The day drags on, with the few highlights in the morning. Sam, Avery and I can't go back to the cabin so we do other things. Like play old card games.
After around seven hours of just hanging out, Avery and I head home.
"Happy birthday," Sam says as we walk out the door.
"Thanks," I respond then close the door.
The night is cool, with a small breeze. I smell rain and look up, seeing clouds moving to cover up the setting sun.
Nothing makes a sound besides the soft thumps of me and Avery's feet hitting the ground and the wind whispering through the trees. Even the crickets have seemed to stop chirping, letting the night remain in silence.
"See you tomorrow?" Avery asks, watching me jump the fence to my house. "That is, if you survive."
I roll my eyes. "Yeah."
Unlike most times, when I get within 10 feet of my house, I feel it. The aura of power. It hits me harder than I expect it to. And the second I enter the house, I feel another blast. This one is stronger. And while it seems to come from everywhere in the house, as I walk in I can tell that it is stronger around Hel.
They are sitting at the table, talking. Hel is listening to something Vidor is saying about his job here. I stop in the doorway, waiting for them to notice me.
Finally, Brenna stands up and looks over at me. "Hello Mia," She says warmly, smiling at me. "Come sit down, we are just about to eat dinner."
I walk over to the table, pausing once to debate where to sit. I end up going to one end of the table so that I can be directly across from Hel.
"So Mia," Hel says conversationally. "How is school for you?"
A glance from Vidor tells me that she is trying to seem normal and not weird. So, I start talking about the field trip that we went on and what we learned. I skip over that part with the rock as to not give away anything.
Hel nods along with my talking, occasionally asking questions about random things. Before Brenna and Vidor bring over food, I have told her about what we are learning in school, how I am going into the advanced science program and Avery and Sam.
"Dinner is served," Vidor says, trying and failing to gracefully set down the plates of food in his hands. I giggle as he almost drops some food.
"Mia be nice," Brenna scolds, smiling slightly at her husband.
"Sorry mom," I mutter. I wait until Hel has taken some of the food to put some on my own plate. Brenna told me yesterday to do this because it is what Hel is used to.
Dinner is made of chicken and several types of vegetable, along with some rolls and mashed potatoes. It is more than we would normally ever eat except for on Thanksgiving. Even when it is someone's birthday there is less food.
When I have finished with dinner, I go to put my plate away before returning to the table. Brenna is already done, but Hel seems to be eating purposefully slow. Then I remember that in most realms, when the king or queen is done everyone is done. So Hel eats slowly out of habit. Where that rule came from, I don't know.
A few minutes later, Vidor is done eating, with Hel following.
With all of us sitting at the table done eating, talk starts up again. About anything and everything. School, work, life. Everything except Hel. She stays quiet about herself, and let us talk first.
As the conversation starts to die out, out of the corner of my eye I see some of the black smoke. Soon, I see Hel occasionally glancing at it.
She leans forward and says a few words in a strange language to Brenna, who responds in the same language.
YOU ARE READING
Queen of Hel
FantasyMia Bell is 13 years old, and ready for the future. She believes that she is going become a chemist. But when she is exposed to strange radiation from a rock that fell from the sky, her life changes. Now she has to deal with multiple realms, and an...
