I had been expecting a bathtub with a shower, but instead, the massive bathroom features a sea green-bottomed pool, brimming with steaming water. A bar of green soap sits atop a pile of clean towels, placed on the near end of the pool. I take a moment to peer into the water, and I’m startled by the face that looks back. My eyes are wide and bloodshot, with bags hanging underneath them; my normally tame hair is clumped, and jutting out at alarming angles; my face is covered in alternating blotches of dirt and blood, covered in layers of dried sweat, with shallow cuts adding a disjointed pattern to the whole affair. I don’t think even Nick would dare call me beautiful in my current state. I strip out of my sweat-stained clothes, then sink myself slowly into the water, and close my eyes.
When I open my eyes again, the sun has gone down considerably. I must have fallen asleep in the water. I frantically scrub myself with the bar of soap, and dry off before throwing the robe around my shoulders and tying the belt around my waist. I throw my dirty clothes into what I assume is a hamper, and step back into the main room, only to find that my traveling companions are gone. I sit on an empty bed, and nibble on a bit of leftover bread. They must have gone exploring while I was asleep. Normally, I’d be fine on my own, but now that I’m unimaginably far from home, I’m surprisingly lonely. After a few minutes, I resolve to find a familiar face, and head out into the temple for myself.
It’s a few minutes before I see anyone, but I eventually come across a set of twins, each with a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows strung across their back. They don’t seem to notice me, but they’re somewhat intimidating, so I give them a wide berth as we pass in the hall. I pass several more “gods” on my journey through the temple; some are unfamiliar, like the man with four arms and blue skin, whereas others I can easily place, like Thor and Anubis. Most of the Guardians seem friendly enough, and a few even greet me as we pass each other, but a few of them are clearly hostile. I make a habit of steering clear of the ones I consider a threat.
The sun has already dipped well below the ring of cliffs surrounding the temple by the time I come across someone I know personally. I spot Alyssa sitting with her leg up on a windowsill, staring out at the sunset, her body silhouetted against the reddening sky. I take a seat across from her, and she says, “Glad you’re finally out of the damned bathroom, I was starting to think you drowned.”
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes at her, but I can’t suppress a grin. “Where are Ryan and Jasira?”
“No clue. I gave them the slip a long time ago... I kinda felt like being alone.”
“Oh… I’ll leave you alone, then.”
“You don’t have to go. You’re one of the few people I like having around.” I let my gaze drop down to the windowsill at that. Part of me wants to believe it was just an innocent comment, but another part of me is sure it was a subtle reminder that she’s in love with me. I don’t want to hurt Alyssa’s feelings, but I can’t feel the same way for her. She must be able to guess what I’m thinking, because she says in a pained whisper, “Great. You think I’m a freak now.”
“What? Why would I ever think that about you?”
“I don’t know. Most people do when they find out I like girls. Especially when they’re the girl in question.”
“Well, I’m not most people.” I look back up at Alyssa, who is still gazing out the window, the corners of her mouth drawn up in the faintest hint of a smile. Even though she’s covered in just as much grime as I was a few hours ago, in the soft orange glow of sunset, I can hardly see the dirt on her face, or her healing wounds. All I can see is the way the tip of her nose curves slightly upward, and the circular scar on her lower lip that must have once been a piercing gone wrong. More than anything, I note the way she lets her guard down around me, but keeps a brave face when talking to anyone else. For a moment, I’m struck by the beauty of her features bathed in the orange glow.
Selfish as it seems, even though I have no interest in girls, in this moment I realize that I don’t want this one particular girl to lose interest in me. I can’t tell if it’s because it’s nice to feel wanted, or if it’s the tiny voice in the back of my mind asking How do you know for sure that this isn’t what you want? More to push that thought aside than anything else, I take a deep breath, and begin, “There’s something you should know, Allie…”
Alyssa finally turns to look at me, and cocks an eyebrow. “Allie?”
“Yeah, Allie. Or, would you rather be called Alyssa?”
“Allie’s fine. It’s just, nobody has called me that since I was nine.”
A pang of doubt hits me square in the chest when I try to respond, and for a moment, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. A small part of me wonders What if, and it makes me want to bite back my words, but I force myself to see it through. “Allie, I’m… not into girls. You’re cool, and everything, but I’m straight. I have a boyfriend.”
Alyssa sighs, and goes back to looking at the sunset, all traces of her smile gone. “I’m not stupid, Santos. I knew there wasn’t much hope for me. The good ones are always either taken or straight.”
“If you know, then why do you still have feelings for me?”
“It’s the curse of the human heart, I’m afraid. The damned thing makes us chase after whatever it knows we can’t have. From the moment I met you, and I looked into those bright green eyes, I knew I was going to get hurt. But you don’t always get to choose who you get attached to.”
I pull my other leg up onto the windowsill, and wrap my arms around them. Alyssa’s taking the news that we can’t be together fairly well, but something inside me feels inexplicably hollow. It’s almost as if she were the one rejecting me, rather than the other way around. In a weird way, I’m disappointed, even though I’m to blame. In a small voice, I mutter, “I’m sorry.”
Alyssa stands up, and says, “Whatever. It’s been nice chatting with you, but I reek, so I’m gonna take a bath while the bathroom’s free.” She starts to leave, but before turning a corner and heading back to our room, she comes to a stop. Alyssa turns to face me again, and the faintest hint of a crooked smile plays across her lips. “Just so you know… I’m not prepared to give up on you yet, Santos.”
“What?” I can feel my lips stretching into a nervous smile despite the rising panic in my chest. “But, why?”
“I don’t know. Call me crazy, but I believe in miracles. Besides, I’m not sure I buy your confession. No other straight girl’s ever looked at me the way you do.” And without another word, Alyssa vanishes around the corner, leaving me to my thoughts in the fading sunlight.
Chapter 18
Some time before sunrise, a chorus of bells rings so loudly that my eyes snap open, and I hop out of bed, thinking that we’re under attack. I scan the room as thoroughly as I can through the initial haze of semi-consciousness, but there’s no one in the room aside from myself and my… friends? I suppose that’s what they are now, after all we’ve been through together. At the very least, they’re people I would fight to protect, whom I trust to have my back as well. The bells toll out their wakeup call continuously, while I sit down on my bed, trying to shake off the last tinges of fatigue. I’d had my heart set on twelve hours of sleep, but there’s no chance of that anymore, not with the bells in the background.
The others soon start rolling themselves out of bed as well, and we mutter greetings to each other as we gradually come to life. While we were asleep, someone must have wiped the table of all the food from yesterday, and replaced it with breakfast items. Mostly warm bread, fruits, and milk; I’d been hoping for Cocoa Puffs, but right now, any food will do. After breakfast, we take turns heading to the bathroom and changing into our traveling clothes, which had apparently been washed in the middle of the night. We’re all completely dressed by the time Athena raps on our door, and asks us to come outside. We file out, and Athena promptly beckons us to follow her towards the main hallway.
As we walk, Athena explains that each of us will face
our final test individually, under the supervision of different Guardians. Each of them has prepared separate tests for each of us, so that there’s no chance anyone will be able to warn the others of exactly what’s to come. We are led down to the far end of the main hall, where the walkway expands into an indoor amphitheater. Dozens of rows of marble seats are the only current occupants of the massive structure, each seat covered by a velvet cushion. An ornate pedestal stands alone in the center of the room, with a shining blade protruding from it. The only windows in this section of the temple are decorated with stained-glass depictions of scenes from mythology. Athena leads us to a small, raised platform directly in front of the empty rows of seats, then slows to a stop, and asks, “Are each of you prepared for what’s to come?”
Slowly, each of us nods, and Jasira asks, “What kinds of tests should we be expecting?”
Athena shakes her head, and says, “I am not privy to that knowledge. Only the Guardians testing you know for sure, but they tend to test your physical and psychological limits. If you can overcome the challenges they provide, you will have proved yourselves ready to unlock the rest of your hidden power. Are there any more questions?” Nobody speaks, and after a few seconds, Athena crosses over to me, and says, “Your proctor awaits you in the meadow. Close your eyes, and best of luck.” I close my eyes as instructed, then Athena presses two fingers against my forehead, and for a second, I could swear I feel an intense gust of wind rushing past me, but just as suddenly as the sensation began, it fades away.
Even without opening my eyes, I can tell I have been moved well outside the temple. The hard stone beneath my feet has been replaced by grass and soil, and a cool breeze pushes wayward strands of my hair into my face. For a moment, as my eyes adjust to the sunlight, all I can make out is an endless sea of green. Then, the temple comes into focus in the background, followed by the ring of cliffs all around a few seconds later. I’m in the middle of the meadow we crossed the day before, and much to my confusion, there’s nobody around. I wait at least a minute or two, but whichever Guardian was supposed to be testing me is nowhere to be found.
I pace around for a minute, but it’s when I start moving in the direction of the temple that I finally get the feeling I’m no longer alone. A girl’s laughter pierces the silence, and I stop walking to get an idea of where the sound is coming from. I listen for a few seconds, but the laughter seems to be coming from all around me, and for some reason, it sounds eerily familiar. Then, the air a few feet in front of me begins to ripple, and a figure steps out into plain view. I’ve seen some strange things the past few days, but of all of them, the girl standing in front of me seems the most impossible. Her heart shaped face, her bushel of jet black curls, her striking green eyes, these features are all mine. And yet here she is, a perfect replica of me, a second Heather Santos. The other me grins, and asks, “Where do you think you’re going?”
Naturally, I’m freaking out just a little about hearing my own voice coming out of someone else’s mouth, and I begin to back away from the girl with my face. In a slightly unsteady voice, I ask, “What are you?”
“I’m you,” she answers, “for the time being. I’ve been watching you since you came to this realm, so I had a pretty good idea of who you were beforehand. But seeing you up close, and getting a peek into that mind of yours… Why, you’re just full of surprises.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah.” The other me begins to circle around me, sizing me up as she speaks. “Between doubting whether or not you’re strong enough to best me, thinking about your dead boyfriend, and questioning your sexuality, your subconscious is more intriguing than I thought it would be.” I open my mouth to object to her last statement, but she cuts me off, saying, “Heather, please. You can lie to yourself all you want, but not to me. I know all of your secrets.”
“Okay, fine. But what are you here for?”
The other Heather stops circling, and faces away from me as she says, “To test a theory… and to see if the legends are true.” Then, without warning, she spins around to take a swing at my face, and I barely dodge in time. I backpedal away from her, letting off a few fireballs as I move, which she easily deflects. I try my best to eliminate my most obvious handicap; the fact that she can read my mind. The only real defense against that is to not plan out my next move, and be completely spontaneous, which is something I’ve never truly been good at.
We simultaneously let off bright blue jets of energy, which collide in midair, and for a moment, we each struggle to overpower the other’s spell. Ultimately, it becomes apparent that I’m the stronger one, and the other Heather is forced to roll out of harm’s way before the spell hits her. “How refreshing,” she comments, “You’re not a weakling like the other children that pass through our realm. You really might be the one we’ve been waiting for all these years.”
I’m tempted to ask what she means, but I get the feeling that she’s preying on my curiosity to lower my guard. Instead, I fire a bolt of lightning at my doppelganger, causing her to roll out of the way again, and she retaliates by hurling bolts of lightning back at me. I focus on a recently learned spell, which causes a wide pillar of tightly packed earth to shoot out of the ground in front of me. It’ll grant me protection from my opponent’s spells, but not for very long. While mainly concentrating on maintaining the column’s shape, I run through a mental checklist of spells that I have yet to master. The only useful one happens to be the one that I’ve only learned about, never attempted; a teleportation spell. Normally, I wouldn’t try it without Krystal’s supervision, but it’s the one spell that my doppelganger would never see coming. It’s my best shot at a surprise attack.
As my column begins to crumble in a shower of earthen clumps, I try to remember what Krystal taught me about teleporting. I close my eyes, and concentrate on amassing my energy behind the other Heather, while silently praying that my body will follow suit. For just an instant, the sensation that a huge gust of wind is tearing past me hits again, and I open my eyes to see the other Heather’s back. She’s facing away from me, still firing spells continuously at the spot I inhabited mere seconds ago.
Rather than congratulating myself on successfully executing phase one of my plan, I commence the entirely unplanned phase two; I allow my energy to seep into my arm muscles, while striding towards the other Heather. I grab her shoulder, spin her around, and punch her in the stomach with such force that she’s lifted a few feet in the air before she hits the ground with an unladylike grunt. She slowly starts getting back on her feet, and coughs out, “Not bad… it’s usually hard to pull one over on me.”
“Like you said, I’m full of surprises.” I advance on the other Heather, this time with the intent to punch her in the face, but she sees it coming this time and deflects the attack. We spend the next few minutes exchanging a barrage of punches, kicks, and blocks until we’re both sufficiently bruised. During a brief lull in the action, the other Heather unleashes a huge gust of wind so strong it pushes me back several feet, and knocks me onto my ass hard enough to leave yet another bruise.
Before I can get back up, the other Heather plants her foot on my chest, and pushes me down onto my back. We’re both breathing heavily, and sweating from exertion, but neither of us is quite ready to give up. I groan, and try to slip out from under her foot, but my doppelganger merely presses down harder. Since I’m not going anywhere for a while, I ask, “What is it you’re trying to teach me, exactly?”
“Teach you?” The other Heather throws her head back and laughs. “I’m not trying to teach you a damned thing. I just wanted to see how strong you were, and you’ve certainly delivered.”
“What…?”
“I knew you were special, I could feel it the moment you arrived. You’re not like the others.” My doppelganger folds her arms across her chest, and smiles down at me. “Needless to say, when I was assigned to conduct your final test, I couldn’t resist getting a little hands-on with it. The illusion was
just for fun; causing you physical damage is one thing, but I live for leaving scars on the psyche.”
In a flash, I grab the other Heather’s ankle, throw her weight off me, and pin her to the ground. “Here’s a pro tip: don’t let your guard down around me.” I grab her leg tightly, and bend it just a little too far in the wrong direction. “Now quit screwing around, and show yourself. The real you.”
I watch with a mixture of satisfaction and horror as the face identical to my own elongates, and becomes gradually more masculine. His hair smoothes as it recedes into his skull, and his limbs stretch to their original length. Within a minute, all traces of my features have vanished, and I get to see what my opponent really looks like. Morpheus scowls up at me, and asks, “Are you happy now?”
“Not really, no. Now that I know it’s you, I’m in an even worse mood.” I pull harder on his leg until he gasps in pain, and growl, “You’ve mentioned a couple of times now that I’m ‘special’. Special how?”
“Patience, Heather. You’ll be finding out soon enough.” Morpheus lets out a strained laugh, and mutters, “You’re meant for great things, but it isn’t my place to tell you what.” Then, he snaps his fingers, and in an instant, the meadow disappears entirely, replaced by the cold marble interior of the amphitheater. I place a hand on the ground to be sure it’s not a trick, but the stone beneath me is as real as can be. For a split second, I wonder if I might have failed my test, but I dismiss the thought quickly. If I had failed, Morpheus would have let me know.
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