Melody Swan

Chapter 9 - Plan A

Melody was dreaming.

She was standing in a field of dewy green grass, among a crowd of hooting and hollering Pixies. A young Superpixie in a red jersey and red shorts, with spiky brown hair and sage eyes was kicking a red ball around the field, with a throng of other male and female Superpixies bolting after him, from every which way. He kneed the ball, crisscrossed it underneath his legs, and blocked the other six from the ball with his lean hands.

"Unifrag! Unifrag! Unifrag!" chanted all the Pixies. Melody found herself hollering Unifrag the loudest out of all of them.

2 minutes had passed. Unifrag had been declared the four-time winner of the Red Cup, which is what Melody anticipated the tournament to be named. Pink confetti showered from the sky like rain, and Unifrag had been awarded with a shiny golden trophy with his name engraved in it. What? Dreams don't make sense.

Pixies were lining up in front of Unifrag for autographs. Melody was first in line.

"Would you like an autograph, Princess Melody?" Unifrag asked with a pen in hand.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Melody tried to speak, but her mouth was glued shut. She tried to touch Unifrag, but her whole body was glued in place.

Before Melody got the chance to even think about responding to Unifrag, everything became a black blur with distorted voices.

New Selendine. New Selendine. New Selendine.

Melody woke up with a gasp. New Selendine. Right—her mission at New Selendine. She was fourteen now. Jessica was already out of bed, Melody assumed.

Melody jumped out of bed, and exited the room, with an eye to the poster of Unifrag. She would never forget that dream.

She headed to the bathroom, which thankfully, everyone was done using. She peed first, and flushed the toilet.

A wooden toothbrush and cottony female underwear lay under a label reading Melody. So she decided it was hers.

Melody squirted pink toothpaste onto her brush after washing it, and then scrubbed her teeth and tongue, before rinsing her mouth. She didn't care that she was wearing the same piece of clothing for two days. At least it didn't smell bad. Afterwards, she bolted into the living room, where Jessica and Jax were seated at the dining table, Ed and Darci frantic, stuffing food into their mouths all the while feeding baby Jake milk through a bottle. Melody assumed that they had work to do.

Piping hot toast waited at the table, with steaming tea to accompany it. Melody knew all about these foods, except only the description of their looks, and not their tastes.

Jax and Jessica chowed down, Jessica's yellow backpack slung on her chair, while waving 'Hi' to Melody, who waved back as she took her seat.

"Good morning, Melody. You have a Very-High-Energy toast accompanied by tea. And Ajax gets kibble, which we bought from the local pet store. Enjoy." Darci offered.

"Gee. Thanks!" Melody replied as she devoured her toast, and slurped her tea. Ajax wolfed down his bowl like the German Shepherd he was.

It was now time. Time for the mission.

"Seeya!" Jessica waved as she flew out of the door, with her backpack and lunchbag that Darci was prepping after she got kisses from Ed and Darci.

"Fourth grade." Jax informed.

"Oh." Melody sounded back. "Good to know."

"Jackson, Melody, stay safe." Darci pleaded. She handed Melody a bag of kibble. "Bring it to the Elder's tent, so Ajax can eat some more there.