"Iontaobhas orm ceann beag, níl tú ullmhaithe do do dheireadh ach tiocfaidh sé ar aon bhealach."
Athena woke up with a start and looked around to make sure she hadn't wandered off to somewhere else again. She sighed in relief when she saw that she was still in her bed. These weird dreams were getting too frequent for her liking as they were getting more detailed. And heaven knows how she hated the fact that they were robbing her of her peace of mind.
That was the exact reason she avoided humans. They formed attachments too quickly and they were stressful to manage. Athena didn't need all that in her life as she certainly didn't need these annoying dreams.
Who the hell was the spirit in her dreams for goodness sake?!
Her attention was drawn away from the troubling dream as she felt a force trying to get through the walls of my mind. She opened a small window when she sensed her cat's concern.
"Don't worry Bruce, I'm okay now."
"Are you sure? Your sweat literally soaked the whole bed and now I smell like you."
He said it like it was a bad thing...
"Because it IS a bad thing! How is Serena supposed to fall for me when I'm smelling like a wet horse?"
"You know if she really liked you, she would have fallen by now..." Athena said with a smile as she scratched his head.
"She's just playing hard to get, but why am I explaining this to you? It's not like you're getting a boyfriend or anything." He said and jumped from my lap heading for his food bowl in the kitchen. "All the better. Lesser chances of someone else getting soaked with horse juice." He muttered on his way out.
"I wonder what cat meat tastes like?" Athena thought aloud to herself knowing he was still able to hear her.
"You're definitely not finding out from this cat honey. My claws are pretty sharp."
She just laughed and got up from her bed. With just a thought she fixed her bed and headed for the bathroom.
"Yo! Close your mind before entering there!" Bruce shouted across their link.
"I don't feel like!" Athena shouted back right before laughing and stepping into the bathroom. She sent Bruce the image of her picking up her shaving stick and she doubled over laughing at the string of curses he let out before closing her mind.
As she stepped into the bathtub she poured his food in his bowl and turned on the tap. She could have cleaned herself with just a thought but she felt the need to wash her body and actually feel the cleansing coolness of the water.
After showering, she dried herself off and walked into her closet that was connected to the bathroom. First, she heated the wind around her head to dry her hair while thinking of what to wear. Clothes were her guilty pleasures and she wasn't afraid to admit it. They just made her happy.
Hence the expansive walk-in closet.
After thinking for approximately 5 minutes, Athena decided on a pair of black really short high waisted shorts and an off-the-shoulder dark purple crop top with the words "Mind Your Bee's Nest!" printed across it. Then she wore her black leather ankle boots to go with the outfit. She felt like carrying a bag today so she got out the grey leather backpack that reminded her of Bruce and put in all she was going to need for the day.
The Guardians had detected supernatural activities in the human world and since she was literally the only one who lived in the area, they decided to send her to check it out.
At first she was cool with it until they told her that she was going to have to go undercover as a freaking highschool student. A century old supernatural being as a highschool student! They had younger agents of course but they just had to send her.
Oh well, I guess what's done's done, she thought with resignation.
She checked the time and saw that it was 8am. Thankfully she had time for breakfast. The school started by 9.
Athens picked up the phone The Guardians had assigned to her. She obviously couldn't open a communication portal while undercover so the phone had been enchanted to connect through realms. She also picked up the keys to her car. It was one of those butterfly doors type of cars. The type that flashy and had just about enough room for herself and Bruce.
As she headed out of her room, she passed the full length mirror in her open closet and muttered a curse under her breath. She had forgotten to style her hair and she was pretty sure Bruce wouldn't have reminded her.
Athena flicked her right wrist over and over again, playing with different styles until she settled for a simple updo that left tendrils of red hair to frame her long face. She also put on a little bit of makeup. It was her first day of school after all, she thought with an eye roll. Might as well make an impression. Satisfied with her look, she went to the kitchen and found Bruce cleaning himself.
She opened a bit of my mind.
"Need any help with that?" Athena asked with an innocent smile.
He smiled back and said "You better eat quickly, we wouldn't want you to miss the school bus on your first day of school now would we?"
She chuckled and continued "I heard that Serena's owner goes to this school."
He narrowed his eyes at her trying to see if she was lying. When he finally concluded that she was telling the truth, he leaped into her lap, looked up and gave her his cutest meow. She laughed before setting him down so she could start eating the pancakes she had just conjured.
"So you'll put in a good word, yes?" He asked hopefully.
"We'll see..." Athena responded with her mouth full.
"I hope you wouldn't be eating like that when you're putting in that word." He muttered.
"What was that?"
"Meow..."
"I thought as much."
She finished up the pancakes and walked to the door then she stopped and turned back to give Bruce a pointed look. "Make sure you eat your lunch Mr."
"But I'm on a diet!" Bruce cried.
"I come back and you've not eaten, you're sleeping with the neighbour's mutt tonight. We'll see if Serena prefers horses to dogs."
"Fine! I'll eat. Threats aren't necessary."
"Good. Now, come give mama a kiss." She said as she lowered herself to the ground.
"Since when did I start giving you kisses?" Bruce asked as he walked towards her.
"I'm helping you practice for Serena. You should be grateful."
"Whatever." He licked her face twice and looked into her eyes. "Try not to die again."
"I won't. Besides, I'll be surrounded by humans. It's not like I'm going into battle." She replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Fine. Now go before you're late on your first day."
"Okay dad."
And with a grin, Athena straightened herself and walked out.
She got into her car and pulled out of her driveway.
A small part of Athena was looking forward to the adventure while a larger part of her moaned bitterly at the thought of all the stress coming with it.
"Here goes nothing." She said with a resigned sigh as she drove in the direction of the school.
***
She got to the school and parked in the students' lot. As she got out she opened her senses.
She didn't want to miss even the slightest detail. And as expected, Athena heard people admiring her and her car as if they had just dropped from heaven.
Humans were so predictable.
She slung her backpack over one shoulder and made her way to the school's front doors, ignoring all the discreet and not so discreet mutterings of the people she walked by. She used her mind to get the basic layout of the school and once she'd gotten a clear picture, she walked straight to the admin office.
She didn't feel like talking to anyone just yet. With the way almost everyone was staring, you'd think that she was on the Most Wanted list.
Athena knocked when she finally got to the door and waited.
"Come in!" Someone called from inside and she walked in to find Dimitri at a desk typing rapidly on a keyboard and looking like he wished he were somewhere else. That makes two of us, Athena thought.
"Dim? What are you doing here?" She asked, barely containing her laughter.
"Oh! So you're the reason they sent me to this godforsaken place." He said when he saw her come in.
"It's nice to see you too Dim." Athena said with a smile.
Dimitri was also an agent but being a Tai he specialized in interrealm technology. He was probably the one that designed her phone.
"Yeah, whatever. Here's your schedule and your locker's number and code. I swear The Guardians are getting a real kick out of this. Athena Hall as a highschool student." He said with a chuckle as she collected the papers he handed over to her.
"You should have seen Thea's face when she was telling me about it. It was so obvious she wanted to burst into laughter." Athena said with a s slight frown.
"Well, you're on your own though." Dimitri said while packing his things. "I'm going to the next realm. Technical emergency and I'm the closest Tai."
"Really? Well that just sucks. Hold up. The next realm? Isn't that where Leah lives?" Athena asked, referring to Dimitri's recent ex.
"Which is exactly why I'm going in with a Morpher." He responded easily.
Morphers could change their shapes and appearances as well as those of other people with their permission.
"It really sucks to be you right now." Athena said with a laugh
"Says the century old highschool student." Dimitri said with a snort.
"Whatever. Have fun and I hope Leah doesn't figure out your plan before it works. For your own sake." Athena said as she walked out.
"Say hi to Bruce for me will ya?" Dimitri called after her.
"Sure."
Athena looked down at her schedule and memorized it at the first glance before throwing it in the bin on the way to her locker.
Today was going to be a long day.
***
How the hell had he overslept? Darren thought as he rushed in and out of the bathroom. Then he remembered that his parents were not around. They had mentioned a certain emergency trip they'd had to go on.
He scoffed as he dragged on his pants. You would think that an 18 year old male could at least wake up on his own. He shook his head and reached for his phone and his backpack.
"Kree faråc t'e humaitě çhïrøm kūm êtoiñ f'è c-hæ."
Oh...so the voices were back. It had been almost a month since he'd heard them. When he started hearing them he'd been only 6 years old so his parents had told him they were his imaginary friends. As he grew older he knew differently.
Not only were these "imaginary friends" speaking in no known language but sometimes they got so loud he felt as if someone was constantly beating on his brain. That was when he started using music to drown them out.
He had known that people would think he was crazy if he started complaining about voices in his head. Hell, he would have thought anyone who had voices in their head was crazy. So he kept it to himself.
That had been until one drunken night with his best friend, Kyle. Luckily for him, Kyle had taken him seriously and had helped him in his search for the language the voices spoke in. Needless to say, they still had no clue.
Darren wore his shoes and ran into the kitchen for an apple then to his truck. He checked the time, 8:45am. Okay, he still had about 15 minutes to kill and so he pulled out of his driveway and drove to Ives High, checking his hair in the rearview mirror and running his hand through his black mane to tame it. He'd needed a haircut for a while now but it kept slipping his mind.
Thankfully, traffic was light so he made it to school with 5 minutes to spare. He rushed out of his car and made his way to the admin office for his schedule, locker number and code. The halls were almost empty, meaning he was running really late.
He got to the door of the office and knocked twice, fixing his headphones on his neck and straightening himself out while waiting to be asked in.
"Come in!" A voice called out and Darren stepped into the office with a smile.
"Hey Karen. How's it going?" He said to the middle aged lady sitting at the wide desk and typing rapidly on the laptop in front of her.
Karen looked up and sighed. "I'm not even surprised you're coming in now." She said as she brought out his schedule, locker number and code from a file beside the her laptop.
"Isn't this what you ladies call being fashionably late?" Darren asked with a grin and collected the papers she handed to him.
"You really don't have the time for this conversation young man. You're having Philip first." She said and pointed to the papers in his hand.
Darren looked at his schedule and true enough, he saw Professor Philip next to Advance Calculus. He groaned and dashed out of the office.
"Have a nice day Miss K." He said with a wave on his way out.
Of all the classes to be running late for, it just had to be the dragon's class.
He ran all the way to the class and paused at the door to catch his breath before walking in. He was so happy Professor Philip was running late too. After a quick scan, he confirmed that Kyle was also late, he walked up to three empty seats and kept his bag on the one to his left for Kyle.
He hadn't noticed brunette that had been trying to get his attention when he walked in.
Regina had been trying to do just that for the past 2 years and wasn't getting anywhere with the raven haired hunk. It was so frustrating. Almost every guy at Ives High wanted a chance with Regina Turner but the one guy she wanted a chance with didn't even notice her.
She'd taken extra care with her makeup that morning hoping he would at least glance her way this new term but he'd just walked past and sat three rows behind her. She'd almost gotten up to follow him but she still had a reputation to think of and so she stayed where she was, examining her perfectly manicured fingers.
Darren was going through his IG feed when Kyle walked up to him and sat right on his bag.
"Hey. Get up. You're suffocating my bag!" Darren said and smacked Kyle's head.
Kyle just shifted a little so that Darren could drag his bag from under him. He was too tired to even hit Darren back.
"What's up with you?" Darren asked after placing his bag on the other empty seat.
"Dude. Remind me to never party on a school night again." Kyle said with a groan.
Darren laughed and went back to his phone. "I told you not to go to Loren's party but you didn't listen."
Kyle just grunted and placed his head on his desk earning a chuckle from Darren.
"Kree faråc t'e humaitě çhïrøm kūm êtoiñ f'è c-hæ."
Yeah, Darren thought, I heard you the first time.
But the voices kept repeating the same thing over and over again so Darren just wore his head phones and turned on his music player to the highest.
That was when she walked in.