flavors, and drinks. She was their regular customer.

The little shop was deserted, since it was school hours. There were only a few people, and I could see Ben, dozing off behind the counter.