Vulcan's Furnace by C. Starr (best novel books to read .TXT) 📖

go outside. OK?”
he concluded. Carl and Raven nodded.
“But why amulets?” Raven asked.
“They are the one things that us gods like that you still use. And anyway, these, let’s call them adventures, are the only ways for you to prove yourself to your parents,” suddenly, the scene started to dim and a glowing beam of light broke through the sky.
“Ah, you are beginning to wake up, look after yourselves, goodbye for now.”
“Wait! Chiron, you said you didn’t know who our parents are!” Carl shouted to the dimming picture of the centaur.
“Did I? Well, it suddenly came to me,” he shouted back, his voice beginning to echo.
“Who are they?” Carl yelled.
“They are-,” and his voice faded.

Raven gasped for air as her eyes flew open. She looked around the darkness as her eyes began to adjust to the dim and saw the nurses’ sign.
I’m in the nursing room. OK.
She clenched her fist trying to sit up and then yelped in pain, she looked down and opened her fist.
The amulet.
“It was real,” she brought it closer to her eyes as a flicker of recognition flashed across her minds eye, “Where have I seen you before?”
“In your dreams every night,” a voice croaked.
Raven looked around fearfully, “Who said that?” she asked.
“It’s me, Carl,” Carl answered, “Remember? The boy from our dream?”
“Oh, it’s you,” Raven replied, visibly relaxing.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he paused, “So, what’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Raven,” she replied, then looked away.
“Um, so, why are you in here?” he asked, conversationally.
“I fainted after I burned a hole through the bulls eye with my javelin. You?” she replied shakily.
“Not as bad as me. I set the football on fire, the net and an extra three goalposts. Then I fainted. Three points to me!” he laughed quietly.
“I guess we are children of the gods. I wonder which ones,” Raven said thoughtfully.
“It’s probably not one of the head gods, that’s too much, I don’t think we’re that important,” he whispered.
“We could be, I mean which Greek god chucks firebolts? Zeus right?”
“Yeah,” Carl replied.
“Then I’d be the daughter of Zeus,” she whispered.
“Yeah, right. But how?” he asked.
“How many people do you know, can chuck a javelin with precise aim, and make bolts of electricity burst out of the tips of it?” she enquired.
“Well, which one am I? How many gods can literally fly?” he asked back.
“I’m gonna go for Hermes,” she murmured.
“Seriously? He’s like, the lowest… and that would make me your nephew,” he whispered furiously.
“How?” Raven asked earnestly.
“Hermes is the son of Zeus, if you are Zeus’s daughter, then you’re my aunty, making me, your nephew! Totally wrong!” he said loud enough for the sleepers in the other beds to hear them, thankfully, their dreams where deep.
“Alright, alright keep your hair on,” Raven laughed gently.
“It doesn’t matter anyway, alright?” she reassured him, reaching across their beds and patting his hand softly.
Carl nodded and took his amulet from around his neck,
“Do you think he was right?” he asked quietly.
“What about?” Raven asked intently.
“About the wishes,” he replied.
“Oh, he might have been,” she answered absently, staring at the night sky, and the moon’s beam that illuminated all the dust in the air.
“Do you think we should. … ” he voice trailed.
“What, make a wish?” Raven said, returning her attention to him.
Carl nodded.
“OK, let’s do it,” Raven whispered excitedly.
They both took their amulets and put them together, then gingerly took each others hand.
“What should we say?” Raven asked elatedly.
“He said we should wish what we wish every night,” Carl answered.
“OK,” Raven shivered with anticipation and felt the excitement throb through her veins.
“On three,” she whispered and Carl nodded.
“One…two…three! I wish I could go outside,” they said together. They squeezed their eyes shut, and then opened them warily.
They were still in the dark, dank, nursing room. Raven sighed, and took the amulet from Carl
“I knew it was too good to be true,” she sighed gloomily.
Carl nodded, then yawned.
“Yeah,” he nodded again drowsily, he turned over and pulled the blanket over his body again.
“Can we talk tomorrow?” he murmured. But as he turned to glance back at Raven, he saw that she had already fallen asleep, with her hair splayed out around her head like a frame. He stood up sleepily, and ambled towards her bed. And, suddenly feeling the need to, took her blanket and threw it over her gently. He wandered back to his bed and collapsed onto the mattress, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Carl woke up to the sounds of screaming women and the feel of ice-cold water falling heavily on his body. He shot up shaking the water out of his hair and gasping for air.
“What the..!” he exclaimed, before feeling his head being pushed back onto the hard surface he was lying on.
“Where am I?” he managed to ask before a mug of something thick and warm was shoved into his mouth.
He pushed himself up again, using his arms to steady himself, and gulped down the slimy liquid.
“What is that?”
“Posca,” said an unfamiliar voice. Carl shook his head, and looked around blearily, he took in the bustling bodies and the shouts of children and the curtain closed rooms and the strange lined writing on the walls.
“Wait, where am I?” he looked up at his rescuer.
“Wow, you must really be out of it,” he smiled, “This, is Pompeii, your home,” he said dramatically. Carl glowered puzzledly.
“My home?” Carl frowned, “Last night I was in the nursing room, after me and Raven… Raven! Where is she?!” he threw off the thin blanket and jumped off the bed.
“Where is she? Where is she?” he asked earnestly, grabbing hold of the boys’ shoulders and shaking him furiously. He didn’t seem at all affected; all he did was stare at Carl in amusement and when he finally let go of him, shouted,
“Father! I think you should come see this!” he shouted before pulling himself from Carls’ grasp and whispering to another boy who nodded and ran in the direction of what looked like a door. Carl sat back heavily on the ‘bed’ and took deep shaky breaths. After his heart rate had slowed, he looked up and found the boy talking to a man who looked thirty to thirty-five.
“Do you know where she is?” he croaked. The man looked up from his conversation and turned to Carl, smiling.
“I believe I know who you are talking about,” his voice was deep and cultured, with a slight accent.
“Jonathan!.” he called, and the boy who had fetched him came running back.
“Please tell the girl, Raven, to come, her friend is now awake,” he told the boy, who nodded, and ran to tell her.
Carl watched this with disbelief,
“Raven’s alright?” he asked doubtfully. They both nodded, then the man walked to him, bowing as he came closer, “I am Doctor Jeremiah ben Jonah, this is my son, Lupus ben Jonah,” he said, indicating the boy who nodded, then bowed. Carl looked at their contrasting differences, Doctor Jeremiah’s tanned skin and Lupus’s paler skin.
“He doesn’t look like you at all,” he said, before shutting his mouth quickly. The doctor and his son looked at each other in amusement before Lupus went to stand next to his father.
“I am adopted, well, I was found as a baby and was raised as a Jew. I am now learning my father’s profession, doctoring,” Lupus explained. Carl nodded, and was about to ask another question when a voice broke his train of thought.
“Carl! You’re awake!” Raven squealed and ran to hug him quickly before swiftly composing herself and standing back. She cleared her throat to the amused looks of Doctor Jeremiah and brought out her hand for him to shake, “I mean, good to see you’re awake Carl. Meet my new friends, Cartillia and Diana,” she said, indicating the giggling girls at the curtain, “Not forgetting Lupus of course,” here, she smiled at him and Lupus smiled back from behind his fathers shoulder. Carl looked around bewildered, “You make friends quickly,” he muttered. Raven shrugged indifferently, “People like me, and, we’ve been here a week,”
she paused, then leant towards his ear and whispered,
“We need to talk though, about the…you know,” she leant back and smiled around,
“Get on with it then,” she whispered fiercely from the side of her mouth then went back to her giggling friends and started up another conversation.
Probably about how stupid I am, and we’ve been here a week?. He thought, then turned to the doctor,
“Doctor, I don’t suppose you have any clothes for me to wear? I don’t think what I’m wearing is, um, suitable, but a bag would be nice,” he asked. The doctor nodded and shouted, “Jonathan!”
“Doctor, don’t you think Jonathan needs a rest, it seems he has been running around all morning.” Carl glanced concernedly at the boy, Jonathan, as he came gasping into the room.
Doctor Jeremiah nodded, “Jonathan,”
“Yes sir?” Jonathan wheezed.
“Have a rest,” he said, Jonathan nodded and walked out of the room grinning.
“About your clothing, Carl… an unusual name. Where are you from?” he asked. Carl hesitated, feeling Ravens glare.
“Me and Raven are from, Britain,” he said quickly.
“Aah, what part?” he asked.
“We are from, London,” he replied plaintively.
“Londinium,” corrected the doctor.
Carl nodded agreeably, “Yeah, that.”
“Well, I guess that explains your clothing, Raven, as you can see, has already changed into a tunic, and Lupus will get you one. Also, we have put a change of clothes and some food in a satchel for you and Raven, you get a satchel each. Lupus, please have the cook get the bread and cheese ready,” he asked and watched Lupus go. He turned back to Carl,
“Do you wish to speak to your friend in private?” he asked, rubbing his hands as if to warm them.
“Yes, thankyou.” Carl replied, the Doctor nodded and led the girls out of the room and closed the curtain, leaving Raven and Carl to talk.

Raven turned to Carl and sat on the edge of his bed,
“The amulets work,” she stated. Carl rolled his eyes, “You don’t think I noticed that? We’re in blimmin’ Pompeii. Probably 2000 years away from our time,” he exclaimed. Raven rolled her eyes back and sighed,
“At least we have a chance to prove ourselves,” she whispered cunningly. Carl frowned, confused,
“Prove ourselves to who?” he asked.
“Our parents of course! The gods,” she smiled, leaping from his bed, then sitting again.
“But we need to work out what we can do to prove ourselves,” Carl groaned.
Raven nodded, “I’ve been thinking about that. This is Pompeii, maybe 2000 years before our time, possibly less. What’s the most memorable thing that happened at this time in Pompeii?.” she asked thoughtfully. Carl frowned in concentration, “Nothing springs to mind.”
“Vesuvius erupts, dunce!” she scolded.
“So?” Carl asked.
“So, we save everyone,” she spoke simply. Carl’s eyes widened.
“Everyone?” he asked.
“Everyone,” she answered.
“Isn’t that a bit too much?” Carl asked again.
“Not if we’re gods it’s not,” Raven replied deviously.
Carl shook his head in disagreement, “No Raven, we can’t use our powers, we don’t know the full extent of them, we could cause something worse than Vesuvius.”
Raven nodded thoughtfully, “You may be right, OK, we’ll talk about it again tonight. Until then, have