Felicia's Fortune Chapter 3: Ferocious Fork Friends!?

This story is inspired by Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard, and my siblings.

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I moved to walk towards Max, but I heard an eerie sound in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” I looked at Max, and he had a longsword loosely in his hand. I briefly wondered where he got it from, then realized that he had a sheath on his belt that stood out from his gym shorts and t-shirt. Of course, I asked the most important question first.

“You like AC/DC?” I asked, looking at his 90‘s rock band shirt. He glared at me with piercing hazel-and-blue eyes.

“Yeah, do you have a problem with that?”

I opened my mouth to give him a snarky remark, but didn’t get the chance, because I was tossed through the air onto the school’s campus. When I looked up to see what had hit me, I regretted it almost immediately.

It was a hideous creature with bulging and beefy arms, all covered in sweaty hair. Over his beady black eyes was a long rug-looking wig of greasy brown locks. Sticking out were increasingly pointed and curly horns. The ends of its fingers (or so I assumed) were long, talon-like fingernails that were so dirty, they had become yellow, brown, and chipped. Its feet were bare, and honestly, I wish it had at least worn shoes. The sight of his decaying toes nearly made me sick. The monster was almost 3 meters tall. The stench of rotten meat and unwashed underarm hit me so strongly that I started to feel dizzy.

The last thing about it only made it more frightening. It had bright white underpants that could nearly blind you. Yes, I laugh remembering it now, but back then, I was terrified. Its roar was more like a murderous bulldozer than the bull-man he looked like.

Despite the danger at hand, the teens and children from the school were charging at the monster with weapons in their hands that glinted in the light. I decided that I should at least help, since they gave me a place to stay. I unsheathed my daggers and charged.

I dodged, lunged, attacked, faster than I had ever done before. The thrill of the fight had me on edge, and I was able to easily maneuver around the bull-man. I got so into it that I had my own rhythm. Dodge, slash, jump, and repeat. After a few minutes, the other people fighting had stepped back to watch me, even Max. He had admiration, pride, and caution in his eyes, like a teacher who’s student finally understood the subject.

While I was distracted, something hit the back of my head, and I stumbled. The monster swung his arm, and I fell to the ground just in time to avoid the hit. Unfortunately, I also passed out.

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In the blackness surrounding me, I looked around, and tried to take a step forward. When I did, a wall of sound hit me like a wave, and was gone. It was still dark, but a small amount of light from inside a nearby fog was enough to see that I was floating. I panicked and looked around, and tried to move, but only ended up floating forward. I was about to try moving again when I heard voices approaching. I couldn’t move again, and I was stuck. They were going to see me!

As I silently begged them to not notice me, They came around the corner.

“I think our plan is nearly in place. The mistress’s order was to get rid of them, and all we need to do now is to convince the others. That shouldn’t be to hard, considering the fact that they are thirsty for blood.” The voice coming around the corner was like a poison fog slowly rolling over a plain, with almost inaudible screams in the distance. There was a slight rasp, too, like the woman had been dehydrated.

I almost gasped when she came around the corner. By almost, I mean that I physically couldn’t gasp, so I was stuck looking like a fish with my mouth open. Her silky hair was inky black, and her smoky eyes were ringed by thick black eyelashes. Full lips were perfectly polished with black lip-gloss. The dress she wore was fancy enough to make the queen jealous, and her skin was unnaturally black, even darker than the surrounding air. She was thin and tall, with incredibly high-heels. Her outfit was studded rhinestones that seemed to make everything darker when they reflected the light. They ran up and down her dress in a mesmerizing pattern, and I watched them until I realized she was speaking again.

“I agree, but the Mistress wishes it to be done, and if we do it, we can get everything we want. Practically world domination on our part. Imagine that!” Her voice trailed off and became dreamy.

“Well, Nyx, you know I will be at your side no matter what happens. I am indebted to you. Let’s go over the plan once more though, just to review. So, first, we head to New Y—”

I was rudely interrupted from my eavesdropping by a blinding light.

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“Hey, wake up!” A voice whisper-yelled. “Come on, Felicia! I have something to tell you!”

I groggily sat up as I realized that Max was the one waking me up. My words slurred together as I tried to wake up faster. I had never been an early riser. “What happened?”

“You got hit in the back of the head twice by the Bull-dude. We’re not allowed to say is name because it’s dangerous, so that’s why I call him ‘Bull-dude’.” I giggled at his words, though I hadn’t processed what he said all the way.

“It wasn’t too serious, you just got a minor concussion. After that, we got rid of Bull-dude and got you to the med bay,” he continued. “I just wanted to ask you something in private. D-do you m-mind?” He sounded nervous, and I tried to understand why.

“Sure. What is your so-called question? And, why are you so nervous about it?” I was getting impatient, yes, but I was tired, and it felt like five in the morning.

“D-d-do y-you want-t to g-go on a d-date?” He mumbled so quietly, I debated whether I heard him right.

“What?” I was really confused. Why would this guy like me? A total newbie?

“Forget I asked. It’s stupid.” He started to leave, but I stopped him.

“I’ll go with you. Where do you want to go?” Stupid, stupid, stupid. I didn’t know why I was agreeing to this, but I’d been on a few dates before, and none of them were too bad.

“I was thinking we could get a cuppa from the tea shop down the street. I’ll see you there whenever you’re ready!” Max smiled and walked out the door cheekily.

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I was able to leave the medical wing in just a few hours, so I decided to walk to my dorm. The only problem: I didn’t know where it was.

“You’re looking lost there, Quackenbush! Need some help?” I looked back to see Max walking towards me. I rolled my eyes.

“Where is my room? You were supposed to take me there.” I was getting impatient.

“You don’t need to go there. Your stuff will be fine. Also, you look perfectly fine to go to a local tea shop. They’ve seen worse.” Max smirked at me and winked before walking towards the entrance to the campus.

Not knowing what else to do, I followed him while doubting my choice to go with him. I followed him for about a block down the street before he stopped and looked back at me. “Ladies first.” He said, gesturing inside a storefront that looked recently renovated. The sign read, “A Cuppa Luck-a” in bold letters. It’s blue wallpaper with pink teacup accents and white counters with cushioned metal chairs made the small space look cozy. A good-smelling cuppa boiling in the background with people talking brought me inside to the counter. I looked at the menu, and every possible fruit combination was pasted up on the board with matching pastries. What caught my eye was the “Mix-it-up Special.” The description said it would serve two different teas with matching pastries.

I looked back at Max, who had followed me inside. He looked at me with a “go ahead,” look, and I ordered a Mix-it-up. The lady with graying hair at the counter told us to have a seat and that our order was number 13.

Max let me pick the table, and I chose a window seat (obviously) because you have a great view. He asked me about my family, and I told him about Stepmom, Dad, Chloe, and Dazi. He told me about his being an only child with his mom to care for him. After that, he started bragging about how great he was at cooking and cleaning. We joked about that for a while, and when our order was called out, we both went to get it.

“You can stay here, I’ll get it.” We both said to each other at the same time. I blushed and looked away and Max shifted on his feet.

“We can… get it together?” Max suggested shyly. I agreed, and we headed to the counter to pick up the plates and teacups on the tray. After we sat down, we looked at the flavours we got. Our flavours were Apricot Amaretto and Black Cherry, but I gave the apricot food to Max, because apricots just weren’t my cuppa tea.

As I was about to take a sip of my tasty-looking tea, I heard commotion on the streets. When I looked out the window, I gasped and nudged Max, who was halfway done with his food. There was a creature on the streets with four shaggy legs, two cute-looking dog-heads.

“GET OUT NOW! THERE’S A MONSTER OUTSIDE! EVACUATE THE AREA!” The obnoxiously loud voice came from a 13-year-old girl in the corner with a nametag in all caps saying, “HELLO MY NAME IS AZAZEL!” She wore a denim jacket with ripped-up American-style “jeggings,” and a plaid button-up shirt. She also wore a headband with smiley-faces printed all over it. She was yelling for everyone to leave immediately with crumbs on her outfit.

I jumped up, with Max following my lead, and we ran outside to face the monster. Civilians were running and screaming around the street like sixes and sevens. When I looked back, I saw that Azazel followed us, though I didn’t know what kind of help she’d be. Maybe she could annoy the monster to death.

“What the actual Hades is that?!” Max yelled.

“DIE!” Azazel screeched. She charged the beast with a fork she had grabbed from a nearby table. I figured that wouldn’t do much, so I also charged. Max soon followed.

We engaged in a deadly battle, Max with his sword, me with my daggers, and Azazel with her screeching and her fork, which was actually about as helpful as one of my daggers. Even weirder was her button-up shirt. She had unbuttoned it and the inside was filled with forks in every nook and cranny. I wondered if she had some in her shoes, too.

The three of us fell into a pattern sort of like deadly dancing. Hit, slash, stab, dodge, switch. It came naturally to the three of us, and I felt disappointed when the monster finally crumbled to dust.

We stood staring at each other and covered in sweat. Only Max decided to breathlessly break the silence.

“That was unexpected.”

We all burst into laughter and joked about it as we headed back to Campus for showers and sleep. I just had one question left for Azazel.

“Do you have a godly parent?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“Momus.” She left us at that as she skipped over to her room.

-Felicia