“Akiva! Tara’s back!”

            Alana had been screaming that ever since she woke me up ten minutes ago. It was supposed to be motivation or something. It was partially working; Tara was my best friend, in the real world and in the house. She’d been off on an assignment. A Coven in Michigan was having problems with a mystical convergence attracting all mystical creatures within a three hundred mile radius. Tara was half witch, so she was called in to help with cleanup.

            “Akiva, if you want to see Tara before school, you’d better hurry” Alana smirked at me as I looked out from under the covers. I hate it when people other than me make good points.

            I was the youngest resident, and finishing my senior year in high school. Tara and Alana are part time sophomores at some community college in the area, Jared dropped out of college his sophomore year. He would be a graduating this year if he had stuck with it. No one knew what Clarimonde would be. I think I’ve said it before, but none of us speak German.

            Of course, now I had a reason to get out of bed. The giant glaring 5:00 stared at me from the clock on my bedside table. I hate clocks. I honestly do not remember going down the stairs that morning, but then again, I never do. I am not a morning person. I’m more of the stay up till one sleep till noon type. Alana and Tara were morning people. I honestly don’t care what the guys do, It’s easy to pretend they don’t exist.

            Tara had moved into the kitchen and was attempting to find something to eat when I walked, no stumbled, in. The big joke around the house is that I act as if I’m hung over when I get up in the mornings. They like picking on me just because I’m the youngest.

            But I digress. Again. Tara had managed to find something to eat, which is surprising because we haven’t gone grocery shopping since she left two weeks ago. Pathetic, I know. That’s what you get when a bunch of people who are under thirty live in a house together. The results aren’t pretty, especially when none of us have done any laundry for a month, but that’s only happened twice.

            “Akiva!”

            I jumped, fully awake for that moment. “Wha?”

            Tara glared at me. “I said, good morning.”

            “Oh, yeah, welcome home.” I drifted back into my comatose state.

            I don’t remember getting dressed or eating or anything, but I woke up to the incessant taping of the school principal on my car window.

            “Miss Washington, please accompany me into the building!”

            “It’s a hyphen thingy.” I mumbled and shifted in my seat, twisting my neck so the seatbelt wasn’t suffocating me.

            “Miss Washington…”

            “There’s a goddamn hyphen.” I pushed the car door open, not bothering to open my eyes. A disgruntled ‘oof’ followed, and I realized I had whacked the principal. That woke me up.

            I had slept through first period and was currently spending second period in the principal’s office, being lectured about not sleeping in the parking lot. I also was being nailed for swearing at a member of the administration.

            “Miss Washington, I am going to have to contact your parents about this.” He looked so serious. Why do principals always look like they’ve just been handed a death sentence?

            “Sir, I realize I’m not in your best graces at the current moment, but my last name isn’t Washington, it’s Washington-Ramirez, there’s a hyphen.”

            “But you aren’t…”

            People wonder why I have anger management problems…

            “I’m adopted remember? By Kristina and Manuel Ramirez. Washington was my original last name, I added the hyphen after the adoption. I know you know all this.”

            “Well… yes, I suppose I do. But do not distract me from the root of the matter, and that is that I must contact your parents.”

            “They aren’t home.”

            “Miss Wash… Akiva, if I remember correctly, last week when we had an incident, your parents were also not home. May I ask who you’re caretaker is?”

            “I’m staying with a group of friends.”

            “Oh yes, I believe you also told me that. Well, continue to your third period class and  stop by at the end of the day so we can work out someway to contact your parents.”

            “Of course sir.” with that I left. Of course, he had said to proceed to my third period class, and second period was not yet over, so I walked over to a bench in the hallway and fell asleep.

            “Akiva, Akiva…”

            I opened my eyes, or at least I thought I was opening my eyes. Instead of waking up in third period science class, I was in a field with wild flowers… the fact that I didn’t vomit still surprises me. A lot.

            “Hello Akiva, welcome.” She had a dark olive complexion and blonde hair. It was really blonde, but it was natural. Of course, I don’t suppose they have hair dye in happy field.

            “Yeah, hi, who are you?” I figured it was some weird dream and I might as well play along. Not happily of course.

            “I’ve been waiting for you.” She grinned. Even her teeth were perfect

            “Oh my god, you so took that from…some movie. This dream is weird.”

            “Akiva, this isn’t a dream.”

            “Then what the hell is it?” I wasn’t to pleased with my subconscious right now.

            “This is an astral plane, only accessible by your subconscious. I have drawn you here because you have been chosen to be the protector of awesome knowledge.”

            “Wait, wait, wait, I want some explanations. For starters, who’s in my science class if I’m up here? And who are you?”

            She laughed. “Akiva, only your subconscious is up here. Your conscious and physical self is still asleep in your science class. When you return, your teacher is going to yell at you at you for sleeping. Currently I am manipulating his subconscious. He is experiencing a form of intuition that is telling him now is not a good time to wake you up. I’m also stopping those boys with the pea shooters from targeting you.”

            “They’re spitball shooters. So, um, thanks. Let me get this straight though, you’ve dragged my subconscious self up here and you’re manipulating my teacher and delinquent classmates? Who…what are you?”

            Again she laughed, “I am a minor deity, my name is of no importance. In fact, you would not even remember it when you return to your solid being.”

            “Why not?” I never liked cryptic things, and she was the queen, excuse me, goddess, of all things cryptic.

            “Akiva, you must have patience.”

            “Sorry, maybe if you’d hurry up…”

            “Patience! The longer your astral self is up here, the longer your earthly self can sleep!”

            That shut me up fast.

            “Now, you will only have the faintest inkling of this place when your subconscious returns to your physical manifestation,” is she kept coming up with different ways to refer to sleeping me, I was going to scream, “This us your subconscious, the part of you that deals with intuition and traumatic events. It is where you keep the memories of your mother. Right now I’m keeping your subconscious in check to keep you from being overwhelmed with memories and emotions.”

            “Well, why not pull my conscious up here?”

            “Do you want the physics of all this or do you want to know why you’re here?” I was guessing Ms. Minor Deity was becoming a bit annoyed.”

            “You are about to have dangerous knowledge bestowed upon you…”

            “Why? What’s so dangerous?”

            “The knowledge I’m about to bestow upon you.”

            “I know that! Will you hurry up and tell me what it is and why it’s dangerous?”

            “There are six mystical objects that, when used together under all the perfect settings with the right ritual, are capable of unlocking the portals of the universe and unleashing chaos. The vampire Ataret, queen of a new generation of demons, called the Vampyres, with a y, wishes to use this power for world domination. With no trans-dimensional boundaries, the existence of everything would crumble.

            My heart pounded and my throat felt sandpaper dry. Ataret. The vampire Ataret. “Did you say Ataret?” I whispered, hoping I had simply misheard her.

            The smile on the nameless deity’s face was gone, replaced by a solemn look. “Yes Akiva, Ataret. I see you still remember.”

            “My mother is dead!”

            “Akiva, you know the truth, you have always known the truth.”

            “Send me back, now!”

            “There is a hidden tomb in the Valley of the Kings. It is protected by magic, and only the one who knows it’s location can find and access it, giving the bearer of this knowledge power over the items.” A blinding flash of light imprinted a map inside my mind, “You, Akiva Claire Washington-“

            “hyphen Ramirez,” was my name really that hard to remember?

            “You are the guardian of three of the six objects. In only a few seconds you will be returned to your body, but I must release my hold on your mind. Your memories will be remembered.”

            I felt her pull away from my mind, like a plug being released in a bathtub, and I remembered.