Daughter of Wisdom

Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

We walked down a grey bricked road towards the entrance of the city. The Institute was huge, just like everything else around there. The entrance to New Athens was a fifteen foot tall arch with Greek words inscribed on it. Two guards dressed in what was probably Greek armor stood at either side of the Arch, huge swords attached to their belts, just like Ryan’s, but theirs’ were different looking. We were about to walk through when the two guards moved into our path.

“Identification,” one said tersely.

“Ryan McLeary and new found Half-God who is to be taken to the Claiming Temple.”

The two guards moved back to their spots and we kept walking. I looked at them as we passed by.

This is too weird, I thought to myself, too weird. The city was just as beautiful as it was gigantic. The streets were prefect and intricately laid out, almost better than the Romans themselves . They buildings were tall and elegant and some were shorter and creative looking, decorated with fun colors or ivy lacing through the stones. I “ooh”ed and “ah”ed like a tourist. Ryan kept looking over at me trying to suppress a laugh.

“What?” I asked, pouting. He chuckled

“Nothing, it’s just funny. This is my first time on a half-god finding mission, and it’s a lot different than what I had expected.”

“Are you trying to say something, McLeary?” He stood up straight, mocking a soldier.

“No, ma’am. Not at all,” he said seriously, his face tight. He cracked a smile and I shook my head trying not to laugh.

“You would never survive in the military.”   

“And what makes you think you would?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Because I have,” I said, walking past him aimlessly.

“It’s that way,” he pointed down a different street, “and what do you mean by that?” he asked, catching up to me as I started walking down the other street.

“It means that four and a half months in Military school teaches you more than how to get over your food dislikes.”

“You went to Militaryschool?!” he gaped.

“Yup.”

“Why?!”

“Because my ex-step mother decided she was tired of me getting expelled from school after school. Seventeen to be exact, and that’s over a three year period, mind you.”

He stopped in the middle of the quieter street. This one wasn’t as bustling as the other we had walked through. He snapped out of it and caught up with me again.

“Seventeen?!”

“You ask a lot of questions,” I said, sighing dramatically. He jokingly gave me rude look.

“Whatever, but that’s kind of a lot.”

“For you, I guess. It was normal for me to get kicked out of whatever school I ended up going to. Whether it was from getting set up by other students, or whether I did it myself, it didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t like they could hold me back a grade and I was happy to get away from those brats called peers.” I sneered at the last word. They weren’t “peers” they were rats hiding in pretty little hooker and jock like looking bodies.

“Why wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“Why wouldn’t I what?”

“Get held back a grade.”

“Oh, pff, I’m too smart to be held back a grade. Heck, I could be a senior if I wanted to right now, or even be in college, but I honestly don’t really feel the need, it’s not like I ever go to class, and if I do, I don’t actually pay attention.”

“Wait, so let me get this right, you are past college level intelligence, but you don’t want to skip anything because you don’t “feel the need” and you are how old?” His eyebrows and disappeared again.

“Sixteen as of two months ago.” His eyes almost got the size of tennis balls, making me smirk. “Makes you think twice about wanting to have an argument with me, huh?”

“Um, yeah, sorta.”    

We walked in silence for a little while. He lead to be a huge temple-like building. It had four huge columns, all different colors.

“What do the colors mean?” I asked. Things like this always meant something.

“Each color represents one of our most exalted God. The dark purple, almost black is for Hades, God of the underworld, the Gold one is for Zeus, leader of the Gods and ruler of the heavens, the deep bluey-green one is for Poseidon, God of the Seas and water, and lastly, the olive green one is for Athena, founder of our great city and protector of our people. She is the most honored God in the entire City.”

“Great,” I muttered under my breath. He led me up the gigantic flight of stairs in front of a twenty foot tall set of golden, inscribed doors. I had no idea what if meant because some of it was Greek and the rest was pictures.

Ryan muttered something in Greek (maybe? Who knows . . . ) and a deep, rumbling sound came from inside. Slowly the doors started to slide open. My jaw, too, opened,  nearly hitting my chest. He started to walk forward then stopped and looked back at me. I looked down from the huge opening and looked at him.

“Are you coming?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, scampering after him. It was dimly lit. There seemed to be no electricity used inside because the only light came from widely spaced torch-like things. Golden colored bowls on chains hung from the walls, a small fire glowing ablaze inside each one. I scooted closer to Ryan. The place didn’t feel right. It felt eerie and like something evil lurked in the darkness that seemed to be everywhere. 

We walked down a huge, stone hall that seemed to go on forever, until we came on a set of gigantic doors. Again. Ryan set his hands on the door and muttered something in Greek. AGAIN. I sensed a pattern going on . . .

The door slowly opened with a deep groaning sound. It was completely dark inside.

Ryan looked over expectantly.

“What? You don’t expect me to go in there, do you?” I said nervously. He raised his eyebrows.

“What do you think?”

“Come with me, please!” I pleaded, staring into the black abyss.

“I can’t do that. Unclaimed demi-Gods must going into the Chamber of Recognition by themselves for the claiming process to take place properly,” he said in a serious tone. I gulped. “Don’t worry. It isn’t that bad. It’s actually pretty cool.”

“How will you know if I have been claimed when I come back out, though?” I asked. A smirked played on his lips.

“Oh, we’ll know.”