"How did it feel for you?" Max asked. "When your eyes started..." He hesitated, gesturing at my face. "... glowing?"
"I... I think I saw my whole life flash before my eyes! And then, I kinda wanted to sing the "Circle of Life" song from the Lion King. Whoa. But, Max, it all makes kind of sense now!"
"What? You being daughter of the god of Light?" He croaked.
"Yes! In the past, in the summer, I could sunbathe for hours without getting sunburnt, or suntanned."
"That is weird," he agreed.
"And sometimes I would just like lay in the grass, staring at the son for minutes on end. My eyes would never get hurt or get irritated."
"Maybe this is why your irises were yellow and glowy when I saw you in the boys' restroom! Remember I asked you about that! And the way you brandished that mop against the shadows or whatever those things were!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah."
Max sat next to me in silence, rolling his cap from one hand to another, his face scrunched in deep thought.
He must be going through the same thing as me. Like, trying to assimilate the news.
"Dang, we are children of the Slavic gods, Max! Don't you think that's cool?" I didn't understand how he didn't hype over this.
I was finally someone. Someone special. I, who's always been a nobody.
"Sure, it's cool." He nodded. "To me, it's also kinda scary, dunno. And... Dana?"
"Hmm?"
"I'd never noticed anything special about me before. Wait. Do you think that I'd always been so good at hockey because Morana..."
I could see it was hard for him to say it.
"Because Morana is my mother? You know, ice goddess and all that?"
Our musings were interrupted by the raised voices around us.
Were the goddesses... arguing?
"Yes, we will be sending them on a quest. You are well aware why your son and Miss Ilic are here, Morana," Gamayun rolled her eyes at the goddess of death. "These two are the chosen heroes for the task. The two the prophecy has spoken of."
Morana wrinkled her nose. "Over the millennia, we have trained and assisted many demigods, but I am telling you, they are too young. Max is too young. He's just been claimed five minutes ago!"
"Ladies, please don't fight!" Lelya whined, making puppy eyes at them. "We can solve this peacefully, can't we?"
"You stay out of this!" Both Gamayun and Morana yelled.
Lelya retreated to her woodland throne, pouting all the way.
"Are these your saviours of humankind? Just look at them! Should we be playing their nursemaids? No thank you!" Morana shouted.
I blushed. "Hey, we're not kids."
"Um, Dana," said Max, "we kinda are."
"We're teenagers."
"That's the same thing, just a different word, dearie." Morana held my chin between her claws.
"Yeah, duh, but my version sounds better," I muttered.
It was not like I wanted them to tell me what all this fuss was about, and what task they had in mind sending us on.
Just wished to prove my point about us being mature enough to handle big stuff.
Then she flicked the armrest of her throne, fixating her dark gaze on us. "This task. Is not. For them. They are just children."
"Two demigod children, if you will, Morana. Don't you forget that. After the two Claims have been performed, they have been strengthened with their parental lineage powers. A shard of your soul is within Mr. Martinez, and a shard of Belobog's soul is within Miss Ilic. The fate of the world is at stake. If that door opens tonight... It would bring doom upon us all," Gamayun whispered.
My skin prickled with fury. "Can you please stop talking about us as if we weren't here? What door? Who's opening it? What would bring doom upon us all?" I waved my arms around theatrically, mimicking Gamayun.
A small smile crept upon Max's face at my imitation.
It warmed my heart.
"Very well, Miss Ilic." Gamayun sighed. "I suppose you have proven your point, despite the fact that I disagree with your mockery. You do deserve to know." She regarded me solemnly through her square black-rimmed glasses. "It all began with the battle between two brothers: Belobog, the god of Light, and Chernobog, the god of Shadow, seven twelvemonths ago. Chernobog wanted supremacy, you see. He wished to plunge the world into chaos and send his shades to Light Plane and Earth Plane alike."
"Chernobog? I didn't see that name on any of the thrones while I was bowing to them," Max whispered at me.
"That's because he's not in this Throne Chamber," I whispered back. "Did you see an empty throne space between Morana and Belobog?"
He nodded. "What about it?"
"Legend says it's not here, in the Light Plane, but down there. In the Shadow Plane." I gestured at the shimmery light floor under us.
"You are quite right, Miss Ilic," Gamayun gave a grim nod. "Chernobog's throne lies in the Shadow Palace, under the Shadow Mountain. It can be seen from here, if one looks hard enough." She pointed at the place where the throne should be.
I stared at the empty spot, and then the strangest thing happened.
Under the shimmering, light floor, dark shadows swirled, and an exact, faithful copy of the Throne Chamber appeared. It was like a perfect mirror image of one of the chairs in the room, yet black as soot, and turned upside down. In the Shadow Chamber, unlike here, in the Throne Chamber, all the other royal chairs were missing, but one—that of Chernobog.
Black clouds swirled above it and furred and clawed creatures and shades roamed around it, opening their fanged mouths, their screams inaudible. The throne itself stood without its master.
On the left of it, loomed a tall horse as black as midnight, digging impatiently into the dirt with its hoofs, as if waiting on his rider. Its eyes were two empty sockets.
On the right of the throne, a black wolf sat on its hind legs. As if suddenly realizing I was watching it, the animal turned its shadowy head and looked right into my eyes. It let out a blood-curdling howl full of longing.
"Dana. Dana! Dana, come back!" Max's voice called for me, but it was as if I were submerged into the shady, oily river, and he was somewhere far, far away, on the surface.
I could barely make out his words, sinking deeper and deeper down under.
Then two strong bird claws dug into my shoulder, pulling me up and out of the muddy waters of the shades.
I was back in the Throne Chamber, and Gamayun was peering at me with concern.
"The lure of the Shadows can be powerful, Miss Ilic. One must take care not to dwell on them for too long, or they might latch onto your Light."
"I am sorry, I didn't mean to," I muttered.
"That is quite alright. Now, there is no time to lose. You must set out on your quest at once."
As I glanced around the Throne Chamber, I realized Max and I were now left alone with Gamayun. Both Lelya and Morana were gone.
"Um, Ma'm," Max said. "You haven't told us what it is yet."
She grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."
"Chernobog and Belobog," I said, trying to remember what she was saying before my little vision excursion. "You told us they were fighting over the supremacy of the Earth Plane. That's our Plane, isn't it?"
She let out a deep sigh. "Yes. Yes it is. And Chernobog lost. Belobog sealed him shut behind the Shadow Door, at a great cost and loss of his own. But Chernobog has found a way to return."
"How can he... come back?" My mouth went dry.
"A ritual from the book of Veles must be performed, seven years and seven days after his imprisonment. This is because the words on the ritual page from the book of Veles become visible every seven years, on the day of summer solstice. The page must be read out loud before the Shadow Door, and two ritual items are to be combined. That day is today."
"Wha... Today?!" Goosebumps pricked my skin.
"And now the Shadow Drake, the commander of his armies, has the book and knows, what is to be done."
"The book of Veles?" Max gulped.
"In Slavic mythology, it's the book of the Dead." I said, cold sweat running down my spine. "How did Bla..." I blushed, stopping myself on time. "Erm, I mean, how did Shadow Drake get the ritual page?"
"The ritual page of the book of Veles, Miss Ilic, has formed a part of your diary all along. You were assigned its custodian long ago, when you were but a small child. For only those who shared a portion of divine blood with Chernobog, and were not a god or a goddess themselves, could be tasked to protect it. And now, the Shadow Drake has taken it from you."
"M-my diary?" I asked, completely bewildered.
Blake did take it from me! In the boys' bathroom.
"But, then, you knew that I was a demigoddess all along? And shared blood with Belobog and Chernobog? Why all this Claim talk, then, and all this nonsense?"
"Yep." Max nodded. "Morana was practically yelling at me she was my mother since we walked through the Throne Chamber door. Why did we need to go through all that stuff?"
"It may have seemed a mere formality, but it is not so." Gamayun patted me on the back, her eyes watery. "The Claim was necessary for you two to be imbued with the powers of divine blood. For only with them, you may stand a chance of interrupting the ritual. If the Shadow Drake reaches the Shadow Door before midnight, and reads the ritual page from the book of Veles, Chernobog will break free. And all will be lost."
My throat tightened. All those people on Earth. Millions of people I had never met. They would be hurt because of this.
Because of me.
How could I be so stupid! I... I freed a Shadow Drake! And Blake... Was he just pretending to be my friend all along?
"If Chernobog isn't stopped, the world as you know it will be gone forever. And it has been foretold it shall happen thus, long ago."
"Foretold by whom?" Max and I said at the same time, and still managed to smile at each other.
"By me."
"Of course!" I slapped my forehead. "It all makes sense now. Gamayun is the prophetic bird of the Slavic folklore. She can see the future!"
"A small correction, if you will, Miss Ilic. I can see but all the future possibilities and ramifications. Yet not the final outcome."
"What did the prophecy say?" Max twirled his cap in his hands.
Gamayun's torso shimmered, and instead of light blue dress decorated with lush feathers, an elongated stand appeared. Her body went 'plop', and morphed into the shape of a blue macaw, yet her head and her stern bun still stood intact.
The bird with Gamayun's head spoke:
"The Light and the Ice shall go east, and face the Shadow God."
"They will pass through the trials of ogon, voda, and medni trubi."
"The success will depend on what matters most, in the end."
"Through the trials of fire, water and trumpets of glory." I repeated.
"I actually understood that." Max stuck his tongue out at me.
"Right, I forgot you are now a Slavic language expert," I giggled.
Max ignored my jibe. "Gamayun?"
The blue macaw-bodied messenger cocked her human head, waiting for his question.
"Does it really have to be us?"
"I am afraid so, Mr. Martinez. The prophecy is clear about the Light and the Ice, which is the two of you." She pointed her left wing at me and her right one at Max.
"Can't we have like, um, any help on our quest?" He scratched his nape.
"You have your powers. Isn't that enough?"
"Um, I kinda don't feel much more powerful," I admitted.
"Nonsense. This is because the Throne Chamber doesn't allow for visiting demigods or mortals to peruse any means that might harm the deities. Once you are out of here, you shall feel a lot mightier, and that is a given," Gamayun assured us.
"Can you come with us?" Max blinked at her with the sweetest puppy-eyed gaze I'd ever seen him produce. "It's just... I'd make us feel a lot safer."
But Gamayun was not to be swayed.
"Absolutely not. I am the Prophecy giver, not the Prophecy partaker. Besides, someone has to mind the thrones in absence of..." She promptly shut up.
I wonder what she was going to say, there.
Was she hiding something from us?
"Can Max's mom come?" I started, but he elbowed me in the ribs.
"What? She seemed pretty badass!" I snickered.
"No, she cannot. Gods are not able to enter the mortal world. See, Ms. Ilic, they are like chess players. They may only move their pieces, but they cannot jump on the board, so to speak."
"So it's up to us alone?" Max whispered. "That's terrifying!"
"Yes. The demigods are able to go anywhere, to shift between the Light Plane, Earth Plane and Shadow Plane, and to use their powers in the latter two. The gods, however always operate through humans because our powers are confined to our Plane only. We may walk among mortals in mortal forms but cannot influence them in any way. So heroes, as you see, have certain privileges."
"You are using us, then," Max growled at her.
I placed my hand over his to calm him down.
"We are using each other, Mister Martinez. Let us say we are teaming up for the sake of rescuing the world as we know it."
Max scoffed at first, but then he lowered his head and nodded.
Saving the entire planet is in our hands. We just can't say no to this.
"Your father needs you, too," Gamayun said, turning to me.
"He needs me so much he didn't even come to claim me in person." I clenched my fists.
"He is, sadly, otherwise... engaged." Gamayun's face was a blank slate.
"He needs me so much he didn't even give me a cool gift like Morana gave to Max!"
"I don't even care about this stupid cap, if that helps." Max shrugged.
"He needs me so much that..." Deciding against finishing that sentence, I harrumphed and crossed my arms.
Gamayun sighed and un-birded herself. She now stood before us in her cleaning-lady form, as our Oak Grove Middle Gemma, well-known, and well-loved.
"Then let me give you a parting gift." She handed me the mop she was once again clutching in her hands.
I wasn't sure what to say. It was pretty cool that Gamayun was giving me a magic gift. Even if it wasn't coming directly from my father.
"Hey, Gamayun," I said. "Thanks."
"This gift, Miss Ilic, has always meant to be yours. I have kept it for years waiting for this moment. Now do hear me out, Miss Ilic and Mr. Martinez. A lot of hopes are riding on you. So, just vanquish some Shades for me, will you?"
I recalled how heroically I had wielded that same mop in the boys' restroom, when I vaporised that Shade. Gemma had thrown me this mop, which had turned into a fiery staff.
Could it be...
I squeezed it harder and the mop grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held the ornate wooden staff from before.
Then, as I loosened my grip on it, the object shrunk to the size of a key. I nodded at Gemma, expressing my gratitude, and shoved it into the pocket of my jeans.
Gamayun gave me a melancholy smile.
"May you prevent the opening of the Shadow Door, and stop the doom from being unleashed upon our world. Follow your destiny as it has been foretold."
"Where are we supposed to pass the first trial? The Trial of Fire?" I almost raised my hand, feeling as if we were in the classroom before surprisingly stern, yet fair teacher.
"Washington DC, Miss Ilic." Gamayun was succinct.
"Washington!?" Max exclaimed. "Why there?"
"The custodian of one of the ritual items is there. My sister, Zhara."
I wondered if it was just my imagination, or did Gamayn slightly scoff upon saying Zhara.
"Once you make sure the item is safe, she will tell you where the second item is, and how to assure its protection."
"Hang on. Washington DC... That's like a 1000 miles or so from Bloomington?" Max went on, his mouth agape.
"One thousand, one hundred and thirteen miles, to be precise." Gamayun spread her lips into a satisfactory know-it-all-smile.
"Whoa. How are we gonna get there?" Curiosity got the better of me.
"You'll fly, of course."