Stratigust

For the love of Olufunmilola

I got another letter. It was from grandmother , again , saying that me and my sister will be collected promptly after school today , Friday the 20th of February . I made sure before I left my house that nothing I had my necklace on and hidden , and a day bad packed along with my gym clothes ,I feel like I was forgetting something , oh and a mental note to ask about this sign that keeps appearing now.

That day in school nothing extraordinary happened , and it was actually quite peaceful since Bet and her buddies weren't bothering us anymore. The end of the day came before I knew it . But I knew I was forgetting something and Flin reminded me on our way home , he said "ready for game night of supreme awesomeness ? " that's what I forgot , so I told him "hey sorry, can't be at my place we are going on another trip to um Alaska-Alabama?." I forget where I told them she lived . But I think I got it right when he said. "Again ? Wow Bry, you are becoming quite the stratigust . " I shoved him lightly and said "shut it , no one knows about this okay ?" He stared down at me with those beady green eyes that look like they could penetrate your soul. (Deep I know but they can. ) he said "fine . I already promised not to say anything okay !?" I frown and say ,"right so keep that promise okay , and tell everyone at game light I became very allergic to watermelons."

As soon as I dragged Anna into the helicopter , it was a smooth and uneventful flight. There were only puffy white clouds in the blue sky, a perfect day some might call it. When we touched down on the green lawn we got out and walked to the study where we found grandma sitting . I still feel weird calling her that but I'm not going to be callin her Anna , because that would really confuse me , so I guess I'll call her Ann.

She sat at the desk wearing a new pastel pink dress with pearls and starfish earrings. She told us that we had a busy day and night ahead of us and that she wanted the item that the librarian gave me . I tentatively took of the necklace and slowly handed it to her , as if it might explode. I decided to ask her something " i was curious , what does that symbol mean? " she looked at me with a face that looked like she was biting her tongue . it took her a momment to speak again and when she did she said " it's Cancer's symbol , you know from zodiac symbols , the symbols of stars. and you can see there is a Z through it, that stands for a long journey . but this symbol has no meaning its simply a carrier for a higher plan. " and with that she turned the necklace around and examined it , she pressed what i had never seen before , a small key hole . she took a pin from her sowing kit that lay open on the table and pushed the needle in. i heard a click and it opened a small compartment as if it was a locket. I saw inside there was a small folded up peice of paper that looked really worn and old. She read it silently, and without saying a word placed it in a drawer in her desk and said , "well ,now that that is taken care of there are some people i want you two to meet." and with that we were wisked out of her office and escorted down the long hall to what i guessed to be another bedroom . This one was large with high ceileings it faced the gardens and the greens and let in all the beautiful afternoon light. There were two people sitting on the red , plush couch one looked a lot like my sister , same hair color and same facial expressions. the other one , looked like not like a happy camper . well, she looked like what a happy camper would have looked like if that happy camper was hit by a bus. And her facial expressions looked a lot like Bets and with just as much make up to paint a mural with. The nicer of the two introduced herself as Gizi and the other as Olufunmilola. geez no wonder she looked like she was hit by a bus , if i had her name i would be doing the same thing.

Gizi offered me and anna a seat and we sat down at their table . Gizi gave us each a cup of tea and took the seat across from me and my sister. Olufunmilola just sat there in the same place glaring at us, and then looking away disgusted. There was some silence , all you could hear was the rattle of someone settin gdown their tea cup, until gizi broke the silence. "so you come from alaska ?" she asked I answered " yep , Its pretty cold there." more awkward silence. until Gizi did something very unespectedly , she lunged for me , i was about to get my fists ready to punch her down when she grabbed the collar of my shirt really harshly and asked me , " is it you? Did she finally get the one ? "I looked at her terribly confused. and all I can say is "wha? who... one... what? " she got off of me and sat back down brushing off her skirt as if no big deal. and then said " you don't have to put on this show for us girls I know what you are and I know why your grandmother has sent you in here. but im afraid your going to have to disobey her and trust me." Okay now i am ten tines more confused than I was about five seconds ago. what is this crazy girl and her witch of a sister talking about , i desided to pretend i knew what was going on maybe ill get more answers this way. so I say " why would I? I just met you . Give me a reason to trust you." she smiled as if she was hoping this was going to be my answer and said " oh honey , i can't give that to you yet. I just met you. " way to turn my own words against me i thought. so i said "fine i won't trust you. Just go on and say what you wanted to say" she glared at me. and then said "fine. later you will know and you will have wished you had gotten out when i offered you my help. Now with the stuff you grandmother sent you in here to hear. " she guesteured to her and her sister " nice to meet you cousins. Now lets find you something useful to use in what is coming ahead. " she says this she walked over to a light switch and switched it , i wasn't standing in a room anymore i was standing in an armory. this was strange i've heard of revolving doors but not revolving rooms . so I said " for the love of Olufunmilola! what is going on!" Olufunmilola glared at me more when i said her name . oh well i was shocked. Gizi grinned like she expected this reaction from me. she then said " welcome to what we like to call the W.A.D.O.R. it stands for weapons and offensive objects room. Now lets get suited up. " she said this as if it was a normal everyday thing to suit up in what looks like watches and jewelry . So I ask her " why are we putting on these ? " I say as she hands me and Anna a large watch and a very heavy necklace . "It's so you can protect yourself . Duh . I don't want to send you around town unarmed . " suddenly the beautiful neighborhoods of stratigusts doesn't sound too pretty . I strap the heavy watch on my wrist and immediately it lights up and then quickly shut off making it look like a regular watch again . Gizi told us if we didn't want to die to press the button on the side and let it do the rest . She then explained the necklace as a last resort and we really needed to escape quickly to press and hold the gem in the center of the pendant . As we were doing this oluf ( my new nickname for her ) was being her irritating self she glared at me while polishing what looked like a pencil , but I highly doubt it was number 2 graphite in there . i casually ask " why on earth a stratigust town would be so dangerous , like doesn't everyone live in a penthouse or mansion ?" Gizi stares at me with a look like where on jupiter did you come from . she said " look i don't know how it is in your town in alaska , but here , those mansion living friends would like to see you drop dead so their family can have our spot on the council . And becuase we are all contenders for the spot in ten years , we are like live bait . " i let that sink in . and say " so basically your neighbors want to kill you 24/7 ?" she answereed " yup makes for interesting neighborhood block parties!" she sees that i don't look the slightest bit amused by her joke. she said " fine , you know thats why i am giving you these things so you can get to a safer place . But in order to get there we kinda have to go through some sketchy areas. " i answer " hmmmm sounds fun , so can you tell me where we are going? And i think we are just as safe here , i mean no one as come to shoot us all down from the front porch yet!" she glared at me like really glared like a Oluf glare that made me realize how they could be related. she said " I thought you were the one who brought the necklace , the one who was from the outriggs ?" i back up naturally with my hands up to show i wasnt challaenging her. i said "yes that was me and how did you - " she cut me off right there by shoving her hand over my mouth . she answered " not here! this is why we need to hurry and get to the you know where ." she pushes me twards the door , and hands me a dagger and put it in my coat pocket. and said " back up if they try and use those high tech controlling thingys " I did nt want to find out what that controller did and what it controlled .

We raced out the back door and into the street. It was a nice sunny day and well it couldn't have looked any more normal. from the way Gizi was describing this neighborhood i would have thought it was a war zone. But this was far from it , the houses or should i say mansions all looked normal , no machine guns or missile launchers anywhere in sight.

Thats when it happened. we turned a corner and BAM !!! there was a what looked like a metal bulldog on steroids . It had to be ten feet long and about 6 feet high. I think that guard dog was an understatement . This dog meant business , it was a more like if you breath within a ten foot radius of my house i will kill you ... dog. luckily Gizi knew what she was doing and pointed her gun at the meatal hound . my sister whom I had been dragging literally dragging her this whole way screamed " don't shoot the poor dog !" seriously I am all for humane stuff but this isnt a dog this is a machine that wants to kill us , i think gizi had the right idea in using that weapon of choice. Gizi shot it 5 or 6 times before it even made a dent in the metal. she then finally blasted through its metal armour and it collapsed. Gizi then turned to my sister. " those were not real bullets they were specialized ionized chambers that can only harm machines or hardwire anything electronic. if there really is someones pet bulldog in there it will be fine , now lets move we are not to far from the house.

After the metal dog incident there wasn't any more surprises on our way to this secret house. When we arrived at this so called secret house, it was packed. Let me start off by saying that it was not a house. It was a city museum, now when i say museum i don't mean that boring place you go with mummy exhibits and bouring tour guides. I'm talking ferriswheel off the ten story building , a ten story slide , tunnels , metal climbing structures , this doesn't seem like a museum , and i wouldn't have called it that if it wasnt for the huge sign in front calling this place the city museum. Gizi headed for the front door where we found a long line of people buying tickets to get into the museum , but instead of standing in the long line Gizi skirted up to the guest services counter . Gizi took out a coin that had the same symbol as did my necklace that i got from the librarian. Gizi gave the coin to the girl at the counter . She was probably the same age as me , she had straight brown hair that went to her shoulders and she wore a bright blue leather jacket and a hot pink shirt . She smiled at Gizi and said " you know that he is there right ?" Gizi shrugged and said " well he hasn't gotten on my nerve for a while now and these two haven't met him yet so -" Gizi was stopped by the girl at the counter who said " wait are you meaning to tell me the stories are true ? That crazy ladys stories are true ?" Gizi replied looking annoyed , " would i seriously be giving a tour if they weren't real ?" Gizi then continued saying " okay can we just go now , I think that i will be down there awhile. I havent told them ( she guestured to me and my sister ) anything ." the girl smiled and said " well i take it you will be down there for a while." the girl showed us to a door marked janitors closet. she usherd us in except Oluf she just stood out of the door and said " I hate that place im going to get a coffee from the gift shop." she said still for some reason glaring at me . and with that she just left . gizi rolled her eyes and said " thats my sister everyone. such a helpful person." gizi sighed and said " oh well she did nothing on the way here its not like she is very much help." and with that the girl from the counter shut the door behind us , and what we were standing in was no regular janitors cloest , well unless normal janitors closets have large holes in the wall. Gizi climbed in a metal barred hole. and said " follow me." and we crawled in after her.