PREPARATIONS

After their little conversation with Val, they knew they had to start preparing for a journey since it would be hard to come back for reasons untold by Val.

They knew what they had to do and they had to do it quick, and just like that their main objective for the mean time was established.

Ayo and Rayla walked into the cafeteria for lunch, as they entered the hall everybody looks in their direction but Ayo and Rayla who were engaged in a conversation of their own failed to notice their gaze.

"Am not seeing things, am I?" asked the student sitting with his friend the moment he saw both of them walk in.

"Who's the new student walking with Rayla?" whispered another student at another table.

"Looks like am not seeing things" he thought before turning to ask his friend.

"hey dude do you know that new student?" he asked his friend sitting right by his side.

It was obvious that he didn't see Ayo in the morning.

"Sure" replied his friend.

"Well what are you waiting for tell me." He said imploring of his friend.

"Guess" he said to his friend.

"Stop with the drama and just spill the beans already." He said chiding his friend.

"If I told not only would you not believe me and you would be shocked." he said.

"Try me" he replied to his friend.

"Okay, who's the only guy who sits down to have lunch with Rayla ever since she transferred here?" he asked his friend.

"That's easy, everyone knows it's Ayo the guy in the same class as her." He answered. "that's not what I was asking for you know." He said as he slowly turned his head laughing at his friend.

His friend slowly nods his head signaling him he was right.

"If I didn't know any better I would think that you were saying this guy was Ayo." He said as he continued laughing at his friend when he suddenly stops and his expression changed slowly as he noticed his friends gaze that seemed to say I didn't think you were that dumb, before completely transforming into a shocked expression.

"You joking right?" he asked his friend.

"Definitely not joking dude" he friend replies.

"Hahaha this has got to be some great and elaborate prank show, you got me man" he said laughing.

His friend slaps the back of his head as if to help him snap out of a bad dream.

"You were not joking, he's Ayo" he said with disbelief written all over his face as he looked at his friend for further confirmation but all he got was a glare.

"He's Ayo as in Ayo with the cornrows and gloomy dressing?"

"Yes" said his friend nodding.

"Ayo as in Ayo the wall incident behind the bleachers?" he asked.

"Yes"

"You can stop lying now man" he said shaking his head.

"What do I stand to gain by lying to you, come on don't you trust me not anymore" his friend said as he continued eating his food.

"how is that kind of transformation possible" he thought since the Ayo in his memory was a gloomy dressed guy with no regards how he appeared to others but the Ayo he just saw was in one word Frosty and fresh almost as if he was someone else.

…

Meanwhile Ayo and Rayla were having their lunch while they continued their conversation after they left Vals office.

"Looks like we have to start preparing since there's not enough time according to Val the soonest we leave is in two weeks" said Rayla as she took a bite of her lunch.

"Yeah" said Ayo as he kept thinking about how he needed to make sure everything would be in order before he left since there was a lot of drama going on at home.

"Have you spoken with your dad?" he asks her.

"Yes" she answered "Although he's against it, he says he'll try his best to support me if I intend to find my mother even though he had already searched for her but couldn't find her." Rayla answered before shoving a spoonful of her lunch in her mouth.

Ayo drinks his juice while waiting for Rayla to finish chewing her food.

She asks "how are you going to break the news to your foster siblings?"

"it's ok they already know am leaving, they just don't know when." He said giving her a confident smile before hurriedly changing the topic.

"I heard there might be a geography test this week on the Northern winter lands" he said.

"Oh" replied Rayla vaguely since she knew he was trying to change the topic.

As they had lunch while talking about the Academy and other things they were able to take their mind of the ticking bomb which was their eminent departure to some where they had no idea about.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same except for the fact that all the girls were looking at Ayo like some monkey in a zoo and made him promise himself he was going to deal with the boys first thing first as he got home.

On getting home he decides to start making the arrangements while he still had time to figure things out and know how he was going to handle leaving the boys and the everything he needed to since he still had to understand why he's father left his mother.

Val said we only need to pack a couple of clothes since the journey would be two days at most but it would just signify the main start of our journey in the search of our parents, not to mention the fact that he said we should still pack a couple of snacks and drinks to bring with us on the trip since he was not sure we would be able to find the nearest town quickly while on the road.

So for today I packed just the clothes the boys bought for me in a backpack while I carried my lighter and put it in a fanny pack I got from Olivia, I already told her I intended on searching for my dad although I left the path about him being a god out she still tried to convince me not to but since she saw that I had made up my mind she knew there was no way I was going to change my mind so she had no other option but to submit in the end.

Back to what I doing, she shoved a couple of breath mints in the fanny pack before walking off. She calls my name and as I spun round to answer her she threw her letter opener which looked more like a dagger towards me saying;

"make sure you always keep that with you it's not so safe in the outside world." As she walked off to her study room.

I stuffed a bunch of things in my bag like a first aid kit and some painkillers for no reason.

Seeing as everything I thought I could possibly need or felt was more important was crammed in my backpack I was finally able to relax.

…

At Rayla's

"Have you packed your running shoes?" asked her dad.

"Yes" answered Rayla

"What about breath mints and your swiss knife?" he asked.

"Yes, I already did." She answered "Relax dad I don't leave for another two weeks" she said as if trying to reassure him.

"I know but isn't it too soon?" he asked.

"It's alright, I'll be okay and am still here aren't I" she said.

He stood up walking to his room not answering Rayla he goes too his room and searches for his box while opening it he looks at the scythe in front of him before noticing the smaller pair was missing.

"Hey Rayla, you didn't happen to have taken anything from this box, right darling?" he asked.

"Damn" she realized she forgot to put it back after that fight she had with the soul devourer last time with Ayo.

"Don't get mad but I kind of took it" she said tentatively as if testing the waters.

Breathing out he says "It's okay keep it with you, I was going to give it to you anyway". "It was delivered when you were four, it just appeared in my room during your birthday party, I think it's something your mom sent I already had it analyzed but they couldn't find out what it was made of" he said as he gave her the box which contained the larger scythe.

"Really?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah, just try to stay safe during your journey." He said.

"It probably won't be that long dad" she said. "I promise I'll be safe".

…..