ONE

Raven lay on her bunk listening to the howling winds outside and the swaying trees tapping their branches on the window, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of too many girls in a too small room. Raven sighed and sat up, wincing as the bed creaked underneath her, she rolled over onto her knees and, using the tips of her toes, found the rungs of the ladder and carefully climbed down, hand, hand, foot, foot. She placed her feet in the wooden floor and crept over to the window, making sure she didn’t step in the dreaded floorboard, who’s creak would have the Mistress of the Boarding House screeching to high-heaven. Raven leant against the window sill and watched the rain pelting hard onto the ground outside, creating giant puddles, as large as she could imagine; the cars outside beeping and honking, drivers shouting out of their windows, telling others to hurry up and move, that they had lives to live. And again, Raven sighed in self-pity, and whispered to herself, “What must outside be like for someone like me? Because as far as I can see, there lays a life of adventure and excitement,” she glanced around quickly, hoping that none of the other girls had heard her, then she turned back and said a silent prayer before staring at a star and making a wish, a wish that she had made everyday of her life. She turned back and began creeping back to her bunk, forgetting until the last moment, the floorboard that woke everyone up, crEAK!
Her head shot up in shock and she glanced around as every girl in the room sat up in their bunks, tired from sleep, but still aware that someone had stood on the board. They all searched until every eye in perfect synch fell on her, and they all grinned trying to stifle their laughter, however, soon, every girl was laughing and Raven soon was laughing with them until, abruptly, they all stopped, and Mistress Lloyd waddled into the room with a look of dementia in her eyes, her hair ruffled, her clothes crumpled and her face contorted in rage.
“YOU GIRL! YOU WILL PAY FOR DISRUPTING THE PEACEFUL SLEEP OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS HOUSE!” she roared, a few titters escaped and Mistress Lloyd glared at the culprit. In the boarding house, it was a known fact that Mistress Lloyd and Master Abbott did quite the opposite of peaceful every night. “IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY IN THIS GIRL’S DEFENCE, YOU CAN CLIMB OUT OF YOUR WARM BEDS AND TALK TO THE HEADMASTER, IF NOT, GO TO SLEEP!” she continued. She scanned the room and seeing that not one girl had raised a hand, Mistress Lloyd nodded in agreement, and grasped Raven’s wrists in each of her paws and dragged her towards her punishment.
Raven glanced around at all the girls, and watched as they all turned their heads in guilt, as if looking at Raven would remind them of what wrong they had done just so they could be warm for another night.
Raven wrenched her hand from the woman’s clammy grasp and walked the rest of the way, dragging her feet as if it would make the punishment seem further away. She closed her eyes and made her wish again,
I wish I could go outside.

And again, watching the same street, listening to the same tree, in the same building, stood Carl. He was in the Boys Half of the house, the half that no female was allowed in apart from the nurse. Carl sat on the windowsill and watched the cars driving through the pouring rain, their wipers wiping furiously in a futile attempt to keep the water from blinding them. He pressed his hands against the cool glass and closed his eyes, imagining the cold, wet rain, falling onto his palms, he imagined it so vividly, that when he opened his eyes again, he was disappointed. Carl watched the rain making rivulets against the surface of the window, and looked up at the lone star in the sky. He closed his eyes and whispered a wish, it was childish, he knew, but it was the only thing that gave him hope in the grim place. Carl turned away from the window and began to creep back to his bed, and suddenly, he jumped as the creak of a floorboard ran through the walls, he dived into his bed and closed his eyes in foolhardy as each boy in the room turned over and fell asleep. He silently listened to the laughter of the girls and smiled, suddenly, he heard them stop, and the screeching voice of Mistress Lloyd woke each boy in turn, who groaned and muttered about women being irritating, before going back to sleep.
Carl heard Mistress Lloyd drag the girl out of the room, her feet causing reverberating squeaks on the dry floorboards; he made his wish again,
I wish I could go outside.
And the oddly calming squeaks drove him to sleep.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Carl shot up from his bed and winced as his head hit the bottom of the bed above him. Rubbing his forehead, he listened to each crack of the whip and the sound of it breaking on the girls’ back. He could just imagine the raw, red welts it would leave on her back and could only imagine the pain of it. He had never been whipped before and only a few of the boys had, but he had never heard of a girl being whipped, and it must have been the first time because her screams were loud enough to wake the dead. He covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes; he grabbed his thin, featherless pillow and clamped it across his ears, trying any means to make the haunting sound of unbearable pain go away.
Carl rolled over, squeezed his eyes shut and muttered to himself over and over again.
I wish I could go outside.

Raven sat in the small-enclosed room, weeping silently and trying not to look at the blood all around her. Master Abbott was still whipping her, but she had given up on screaming, it just seemed to empower him, so all she did was mutter over and over again.
I wish I could go outside.

Carl sat in the dining hall eating his breakfast of porridge surrounded by 200 boys, each trying to savour the meal that would have to sustain them for 5 hours. He glanced up at the head table were the Headmaster sat with his croons, each tucking into a plate of eggs and bacon, but somehow managing to look intimidating at the same time, they sat perched on their seats, ready to shoot up and roar at the first child to commit an ‘offence’. He looked at them warily again and then looked down quickly, as he saw one begin to look at him. Even with his head down, he could still feel their eyes boring into his skull. Suddenly, a finger tapped his shoulder, and he sat up immediately, tensing his muscles.
“No need to be so uptight mate,” John muttered.
Carl relaxed and looked up at John, John was his best friend, his only true friend in the boarding house, and John, being John, was about to do his mysterious act again, Carl could tell.
“What do you want? And don’t waste time, we have another 2 minutes and counting to finish this,’ he paused, “whatever you call it.” John nodded and sat in the space next to him, “You’ll never guess what me and Richie found out today,” John whispered dramatically.
“What?” Carl asked impatiently.
“We found out a way to the girls dorm,” he concluded.
Carl looked at him disbelievingly, “No way,” he murmured.
John nodded, “Yep, and it’s right under my bunk,”
“So what are you gonna do?”
“You mean what are we gonna do,” John said, looking at Carl pleadingly.
Carl shook his head, “No way, I’m not gonna risk my neck just to get into the girls dorm,”
“Please?” John gazed at him, putting on his best puppy impression, and winning a threat from a teacher.
“OK,” Carl answered, just as the bell rang. He grabbed his bag and walked to the door.

Raven sat, knees together, chin up, back straight as Madame DuPree told all the girls in her French accent, they were sat in their second class of the day, which was supposed to be history, the history of the boarding house.
The Lord Albert Boarding House was the biggest in London, which was all the girls knew about it. It was once the home of Lord Albert and his family, until he died. In his will, he had given it to his youngest son, Richard, who gave it to his daughter Hannah, who turned it into a boarding house, named after her grandfather.
“Girls, today we are to learn the history of this, this bravura house which you girls call home,” Madame DuPree squealed, “We will start with the year it was built. Open your text books please and turn to the first clean page.”
She paused and waited for the sluggish rustling of paper to finish and finally, tapped the board with her stick.
“The Lord Albert House was built in the year 1969 and finished in 1971…” she continued.
Raven yawned furtively, and slid her attention from the board to the back of her book were she drew her pictures, it was an object that she saw in her dreams, an amulet, half an amulet, and she drew it everyday, from little strokes to big, long curves, building it up until it resembled the charm she saw every night. It was what looked like a crescent moon and a mountain with firebolts that seemed to dance around it, yet also seemed to be stationary.
“I wonder if it’s real?” she thought out-loud, and earned a shove in the back from Lucy, which caused her eyes to water and her teeth clench in pain, earning a stern warning from Madame DuPree.
“Miss Capello, if you wish to ignore my lessons, then, GET OUT! And Master Abbott can give you another beating. However, if not, then turn to the correct page of your book, and listen!” Raven turned back to her page and sat straight before lifting her head to look at Madame DuPree and indicate that she was ready.
“Thank you, now, where was I?” she asked, looking around at the class.
“Excuse me Madame, you were talking about the secret passages in the house,” Anne answered, after raising her hand. Raven’s attention snapped away from her daydream and she focused on what Madame DuPree had started to say.
“Thank you Anne, yes, the well known secret passages of the Lord Albert House, it is said that he imprisoned his cousin in one of the halls because she had dared to come between him and his son. It is known that she died in there, however, her body has never been found.”
“Why not?” asked Diane.
“Because no one knows where the passages are, my dear,” Madame DuPree replied sweetly, “Now girls, that is the end of today’s lesson, what I want you to do in your free time, is give me your ideas to where the passages are. OK?” she stood back and raised a hand for silence before indicating for the girls to go out of the room, and head for their next lessons.
“Class dismissed.”
All the girls strode out of the room and ran through the halls, unsurprisingly, in a straight line. Suddenly, Diane, who stood at the head of the line stopped, and all the girls crashed into each other and looked comically, like a group of lost penguins. Raven, stood at the back, looked around for the reason of Diane’s sudden halt, and saw it. There was a group of boys walking right towards them, and all the other girls, seeing, straightened up and smoothed down their clothing. As they walked towards them, each girl started to giggle prettily, as if trying to attract attention, but Raven rolled her eyes, How very like them to start making a big deal of seeing a few boys.
However, none of the boys glanced in their direction, they kept their eyes straight ahead, but as they passed Raven, one looked straight at her and the ghost of a smile appeared on his face and his eyes lit up before he blankly looked back where he was meant to. She watched the rest go by and then shook her head slowly. Raven smiled to herself, and picking up her bag, ran to her next lesson.

Carl sat at the bench, leaning against the wall behind it. He had seen Raven, and she caused him to become distracted and his mind wandered as he sat on the artificial grass of the artificial field.
“Mister Lauton, can you find it in your head that it isn’t time to sleep? I have told you this once before and if I have to tell you again, you will face the consequences. Now WAKE UP!” Master Albert bellowed before wiping his red, sweating face and turning back to the football game in front of him. Carl was on the bench, again, and as he watched the game, his mind began to wander.
Was she the girl that got whipped?
She can’t have been. She wasn’t standing like she had been whipped.
Carl had seen some of the boys get whipped, and whenever they walked, they always walked with their arms stuck to their sides, and their faces twisted in pain. Whenever they stood, they always slouched to try and ease the pain.
But she was a girl, and girls could deal with pain differently to boys.
Yes but-
“LAUTON!,” Carl shook his head and looked up drowsily, “That’s it! Get up! On the pitch! NOW!”
Carl ran across the field and stood in the middle of it, before turning to Master Abbott curiously,
“What do I do now?!” he yelled.
“Stand next to Mister Garrett and try to kick the ball into the other net!” Master Abbott said worriedly, “And don’t kill anyone!”
“Yes, sir!” Carl saluted before striding to his place next to Peter.
Master Abbott blew the whistle and half the boys sprinted forward each heading for Richie, who was taking them all on head-on. Carl watched in awe with his mouth hanging open, a suitable home for any fly, as Richie danced around each contender until he whirled in a frenzied dance, and his unimaginable control that fused the ball to his feet. He danced on, until he stopped a metre away from Carl and nodded, as if inviting him to have a go at defeating him..
Carl stepped forward cautiously, bent his knees and focused his eyes on the ball, he clicked his fingers and Richie ran straight for him.
Every thought in his head screamed at him to move and every cell in his body ignored them. Carl stood stock still, still staring at the ball until the final moment when time slowed down and Carl stamped hard on the ground
connecting with the grass, half a centimetre away from Richie. Richie pulled his foot back and watched in shock, as Carl flipped twice in the air before using one foot to boot the ball hard in the direction of the opposing goal. It powered down the field literally setting sparks in the air and the goalkeeper, caught off guard, dived completely out of the box. The ball slammed into the back of the net, the force knocked the posts over completely and the friction finally set the ropes on fire. A giant flame sparked on the outside of the ball, and spread across it until the whole goal was enveloped in fire.
Master Abbott stood on the field in surprise, and Richie stood paralyzed, both were staring at Carl as if he were a demon.
“What did you do?’ Richie whispered. Carl looked up from the grass, breathing heavily and shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he answered, his face as pale as a sheet.
“I think we know which team won that game,” Master Abbott stated before striding towards the door to find a fire extinguisher. Richie kicked off his boots in disgust and led his team to the changing rooms. However, Carl’s team was cheering loudly, chanting his name in awe, and lifting him up as they applauded. Carl smiled weakly as a shot of pain stabbed through him.
Suddenly, he felt a gripping pain in his gut and he doubled over in pain, he opened his eyes and saw the ground rushing up towards him and felt his head
connect to the floor before he blacked out.

All the girls stood with a javelin in their hand, all waiting for Master Tuerin to walk to each of them and tell them what they were doing wrong. After he had finished, he blew his whistle and pointed at the first girl, Mary, to throw her javelin. She licked her lips fearfully, and nodded to herself before pulling her arm back and thrusting it forward with vehemeous powerful force. Master Tuerin clapped and nodded at the next girl and the next until it was just Raven left to throw. Master Tuerin ambled towards her and bellowed in her ear,
“Miss Capello, please don’t throw it at me!” he grinned maliciously at her as all the girls laughed flirtatiously. He was a handsome man, but Raven didn’t understand teacher crushes, so she frowned deeply and turned back to her target, the bulls eye, none of the girls had managed to hit it but as Raven lifted her arm, she felt an unimaginable strength throb through her arms, and suddenly, her raw back didn’t hurt. She threw the javelin and watched as her arm blurred and the javelin flew out of her grip. It pushed powerfully through the air and unimaginably, the friction in the air caused sparks of electricity to form on the metal tip.
And the tip connected hard against the bull’s eye, but it didn’t stop, it kept on going until it landed spearhead down in the grass of the other field. Raven put a hand to her mouth in disbelief and whirled around to face her classmates who were staring at her with their mouths open.
Master Tuerin’s mouth was opening and closing, which caused his face to closely resemble a goldfish.
“W-w-wow,” he stammered, “M-miss Capello, th- th- that was extraordinary!”
Raven nodded and leant against a pole, suddenly feeling her knees go weak. Diane ran to her side and gently helped her to the ground.
“Raven, are you alright?” she asked earnestly.
“I’m- I’m fine, I just need a little…” she slowly fell to her back and closed her eyes to the frightened screams of her friends.

“Hello Carl. I trust you are on the road to recovery?” a voice rumbled from the darkness.
“Where am I?” Carl asked, “And who are you?”
“I, am Chiron,” said the voice and a man riding a grey stallion trotted into his view, at least, Carl thought he was riding a horse.
“What are you?” Carl asked, rubbing his eyes.
“I am what you call a centaur,” he replied, grinning.
Carl frowned.
“Half man, half horse,” Chiron explained.
“I know what a centaur is…this is a dream, it’s all a dream,” Carl murmured reassuringly.
“You’re right, this is a dream. I am communicating with you through your dreams, it’s a trick my friend Hermes taught me, but we’ll talk about him later,” Chiron said dismissively.
Carl looked around himself and saw what looked like a mountain, a colossal mountain, “I’m guessing that’s Mount Olympus?” he asked, pointing to it.
“Yes, you’re right, but it’s not the real one. It’s just scenery, I can change it if you like,” and he closed his eyes and whispered a few words in what Carl supposed was Latin. His surroundings began to darken until it was as dark as night and Carl blinked, trying to help himself see. But as quickly as he opened his eyes, he found himself standing before the most enormous throne he had ever seen. It was the size of Mount Everest, possibly bigger, and sparks of lightening flashed from each corner and crevice and glowed in an ethereal ochre.
“Whose throne is that?” he asked, but before Chiron could answer, a voice butted in.
“I’m guessing Zeus,” Carl jumped and looked around furtively, trying to find the cause.
“I’m behind you,” and a finger tapped his shoulder gently; he whirled around and grabbed their wrist.
“Don’t touch me,” he whispered forcefully, before realising who he was talking to.
“Oh, hi, it’s you,” he let go of her wrist and smiled apologetically.
“Yeah, and it’s you,” Raven replied , but she frowned, Do I know this boy?
“Ah, I see you have already met,” Chiron smiled, rubbing his hands together, “Excellent, then this will be easier than I thought.”
“What do you mean?” Raven asked.
“Well…oh I might as well get it over with. You are the children of…” he paused, took a deep shaky breath and started again. Raven and Carl glanced at each other in confusion.
“Right, OK, this might come as a bit of a shock for you. Considering you have no parents and you get whipped even though this is the 21st Century and they shouldn’t whip children anymore. We really need to work on that,” he babbled. Carl rolled his eyes.
“Mr Chiron, you’re babbling, just get it over with,”
“Yes, of course. You are the children of the gods, we don’t know which ones yet, but that’s what we’re working out,” he spoke quickly, then nervously looked up at them, waiting for their reaction.
Raven spoke first, “Yep, I knew this was a dream,” she turned to walk away, as if turning away would wake her up.
“Wait,” Carl grabbed her hand, then dropped it quickly, “if this is a dream, how come we’re both in it? And how come I felt your hand?” he asked. Raven turned to him and frowned.
“OK Chiron, prove it. Give me something to remember you by, when I wake up, if I’m still holding it, then I’ll believe all of this, if not, then this had better not happen again,” she said sincerely. Carl turned to Chiron and nodded, “Yeah, do you have anything?” he asked.
Chiron smiled happily,” Surprisingly, I do,” he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two amulets and handed one to each of them.
Raven looked at it and her eyes widened in recognition, “It’s like the one I see in my dreams,” she whispered disbelievingly. Chiron nodded.
“These amulets are the one things connecting you to your parents. I believe both of you have been making wishes, especially last night. You both wished three times at the same time, mind you, that you could go outside. I am granting your wishes. At anytime at all that you want to leave, blow on these amulets and make your wish, you’ll leave this place and go on a little adventure. But you must be at the same place at the same time, and your wish always has to be, I wish I could go outside. OK?”
he concluded. Carl and Raven nodded.
“But why amulets?” Raven asked.
“They are the one things that us gods like that you still use. And anyway, these, let’s call them adventures, are the only ways for you to prove yourself to your parents,” suddenly, the scene started to dim and a glowing beam of light broke through the sky.
“Ah, you are beginning to wake up, look after yourselves, goodbye for now.”
“Wait! Chiron, you said you didn’t know who our parents are!” Carl shouted to the dimming picture of the centaur.
“Did I? Well, it suddenly came to me,” he shouted back, his voice beginning to echo.
“Who are they?” Carl yelled.
“They are-,” and his voice faded.

Raven gasped for air as her eyes flew open. She looked around the darkness as her eyes began to adjust to the dim and saw the nurses’ sign.
I’m in the nursing room. OK.
She clenched her fist trying to sit up and then yelped in pain, she looked down and opened her fist.
The amulet.
“It was real,” she brought it closer to her eyes as a flicker of recognition flashed across her minds eye, “Where have I seen you before?”
“In your dreams every night,” a voice croaked.
Raven looked around fearfully, “Who said that?” she asked.
“It’s me, Carl,” Carl answered, “Remember? The boy from our dream?”
“Oh, it’s you,” Raven replied, visibly relaxing.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he paused, “So, what’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Raven,” she replied, then looked away.
“Um, so, why are you in here?” he asked, conversationally.
“I fainted after I burned a hole through the bulls eye with my javelin. You?” she replied shakily.
“Not as bad as me. I set the football on fire, the net and an extra three goalposts. Then I fainted. Three points to me!” he laughed quietly.
“I guess we are children of the gods. I wonder which ones,” Raven said thoughtfully.
“It’s probably not one of the head gods, that’s too much, I don’t think we’re that important,” he whispered.
“We could be, I mean which Greek god chucks firebolts? Zeus right?”
“Yeah,” Carl replied.
“Then I’d be the daughter of Zeus,” she whispered.
“Yeah, right. But how?” he asked.
“How many people do you know, can chuck a javelin with precise aim, and make bolts of electricity burst out of the tips of it?” she enquired.
“Well, which one am I? How many gods can literally fly?” he asked back.
“I’m gonna go for Hermes,” she murmured.
“Seriously? He’s like, the lowest… and that would make me your nephew,” he whispered furiously.
“How?” Raven asked earnestly.
“Hermes is the son of Zeus, if you are Zeus’s daughter, then you’re my aunty, making me, your nephew! Totally wrong!” he said loud enough for the sleepers in the other beds to hear them, thankfully, their dreams where deep.
“Alright, alright keep your hair on,” Raven laughed gently.
“It doesn’t matter anyway, alright?” she reassured him, reaching across their beds and patting his hand softly.
Carl nodded and took his amulet from around his neck,
“Do you think he was right?” he asked quietly.
“What about?” Raven asked intently.
“About the wishes,” he replied.
“Oh, he might have been,” she answered absently, staring at the night sky, and the moon’s beam that illuminated all the dust in the air.
“Do you think we should. … ” he voice trailed.
“What, make a wish?” Raven said, returning her attention to him.
Carl nodded.
“OK, let’s do it,” Raven whispered excitedly.
They both took their amulets and put them together, then gingerly took each others hand.
“What should we say?” Raven asked elatedly.
“He said we should wish what we wish every night,” Carl answered.
“OK,” Raven shivered with anticipation and felt the excitement throb through her veins.
“On three,” she whispered and Carl nodded.
“One…two…three! I wish I could go outside,” they said together. They squeezed their eyes shut, and then opened them warily.
They were still in the dark, dank, nursing room. Raven sighed, and took the amulet from Carl
“I knew it was too good to be true,” she sighed gloomily.
Carl nodded, then yawned.
“Yeah,” he nodded again drowsily, he turned over and pulled the blanket over his body again.
“Can we talk tomorrow?” he murmured. But as he turned to glance back at Raven, he saw that she had already fallen asleep, with her hair splayed out around her head like a frame. He stood up sleepily, and ambled towards her bed. And, suddenly feeling the need to, took her blanket and threw it over her gently. He wandered back to his bed and collapsed onto the mattress, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Carl woke up to the sounds of screaming women and the feel of ice-cold water falling heavily on his body. He shot up shaking the water out of his hair and gasping for air.
“What the..!” he exclaimed, before feeling his head being pushed back onto the hard surface he was lying on.
“Where am I?” he managed to ask before a mug of something thick and warm was shoved into his mouth.
He pushed himself up again, using his arms to steady himself, and gulped down the slimy liquid.
“What is that?”
“Posca,” said an unfamiliar voice. Carl shook his head, and looked around blearily, he took in the bustling bodies and the shouts of children and the curtain closed rooms and the strange lined writing on the walls.
“Wait, where am I?” he looked up at his rescuer.
“Wow, you must really be out of it,” he smiled, “This, is Pompeii, your home,” he said dramatically. Carl glowered puzzledly.
“My home?” Carl frowned, “Last night I was in the nursing room, after me and Raven… Raven! Where is she?!” he threw off the thin blanket and jumped off the bed.
“Where is she? Where is she?” he asked earnestly, grabbing hold of the boys’ shoulders and shaking him furiously. He didn’t seem at all affected; all he did was stare at Carl in amusement and when he finally let go of him, shouted,
“Father! I think you should come see this!” he shouted before pulling himself from Carls’ grasp and whispering to another boy who nodded and ran in the direction of what looked like a door. Carl sat back heavily on the ‘bed’ and took deep shaky breaths. After his heart rate had slowed, he looked up and found the boy talking to a man who looked thirty to thirty-five.
“Do you know where she is?” he croaked. The man looked up from his conversation and turned to Carl, smiling.
“I believe I know who you are talking about,” his voice was deep and cultured, with a slight accent.
“Jonathan!.” he called, and the boy who had fetched him came running back.
“Please tell the girl, Raven, to come, her friend is now awake,” he told the boy, who nodded, and ran to tell her.
Carl watched this with disbelief,
“Raven’s alright?” he asked doubtfully. They both nodded, then the man walked to him, bowing as he came closer, “I am Doctor Jeremiah ben Jonah, this is my son, Lupus ben Jonah,” he said, indicating the boy who nodded, then bowed. Carl looked at their contrasting differences, Doctor Jeremiah’s tanned skin and Lupus’s paler skin.
“He doesn’t look like you at all,” he said, before shutting his mouth quickly. The doctor and his son looked at each other in amusement before Lupus went to stand next to his father.
“I am adopted, well, I was found as a baby and was raised as a Jew. I am now learning my father’s profession, doctoring,” Lupus explained. Carl nodded, and was about to ask another question when a voice broke his train of thought.
“Carl! You’re awake!” Raven squealed and ran to hug him quickly before swiftly composing herself and standing back. She cleared her throat to the amused looks of Doctor Jeremiah and brought out her hand for him to shake, “I mean, good to see you’re awake Carl. Meet my new friends, Cartillia and Diana,” she said, indicating the giggling girls at the curtain, “Not forgetting Lupus of course,” here, she smiled at him and Lupus smiled back from behind his fathers shoulder. Carl looked around bewildered, “You make friends quickly,” he muttered. Raven shrugged indifferently, “People like me, and, we’ve been here a week,”
she paused, then leant towards his ear and whispered,
“We need to talk though, about the…you know,” she leant back and smiled around,
“Get on with it then,” she whispered fiercely from the side of her mouth then went back to her giggling friends and started up another conversation.
Probably about how stupid I am, and we’ve been here a week?. He thought, then turned to the doctor,
“Doctor, I don’t suppose you have any clothes for me to wear? I don’t think what I’m wearing is, um, suitable, but a bag would be nice,” he asked. The doctor nodded and shouted, “Jonathan!”
“Doctor, don’t you think Jonathan needs a rest, it seems he has been running around all morning.” Carl glanced concernedly at the boy, Jonathan, as he came gasping into the room.
Doctor Jeremiah nodded, “Jonathan,”
“Yes sir?” Jonathan wheezed.
“Have a rest,” he said, Jonathan nodded and walked out of the room grinning.
“About your clothing, Carl… an unusual name. Where are you from?” he asked. Carl hesitated, feeling Ravens glare.
“Me and Raven are from, Britain,” he said quickly.
“Aah, what part?” he asked.
“We are from, London,” he replied plaintively.
“Londinium,” corrected the doctor.
Carl nodded agreeably, “Yeah, that.”
“Well, I guess that explains your clothing, Raven, as you can see, has already changed into a tunic, and Lupus will get you one. Also, we have put a change of clothes and some food in a satchel for you and Raven, you get a satchel each. Lupus, please have the cook get the bread and cheese ready,” he asked and watched Lupus go. He turned back to Carl,
“Do you wish to speak to your friend in private?” he asked, rubbing his hands as if to warm them.
“Yes, thankyou.” Carl replied, the Doctor nodded and led the girls out of the room and closed the curtain, leaving Raven and Carl to talk.

Raven turned to Carl and sat on the edge of his bed,
“The amulets work,” she stated. Carl rolled his eyes, “You don’t think I noticed that? We’re in blimmin’ Pompeii. Probably 2000 years away from our time,” he exclaimed. Raven rolled her eyes back and sighed,
“At least we have a chance to prove ourselves,” she whispered cunningly. Carl frowned, confused,
“Prove ourselves to who?” he asked.
“Our parents of course! The gods,” she smiled, leaping from his bed, then sitting again.
“But we need to work out what we can do to prove ourselves,” Carl groaned.
Raven nodded, “I’ve been thinking about that. This is Pompeii, maybe 2000 years before our time, possibly less. What’s the most memorable thing that happened at this time in Pompeii?.” she asked thoughtfully. Carl frowned in concentration, “Nothing springs to mind.”
“Vesuvius erupts, dunce!” she scolded.
“So?” Carl asked.
“So, we save everyone,” she spoke simply. Carl’s eyes widened.
“Everyone?” he asked.
“Everyone,” she answered.
“Isn’t that a bit too much?” Carl asked again.
“Not if we’re gods it’s not,” Raven replied deviously.
Carl shook his head in disagreement, “No Raven, we can’t use our powers, we don’t know the full extent of them, we could cause something worse than Vesuvius.”
Raven nodded thoughtfully, “You may be right, OK, we’ll talk about it again tonight. Until then, have fun!” she stood up and walked to the curtains, she was about to open them when, as an afterthought,
“Don’t tell anyone about this,” she whispered, and she opened the curtains and went to find her friends.
Carl fell back onto the cushion less bed and stared up at the cracked ceilings.
Pompeii. This is the 1st century! He smiled and took a deep breath of the musty air.
He stood up and looked out of the window, just as he did in the boarding house, and watched the frantic people buying and selling in the markets, beggars sat next to what he supposed were altars, begging for a copper, or anything close to it.
He sat back unto the bed and stared at the curtain that separated him from the rest of the world.

On the other side of the curtain, Raven was laughing with her friends, she was happy, but there was a nagging feeling inside her, but she didn’t seem to be in tune with what it was saying. She shook it away and concentrated on the girls who had decided to peep in on Carl, Raven looked with them and saw Carl had fallen asleep with his blanket covering his mouth. Raven sighed gently and walked to his bed, carefully lifting the blanket from his face and covering him with it, just as he had done the night before. She turned back to her friends who had been watching this attentively, as she came to their sides, Diana glared at her, “What?” Raven asked.
“You said you didn’t…you know,” Diana glowered at her accusingly.
Raven sighed, “I guess I like him, but not in that way,” she said earnestly, she turned to Cartillia, looking for help, but found her glaring at her with the same distaste.
“If you don’t like him that much, what was that about?” she said, folding her arms defiantly.
“I don’t exactly want him to suffocate! I’ve known him a long time, OK?” Raven lied, then sighed and watched their anger deflate. They both shrugged and went back to giggling helplessly.
“You guy- I mean girls, go on ahead of me, I’ll meet you later for lunch,” she waved them off and they shouted their goodbyes before giggling away. Raven smiled outwardly, but inside, she was brimming with rage and mistrust for the two girls.
“Total fakes,” she muttered furiously, clenching her fists.
“Aren’t they just?” a voice said sincerely. She turned around quickly and found Lupus leaning against the wall, watching her. He smiled as he watched the anger vanish from her face.
“Aren’t you gonna give Carl his clothes?” Raven asked, reminding Lupus of his task. Lupus shrugged unconcernedly, “I can do that later.” Raven nodded, and then looked at him awkwardly,
“Well, um, did you want to talk about anything?” she asked conversationally.
“Nothing much, just, why do you both think you’re gods?” he asked, amusement glinting in his eyes. Raven scowled, then thought again as a simple but effective idea blossomed in her mind.
“Oh, of course, like, I’m the daughter of Zeus, and Carl is son of Hermes and it’s like, so amazing because we fly around places, and we just happened to land in Pompeii!” she laughed, the malice glinting in her eyes as she waited for Lupus to realise she was being sarcastic. He glowered as he took it in and Raven laughed,
“Listen, it’s just a game me and Carl came up with, it’s childish, I know, but it helps us feel better about ourselves. Just don’t tell anyone, please?” she pleaded. Lupus nodded significantly and Raven grinned,
“Thanks, it’s kind of embarrassing anyway,” she opened the curtain and went to sit on the stool next to Carl’s bed, and looked up as Lupus stood next to her. She closed her eyes and shook gently, giving the impression that she was about to cry.
“What happened to you guys? How did you get here?” Lupus asked gently as he watched Raven wipe a fake tear from her dark brown eyes. Raven looked up at him and smiled shakily, “I don’t know, one day, we were sick and in the…place were we get treated. The next thing I know, I’m here. In Pompeii. In a Roman hospital.”
Lupus smiled reassuringly, “I’m sure me and father could find a way to get you and Carl home.”
Raven shook her head, “Oh no, we don’t want to go home. We’ve been sent here for a reason, it’s a matter of life and death,” she shook her head again, wide-eyed.
“I thought you were upset?” Lupus asked, frowning bemusedly. Raven smiled again at him, “Me and Carl are on a mission, we don’t know what it is. Life wasn’t great, let’s say, going alright one day, then the next we ended up here,” Raven shrugged her shoulders and turned back to look down at Carl, lying pale on the bed, “I just don’t understand how it could have made him so ill?” she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning back to Lupus, “When he wakes up, tell him I’ve gone to find, um… Chiron,” she stood, patting Carl’s head, before grinning at a confused Lupus and leaving the room to find hers, and enter the realm of sleep in which Chiron lingered.

Carl was drowning.
Deeper and deeper into the blue depths of the bottomless waters. His mouth was open for he had long since given up on holding his breath, and he was screaming, letting the oxygen that was left escape from his lungs. Carl looked down and saw the dark, sinister ocean floor becoming closer and closer. He closed his eyes and felt his body become limp and weak. Suddenly, hands grabbed his arms and started to pull him up, higher and higher, towards the sun. One of the hands let go of him, and floated before him, it was Raven and she was smiling… underwater. She held something out to him, it looked like a clam, before he could try to ask what it was, she put it to his mouth, covering it like a breathing mask.
Breathe, she mouthed, waiting for him to take a breath.
Carl took a deep breath and found none of the water had gotten into the clam. The air in the clam seemed to be endless, and when he had finished breathing, Raven took it from him and indicated to the person above to let go of Carl. He looked up, and caught a glimpse of the face, before they quickly averted their face, using their hair to cover their features, and nod at Raven.
Carl felt the hands slip from his shoulders and watched as Raven and her; companion swam towards the light. He looked around the waters, and then followed Raven to the surface.

Raven lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, counting sheep so that she could get to sleep. Chiron would know what to do. She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed as she fell asleep.

“Chiron! Where are you?” Raven called, pacing around the dream room.
“Over here Miss Raven!” he called, and Raven followed the sound until she found Chiron standing in a stance with a bow and arrow, the arrow was notched in the bow and he looked about to shoot.
“Oh, sorry, you look busy,” she stepped back.
“Oh no, I am always here for you and Carl,” he put his bow and arrow down and turned his attention to Raven, “What is the problem?” he asked.
Raven sighed and sat heavily on the floor,
“It’s Carl, after we got, teleported here, he’s been feeling really sick and I don’t know what to do. Do you?” she asked. Chiron had been nodding thoughtfully,
“I think this is what you might call jet-lag, just without the jet.”
“Oh, OK”
“Carl is exhausted, he obviously wasn’t feeling very strong when you both made your wishes.”
Raven nodded, “He did look exhausted.”
But I had just been whipped, I’m not sleeping. Come to think of it, my back doesn’t hurt anymore
“He just needs a few more hours sleep, and you both can get to work.”
Raven nodded again, then paused midway,
“Yeah, about that. What exactly do we have to do?”
Chiron raised his eyebrows, “You mean you haven’t figured it out?”
“Well, I think I have, I just need to make sure.”
“A daughter of Zeus never needs reassurance, she goes with the flow, as they say in your time,” Chiron smiled, baring his teeth that were strong and broad. An almost horse-like appearance.
“I knew I was the daughter of Zeus!” she grinned, “But, who is Carls father?”
Chiron smiled again, “I think he can work that out. In fact, I believe he knows. Goodbye Raven! For now!” he waved, and Raven watched as his figure became fainter and fainter.
She felt herself get sucked to the surface and thought; Carl knows who his father is?

Carl opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room, he sat up quickly, but felt hands gently push him back onto the bed.
“It’s OK Carl, it’s only me,” he looked up and found Raven smiling down at him.
“How long have I been out of it?” he murmured.
“All day,” Raven replied desolately.
“What!” Carl sat up again, and this time, Raven only smiled.
“You did wake up once, when we were having lunch, you wanted to join us but I think you were babbling,”
“Oh,” Carl sighed wretchedly.
“But don’t worry,” Raven said cheerily, “Me and you are going on a field trip…” she paused and looked around before whispering, “ to find out who your father is.”
“Do you know who yours is?” he asked.
“Yep, Chiron told me,” She nodded.
“Oh, you saw Chiron?” Carl asked.
“Yeah, he didn’t tell who yours was though, he said you knew,” Raven stared at him carefully, before shrugging and leaning back against the wall.
“I don’t know who my father is,” Carl scowled, “But…”
“But what?” Raven jumped excitedly.
“In my dream… I was drowning. But you and, and this man came to help me. You gave me some sort of, clam and it helped me breathe, but when I looked up to see the mans face, he turned away. As if he couldn’t bear for me to look at him, like he was ashamed. But I caught a glimpse of it.”
“Well, Lupus left a tunic here for you, so, put it on before it gets dark, he’s gonna show us around.”

Carl walked out the room, gingerly looking left and right before presenting himself to a grinning Raven.
“Carl! This look suits you completely!” she exclaimed, she stepped closer and examined the golden hem of the green tunic.
“Lupus was kind to give you that one, all I got was this amber one,” she stepped back and grinned at him.
“And it looks great on you,” Lupus said, stepping from the dark shadows of the opposite room and beamed at them, “How about that tour?”

Raven stood before the tall, majestic statue of Zeus, reverently touching his face, tracing the soft contours of his imperial features, trying to find a resemblance. She looked down at her mahogany hands and sighed as she looked at his, she knew he looked nothing like her.
“Raven! That’s him! That’s the man!” Raven ran across the empty dark courtyard, following Carl’s voice. She found him stood before another statue, however, it was more detailed and the man stood with a trident in his hands, and waves rising behind him.
“That’s him Raven, that’s the man I saw,” he said his voice barely above a whisper. Raven looked up at the tall man, and then at Carl. She drew a gasp as the uncanny resemblance flashed in her minds eye.
“You actually look like you father,” she breathed, then shook herself, “Well of course you do, you’re a boy.” She turned quickly from the statue and marched away, her eyes raw with dry tears.

Lupus looked up from the scroll as Raven came ambling towards him, she sat heavily on a chair and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.
“Raven? What’s wrong?” Lupus put the scroll down and pushed his chair beside hers.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry,” she croaked in a muffled voice. Lupus put a consoling hand on her shoulder.
“You know you can tell me,” he whispered. Raven looked up and Lupus stared at the damp trails her tears had left on her cheeks.
“Imagine you and someone were the same, everything about your backgrounds, the same. Then, one day, you realise you’re different from yo-, someone very close to you, but your friend was so similar, so alike to their… I’m sorry, I can’t speak right now.”
Then she paused as another flood of tears racked through her body. Lupus took her hand and pulled her into a consoling hug, which caused her to cry even more. They stood like this, a sobbing girl crying against the chest of her considerate friend.
They didn’t notice a silhouette watching them from behind pillar.
They didn’t see the person lean on the pillar in anguish. They didn’t see the son of Poseidon cry.

Raven jumped out of her bed and looked out of the window, it was still dark. She grabbed her tunic and pulled it on over her school regulation underdress. She grabbed her satchel and checked it quickly to make sure she had everything, nodding absently. When she was sure, she crept out of her room and ran through the corridors until she came to Carl’s room, she knocked gently on the wall next to the curtain.
“Password?” came Carl’s still sleep-drugged voice.
Raven sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently,
“I am the daughter of a god,” she answered, before thrusting the curtain open and walking into the room.
Carl sat on the floor in his unbelted tunic, staring at his amulet, “I never noticed it before, but look, it has our parents names written on it, look,” he handed his amulet to Raven who squinted at it and watched in awe as the names of Carls parents rolled onto the clear, shining surface of his amulet. “Wow,” she breathed, then took hers from around her neck and stared at the surface of hers until her eyes dried, she blinked quickly and hurriedly put her amulet back around her neck and underneath her tunic, hoping Carl hadn’t seen. She glanced at him quickly, and from the way he lowered his eyes, she knew he had. She sighed, remembering her earlier sadness at their differences and felt the tears creep up. But she hastily shook her head, as if it would shake the tears away. She clutched her satchel and walked out of the room, silently signalling for Carl to follow. Raven opened the door of the Hospitium and let Carl through before looking around the dark room for one last time, wishing she had been able to say goodbye to the doctor and his patients and family, especially Lupus, kind, generous Lupus. She shook her head again and closed the door gently behind her.
Raven turned to Carl who raised his eyebrows, asking her if she was fine. She smiled weakly and nodded, reassuring him that she was.
Carl turned to Raven and led her gently towards the shadows of a cluster of trees, where they would begin their journey to the new Emperor Titus who would know what to do.

Carl walked silently beside Raven, feeling her hostility and knowing that it had something to do with him. He stopped and touched her arm gently, causing her to stop and turn to Carl angrily.
“What,” she snapped.
“What? What do you think? Suddenly you hate me, and I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. OK? I really want this to work out for us, but if you hate me, we might as well die, because we won’t be able to live with eachother,” he snapped back. Raven rolled her eyes irritably,
“That’s the problem, you’re too perfect. You saw your father; he’s practically calling for you. Your amulet shows the names of your parents, and you even look like him. And then, you see me! I haven’t seen my father; he obviously doesn’t care. My amulet won’t even show a letter, let alone my parents names, and I have no resemblance whatsoever to him! And don’t even say I must take after my mother, because if you look at my father, you’ll see there’s nothing, nothing at all that is similar about us apart from our DNA, and our knack for chucking firebolts,” she stopped, and took a deep gasp of breath before defiantly glaring at Carl, and continuing her fast pace. Carl stood stock still, his mouth opening and closing like goldfish, and when he had gathered his bearings, he watched the shadow that was Raven, storm away.
He ran after her and catching up with her, grasped her wrist and whirled her around to face him. He looked at her carefully, before whispering,
“Raven, listen, I’m sorry if I made you feel… I don’t know, different. But I never meant to, I didn’t think my father was going to call me, and I didn’t expect the amulets to do that, and I can’t change my resemblance to my father. OK?” Raven watched him absently and when he had finished, looked disdainfully down at his hand, still holding her wrist, he hastily let go, and looked at her, hoping that it was smile that was creeping across her face. But it was a haughty grimace; she took a step back from him and raised her hand slowly, before bringing it down hard across Carl’s cheek. He staggered, rubbing his cheek and blinking as the stars danced before his eyes. As they faded, he felt a surge of anger rise up in him, and he grabbed his bottle from his satchel, he felt Raven watching amusedly, as he poured the water onto the ground leaving a quickly receding puddle.
He closed his eyes, and focused his mind on the puddle and slowly raised his hands and felt the water form a tight ball and gently hover in his hands, he opened his eyes and almost started in shock as he watched the water swirl in patterns in its perfect ball, but he kept his concentration and directed the ball quickly at Raven, sending it surging towards her, she didn’t have time to dodge and the ball enclosed around her head, smothering her face, eyes, nose and ears in water. She hadn’t thought to draw at least a quick breath so she stood there silently, trying to hold her breath but she soon felt her lungs begin to pound, begging for some oxygen, so she opened her mouth and felt the water creep in, but it didn’t begin to dwindle, it had increased in size and was starting to cover her whole body and she looked across at Carl who was standing a few metres away from her with a madly determined look on his face.
She knew he wasn’t going to stop and she began to panic, screaming and screaming as the water finally entered her mouth and she felt her consciousness slip away. She opened her eyes one last time and tried to plead with him, but he wasn’t listening, so she closed them again and let the darkness take her, and save her from her pain.

Carl stopped and flopped to the ground and watched as the water surrounding Raven fell to the ground in a splash and Raven’s limp body fall with it. He crawled to her side and felt her neck, looking for a pulse and found none. The reality of what he done overwhelmed him, and he suddenly started choking. He had killed her, just because of a slap, just a stupid slap. He had killed her. Killed his only friend in this place. Carl heard a snap and jumped. He looked around fearfully and saw it was still dark. The shadows were becoming more poignant.
“This is Rome, what will they do when they find out that I drowned her?” he shuddered, then stopped as he realised he had been thinking of himself when Raven was dead. He looked down at her body and took her hand, and almost let go as he felt her already ice cold corpse.
Carl began to sob and sob, and sob. He had murdered his friend, the only friend he had in this unfamiliar place he realised. He held her hand tighter calling her name and watching the stars in the sky until he fell asleep, twisting and turning as his dreams punished him.

Raven was floating; she was flying up, up, up. She saw people standing with what she supposed where wings, not small and feathery, but big and strong. She saw gates not golden, but white, dove white. The kind that dirt had never seen. She landed at the front of the gate and it swung open, she stepped forward, ready to find out where it led, but suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name, drawing her back to her life. She started to shout, clawing at the air as she began to fall, she looked up and saw the people smile and wave and felt two of them beneath her, slowing her descent, but she was still falling down, back to earth, back home.

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Texte: 2010 Copyright of CocoaStarr CocoaStarr asserts the moral right to this work
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.11.2010

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