Anyhow, I shall shut up now and let you read it. Proceed... Prologue: Complicated.
Who would have thought that I'd be famous? No, not famous in the sense that I had cameras watching my every move. I'm famous in another sense entirely. You remember Hades, and Poseidon and Zeus? Yeah, those guys, the Greek gods. Well, they're real. No, I'm not crazy. They are real. And Hades, well. He's my dad and for some crazy reason my mother forgot to mention that tiny, little fact...
Unfortunately for her, I woke up one morning and went to school, and when some stupid kid pissed me off, I turned him into dust. Talk about detention. I was expelled. Apparently, I had scared my Principle half to death along with the Deputy.
Well, that got me in trouble. Especially with my mother, who has since—... Well, I don't really want to talk about that... It has everything to do with her boyfriend and nothing to do with said boyfriend. It's complicated.
Anyway, the day after I turned that stupid kid into dust, four guys followed me home from school and cornered me in an alley. They were War, Famine, Pestilence and Death... I have no idea why they decided to ‘talk’ to me but they ended up on their arses in the rubbish.
That sure did startle them.... And then they asked me whose house I belonged to, which confused me. I yelled at them, they yelled back and then War started talking about my little turning-some-boy-to-dust thing from the day before. And then Pestilence started talking about sky, sea or underworld.... Famine yelled at him to shut up.....but not before Death said ‘Underworld’.
A moment later and with a foggy memory, the four men were gone. But an hour later this huge monster attacked me. All I know is that it was huge, black and ugly.
* * *
Chapter 1: Cerberus & the Crazy Snake Lady.
It was a foggy Friday afternoon in L.A. I’d just had an encounter with these four weird guys who called themselves War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. And I was cranky.
I was just about to leave the alley and go back to home when something stepped into my path and growled. I looked up in time to see three heads, a large dog’s body and get a mouthful of the smell of rotting flesh.
The damn thing was ugly and huge, and it was a dog.
“Ugh,” I muttered and recoiled. The three headed dog took a couple of steps back and crouched down, bringing its heads down to my level.
I stared back into dark, blood red eyes and frowned. Not much frightened me but this thing was definitely freaking me out.
“Okay, Fido,” I muttered, backing up a few steps. “Please don’t jump on me.”
Suddenly something knocked my legs out from under me and I was looking up into the face of one damn ugly woman. My head hit the ground hard and I blinked.
“Who the hell are you?” I snapped but she just frowned and gave me an experimental poke.
“Why aren’t you stone yet?” she muttered and drifted away from me.
I sat up, wincing as I rubbed the back of my head.
“Who are you?” I asked and then stared at her. Her hair, which I had first mistaken for wig was made of living snakes and they were wriggling and hissing at each. As I watched, one bit its neighbour and the pair of them started a full on war, right there on her head.
“Can’t you tell?” The woman asked sliding on a pair of sunglasses. Her hair hissed and the snakes disappeared, turning into a mouldy, old green wig. “Or don’t you study Ancient Greek at school?”
I frowned, thinking and then it clicked. Snakes for hair, the whole stone comment.
“Medusa!” I gasped and scrambled upright. I swayed and had to grab the alley wall for support.
“Aren’t you the genius,” she hissed sarcastically.
I shot her a glare, which the damn serpent lady ignored, and leaned against the wall.
“Why didn’t you turn into stone?” she asked and glided closer. I looked down and noticed that her legs, were indeed, replaced by a serpent’s tail.
“How the hell should I know?” I shot back sourly and pushed away from the brick wall. This time I didn’t get dizzy.
I stalked past the crazy woman, picked up my bag and hesitated when I saw a huge stone, three-headed dog blocking the entrance.
“Oh great,” I muttered and rolled my eyes. “Hey, Snake Lady!” I yelled and Medusa turned around. “What are you going to do about him?” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder at the stone dog in my way.
“Oh, yes. I forgot about that,” She said and clapped her hands. The stone dog cracked and thousands of stone shards flew all over the place. I turned my face away to avoid getting a face full of broken stone.
When I turned back, there was no dog. It had vanished and all that was left was a pile of rubble.
“Thanks,” I muttered and left the alley at a run. Medusa the crazy Snake Lady didn’t follow me but I saw plenty of other weird things, like the homeless guy standing on the corner wasn’t human, he was seven foot tall and only had one eye.
I decided to ignore that and quickly made my way back to my mother’s apartment.
When I got there and pushed opened the door, I heard my mum and her damn boyfriend in the bedroom. I tuned it out. I so did not need to what they were doing.
I stalked past their room and into mine, slamming the door behind me. It didn’t block out the noise though, so I turned my radio on and cranked the volume.
I fell asleep to the sound of Evanescence blasting down the hall.
* *
The next morning I woke up to silence. My CD had played out and I couldn’t hear my mother moving around making breakfast like she normally would.
I rolled off the bed and staggered over to the window. A taxi sped past and then the street was empty again. I frowned and made my way back down the hall and into the lounge and kitchen.
Nothing, there wasn’t even a TV still running or a radio blaring. I frowned and checked my mother’s room. The door opened easily to reveal....an empty room.
I figured mum had gone to work or something so I went back to my room, climbed into bed and went back to sleep.
Well, I tried to go back to sleep but someone started banging on the front door and I groaned.
I climbed back out of bed and stumbled back down the hall, into the lounge room and yanked open the door.
A boy stood on the landing. He was around my age, had brown eyes and dark brown hair, and a black cap sat backwards on his head.
“Casilda Draven?” he asked. I was about to slam the door in his face when he stepped forward and lodged a dagger in the door just above my hand.
I stepped back in a hurry, forgetting about keeping him out, but he didn’t come in.
“Yeah, I’m Casilda,” I snapped, glaring at the dagger sticking out of the door. “What the hell do you want?”
“You summoned to the old manor down the street,” he said and turned to go. “And keep the dagger.”
I yanked said dagger out of the door and stepped out into the hall.
“Hey!” I shouted. The kid turned back and frowned. “Who the hell are you and who ‘summoned’ me? I don’t take orders well!”
The kid turned to me and smirked. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“That is not an answer,” I told him and he sighed.
“Fine... You’re dad summoned you,” he called over his shoulder and took a couple of steps down the stairs. I froze, staring at him. My.....dad? Impossible! My dad was dead. “You’re real dad,” he added, “Remember. The Manor,” He called and took off.
I considered following him or throwing the damn dagger at him but he’d vanished into thin air as soon as he hit the bottom of the stairs.
* * *
