The Mythological Mark- A Short Story by Hope Gu

I used to think that I was just a normal kid with not-so-normal parents. Growing up, my parents were “Myth”-obsessed, as I liked to call it. My parents' names are Hera and Zeus. Pretty wacky, right?! They even have these matching face tattoos shaped like a lightning bolt! Anyway, that ended on the eve of my 11th birthday. On my 11th birthday, me and my twin sister, Aphrodite, were told to sit down at the dinner table and listen.

Before I continue, I'm going to tell you a little bit about me. I’m Freya Gossamer, and this story that you’re reading right now is my story.
This conversation is pretty important, so I'm gonna continue now.

“Everyone in this town gets a special mark on their 13th birthday,” my mother had said, smiling at us.
“You see these marks that we have? Well, they are special. If we touch them, we turn into gods or goddesses,” my father continued, his hand slowly nearing his face.

The moment his hand had touched the mark, he turned into a magnificent god, with a lightning bolt wand and one of those fancy outfits that gods wore. My mother touched her mark too, and she also transformed into a beautiful goddess.
Me and my sister had both gasped in surprise and wonder, until my sister spoke up.

“Can you get a different mark?” she asked.
“You can, but being a god is the second-highest rank,” my mother said proudly, beaming.
“What’s the highest rank then?” I had asked my mother.

My question had wiped the smirk off my mother’s face, and her smile darkened like a raincloud.
“The dragons,” she hissed. Her voice was a whisper.
“What’s their mark?” my sister asked my mother.

That time, it was my father who had spoken up.
“An egg. Dragons are rare creatures, so the color of your egg depends on your power—unless you get a dark purple one. A dark purple egg indicates that you have all the powers.”
“Dragons are so rare that we haven’t gotten a symbol like that in a century, let alone a purple mark,” my mother finished, her eyes glowing greedy for power.

Now here I am, a day away from my 13th birthday, fretting about what mark I will get. I’ve never felt like a god or goddess—let alone anything magical. My sister being a goddess is believable. She’s obviously the favorite daughter, and she's perfect in every way.

That night, I fell asleep wondering what fate would bring me.

I wake up in the morning and I open the blinds. It’s a perfect Saturday morning with birds chirping, but in my stomach, I feel sick, like I ate rotten eggs. I run over to my mirror and I almost scream. Even though my pale blond hair is messy from the night and my big blue eyes look tired, it isn’t from that.

On my cheek, I see a perfect dark purple dragon egg.

At that moment, my frantic sister bursts into the room.

“Oh my gosh, Freya, have you got your mark yet?” Aphrodite asks me.

“Have you?” I ask suspiciously, wondering if she's going to throw me under the bus.

“I got the purple egg. I’m a dragon!” my sister cries.

“Me too. Don’t tell Mother and Father,” I whisper, panicking. “Did you see how they reacted last night?” I told her.

Suddenly, my door opens and I dive under my covers, hiding my face.

“What are you doing in your sister's room, Aphrodite?” my mom asked suspiciously. I panic, fearing they’ll see her mark, but I remember she changed it to a lightning bolt.

“I want to borrow an outfit,” Aphrodite lies convincingly.

“Oh, your mark has come in,” my father says proudly, smiling at my sister.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my head. I peek out from my covers and I see a box appear over my mother and father’s heads.

“I can’t believe that my favorite daughter got a god mark. Thank the gods that she didn’t take after her aunt,” I hear from my mother’s head.

“Me and your mother will go out shopping for three hours,” my dad says. “We are going out to prepare for your birthday bash.”
As soon as I heard my parents’ car leave, I jumped out of bed.

“I can read minds,” I exclaimed.
“I know,” Aphrodite says. “I already experienced all of our cool powers.”
Aphrodite touches her dragon mark and there's a burst of smoke. When the smoke clears, I see a white and blue dragon standing there. Aphrodite lifts her huge wings and I see some black and purple scales.

“Cool, let me try,” I shout, tapping my dragon mark. Nothing happens… But then—Boom! There's a lot of smoke and I feel tingly. When I open my eyes, I am a dragon!! I have a cream-colored body, and some light pink and sand-colored scales on my wings. I open my mouth and think of me blowing flames, so I blow!!
Sizzle Sizzle
The drawer near me bursts into flames.

I jump back in fear. Even as a dragon, Aphrodite rolls her big eyes and blows out a ray of golden light. Slowly, the fire vanishes and the drawer is restored.

“How did you do that?” I ask in wonder.
“You just have to think of the power you want. Remember what Dad said?! We have all the powers,” Aphrodite says, smirking.

“Can we please go to Sarah's house?” I beg. “I wanna see what mark she has and I want to tell her about mine.”
“Fine, but first we have to learn about the ranks of all of the marks,” Aphrodite tells me. As she waves a talon, an old book appears. She opens it and reads aloud: “Here are the marks ranked from lowest to highest: Elf, Troll, Goblin, Pixie, Fairy, Witch, Mermaid, Siren, Phoenix, God or Goddess, and the highest and rarest… Dragon!”
“Okay, let's go to your friend's house now,” Aphrodite tells me, admiring her shiny claws. She taps her mark once more and transforms back. I do the same. Then she helps me cover up my mark, and we walk over to Sarah's house.

When we enter, I see something shocking in Sarah's mind.
“If she gets something other than God or Goddess, I’m going to tell her parents.” I shoot a glance at Aphrodite, and she nods as if she understands.
“So, what did you get?” I ask Sarah.
“I got Elf,” Sarah mutters. “What about you?”
“Oh, we obviously got God,” Aphrodite brags, flipping her long hair.
“Wow, you’re really good at pretending,” I think as loud as I can.
“Thanks,” she thinks back, and we share a small smile.

“Ugh, if you guys want to brag, just leave,” Sarah snaps, glaring at us.

“Let’s go,” I think. “She isn’t even a real friend.”

A small smirk appears on Aphrodite's face.

“Good call, older sis,” Aphrodite’s mind blares.

“Okay, then we’ll go,” Aphrodite says before I can even react. She grabs my wrist and we head out the door.

When we arrive at home, I see my parents’ car at the front door and my hand automatically moves over to my mark.

“Don’t worry, it’s covered,” Aphrodite tells me reassuringly.

My mom steps out on the porch.

“Freya, you got your mark!” she gasps, walking over to me.

“You’re both gods,” my father exclaims, with a proud smile appearing on his face.
I run into the house with Aphrodite, and when I get to my room, I pull out the old book once again.

“If a pair of twins become purple dragons, then it is their quest to search the enchanted world of Crests and find the ancient book of Haded,” I whisper to Aphrodite.

“So this means we have a journey—a quest!” Aphrodite whispers excitedly.

“Girls, what are you doing in there?” my mother’s smooth, commanding voice calls from the hall.

“Just talking,” I lie nervously.

“About your marks?” my mother sing-songs.

“Yep,” Aphrodite smiles smoothly

“I wonder what these girls are up to… Why haven’t their god formations come in yet?” my mother wonders.

I share a knowing glance with Aphrodite.

“Three, two, one… GO!!” I think.

At that moment, me and Aphrodite transform into “gods.” My mother’s jaw drops in surprise and confusion.

“They really are gods,” I hear my mother think.

“I never doubted you guys. I knew you could really transform,” my astonished mother chokes out. As her surprise fades, she opens the door and shouts, “Honey, come here! Look at what your daughter just did!”

The moment the words leave her lips, my father comes running in.

“Let me see,” he cries.

“Did she find out that they are lying about their marks?” my father’s mind blares loudly, and I wince.

“So, what happened?” he asks, putting on his I-told-you-so face.

“Our daughters transformed into their god forms,” my mother tells my father, smiling proudly.

My father’s I-told-you-so face falls.

“I knew you could do it,” my father tells us proudly. But you didn’t have to be a mind reader to tell he was shocked.

That night, when I am about to drift into sleep, Aphrodite runs into my room, smiling.
“Wake up, Freya,” she whispers.

“Just let me sleep,” I groan, throwing a pillow on my head.

“We need to do our purpose,” Aphrodite whispers, yanking my blankets off.

“I don’t care about some stupid purpose,” I snap, sitting up.

“Well, you can’t do anything to stop me,” Aphrodite says stubbornly.

With a flick of her wrist, Aphrodite packs all of her things into a small satchel.

“Is that really all of your stuff? I expected more,” I snort.

“I enchanted it to fit all of my stuff,” Aphrodite replies. “Now, are you coming?”

Reluctantly, I grab one of Aphrodite's enchanted bags and throw my stuff into it. And then the two of us walk into the forest, ready to face the unknown...

Part 2 coming next…