Athena's descendants and the Jewel of Barthimia (Greek mythology)

Chapter 6 - Squally ball.

Chapter 6 - Squally ball.

The speaker continued to commentate for the whole game and its stupid jokes were not the reason why Jay was laughing.

He was laughing at the curses and spells in the game: Jordan was hit by the jelly-legs curse, Claire was being attacked by weeds when she stood in the same space for more than two seconds, the boys were hit with a snow curse which was followed up by a wind spell (made a treacherous blizzard), Hollie was hit with a singing curse (‘Jingle bells, really? It’s summer!’ The speaker had laughed), and Lochlan spent the last minutes of the game with a big, yellow beak instead of a nose. In the end the girls won, fifty-two to thirty-nine.

“That’s a win for Hollie, Philippa, Claire and Bobby. Curses withdrawn.” At the last words of the speaker, all the curses reversed, including Lochlan’s beak. All eight of the tired out players returned from the court to meet Jay and the other watchers.

“Ok, if you still got some energy left, us four will play against you girls. And go easy on us, please,” Amy added.

Jay followed Amy, Alice and Cameron onto the far court.

“Eh, Jay. Do you know any curses or spells?” Alice asked nervously, taking the front quadrant and pushing Jay onto the other front space.

“None apart from the scare spell. Cameron told me that one,” Jay replied as he took the front section of his court.

“Well, try and remember these… Iglormafy, Hauntus, Repuntas serpent and Flaixor mintha-”

“Minthamya,” Jay interrupted, “I remember that one,” he laughed, biting his lip.

Then, just like in the game between the girls and boys, the announcement for the start echoed through the arena, this time the voice of Broudie.

“Rackets at the ready,” A racket appeared in Jay’s hands. It felt quite heavy for a piece of wood. They were made of pure oak, and plastic wiring that was wrapped around the edges and neatly woven in and out like patchwork.

“and the squally,” A ball rose from the ground behind Jay and he started reassuring himself that he wasn’t going to fail at this sport - unlike most sports which were not Jay’s strong points, ‘how hard can this be, it’s like badminton and volleyball put together, and a bit of magic of course.’ His inner self called out to him.

“Then let’s play squally ball!!!” Broudie finished off his introduction and Jay felt a rush of energy.

He heard the swing of a racket, the muttering of a spell, a collision between racket and ball, and then he looked up and saw the squally fly over his head.

It sped over the net, casting a shadow on the pitch, and then got pelted back over by Claire, who‘s arms, when she hit it, turned green and scaly.

‘Interesting?’ Jay thought, shaking his arms and his legs, readying himself.

The ball went back and forth many times before it first came near Jay’s section, and when it did, he was ready.

He pulled his racket behind him and it was about a metre away when Jay realised that he needed to say one of the spells Alice had told him just before the game had started.

It felt weird hearing those words constantly repeating in his mind in a casual tone. Magic, spells, curses… it was all still being digested. Jay just needed more time, it’s not every day you get told your some prophesised sorcerer who needs to defend the world. Unfortunately now wasn’t the time to sit and digest, he was playing squally ball!