The Temple Unleashed (Book 1) | ONC 2024

Chapter 3

"I'm so glad you decided to come along," Beks told Kat as they waited in front of the airport for late students. The last few days of school passed in a blur and the day that Kat was dreading finally came to pass. It was early in the morning, nearly five and Kat had hitched a ride with Beks and her mom.

Ms. Dean was asked to come along on the trip for reasons unknown to the students but Kat and Beks had a feeling it was because Mr. Darmon secretly liked her —he claimed it was good to have a female adult in the group since the majority of the students were females. Kat decided to ignore the fact that there were already female chaperones.

Kat gave her friend a convincing smile and said, " Of course...." Eventually, all the students arrived and the adults took a head count. They all filed to the ticket booth and checked in their larger baggage —most of which belonged to the adults.

Kat had already flown a few times with her mom on business trips so she was fairly familiar with the expectations. She passed through TSA and waited on the other side for her classmates.

"Yes, just put your suitcases on the conveyor belt. Yes, of course June, even your purse. No, no, no Liam! You don't have to take off all your clothes, just your shoes!" Mr. Darmons voice was frantic but Ms. Dean calmly restored order. The security guards however eyed the students suspiciously, almost expecting a riot.

Eventually, they made it through the security checkpoint and to the other side. It was only six and their flight didn't leave till seven-thirty so the adults gave the students leave to wander around and grab something to eat. They just had to meet at their gate by seven.

Kat and Beks sauntered off to a Starbucks located fairly close to the gate. While her friend ordered, Kat wandered over to a nearby pamphlet holder. The little booklets were organized neatly in alphabetical order.

"Awesome Places in Argentina," she read out loud, "Breathtaking Locations in Brazil, Cool Buildings in China," she read down the list until she got to, " Great Temples in Greece, hmm, may come in handy later," she decided and grabbed the Greece pamphlet, pocketed it and went to find her friend. After their hurried breakfast of a muffin and coffee, they hurried off to their gate. Most of the students were already waiting in line while Mr. Darmon took yet another head count.

They all got in line, got their ticket scanned and hurried down the gangway to the flight. The plane was a fairly small jet, taking into consideration they would fly to Frankfurt, Kentucky first which would only be two hours.

Most of the kids on the plane didn't have any seats together so there was a lot of swapping and climbing over other passengers before everyone was satisfied. Kat found herself seated next to Beks fortunately.

It was just as the plane's wheels left the blacktop when Kat's phone began to ring. She looked at the contact number and recognized it to be Henry, the butler at home.

"Um, hello...what's up?" she asked hesitantly.

"Good afternoon Ms.Caddell. I just received news a couple hours ago....news concerning your mother." Kat's stomach gave a small lurch but it might have had something to do with the aircrafts sudden pitch.

"Are you still there?" the worried voice on the other end asked. After Kat affirmed the positive, so Henry continued.

"Mrs. Caddell has been in an accident. She was rushed to the hospital in Phoenix."

Kat's heart almost stopped beating, and for a second, she stopped breathing.

"Is she ok?" she asked after finding her voice, surprised at the calmness of her voice. She expected her voice to waver and crack or something.