Body, Mind and God

Chapter 5: Athelia

Chapter 5: Athelia

Athelia trudged upstairs. It was late for her, almost half past nine, and she was exhausted from babysitting Jenny. She was twelve, and a total ball of energy. She wanted to talk and talk and call her friends and put on nail polish and... Athelia got tired just watching her. It was the usual battle to get Jen to actually eat her food. For a pre-teen, she seriously had some food issues. She then had to argue with a petulant and hormonal twelvie about bedtimes and whether or not she could take her phone to bed. Thank goodness Jenny had gone straight to sleep.

Athelia entered her room and moved over to the window, staring out into the dark night. A movement caught her eye, and she stared until she made out a figure, walking briskly down the street. It was Isibel! Athelia couldn't believe her eyes. She was wearing a flimsy, almost see-through, dress, which was tied at the waist by a gold cord. Her feet must have been freezing, because she was sporting only sandals in September, and her face...

Athelia got a closer look as Isibel walked past the house, and was shocked to see that she looked Egyptian, a far cry from the chic Queen Bee of Olympian Academy. Her eyes were lined with kohl, and her lips were painted a bright red. She looked stunning. Athelia shook her head and moved away from the window. Isibel was obviously on her way home after a night out, one which Athelia was sure she would be jealous of when she heard about it. She doubted her birthday would be anything like Isibel's.

After showering and dressing quickly in her own pyjamas, Athelia hopped into bed, snuggling down under her many duvets, drifting off into sleep with relative ease.

She dreamed that Athena, the goddess of wisdom, met her on a battlefield painted with blood, under a yellow moon. The goddess looked regal and sure, her grey eyes - so similar to Athelia's - flashing in triumph, and her shield raised over her head in victory. In a flash, the goddess had turned around to face her.
"Greetings, little Guarder." Athena acknowledged her. "How fortunate for us to meet in the Dreamland, and not in other circumstances." The goddess smiled.
"I don't think I understood much of that." Athelia admitted. "What's a Guarder? I'm assuming Dreamland is in the dream, but what other circumstances?" Athena laughed, and held up her hand. Athelia fell silent.
"It's so refreshing, your curiosity. I will explain everything, but in due time, little Guarder" She must have seen the look of disappointment on Athelia's face, and relented a little. "One for tonight then. Under other circumstances, our meeting would have ended with you thinking you were going crazy. I will talk to you in the waking world tomorrow, little Guarder. Until then, sleep well." The goddess disappeared in a flash, leaving Athelia open mouthed. Finally, the dream faded to darkness, leaving her sleeping peacefully.

She woke up with a splitting headache.
"Ow." She muttered, rolling over to look at the clock. It was just past five, way too early for her to have a productive mind today. She groaned as the headache intensified, and rolled out of her covers to get an asprin out of her dresser. When ten minutes later it hadn't done anything for her, she gave up on the idea of sleep, and crept quietly out of her room, down to the kitchen, avoiding the third last stair which creaked. She made it successfully to the kitchen, and had almost made it to the plates cabinet when a voice startled her.

'Hello.' Athelia tried to find the source of the musical, amused and weirdly familiar voice, but saw no one.
"Who's there?" She said aloud, mentally calculating how far she was from the knife rack.
'You won't need the knives.' The voice came again. How did it know... 'What you're thinking?' The voice finished, unnervingly accurate in it's prediction of her thoughts. Athelia suddenly realized it was all in her head. Was this a side effect of the headache that plagued her? Or was she going crazy? The voice let her ponder that one, saying nothing, however the thought that she was going crazy reminded her of the dream last night where she met Athena. That's why the voice sounded so familiar!
"Athena?" She asked the silence tentatively.
'Yes, little Guarder.' Came the reply. 'But you don't have to talk out loud. I can hear all your thoughts, you know.' That explained the "physic" powers of "the voice".
'So I should talk like this?' Athelia tried.
'Yes. Like that.' Athelia could hear the smile in Athena's voice. 'I can't talk any longer. There is still so much to do! I will explain later. Goodbye for now, little Guarder.' The headache left Athelia immediately, as did the feeling that another person was around, leaving her feeling more alone than she'd been in years.
'Athena?' Silence. Athelia shrugged off the loneliness and went back to bed. Another hour's sleep would fix everything.

Athelia arrived at school and was, to her complete surprise, bombarded by her friends hugging her and wishing her a happy birthday. She laughed with them as Diana explained Isibel's episode in the woods, and told them what she'd seen out her window the night before, which had them in stitches imagining the bedraggled figure. The bell was ringing then, heralding the boredom to come, but scattering them all the same. It was lunch hour before they were all together again. They crowded their usual table in the cafeteria, and Athelia enjoyed being a real part of the group, not just the one who spoke from behind a book. Halfway through lunch, something totally out of the ordinary happened. Isibel got up and left her table, tray and all, and came over to Athelia.
"I need to talk to you." She hissed at the blonde girl.
"Okay." Athelia was curious. She shot her group a few 'I'm-as-confused-as-you-are' glances, and got up, following Isibel through the cafeteria doors and down the hall until there were no listeners.

"Did you get a headache this morning?" Isibel demanded. Athelia recoiled in shock. How did she know?
"Yeah." No point in lying, Athelia thought. Now it was Isibel's turn to look shocked.
"And... Did you have, um, like a, um..." Athelia had never seen Isibel struggle this hard for words. She was usually more self assured. And meaner. But she could figure out what the girl was asking. Did you have a voice in your head?
"Yes." Athelia told her truthfully.
"You didn't even know what I was going to say!" Isibel exclaimed.
"You were trying to ask if I had a voice in my head. The answer is yes." Something clicked into place in her head. "Was that why you were asking about Isis yesterday? Because she's your voice?" Isibel paled. She was right.
"How did you know?" She whispered, looking a bit afraid of Athelia.
"I guessed."
"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Isibel looked more frightened of this than the fact that Athelia had guessed about the voice.
"No. I won't." She assured her. "Can I ask something though? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." The other girl nodded. A million questions flew through Athelia's head. Is Isis there now? Do you still have a headache? Has it all stopped? She picked one at random. "Why were you wearing a sheath dress and sandals last night?" Isibel's face told her it was a long story. Her response confirmed it.
"Long story short, Isis turned me into a bird, then put me in that costume." Athelia's face must have said what she couldn't get out, and Isibel laughed. "It wasn't that bad, really."
"I sincerely hope Athena doesn't turn me into a bird." Athelia told her. Isibel laughed again.
"What's Athena the goddess of?" Isibel asked.
"Wisdom, knowledge, battle strategy and useful crafts." Athelia informed her.
"Huh. That suits you." She paused, and seemed to have a conversation in her head. "I have to go now. Not a word of this to anyone?" Athelia nodded her agreement. "Good. Bye!" And then she was gone.

Athelia plodded back to the canteen, pondering her conversation with Isibel. There had been more questions raised than answered. She wandered into the cafeteria and back over to her friends. All eyes were on Thalia.
"...And then Kat spilled her drink all down herself!" The group burst out laughing, none louder than Katerina herself. Athelia sat down and the focus instantly shifted to her.
"So what did Isibel want?" Cecily asked.
"Oh, nothing. She just wanted me to help her with our last classics assignment." Athelia hoped her blush wouldn't give away the lie. There were no disbelieving looks however, so she was sure she'd gotten away with it. The topic soon turned to the plans for that night. Cecily, Katerina and Athelia were all for a quiet night at the coffee shop, while Thalia and Diana obviously had something a bit more adventurous in mind. Athelia's side won of course, as it was her birthday, and they left the cafeteria on the bell in high spirits, the plan for tonight set.

Athelia was just heading to physics for sixth hour when Diana intercepted her in the hallway.
"So I was thinking that we could totally spice up tonight a bit and..." Athelia cut her off with a glare.
"Are you kidding me? I'm dying for a coffee. You can do your thing on Thursday. And can you really see Cecily in the woods?" Diana shook her head and laughed. Athelia joined in.
"Okay, we'll do it your way." Diana conceded.

But a glint in her eye told Athelia that Diana wasn't loosing the war, just a small battle.

There would be excitement tonight, she could tell, whether she wanted it or not.