Felicia's Fortune Chapter 11: A bog full of gallivanting fiddlesticks!

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

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“That’s the thing about this city, you can always find who you’re looking for. And I was looking for y–” I cut him off.

“If you actually have the nerve to say, ‘I was looking for you, Felicia!’ then I will personally have Azazel stab you with a fork, so leave us alone, Max!’ I was surprised and mad that he just showed up on this island, expecting me to just smile and pretend that nothing happened. “I’ve had enough of you! I told you to go bugger off and don’t bother me again, so you just decide to chase after me in hopes of forgiveness! I–” I stopped talking when Max reached out and touched my shoulder.

“Felicia, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark, but there’s some things you can’t tell everybody. I know it was wrong, but it would’ve kept you safe.”

“If it made me safe, I would be home baking a cake and not on this stupid quest doing my so-called mother’s bidding! You should know by now that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. [GU1] And the truth is light for me, but you stole it away and kept it for yourself.” I moved to push him out the door, but Ali gently touched my shoulder.

“C’mon, Felicia. Let’s be off to Bedfordshire.” She led me away, Azazel following behind us as if to keep me from running back, which in my state of half-drowned, I don’t think that would’ve been possible.

Ali pushed me down on the bed and Azazel shut the door behind us.

“Look, Felicia. You wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for Max. He–” Ali started to say, but I wouldn’t let her finish.

“You may think Max is such a savior and that he saved our lives by ruining the quest, but in fact, he’s bloody doomed us all!” I shot back.

“I know you’re mad at him, but there’s no reason for him not to come on this quest! Just because he’s keeping secrets from us doesn’t mean we’re all doomed-”

 “No you don’t understand!” I interrupted her. “I got a letter from Demeter saying to come to Calf of Man, and only to take two other people there. If I didn’t, someone supposedly dies. He almost literally killed one of us, so if you think that he is a savior in any way, you’re wrong. I dunno about you, but I’m not going to sit here and be one of those lasses in distress. We don’t need his help, so I say we leave him here while we go to Calf of Man so we can try not to die once we’re there. We need to sneak out while he’s not watching and find ourselves another boat. For now, we need a distraction.” I looked at them for suggestions, but they were still processing what I said.

As they thought it over, I suddenly thought back to the prophecy:

keep yourself sane

for you will be slain

at the hands of the Impaler

with much valor

Your name on the bead

will plant a seed

for a new hero

to come from zero

I started panicking, and the world got a little wonky as the memory haunted me. I felt dread at what it could mean but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. (No, Bronte! I’m not going to tell you what I thought it meant!) I tried to keep my face blank as Ali finally processed what I said and what that meant we needed to do. Her face became scarily determined as she formulated a plan. She got Azazel’s attention my smacking her gob, which was hanging open, and said, “Fine. It’s a work in progress, but it should be enough to escape.”

She scribbled down some words on a paper before handing it to me, gesturing for me to be silent. I nodded and got ready for what was to come.

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Standing by the window, Ali and I signaled to Azazel, who was standing outside the room to the door. I whispered a silent prayer that this would work. Azazel dropped the little homemade smoke bomb that Ali made down to the bottom floor. It hit the tile, and I heard a faint hissing sound. Smoke poured up from the first floor, and the hotel was thrown into panic as the fire alarms went off.

Azazel ran back to us and we climbed down the rope Ali had made from some of our extra shirts and the duvet. We hopped down to the ground and started running towards the harbor. I slowed down when I heard something that sounded like paws hitting the ground. While Ali and Azazel were screaming at me to catch up, I picked up the little dog that had been following me. It looked lost and scared, so I picked it up and ran after the others. Azazel looked at it and started petting while running, while Ali screamed for me to put it down.

The little chihuahua yipped happily in my arms, and I smiled. It seemed to get heavier every step I took until I had to put it down. After I was done brushing off the fur, I looked up and saw that the little chihuahua was no longer liter-sized, but bloody huge, and there was smoke coming from its nostrils.

I vaguely heard Ali scream, “RUN!” before I legged it out of there.

“What the pants is THAT!?” Azazel yelled at me.

“I don’t know, just keep RUNNING!” I yelled back, almost to the harbor, where Ali was untying a boat from a pole.

It had a reddish-brown wood stain, four seats, and a small compartment holder in the middle. There was a teeny flag that Azazel started playing with after we hopped on the boat. I sat up front with Ali as she started the engine. The bags we had salvaged from the previous boat explosion were thrown at Azazel.

The big chihuahua was still bounding after us, but once it reached the harbor, it skidded to a stop. From a distance, it looked like a cute puppy that drooled fire. It raised its head and shot flames into the sky before bounding away, shrinking into the distance.

I leaned back in the chair, grateful that we had gotten off the island without getting eaten, and also without Max.

“That was…” I trailed off, not having the words to describe what just happened.

“A bog full of gallivanting fiddlesticks!” Azazel finished for me.

“Ta, but that’s not exactly how I would describe it.” I said back.

“How would you describe it, then? I would certainly like to know.” Someone said from the back of the boat.

“How’d you get here? Get on your bike! You shouldn’t have come back! You’re full of tosh!” I was miffed, not only because we were being followed again, but because this plonker wasn’t buggering off when I told him to.

-Felicia

(Chapter 12 should also come out this week! Stay tuned!)