He let curiosity take hold of him and trotted off towards the woods. When he got closer he heard some giggling behind one of the closest trees. He could hear some small, squeaky voices chattering,
“Woble, they’ll chuck us out if you keep doing that.”
“Yeah, we need them to trust us, remember.”
“They need to trust us, because you know what we must do.”
“Shh there’s someone coming,” one of the voices said, “shh.”
Jay edged closer very slowly, but stopped a foot away. He stretched out his hand towards the leafy branch and then slung it backwards to find four, small, pointy-eared dwarfs.
“Aaah,” screamed one the dwarfs. “Please don’t hurt us, we only poor liccle elves, we very sorry for knocking your door Mr., eh?”
“It’s Jay, and you are elves, real elves?” Jay said, taken aback by the sight.
“Sorry, so sorry Mr. Jay, we did not mean to…”
“Jay, what are you doing going into the trees, JAY!” Hollie screamed, stopping the elf mid-sentence.
“We must go now, we very sorry.” The elves ran back into the woods with their little, bare and hairy feet and their innocent little faces with bulging black eyes. Jay kept his stare as they disappeared in the rustling, he barely had chance to decipher their peculiar features.
Jay closed his eyes, trying to divulge into this new world, keeping his eyes open and arms open to anything – except at the moment his eyes were closed. A shake of the head and another smile as he let go of the tree branch, letting it swing back into position.
“Jay! I didn’t know where you were,” Hollie panted as her jog decreased to a walk. She was now face to face with Jay, fully flustered and rosy cheeked.
“There were some elves. I think they knocked on my door. I tried to see who it was and when I found them they were really scared,” said Jay, feeling sorry for the wide-eyed little creatures.
“Oh, don’t worry about them. They’re just a pain in the backside. None of us really trust them, as they are very mischievous. Not trustworthy what-so-ever!” Hollie said meaningfully as if she’d had her experiences.
“Oh, eh where are we going?”
“We are meeting at the column. I can introduce you to the rest of the camp then,” Hollie explained as they began to walk back to the meeting area, which they saw on the way to the dorms.
Jay lost himself in a casual stroll with Hollie, staring at the grass beneath his feet. Everything seemed so alive in his life; all of a sudden he felt open and energetic to do something, anything! And everything he saw felt like an adventure. Even now the evergreen blades of desperate fingers bowed to his shoes as he marched with pride along the battlefield, but really, he was simply walking…in the grass.
“By the way, don’t be going into the woods by yourself,” she warned.
“Why?” Jay asked as they got close to the river again, shaking away from yet another one of his hourly dazes.
“Because there are creatures in there. They won’t harm you, but they might do something or muck around with you. See they’ve done this before; the satyrs I mean.”
They reached the riverbank again and Hollie stopped, giving a cheeky glance to Jay, “Fancy having a shot?”
“How?”
“Concentrate on the other side of the bank and repeat after me…Hokvalmia.”
“H-Hokvalmia,” Jay chanted in a confused fashion, feeling like a complete idiot because although he had partially accepted magic as a possibility in reality, inside, the idea of casting spells seemed a little too Halloween witch style.
There wasn’t time to think much though as he felt himself getting hotter and hotter. His fingers tingled with warmth and his body rejuvenated with life and a fiery burning light.
His mind caught up with the situation just in time to see himself levitate off the ground, hovering like some peace guru con artist crossed with a shooting star on slow-mo.
Looking down he saw that he was flying up over the river and onto the other side of the bank. He zoomed over, as time returned, and he hit the ground with a thud. He stood up and brushed himself down, the orange glow of radiation he just shone, fading to pale skin once again.
“Bloody good job for a first-timer. No demi-god can do that Jay,” Hollie told him, clicking her fingers and giving him the ‘you-got-it’ finger gun.
“Demi-god?”
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll learn in time. We’re gonna give you some books to read about spells and creatures.”
‘My favourite pastime; reading. Ugh. Well at least it’ll be about something interesting,’ Jay thought.
They walked over towards the Greek building, the dark night swooping over them as they drew near.
They got to the entrance and then slipped between the large cylindrical columns and into the warm temple.
It was massive. No description could quite suffice.
The floor was covered in marble, glistening in the light, which flooded in through the arched, rectangular windows. A long, red rug ran straight down the middle into another room ahead. There were paintings on the walls of Greek Gods and Goddesses that seemed to watch you as you passed them, and at the end of the hall was another big banner reading ATHENA’S DESCENDANTS, the same words that were written on the front entrance to the hideout.
Jay and Hollie strolled under the sign, out of the hall and into the main room.
If you thought the outside was amazing, you had certainly never been inside. There was a massive fire at the end and, in front of that, a large, oak, oval-shaped table with 12 patterned chairs gathered around it. As they walked further in, Jay could hear some people laughing and chattering from either side of him and turned to see two seating areas, which were packed of four or more people who were all giggling and joking.
They edged further in and the chattering faded in time for Hollie to announce, “This here is our new, and last, sorcerer slash sorceress of the Gods. The last of the twelve, the final piece to Athena’s descendants.” The whole room burst into cheers and whistles, echoing pride and team spirit like a shower of smiles.
“His name is Jay, the ring of Hephaestus he does wear,” Hollie declared “You can go and sit down over there whilst we wait for Amy. She’s the main one in charge,” Hollie added to Jay.
“I thought you were.”
“Well, I wasn’t the first to get the ring and Amy has the most knowledge, what having the ring of Athena and that, y’know wisdom.”
“Oh.” Jay presumed Athena was some wise Goddess, he’d heard of her before but who knows what she did, or does, should he say?
“Hey, Jay. I’m Bobby,” said a tall-ish girl with blonde-brown hair that fell elegantly over her ears and past her shoulders like waves.
“Hi, eh. What’s your ring thing?” Jay questioned nervously, trying to make conversation.
“Oh, it’s Artemis; Goddess of archery, the moon and other stuff. I believe you’ve met my brother Liam,” she asked, gesturing towards a short, light brown haired boy who Jay remembered from his journey here.
“Yeah, I have. Is he Apoolo? I only thought because I’ve heard of the twins of archery in, eh, books that I‘ve read,” Jay said, trying to sound educated when he really only knew it because they were in a recent film he’d watched.
“It’s Apollo, I think he has excused you seeming as you’re a new-comer, because most of the time when you say something bad or, as you did, pronounce their names wrong, they tend to get upset and do something like, Poseidon would drench you etcetera. Sorry, you’re probably all new to the Greek names and stuff, aren’t you?” Bobby asked as she looked around warily, as if expecting a giant arrow to fly towards them at any moment.
“Yeah, some of them ring a bell though.”
After about ten minutes, Jay had been introduced to everyone in the room: Broudie, a dark brown haired lad with glasses and a muscular physique; Alice, a short girl with dark red, dyed hair and a very small voice; Cameron, a middle-height lad with
long brown hair; Lochlan, a ginger haired kid with glasses and a great sense of humour; Claire, a light blonde haired girl with a very beautiful clean complexion which put Jay in a daze when he saw her; and Jordan, Liam and Philippa who introduced themselves properly this time. Jay was beginning to get quite comfortable with his new friends, when the hall started to echo more footsteps.
Then a girl stepped into the main hall and called in a loud voice,
“Hello, everyone. Let’s eat, shall we?” Her face turned to meet Jay, her long brown hair swaying to each side. “Oh, there you are, Jay. I’m Amy. I wear the ring of Athena and you, I believe, carry the ring of Hephaestus.”
“Yes I, eh, do,” Jay muttered, his nerves taking hold of him again.
“Well, I see you have settled in then,” Amy said in a posh manner, her head held high. The other teenagers in the room were silent and Jay could make out some giggles and smirks behind their hand covered mouths. She kept a stern glare on Jay as if he’d done something wrong, and she began to pace up and down the floor space in front of him, her boots echoing a dominating ring.
Then, after a minute of silence, Jordan burst out with laughter and then all the others joined in, except Amy, who kept pacing the floor, exaggerating her posh stance even more.
“C’mon you’ve had your fun. Jay, this is Amy and she does this to everyone. You could say she’s a bully,” Hollie said with a wide smile on her face which kept looking over at Amy, who had now finally stopped the acting and started laughing with the others.
“You do this every time someone new comes?” asked Jay looking puzzled, still unsure of Amy’s now informal behaviour.
“Yeah, you should have seen Liam’s reaction when he first came. I thought he was gonna cry,” Amy leant in and patted Jay on the back in a comforting, friendly fashion.
“Well, you did come up to me and start shouting because I brought some mud in,” Liam added.
“Well, let’s eat. Nice to have met you Jay,” said Amy, now taking her seat at the table. The table was laid beautifully with shiny cutlery of intricate, formal pattern and candles and flowers in the centre. It looked like a typical medieval dining table with the dark wood reflecting the dancing flames of the fire beside, and the extravagant table sculptures that looked like they’d just fell out of a time vortex.
“Tuck in,” she announced as she closed her eyes and whispered another spell. A massive piece of beef surrounded by carrots, potatoes, a few pigs in blankets and a Yorkshire pudding appeared before her, steaming hot and succulent.
Jay looked around and took the only empty seat next to the fireplace, a suitable place for him.
Amy rubbed her hands together and grabbed her knife and fork, then looked up.
She saw Jay with his hands on his lap looking around at the meals appearing on the plates beside him. There was lasagne, a pie, some fajitas and even a full monty breakfast.
“Jay,” Amy called over the table “to get some food just think of a dish you’d like and say aperium. Oh, and make sure you look at the plate when you say it,” Amy smiled pleasantly, awaiting Jay to try a hand at the spell before she started her meal.
Jay closed his eyes and thought of a chicken chow mien from the Chinese takeaway. He, once again, felt stupid doing it, but he was too hungry not to think of food and he might as well give it a try. Then he took a deep breath and repeated,
“Aperium.” That moment Jay felt a rush of energy and a sudden smell of juicy noodles wafted into his nostrils. Opening his eyes and smiling with amazement, the chow mien was there, just as he pictured it. Every slice of chicken was in the exact place he imagined it. It was weirdly amazing.
After a healthy meal they said goodnight and all twelve of them left the temple. It was dark outside and they could hardly see anything. It was only when Alice fell down part of the riverbank that they realised where they were.
“Ugh, damn it!” Alice cursed, trudging up the side of the bank, dripping wet. “Exothius,” she whispered, presumably another spell to dry her off or something.
They stopped at the river and one by one they used their own powers to get them to the other side. People changing into dove’s, people vaulting across, and some were using weird spells…it was amazing to watch, and it was all so casual. They were all over in a matter of a minute and in no time at all it was Jay’s turn.
He was too busy staring at the ways they had crossed that he had forgot that he would have to go over some time himself. He thought back to their journey over the river when he had flown over like a fireball, but he forgot how he did it. Then, thankfully, Philippa turned to see him still stood there not knowing what to do.
“Hey, Jay, hasn’t Hollie shown you your transformation yet? I thought that was how you got here,” she shouted, now staring at him through the sheets of black sky between them.
“I can’t remember what the spell, eh, is,” Jay called back, skimming his mind for the spell he had just done today, though it didn’t surprise him he couldn’t remember it because he was always forgetting to do things.
“Hokvalmia…” as soon as Philippa finished the word she glowed brown and fell to the ground, but within a few seconds she was back up brushing herself down. “Woops. Go on then, say it.”
“It,” Jay joked.
“Hilarious! You’re the one that’ll be walking round to the bridge.”
“Hokvalmia,” Jay chanted, and once again he felt a surge of heat flow into his skin. Then he glowed bright orange and he focused on a spot near Philippa. He leaped forward and he zoomed straight to where Philippa was standing. With a stumble, he touched the floor with his feet and steadied himself. He looked up at Philippa who was staring at him, amazed at what had happened.
“Wow that is cool. I should have known really. I mean, ring of the God of fire. Of course you would be fire,” she laughed, turning around to face the other people ahead who had stopped to wait for them.
“Well I would walk but what’s the point when you can just go Hokvalmia?” Again she turned yellowy green and melted into the grass. She then appeared next to the crowd of people waving back at him. He smiled and laughed before turning back into fire and bouncing his way to them, passing through the battling field and towards the huts.
‘This new type of travel is quite ‘hot’, you could say, as in quite cool, but warm, but I mean good?’ Jay confused himself. He was so amazed at what he was doing that it didn’t seem weird, if anything he felt comfortable? ‘I dunno how being on fire can be comfortable but it just is!’ Jay replied in his mind as he landed beside the group.
They reached the fire and they all started taking seats around it, perching on old trunks of dark tress, a typical campfire setting. Jay followed their example, squatting down on one of the brown logs.
“Right, we’ll meet here tomorrow morning, really early. Then we can call the Gods and tell them of our news. Athena will be happy, and I reckon the oracle will be blessed for her advice,” Amy announced.
“Same time?” Hollie asked, leaning forward so that her face lit up in the light of the fire.
“Yep, 5 ‘o’ clock. Have breakfast in your dorms.” Amy looked over to Jay, “Bring something warm. I’m sure you’ve seen the enchanted wardrobe?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jay replied thinking the conversation sounded a little like something from ‘Narnia’.
“Right, we shall set off when everyone’s here and then we should be up there for half past five. Bobby, can you bring the box?”
“Okay,” Bobby nodded.
“Goodnight then,” Amy finished, rising from her log and stepping away from the fire towards her dorm. “See ya in the morning.”
Some of the group disappeared into their own dormitories, but Hollie, Liam and Philippa stayed behind.
“I can’t wake up at that time without an alarm clock,” Jay yawned as he turned to Liam, who was sat starring at the fire dreamily.
“The wardrobe gives you anything that you want, as long as it is something you are lik
ely to see in a bedroom.” Liam turned his head so as he was now facing Hollie.
“Oh, em Jay. I got some books for you while you were talking to Broudie. They’ll help you with the stuff you don’t know about Greek mythology.”
“I had them when I first arrived. They really do help,” Philippa called from the other side of the fire.
“Here you go.” Hollie handed him seven books, all differently coloured and really heavy. Jay took them off her and stood up, struggling with the books that were weighing him down.
“Thanks,” he managed, trying to disguise the fact that he struggled more than Hollie to hold the books - quite embarrassing.
“No problem. See ya in the morning. Night.” Hollie turned towards her own dorm and disappeared behind the door.
“Yeah, night.” Liam and Philippa walked back as well, leaving Jay on his own next to the warm fire in the center of the small sheds. He leaped over the log he was sat on and then strolled through his own door and into the brightly lit hallway
He closed the door and walked into the front room, where he dropped his pile of books on the table and fell back into a hot leather seat. He took off his shoes and lay down, staring at the ceiling above him.
After a minute or two, he got up and lifted the book on the top of the pile to see its cover. It read ‘1000 Simple Spells for Beginners’ and a picture of a short man pointing his stubby fingers at a drawer, which was half open. He flicked through it and there were loads of mysterious spells with pictures and labels explaining how to perform them. He got to the end of the book and had a look through the other ones on the pile. There was: ‘The Greatest Myths Over The Last Three Millennia’, ‘All of The Gods, Goddesses and Titans That Have Ever Lived’, ‘Mythical Creatures - The Big And The Small’, ‘The Thousand Wonders of The Mythical World’, ‘Learn to Fight with Magic And Swords’ and ‘A Magicians Guide to Squally Ball’.
He opened up the guide to squally ball book and read:
Squally ball is the most popular sport for magicians. It consists of a large court with a 10ft net in the middle. The courts on each side are divided into five sections, each with a number in the middle of them as shown below:
(squally ball diagram)
There are four people on each side spaced out on the court. They each have a racket which is enchanted so as when they say a spell whilst the ball is in contact with the racket, the spell is forced into the ball, and, when it crosses the net, it unleashes the spell, putting off the opposing players. The court is also enchanted so as you cannot use magic on the ball unless your racket touches it. The court also keeps track of the scores and, if wanted, will give a commentary on the game. If the ball hits the ground the points scored depends on the section of which it has landed in. e.g. in the middle circle - 10 points are scored, in the sections closest to the net - 4points are scored etc. The game is won by winning 50 points or more.
There are many different spells you can put on the ball but it will only allow ones that aren’t going to seriously injure or kill the opponent. The curses that may be put on the players are only taken off when the game has finished so as the game goes on, it gets more and more difficult. Over the next few pages there are some examples of different spells that can be used.
The next fifty pages were covered in spells and ratings with how good they were, then at the back were pictures of people in white, red and blue t-shirts and shorts, holding golden rackets with a mini fact file beside them. Jay read one of them then remembered what Amy had said about having to get up at four, half four to be ready by five.
He quickly shut the book, placed it on the table, then jumped off the sofa and walked up to his bedroom. He did what he had done with the milk in the fridge and opened the wardrobe to see the alarm clock from his bedroom in the foster home and some pyjamas, which he put on before climbing into bed and falling straight to sleep.
He woke next morning with his alarm screaming to the right of him with the numbers 4:30 flashing on the front. He got out of bed, dressed and stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen, where he ate his breakfast. After some well-buttered pieces of toast, the time was getting on. It was nearly five ‘o’ clock.
When he realised the time, he leapt from the table and raced out the door. He turned to the fire and there was a girl sitting on one of the logs next to it.
“Hiya.”
“Oh, hi. It’s well cold.” The girl turned to see Jay, and he realised it was Alice. She bared the ring of Hera. He walked to the log next to her and sat down.
“Yeah, it is cold. What exactly are we doing this morning anyway?”
“Oh, were going to call on the Gods and tell them we have found all the ring-bearers. We do it early in the morning because it’s clearer.”
“But, why do we need to tell the Gods?”
“Because if it weren’t for the Gods, we would not have our powers,” Jordan answered. He had just taken his seat opposite them.
“And when Athena gave us the rings and told us how we are to use them to Amy, she said when each member joins call on me for I do not have much power to come down from Olympus,” Hollie added, as she had also joined them by the fire.
“Hi, everyone. Hey, it’s cold out here isn’t it? Jay can’t you heat us up a bit?” Broudie had just arrived as well.
“I can’t do that, can I?” Jay asked, with a sense of intrigue that woke him up a bit.
“We can’t without some sort of source but you can because you have a source, yourself,” said Philippa as she took her seat beside him.
“But how?”
“Flaixor minthamya,” Philippa chanted, her eyes focused completely on the fire. The fire gave out a wave of heat but it went really cold again after a few seconds. “That’s the best I can do, but you can do it better. Have a go,” she added.
“Eh, Flaixor minthamya.” This time there was no surge of heat, it just stayed cold, and Jay looked back at Philippa who was shaking her head.
“You need to concentrate on the fire and only think of heat and warmth. Keep your eyes focused, don’t get distracted.” By this time everyone was sat around staring at Jay, which made him very nervous.
“Okay…Flaixor minthamya,” he repeated, his eyes completely focused on the small flames in the center of the logs.
Nothing happened.
Then he cleared his mind of everything and repeated the words once again, “Flaixor minthamya.” This time you could definitely feel a change in the air around them. There was a massive heat wave that mauled the ground around them. He kept his eyes on the fire and then he urged it to let out another wave and this time a real wave of fire emerged like a ring from the center. A frenzy of firing flames jousted from its source like a live wire in water, shocking the air with immense heat.
Then there was a loud roar of spells and the fire extinguished in a burning sizzle.
“We asked you to heat us up, not barbecue us! You’re worse than the school ovens,” wailed Liam.
“Sorry.” Jay shook himself out of his focus and realised what he’d managed to do! He’d completely overstepped the idea of warming up to toasting.
“Don’t be sorry, that was great just keep that one for when we’re being attacked by an army of dracaenas, ok?” Amy said.
“What are dracaenas?”
“Did you not read them books I gave you?” Hollie asked.
“I read the first bit of the one called…solly ball?”
“You mean squally ball,” Claire corrected.
“Yeah.”
“Well, you can talk about squally ball on the way. C’mon, we haven’t got much time,” Amy ordered.
They all got up and started the walk to the hill Jay had passed on the way into the hideout. They passed the edges of the battling area in deep conversation about Squally ball, and Jay got to see the actual squally ball court close up and, after glancing through the alley into the stadium, noticed that the court was exactly like the one he had seen inside his book. Also, for the first time, they
crossed the bridge.
It was entwined with branches and leaves that rustled in the morning wind and the base was made of dark red-ish, brown wood.
The boards creaked as they stumbled over them, probably from the limited use. The stream rushed underneath them making the scene look almost fantasized. Strange style seeming this whole place was a fantasy.
As they got closer to the hill, the speed that they started off walking at was now getting much faster. A few steps away from the beginning of the incline, Amy turned around, ready to speak,
“Right, ok. Everyone to the top as quick as you can, please. Now, most of us know that there are parts of the hill where we do not go near but Jay obviously doesn’t. So, I would like Jordan, if you could, take him up and stay away from the sides,” Amy instructed, “Let’s go.”
Jay turned to face Jordan, confused.
“Ready?”
“For what?”
“For this…Hokvalmia,” Jordan whispered. His nose elongated and turned yellow, he shrank in size, feathers grew from his skin and long talons replaced his feet.
He was an eagle.
The eagle gave out a large screech and looked down to where Jay was standing as it grew almost double the size of a normal human.
“Wow,” Jay gasped. The eagle swung his head back and stretched out his wings to reveal dark brown and black feathers, plagued with crystal patches of white - a beautiful plumage.
It bent its knees and took off, but before Jay could say anything he had been grasped by his shoulders and lifted up into the air.
Jay looked up to see the eagle, Jordan, with his head and wings extended fully, soaring through the sky.
What crazy corner had Jay’s life taken? This was a new, fantastically insane life. A fresh start. A brand new magical world. A magnificent new reason for living. An unbelievably awesome way of life. A dangerous situation, an purposeful situation, a perfect situation.
Why though? Why Jay? What had he done to deserve such a great opportunity? Who was Jay to have such purpose all of a sudden? Such trust in him saving the world with some ancient magical power? Why?
‘It’s just magic…I suppose.’
Squally ball.
(Chapter 3)