Fan-Fic Fridays: The Secret Symbol - Chapter 7: Go Find Another Mystery... Found One

         My sisters thought this is enough mystery for the day, mother suggested that we go home and eat lunch.  It is lunch, but what we had may be more along the lines of breakfast: bacon, eggs scrambled hard, biscuits, salad.  In my family, this is normal.  Yes, there are three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and supper, but in our family, we have those in any order any day of the week.  Mother will fix what is available or what she is thinking of making.  One day you might have breakfast for supper, lunch for breakfast, or supper for lunch.  Actually, there are twenty-seven different orders one could have three meals in one day.  Oh, mother did make one comment on if we were getting enough to eat at Mystery and if the food is good.  Asvord made plenty sure that she and the other girls are doing the cooking.  I do not cook that bad.  We also talked about the Speed Stinger situation back on Mystery.

         After the meal, I helped my mother clean the dishes.  The girls and father went out of the house to do something, I did not hear what.

         Halfway through the dishes, mother asked, “How long are you planning on staying?”

         “Probably not very long,” I replied.  “Yet, maybe a few days.”

         Mother continued, “I know we haven’t talked about it much, but how are you doing with your friends?”

         “They have been great,” I answered.  “They always have my back when I need them.  Some of them have my back even when I don’t know it and come through when I do need them.  We work well together and we figure things out like a family almost.  Though as I’m sure Asvord and Elsa made clear to you guys, they aren’t very glad to see them there.  But I think inside they are glad, they just don’t want to show it because of what happened.  I think it was the other pack that stung them, but that species of dragon doesn’t have a whole lot of variety when it comes to color.”

         “That’s good to know,” mother stated.  “But I was more of asking you how are you doing?”

         “Oh,” I responded.  “You mean about being the leader of the group.”

         Mother nodded her head, I then went on, “When push comes to shove, I am the leader, but I look at as we are all contributing in some way.  We are a family and a team, we work together to solve our problems.  I am just trying to keep it focused and organized… which I guess is what a leader is supposed to do.”

         “Yeah,” agreed mother.  “But you were kind of thrust into being the leader.  Your father and I taught you and your sisters the values and morals we have learned, but putting them into practice while being the leader and example can but hard or tough sometimes.”

         “It is, but I love doing it,” I replied.  “It isn’t much work when you are doing what you love.  It is a lot of work, don’t get me wrong.  But when you have found the thing you love to do, you put the extra work into it to get the job done.  And about me being the leader, you could say I became the unofficial expert on the subject of mysteries.  I have always loved solving puzzles, find connections, and see the patterns.  I just put those skills to good use in real life situations.”

         “Your father and I… Well I guess I is more or less -I- want to make sure you are ready for it.  Yes, you have been going at this for about three years now and have been in a few battles yourself… Your father and I were battling even younger than when you first started.  Sometimes even ourselves… Anyway, I want you to know that we have supported you in all of this and we will continue to support you.  We always have, we just never really said it.  No matter what our family goes through… losing and then finding your father several years later or your father being accused of killing someone… you have always been there to help us get through with support or action.  We both want you to know we will do the same for you and your sisters,” mother finished.

         I thanked her, “I know you have always supported me and given me any help whenever I needed it and have supported me when something has gone wrong.  Helping out and doing the right thing is just me being me and I have your guys’ example to thank for it.  Sometimes it may be difficult to figure out, but I will do the good and right thing no matter what happens; so, I can help anyone in need.”

         “Your father told me you were going to say that,” mother smiled.  “I knew you would, but hearing you say that gives a mother the confidence to believe in their son even more than they already did.”

         Towards the end of cleaning the dishes… seems like she saved all the dishes just for this meal so someone could help clean them… mother out of the blue asked, “So how are you and Annabeth?”

         Not known to be “butter fingers” I nearly dropped the plate I was wiping off when she said that; I had slowed my hand motion down to both catch the plate and think of an answer

         Still without a hesitation after she asked the question, I answered, “We are doing great.”

         “Okay, I figured that,” mother said.  “But how are -you- doing?”

         “It is one of those questions, I see,” I replied.

         “What do you mean?” she chuckled.

         “Dad told me I would one day be asked that question from you,” I declared.  “You said word for word what he said you would say.”

         Mother’s mouth went in a straight line as she gave the look of, “Oh he did, did he?”  If she was washing a dish at the time, I bet she would have put her hands on her hips.  I just gave a short laugh as she did to.

         Mother was about to say something, but I jumped in and to say confidently, “And to answer your question, we are doing awesome.  I really like Annabeth.  I have never met a girl like her and I hope what we have could turn into something more.”

         I looked at my mother and she just smiled and gave a slight nod.

         Once the last dish was washed and then we put up all the dishes, I asked while drying off my hands, “Any other mother questions you need to ask?”

         “You’re as bad as your father,” she said throwing the towel she was using at me.  “Now get out of here and either solve any current mystery or go find another one.”

         Walking out of the house, I am thinking, “At this rate, I might just find another mystery.”

         Not really knowing what to do, I decided I should go check up on the Olson’s house and see how Annabeth and Cazi are doing.

         Going by foot, I arrived at their house.  I am relieved to see their house went unscathed too.  Since their house is on the highest level, further back, no catapults could have reached them.  However, after further inspection on the right side, their house did suffer some fire damage, but still fixable.

         “How’d your house fair?” asked Annabeth from an upper window.

         “Oh hi,” I greeted.  “About the same as yours.  Just fire damage, minor repairs.”

         “I heard about Astrid’s house,” she said.

         “Yeah, shame,” I replied.  “A house can be replaced.  Family cannot.  Thankfully for Astrid, hers was not home at the time.”

         Cazi peeked her head out the window too, “Are we going back to Mystery anytime soon?”

         “Soon,” I answered.  “But not soon-soon.  Soon.  Sooner than later, yet later than sooner.  But soon.”

         Cazi turned to ask Annabeth, “You get any of that?”

         Annabeth chuckled, “Yes.  I think Jarl is saying we will leave in a day or two.”

         I called up, “Are you guys doing anything right now?”

         “Nope,” came Cazi’s reply.  “Please tell me you want us to come with you.  Knowing that Dagur was here and I didn’t get to clock him with a punch or electrocution by dragon, I need some action.”

         I paused.  “Why do you think I came over?”

         Cazi said innocently, “Oh, I don’t know.  Maybe to see a certain girl whose name begins in ‘A’ and ends in ‘H’.”

         Smiling, I answered, “I didn’t know I had to mention it.  That is always on my mind when coming here.”

         The girls, after my comment, walked back into their room and then out of their house.

         “So, what’s up?” Cazi asked for some information.

         Briefly catching them up to date, I told them about the burned house I searched early.

         “Well, why do you need us?” Cazi wondered.

         “Do you want to come or not?” I countered.

         “Fine, lead on,” she returned.

         Taking the lead, I led them to the house I searched previously.  I swept the house again for any addition clues I may have missed, and in the process explained how I came to my theory about what happened.

         Cazi declared, “I think the name of Mystery Conqueror suits you.”

         I bowed, “Why thank you, Dragon Conqueror of Skrills.”

         Annabeth whispered all of a sudden, “You hear that?”

         “What?” responded Cazi.

         “Quiet down,” insisted Annabeth.

         I started to hear a noise of banging.  Where is it coming from?  Unclear.  Cazi was about to say something as I put my right finger up to my ears.  All three of us froze.  The banging seemed to be coming from underneath us.  All of a sudden, the floor near the fireplace opened with force, having some floorboards flying out of the way.  We all jumped, but then I quickly grabbed Cazi’s and Annabeth’s arms to pull them back behind the couch.  Not a very good hiding spot, but will have to do.

         There are tons of shadows in the house, yet still light enough to see where you are going.  Although, unless someone is in front of you, you cannot make out who they are.  What emerged from the floor is a viking.  Medium build, medium height, basically same build as Snotlout’s dad, but still a little skinnier.  When the man turned around, he froze.  He looked at the room, almost surprised to see it the way it is.  The man did not say a word, but began to search furiously for something.  He started with the living room near the fireplace, but the way he is searching, he will eventually find us.  The man started to make enough noise.

         Usually, when you are in a dark room and look towards an open door with sunlight shining through, the places directly to each side of said door are difficult to tell if there is anybody standing there.  The glare would be too much to tell if there were.  Knowing this, I pulled the girls under the balcony of the bedroom near the front door.  Squatting down, just to be sure, we watched as the viking continually and furiously searched for something, not caring what he destroyed until he found it.

         As abruptly as he entered the house, he suddenly froze.  This caused us to freeze as well.

         I thought, “Did he see us?  Did he hear us?”

         He looked this way… then bolted to the back door.

         Annabeth declared as we all chased after him, “Well, he noticed us somehow.”

         Cazi quipped, “That’s the last time I do not bring my dragon.”

         Giving chase, we ran out the back door after him.  He ran down a ramp to a lower level.  We still chased him.

         Cazi called out, “Why does he look familiar?”

         “I’ll ask him when we catch him,” I answered.

         Looks like he is making a beeline to the hill across the way to go into the forest.  I motioned to Cazi and Annabeth to run up the next ramp in front of us.  Even though the next ramp is actually going over our heads, Cazi and Annabeth simultaneously timed their jumps perfectly and leaped onto the ramp.  Pulling themselves onto the ramp, they ran to head who we are pursuing.

         I yelled to the vikings around, “Stop that viking!”

         A few at first did not know what is going on and let the man be.  The next few were just frightened by the two of us running past them.  By shouting my demand a few more times, people started getting the picture and tried to stop the man.  Key word there is, “tried”.  All attempts at trying stop the man failed.

         “This viking has the agility and strength to either evade capture or push right through someone, without slowing his speed,” I thought.

         Now that there are now other vikings after him, I have to make my way through them.  We started to run up the hill, but I am having trouble doing so because there is now what feels like a mob after the guy.  I would bet that some in the crowd do not even know why they are chasing them.  It is like if someone mentions “death” or something, everyone starts changing, “Viking funeral!”

         I lost sight of the viking for a split second, but then heard a, “Wham!” and then a, “Thump!”  Rounding the corner, I nearly got knocked out by what had made the, “Wham,” sound, so I slid underneath... the tail of a Skrill.

         “And that is why you take a dragon to a game of intentional tag,” Cazi declared.

         The man is groggy and for good reason.  Getting the tail of any dragon to the face, while running at full speed, and not expecting it is bound to take anyone by surprise.

         As I approached the viking, Cazi and Annabeth dismounted their dragons.  Turning the viking over, I am shocked.

         “Adam Thorvald?!” the girls and I said in unison.