He crept into the tent and slipped into his cot. Then he
reached over and turned on his battery-powered lantern, on the table next to
the cot. He held up his treasure and examined it in the lantern light. It was a
sphere, about one inch in diameter, and had the face of the goddess carved into
the side, with symbols representing her surrounding the face.
Aaron Chambers, I
have more for you to do.
“Speak and it will be done, mistress.”
Later, came the
response. For now you must rest.
Aaron nodded and turned off the lantern. He tucked the
bauble into the pocket of his shirt and rolled over, pulling his blanket up
over his shoulder. True morning would come soon, and the camp was supposed to
move on to the dig site today.
A new character arrives, wearing a fuchsia piece of clothing, and carrying
more chocolate.
Timothy was in the park when he met the girl. She came up behind
him and poked him between his shoulder blades.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
He turned around. The girl was about his age. She had
freckles and brown hair with pink streaks in it.
“I’m Timothy.”
She smiled. She was missing a couple of teeth in that
eight-year-old fashion. “I’m Lila. Nice to meet you, Tim,” she said, and hit
his left shoulder with her open hand.
He reached up and rubbed his shoulder with his right hand. “What
do you want?”
She shrugged. “You looked interesting. Well, actually, you
didn’t. But I’m new here, and I don’t know anybody. So I figured I’d just go up
to someone around my age and introduce myself. And you’re the only one here
today who’s my age.”
Timothy looked around the park.
She was right. Most of the kids were preschoolers with
parents and nannies, and the older people were teenagers or seniors. “Where’d
you move from?”
“Somewhere else.”
Timothy frowned. “That’s not an answer.”
“Sure it is.”
He kicked at the ground. “What do you like to do?”
“I like to play video games and read comics, and I have all
of the Pirates LEGO sets.”
“Woah.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, well, my parents are divorced and my
dad feels guilty. I get lots of cool stuff because of it.”
“I know what you mean, my parents are divorced too.”
“You live with your mom?”
He nodded. “Most of us do, don’t we?”
She smiled. “Yup.”
“So…” Timothy looked around the park again. “The library isn’t
too far, wanna go there? It’ll be warm, and sometimes they have free hot
chocolate if we’re good.”
“Sounds great, let’s go!” Lila pulled a cell phone out of
her pocket and sent a text message.
Timothy’s eyes widened. “You have a cell phone?”
“Yeah, one of those guilt-induced presents. I just texted
Mom to let her know where I’ll be if she wants me. So let’s go!”
Timothy nodded and pointed himself in the direction of the
library. “Wait ‘til you see their collection of graphic novels. It’s huge!”
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