Guardian of Atlantis (The Children of Atlantis) (3 page)

“Maybe it would be for the best if both of you go to your classes and stop blocking the hallway. Or would you both prefer afterschool detention?”

Both girls shook their heads. Elizabeth turned on her heel and retreated down the hallway, leaving Raven alone with the woman.

“I believe it’s time we became acquainted. I’m Meritus Myers, your history teacher. I believe you owe me a five page paper on the effects of Zeus on the world. I expect it on my desk tomorrow at the beginning of class.
May be the extra work will make you think twice about your actions.
” The teacher turned and walked back into her classroom, leaving Raven staring at h
er with her mouth hanging open.

2

Birthdays.

People either love them or hate them.

I’ve always loved them.

The presents.
The cake.
The presents.
The cards.
The presents.
The decorations.
And did I mention—the presents!

Even after dad’s death and all the constant moving, mom managed to make my birthdays special, but at the same time she always seemed sad and worried, even angry that I was having another birthday. It was like she was expecting something really bad to happen and when my birthday passed without the big earth-destroying boom, relief filled her world. She could breathe again until next year. I never understood what was going on in her head or why. But it made me wonder.

--Raven Weir’s Journal

“So how was your first day?”

“I hate this school!” Raven slammed the car door, causing the glass to rattle. “I hate it. I hate it. I hate it!”

“That bad?” asked Suzanne.

“I’m not going back. And you can’t make me. This is the worst school I’ve ever attended. Even that little, tiny school in Buckholts was better than this one. And that’s saying a lot since they didn’t have an art program of any kind.”

“So you had a bad day. Do you want to talk about it?” asked Raven’s mom.

“No.” Raven frowned so hard, her eyebrows were almost touching. She crossed her arms and scooted down in the seat.

“Okay. What do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing.
I don’t want to talk about anything. It wouldn’t do any good.” Raven stared out the window. And awkward silence filled the car as her mom pulled out of the school parking lot.

“Well, I had a good day. I’ve got a job interview tomorrow.”

“I spent the morning in the principal’s office because my hair was dyed the wrong color.
” Raven blurted out.
“
Can you believe that? I don
’t dye my hair. You know t
his is my natural color. And I had to listen to a lecture about dress code and respect for the school. Then the principal said he was going to keep an eye on me like I’m some criminal or something.” Raven paused and took a deep breath.

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Raven glared at her mom.

“Do you want me to talk to the principal?”

“Why? It wouldn’t do any good.”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

“Yeah.
Right.
Are you going to talk to the entire school?
Because the whole school is out to get me.”

Suzanne glanced at Raven. She raised one eyebrow, but she didn’t say anything.

“Did you know they let crazy people go to school here? I had the pleasure of meeting one of the inmates today when she destroyed my sculpture just because she’s jealous of me. I didn’t do anything to her! But guess who got to clean up the mess she made. Me. Is that fair?”

“What did the teacher say?”

“She told me I didn’t have any proof that Elizabeth destroyed it. And I know she knew Elizabeth did it.  It’s not fair! The teachers are out to get me.”

“I really doubt the teachers are out to get you. They’ve got more important things to worry about,” said her mom.

“Typical. You’re siding with the teachers.”

“No. I’m just saying that the teachers are not out to get students.”

“Then why did the history teacher accuse me of threatening Elizabeth? The girl wouldn’t let me go into my class. She kept blocking the door, but she didn’t get into trouble. Oh, no! She just smiled and said she was helping me find my class. What a lie! But now, on top of all my homework, I’ve got to write a five page paper as punishment for threatening Elizabeth. I didn’t threaten anyone, I just told Elizabeth she had better get out of my way. That teacher really hates me for some reason.”

“I doubt the teacher hates you.” Suzanne glanced at Raven as she shook her head. “She doesn’t even know you.”

“She hates me. The whole school hates me. I’m not going back.”

“You’re being just a tad bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Her mom pressed her lips together trying not to chuckle.

“I’m not being dramatic. I’m telling you the truth,” whined Raven. Maybe if she laid it on a little heavier, her mom would get the idea and maybe, just maybe, they’d move back to her old school. She missed it, and she missed Ben, her only real friend.

She and Ben Stone met last year in Melody Tamers Art 2 class at Crystal City High School. At first neither spoke to the other or to anyone else for that matter, not until they discovered they both had the uncanny ability of working with clay. They could manipulate it into anything they wanted, though Raven’s ability was a little more refined than Ben’s. Their mutual love of working with clay led to a budding friendship that started moving into something more. That is until her mom lost her job and they had to move again. Ben told her he would text and email her, but that was over two weeks ago. And as of today, not one word. So much for Ben caring like he said he did.

“I know what you’re up to and it’s not going to work. We’re not moving back. This is home. So you had better get used to it,” said her mom.

“I wasn’t doing anything except telling you about the day I had, so you can understand why I hate this school.”

“Hate it or not, you’re going to this school. We aren’t moving.”

“But what if we did?” asked Raven. Hope filled her voice.

Suzanne pulled the car into the garage of their house. “We’re not moving. Not ever again.” She turned off the engine. “I got a job interview tomorrow with a great company.”

Raven stared at her mom. “You got an interview?” she asked.

Her mom nodded.

“That’s fantastic. I’m really happy for you.” Raven plastered a smile on her face. She felt her heart drop.

“Are you really? You’re not just saying that are you?” Suzanne gave Raven a pleading look.

“I’m happy for you. Honestly.” Raven got out of the car. “What will you
be
doing?”

Suzanne looked relieved. “I’m interviewing for the personal assistant to the vice-president in charge of acquisitions.”

“That
sounds really cool.” Raven said
as they walked into the house. It wasn’t an act. Raven was glad her mom had gotten the job interview so fast, but she just wished it had been somewhere else.
Like in Crystal City where Ben was, whispered a voice in her head.

Her mom laughed. “It’s just a fancy name for secretary to the vice-president. I hope they want me to start tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?
That soon?
Do you think that could happen?”

“If it does then it means a paycheck sooner. But it also means you’re riding the school bus,” said her mom.

“The bus?
Couldn’t you just take me to get my driver’s license?” pleaded Raven. Riding the school bus was fun when she was in first grade, but riding it as a junior was social suicide—not that she had any kind of social life. Ben and his promise to email her flickered in her mind. Maybe she would send him an email.

Suzanne sighed. “And what would you drive? We can’t afford to buy another car. I can barely afford the one we’ve got.”

Raven chewed on her bottom lip. Her mom always had an excuse for everything. At this rate, she would never get her driver’s license. It wasn’t fair.

“I know you want to get your license, and we will. It just won’t be anytime soon.”

“Why not?
I could drive you to work and pick you up after school.” Raven thought her solution was good. There was no way her mom could find a reason not to go with it.

“Raven, what if I need run errands on my lunch hour?”

Raven shook her head in disbelief. “We do them after school,” she countered.

“Just drop it. You’re not getting your license right now.”

“Why? Everyone gets their driver’s license when they turn sixteen. Why am I different?”

“Because I said so.
That’s why.”

“But—”

“Enough!” she sighed. “Go do your homework!” Suzanne slumped down into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and stared at the cabinets.

Raven started to say something else, but caught herself. It hit her, just how old her mom
looked, when in fact she was only thirty-eight years old. Raven wondered what had caused her to age like that. She knew the skirmish was over, at least for the time being. Without another word, she left the kitchen and went upstairs to her room. For the rest of the evening, Raven worked on her homework until she fell asleep while writing the report for Meritus Myers.

The steady beat of raindrops hitting the old window panes pulled Raven out of the deep sleep. She groaned and jerked the blue and green star-patterned quilt over her head, hoping it would block out the unwanted noise. Lightning
flashed, bathing the room in an
eerie white light. Three seconds later a loud boom rattled the glass in the windows.

“Okay. Okay. I’m awake.” Raven pulled the quilt off of her head. “Great!” she groaned.
“Rain.
Just what I needed.
Rain.”

She rolled over onto her side and pulled the quilt back over her head. Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed, followed by a tap, tap, tap on her bedroom door.

Raven frowned. Thunder boomed. It didn’t make tapping noises.

“Raven, it’s time to get up.” her mom’s voice sounded distant and tired.

“I’m awake,” she called out. “I don’t want to be,” she said in a much lower voice.

The door opened and Suzanne poked her head in. “Get dressed and come downstairs. I made your favorite birthday breakfast.”

“Birthday breakfast?
My birthday was yesterday.” Raven glanced at her mom.

“I know. But we didn’t exactly celebrate last night. So I thought we would do the whole birthday thing today.”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Whatever floats your
boat.
”

“Hurry up. I made all of your favorites: blueberry pancakes, extra crispy bacon, soft scrambled eggs.”

Raven’s stomach growled its approval. Skipping meals wasn’t something she did very often or willingly.

“And don’t forget about your birthday present,” said her mom.

“My birthday present?
I thought you had forgotten or something.”

“No, but if you want it, you’d better hurry up. I’ve got to leave in a little bit. The interview is at 8:30.” Suzanne closed the door.

Raven frowned as she kicked off the quilt. Her mom’s whole attitude was different from last night. It was bright and sunny, and filled with happiness even though the tiredness was still definitely there.

Raven didn’t want to go to school, but she wanted her birthday present. She groaned and slapped her forehead with her palm. “I should’ve known. Good move
,
mom. Good move.” To get her present, she had to get up. And once she was up and dressed, her mom would insist she go to school. There was no way out of it.

Pushing the quilt and sheet completely off, Raven got up and went to her closet. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt then went into her bathroom. Fifteen minutes later she emerged showered, dressed
,
and her partially dried hair pulled back into a ponytail. Not
bothering with makeup made getting dressed a lot quicker.

Thunder boomed again. The echoes barely faded away when the rain doubled its assault against the windows.

“Great.
Rain.
Just absolutely great!”
Raven grumbled. She grabbed her book bag from the corner she had tossed it into last night and went over to her desk to get the rest of her school stuff. Raven grabbed the calculus book and shoved it into the bag. She reached for her binder, but it slid, knocking folders and papers to the floor.

“This isn’t happening.” Raven grabbed the papers and put them into one of the folders, telling
herself
she would sort them later. Standing up, she put the folders into the bag and grabbed at the troublesome binder, but stopped mid-reach.

She pulled her hand away from it. On top of the binder was a small, thin box, like the kind jewelers put necklaces in, but it didn’t look like any jewelry box she’d ever seen. It was made of some kind of silver metal. The top had colored stones set into it, forming a circle with a trident and a lightning bolt in the center.

“Where did you come from?” she asked even though she knew it wouldn’t answer her. She looked around the room. The door was closed. She was the only one there.

Raven smiled.
“My birthday present.
That’s the only explanation.”  She picked it up. The box was cool almost cold to the touch, but very smooth. Even the inlaid stones appeared to be
part of the metal, not just inlaid into it
. Raven turned the box over. Not one mark or engraving. Not even a sticker marred the bottom. She shrugged and turned it again.