To Disturb the Harmony~Chapter 12

We made it back to our seat with almost no problem, with the only threat being a slightly angry conductor. He gave Aisling an angry look as he inspected her ticket, but passed us by once he had done his check.

“That was a close one,” I said as I relaxed in my seat. “Can you imagine what would have happened if we couldn’t get your ticket back?”

“Ya, I’d be tossed off the back of the train,” Aisling laughed.

“I think you’ve been watching too many old cartoons,” Kimi joined in.

“Old cartoons are the best. I mean where else could you watch something walk away from falling off a giant cliff or getting hit with an anvil. I still think of bombs being those round black things that no one ever uses anymore,” she laughed as she made the basic shape of a bomb in her hand, even making a make believe lighter and lighting it, then making the BOOM sound when it went off and we all laughed a bit more.

“Just watch out for falling pianos,” I warned her and she pretended that one was right above her, tossing her arms over her head in mock fear. We joked around like that for awhile and I could tell Kimi was opening up a little more to us, as she had always seemed very quiet from the time we met her. I was surprised she even agreed to come with us.

“By the way, are you two cousins or something,” Kimi asked. Both Aisling and I looked at each other for a long moment before looking back, shaking our heads.

“No, why on Earth would you say that?” I asked her, very much confused.

“Well, you two seem to be really close and you even have the same name,” she replied. That last bit made us even more confused and she seemed to notice the expression. “You are both named Ash, or at least your names start the same.”

I hadn’t noticed that little bit of trivia and I could tell from the surprised look on Aisling’s face that she didn’t notice either. We agreed that only I would be called Ash as it seemed to be more of a guy’s name anyway. Before long, we arrived in Washington DC, but the train leaving for Chicago didn’t leave for another three hours, giving us a lot of time to occupy ourselves.

“We can walk over to the Washington Monument,” Aisling suggested. “It is only about 2 miles from here, it will only take us a little more than a half hour and we can make it back with plenty of time.”

“Well, I have always wanted to see the Washington Monument,” Kimi said and I knew that any protest I may have had would be ignored. We left the station and the cold winter air seemed to hit my face as we stepped out, but the temperature was still above freezing. We kept walking and before long, the monument could be seen in the distance. Aisling kept pointing out all the landmarks, like the Capital building and all the museums of the Smithsonian. We followed the row until we came to the ticket window of the monument. There were few people in line and we made it up on the first elevator ride. Once we got up, there was a tour guide giving people facts about the monument while smaller children gathered around the windows.

“As you can see from the windows, the Washington Monument stands in the very center of four other major landmarks, those being the White House, the Capital, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial,” the tour guides explained. Aisling ran over to the northern window and got a look at the White House. I looked out over the Reflection Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, when I noticed something strange going on. The water in the pool seemed to freeze over in a wave and dark clouds started covering the sky over the monument.

“Alright everyone, please proceed down the elevator as we go on to our next stop on our tour,” the tour guide said as she started funneling people into the elevator. Aisling, Kimi, and I went to join the group on their way down, but the tour guide stopped us by putting her hand up. “I’m sorry, but the elevator is full right now. I will join you on the next one down.”

I looked behind the guide and saw that the elevator was maybe half way full, but I didn’t argue with her as she looked at me with those cold grey eyes. The doors closed behind her and she examined us for a moment. I tried to avert my eyes and looked anywhere else, but I quickly noticed that everyone else had left.

“Hi grandma,” Aisling said and I shot around to look at her and the shifted again to look at the tour guide. She had both her eyes closed now and was holding a fist in the air, with an obviously annoyed smile across her lips.

“Hello granddaughter,” the lady said as she lowered her fist and opened her eyes. She snapped her fingers and her tour guide outfit vanished and in its place was a simple outfit consisting of jeans and t-shirt with a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird on it, with the words National Air and Space Museum under it.

“Lord Athena,” Kimi said surprised, but bowed her head in respect. “What are you doing here and what do we owe this honor?”

“I go where my domain is called on, and where is wisdom appreciated more than at the largest collection of museums in America, the Smithsonian?” Athena said with a smile. She then turned to Kimi who still had her head down. “Rise already, don’t be so formal.”

Kimi did as instructed, but I just looked at Athena with a bit of worry. Gods never showed up without a reason, but whenever they did it was normally with some kind of bad news. I then remembered seeing the pool below freeze over and the clouds above turning dark.

“This meeting is about our quest, isn’t it?” I asked her.

“Yes, I come bearing a warning,” she said and the air seemed to get colder. “Events are being set in motion that could result in the very destruction of the Earth. I wish to prevent that.”