Karras

Up All Night

Max was in the green house with his mother and little Gwen. Gwen sat on the counter next to him as he clipped away at some plants. Cordelia watered plants not too far from the two. "Was there a man here the other day?" Max looked his mother's way, not sure what to tell the little witch. Cordelia nodded, "Yes, he gave Max and I some news." Cordelia went over to the sink, set her watering can down. "What news?" The supreme approached the two, "You see Gwen, Max is a special boy, he's going to get powers soon." The little girl became excited, "I have powers too! You can take the same classes as me and maybe I can show you things too!" He smiled at her, "Yeah maybe so."

Cordelia began washing her hands. "Miss Cordelia how come Max hasn't always had powers?" "Well, it was decided that he'd be given them when he turns twenty. When he's ready." Gwen nodded, "Oh I get it." Cordelia looked at her watch, "Well young lady, it's almost lights out. Why don't you put on your p.j.'s?" "Okay." Max helped her off the counter, she gave Cordelia and Max a hug goodnight. "Good night Miss Cordelia, good night Max. Good luck with your future powers." Gwen skipped happily out of the green house. The mother and son smiled. Gwen's only family was this coven. She had grown close to her fellow witches and she formed a special bond with Cordelia and Max. Gwen became an orphan at the age of one. Gwen has been bounced around to different foster families because of her "strange behavior" while she was coming into her powers. Cordelia found Gwen and became her legal guardian. "I think I'll turn in too." Max hugged his mother, "Good night."

--

Max sat in the window sill, a book in his lap the moon lit his face. He looked up at the moon almost as if he was waiting for it to tell him something. Max looked back down at his book, a drawing of Zeus on the page, with information written below.

Queenie entered, she spoke quietly, "Hey." He turned his head, "Oh, hey." She cocked her head, "You okay?" "Can't sleep." The powerful witch approached Max, the boy that was like her brother. "Something keeping you up?" She looked down at his book, saw the cover. "Greek mythology?" "Yeah...only it's not myth." Queenie took a seat next to him, "What are you babbling about?" He closed the book, gave his friend a more serious look. "Just listen to this crazy thing." She was confused, "What?" Her face grew concerned. Max continued, "Look, my father is a demigod and apparently I'm a god. It's weird." Queenie's mouth dropped open, "Wait...what?" "Look, I was chosen or something. Before I was born they decided I would become the god of elements at the age of twenty. And it's kind of freaking me out."

Queenie took a moment to process everything in the silence. She bit her lip, "I know this might sound cheesy Max but, I think you were chosen for a reason." Max looked at her, touched. "Like, Harry Potter", she said. Both of them giggled, "More like Percy Jackson." They giggled more, covering their mouths muffling the noise. "How did you even find out about all this Greek god crap?" He smiled then chuckled, "Oh you know a man with a white robe and a white beard came from Olympus to tell me." "Interesting."

--

Cordelia entered the living room looking around. She was obviously wondering where her son was since he was not in his bedroom. The supreme was a bit worried her son ran off, scared of all he just learned. Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief finding him asleep at the window, a book in his lap. Delia slowly picked up the book. Max moved slightly but stayed asleep.

She looked at the title, "A Guide To Greek Mythology". Cordelia breathed in then out, calming herself. Max's eyes opened, he let out a yawn. "Hey." "Rough night?", the supreme asked. "My brain wouldn't shut off so I did some reading." Max gestured at the book Cordelia held. "I didn't sleep too good either." She moved some hair out of her face. "Something tells me things will get worse before they get better." Delia shrugged, "You'll have powers." "Yeah but, I don't know...that Greek stuff, it's a lot." Max stood up and pointed at the book, "There's a god or goddess for everything. And about a billion different creatures. I'm not in the books."

He held out a hand, Cordelia gave a polite smile and gave him the book. She touched his face gently as he tucked the book under his arm. Her son was taken aback at first, then giggled, "What?" The witch smiled, "It all makes sense now." Max shook his head, "What do you mean?" "When you were born, I had this feeling you were special but you never had powers. I now know it was because you had a greater destiny." Max thought on this, "You think it'll be a burden instead of a gift like being a supreme?" Cordelia shook her head, he had a point but she honestly wasn't sure. "I don't know if it's exactly the same thing. I don't know much about this stuff just like you. But something wonderful is going to happen Max. I can feel it." Max shrugged, "This is all crazy but we'll figure out, I guess. We have no choice." Cordelia chuckled. "I got to go or I'm going to be late."

--

Max, seated in the middle of the library, wrote in a notebook, occasionally looking at an open history textbook. A raven-haired girl with pale blue eyes entered looking around. Max stopped writing when he heard a voice, "Hi." The young man looked up from his work, immediately drawn to her blue eyes. "Hi", he replied politely. "Do you know where the history section is? I'm sorry, I'm new." Max smiled, "It's to the right of the circulation desk, can't miss it." She looked down at his book, "Are you a history major?" He nodded, "Yeah. Western civilizations." "That's cool. Thank you..." "Max." "Max, thanks for your help." The blue-eyed girl started to walk away, Max turned his head, "What's your name?" She stopped, turned around, "Mel."