Iridescence

CHAPTER NINE

JENNA

I was completely numb when I got home that night. I showered on autopilot as I tried to wrap my mind around what had happened. Marco was dead. Marco, who always treated everyone with kindness. Marco, who had given me several rides home from school when we both stayed late to train just because he didn't want a young girl to walk home by herself after dark. Marco, who'd been one of the nicest people I'd ever met, had been brutally murdered by something supernatural. It seemed impossible.

The worst part was knowing I couldn't tell anyone. Marco's actual cause of death would be covered up however his father and Aphrodite saw fit. It made my chest ache that Iridescence and a bunch of Greek Gods were the only ones who'd know what really happened to him.

"Lo siento, Marco," I whispered as I got dressed. I headed downstairs for dinner because I knew I had to.

My parents greeted me with big smiles. I forced myself to smile back.

"How was your day, Mija?" Ma asked.

"It was alright," I replied, not offering up anything else.

"Just alright?" Pa asked.

"It was just another day," I lied. I hated lying to my parents. We were close and I'd always been honest with them before.

"I got a one hundred on my spelling test," my youngest brother Miguel said in excitement.

"Nerd," Ricky teased him. Ricky was thirteen and vaguely evil sometimes. Miguel was only seven.

"Leave him alone, Ricky," I scolded him. "I'm proud of you, Miguel."

Miguel beamed at me. Ricky rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Miss Perfect," he mumbled.

"Erik Joseph Ramos, do not use that kind of language at the dinner table!" Pa said firmly.

"Apologize, Mijo," Ma added.

"Sorry, Jenna," Ricky replied obediently because he knew our parents wouldn't let his comment go until he did.

"Pass the salt, twerp," JJ said. JJ was my only older brother. He'd just started his freshman year of college.

"Leave your brother alone, Junior," Pa said in a warning tone. JJ might officially be a legal adult, but in our house, he was still expected to behave and set a good example for his younger siblings.

"Lo siento, Pa," JJ replied. Then he added, "I know Ricky can't help it that he's so short."

Everyone laughed as Ricky scowled. Dinner continued casually after that. I stayed fairly quiet, replying only when spoken to.

"You've barely touched your food, Mija," Ma said in concern. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm just tired, Mami," I replied.

"You work too hard, Mija. Go get some rest." She kissed my forehead before allowing me to leave the table.

I headed back to my room and tried to do my homework. It wasn't my best effort. Soon enough, I changed and got ready for bed. That was probably a mistake.

As soon as I fell asleep, I started to dream. I was in the locker room at school after a track meet. I was alone, stretching my muscles out. I heard something dragging across the ground.

Confused, I followed the sound. I turned a corner and saw Marco. His face was still unrecognizable as he looked up at me, but his eyes were open and glaring at me. His mouth began to open and he shouted, "You didn't save me!"

I screamed and took off running. Marco would never have hurt me, but this version of him was terrifying and furious. He stood up and chased after me, ready to do God only knows what to me.

I panicked as he grabbed me. The ground began to shake furiously. I lost my balance and fell onto my back. I tried to use my hands to move myself backward away from him but hit a wall pretty quickly. I was cornered and there was no way out, but I couldn't bring myself to fight back. Marco was dead and for some reason, I felt like it was all my fault.

Suddenly, someone swooped in and got between us. Marco froze in place. The winged man turned toward me.

"Morpheus?" I asked in confusion as I recognized him. "What are you doing here?"

"You are dreaming, Jenna," he informed me. "I sensed your distress and thought you were under attack, so I came to assist you. I now realize you were under attack, not by outside forces, but by your own subconscious."

He waved his hand and Marco's face went back to the way it was when he was alive. I watched in confusion as he smiled at me peacefully before vanishing. It was strangely comforting.

"Was that his ghost?" I asked.

"No, Jenna," Morpheus replied patiently. "That was merely an image which manifested from the trauma of seeing his body earlier today. Your mind is trying to process that trauma, which can unfortunately cause nightmares. I restored his image for you so you might remember how he appeared when he was alive instead of the image which was haunting you."

I nodded, trying to process his words. "I'm sorry," I said. "You shouldn't have had to waste your time on this. I wasn't in any danger."

"Don't apologize. You have been through a trauma, my young friend. It is normal to have difficulty after that." He offered me his hand. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To a better dream."

I took his hand. We traveled through shadows and whirlpools of light until we reached a colorful, flourishing field of flowers beneath a beautiful, clear sky. I had never seen anything quite so stunning before.

"This is incredible," I said in awe. I felt enormous peace, like I had been simultaneously wrapped in a weighted blanket and embraced by my abuela. The overwhelming grief calmed down and my mind just felt it instead of fighting it off like some sort of attack.

The flowers seemed to be looking at me, trying to uplift my spirits. The branches of a weeping willow tree reached down to touch me. I'd never felt such comfort.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Morpheus," I said softly.

"You are most welcome, Jenna," he replied. "May you find peace and the answers you seek." With that, he left me alone in nature.

I sat beneath the sun and let myself relax. It really helped to clear my mind and soothe my grief. I felt a lot better after a little while. When I finally decided to stand up and explore, I moved quickly, not sure what I was looking for.

A beautiful woman appeared at the far end of the field. As I headed toward her, she smiled at me. Her skin was as green as the grass itself and her hair reminded me of leaves on branches. For some reason, I didn't find this odd. Instead, I found her presence incredibly comforting and strangely familiar.

"Hello, Jenna," she greeted me warmly.

"Have we met?" I asked.

"Yes, but you wouldn't remember," she replied. "You were still in your mother's womb when I blessed you."

"You're the one who blessed me with Earth magic?" I asked.

"Well it certainly wasn't Ares," she replied with a laugh.

"Who are you?"

"I am-"

Before she could finish answering me, I found myself back in my bedroom. My text message alert was going off. I groaned and picked up my phone, realizing the text was from Kevin.

Are you awake?

"I am now," I mumbled. Kevin Cross was my boyfriend, so I felt obligated to reply. I was about to when a second text came through.

This one was from my best friend in the world, Lucky Thomas. It read, Something bad happened. Don't go online. Call me.

My heart was racing as I dialed Lucky's number. Kevin would have to wait.

"Na, we gotta talk," Lucky answered immediately. He was the only person who insisted on shortening my name to Na instead of the more obvious nickname of Jen, because in Lucky's mind, Jen was too ordinary and boring. I didn't mind. Besides, he'd been calling me Na since we were toddlers, back when he couldn't pronounce my actual name.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's all over social media..." He sighed. "It's Marco, Na. Marco's dead. It was some kind of freak accident. His dad updated his page with the news."

That was fast, I thought. I had no idea what to say. "That's horrible," I managed.

"I just can't believe it... I mean, Marco was..." Lucky let the sentence trail off. I could hear the tears in his voice. He'd had a serious crush on Marco, but Marco was older and wouldn't consider being more than friends.

"I know, Lucky," I replied. "Are you okay?"

"Not really. Can we meet up in the morning? I don't want to go to school alone."

"Sure. Come over early and Ma will feed you." I knew Ma wouldn't mind. She had adopted Lucky as another son when we were toddlers. We'd met at the playground and immediately become inseparable. Ma was always feeding my friends anyway, especially Lucky. His family lived right next-door to mine.

"You had me at Mami Ramos's cooking. I'll be there."

We hung up soon after, and I called Kevin. "Babe... I got some news," he said.

"If it's about Marco, I heard," I replied.

"Lucky?"

"Who else?"

"He's such a gossip," Kevin said with a laugh.

"Since he was in diapers," I confirmed, "but he's actually pretty upset."

"I figured. He wasn't subtle about his crush. Anyway, it's awful... I just can't believe he's gone, you know?"

"I know." I paused, wondering how I was supposed to tell JJ. They'd been friends, too.

"I'm sorry if my text woke you."

"It's okay," I lied. It wasn't Kevin's fault he had awful timing and a Greek Goddess was trying to introduce herself when he texted me.

"Did you hear about the earthquake?"

"What?" I asked, suddenly very alert.

"A little while before I texted, we had a minor earthquake. They apparently happen all the time in New York but we never really feel them because of the subway and everything. This one was strong enough to register. They're saying it was like a 4.5 or something. That's what woke me up and got me to go online. My mom was screaming that she could feel the apartment swaying. Anyway, that's when I saw the post about Marco."

There was an earthquake in my dream when I panicked, I remembered. I have Earth magic... Did I cause this?

"Jenna, are you okay?" Kevin asked when I failed to reply to him.

"Oh, um, yeah... I'm fine. Just tired and in shock," I said.

"Yeah, I get that. Anyway, I texted so you wouldn't just go online and see the news. This is the kind of thing you should hear from people who care about you."

I didn't need to hear it from you. I saw his body, I thought numbly.

Aloud, I replied, "Thanks, Kev. I love you."

"I love you, too, Jen. I'll see you in a couple of hours. Go back to bed. Goodnight!"

Yeah, right, I thought. I was way too awake for that. "Goodnight," I replied softly before I hung up.

I wanted to find a way to return to the field from my dreams, but I had no idea how to do it or if the Goddess would even be there anymore. I sighed and decided I'd just have to describe her to Artemis and see if she could figure out who had spoken to me.

With two and a half hours to kill before I'd normally get up, I sat down at my desk and fixed up my homework. The second attempt was much better.

As the sun began to rise, I went for a run like I did every morning and tried to clear my mind. Nothing made sense, but at least when I ran, I had an outlet for all of the chaos in my mind.

By the time I got home and showered, Lucky was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. "Morning," he said with a mouth full of pancakes.

"Hey, Lucky," I greeted him.

"Lucky told us about Marco," JJ said numbly. "It just doesn't seem real."

"I know," I replied, relieved I wouldn't have to deliver that news to him.

"He was such a sweet boy... His poor father must be so heartbroken," Ma said.

As Lucky and my family talked about the tragedy, I allowed myself to zone out. I needed a little time to prepare myself for the fact that the whole school would probably be talking about it, too.

New York wasn't the safest place. People died every day and we were all kind of jaded by that, but when the entire community loved someone and they died, it hit differently.

I love you, Marco, I thought. I could feel Ares encouraging me as I added, And I promise, when I find out who did this, they'll pay for it.