The Unwanted by Jeffrey Ricker

Author:Jeffrey Ricker [Ricker, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Social Sciences, Homosexuality, Social Issues, Fiction - Fantasy, Magic
ISBN: 978-1626390935
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

You would think after Tuesday night, Wednesday couldn’t have been nearly that bad.

You’d be wrong, of course.

Dad got us a room at the Hampton Inn. One room with two double beds, so I got to listen to him snore all night. Somehow, he was able to sleep even with everything that had gone on that day.

That made one of us.

I rolled onto my side. The tag in my sweatpants dug into the small of my back. They were fresh out of the bag; all of our clothes went up in flames with the house, so we had to pick up stuff to wear before we came to the hotel. The only place open that late was the twenty-four-hour Walmart Supercenter. The clothes I’d finally picked out for tomorrow were certain to kill any social standing I might have had.

I rolled onto my back again and stared at the pebbly ceiling while I listened to Dad’s throat rattle and the air-conditioning click on and off. It made for a long night.

At least, until I saw Athena sitting at the end of my dad’s bed.

“Don’t wake him up,” I whispered.

“Not likely,” she whispered back, a trace of a smile showing. The owl perched on her shoulder. She lifted a hand, and he hopped onto her arm. She walked over to the window. I pulled the covers aside and joined her. When I parted the curtains, I expected to see something magical—maybe a scene from another time or place—but it was just the parking lot, a stretch of road, and Highway 40 beyond that.

“Things are starting to move faster,” she said. “I can now get a glimpse of possible outcomes.”

“If you’re here, I’m guessing none of them are very good.”

Athena smiled and started to answer, but my father let out a particularly loud, stuttering snore. All three of us—me, the goddess, and the owl—turned to see if he was waking up. He only rolled over to face the door, and after a short interval of silence, he went back to snoring.

“Good and bad are a matter of perspective,” Athena said.

I did my best not to roll my eyes. “Well, from my perspective, then. Good or bad?”

Athena was silent for a moment. “Complicated, with the potential for a positive outcome.”

“That’s not really helpful,” I said, almost forgetting to keep my voice low. She frowned, and the owl swiveled his head to glare over his shoulder at me. Apparently, there was a limit to how casually one could speak with the goddess, and I’d reached it. “I’m sorry to be rude, it’s just that…” It’s just everything, I wanted to say. Also, I’m terrified. Saying it out loud, though, seemed like a surefire way of attracting more of the same. It wouldn’t have taken much at that point to send me curling up in the corner.

I forgot Athena could read my mind. “Your mother was right when she said fear is a normal reaction at this point. So is anger. But don’t let either one have too much sway over you.

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