Chapter One: Finding The Demon
It was now or never. I took a deep breath in and looked at where I was getting to. Crumbling stone blocked me off and spikes poked into the air, trying to keep me from finding him. I heard tortured screams. Rocks jumped and tumbled as monsters were born out of them. I concentrated hard on my goal and tried to pick my way to the demon with my eyes.
A cry of pain echoed from the other side of the spikes. I had to get to him. I just had to. I took a deep breath and started. I pressed my back against the shaky rock that was bordering the falling boards of dirty wood. My arms stretched out to keep my balance on the unstable wood. My black boots edged along, shaking along with the rest of me.
I let out a yell of surprise when my foot slipped through a hole. My yell echoed around the small cave and dirt fell from the ceiling in clouds of brown and grey, dusting my hair into a sand paper color. Breathing heavily, I slowly pulled up my leg and edged around the hole. My heart thumped unevenly against my rib cage and I flinched as it started to hurt.
My black t-shirt clung to my sweat covered body. Bats flapped around below the board walkway, hissing and ready to bite me if I fell. A bobcat slunk into the cave from the woods and looked up at me. It's gray fur stood on end and it arched it's back, it's yellow eyes turning a bright yellow. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to catch my breath.
Someone screamed my name and I jumped, but that was not a good idea. The wood gave out from under me and I fell through the hole. My fingers curled around the edge of the board and the bats fluttered around my stomach, ready to bite. Waiting to bite. I clenched my teeth together and tried to remember why I was doing this.
To save him. Him. He was the problem that I had come all the way out here. My jeans were ripped and my short tore, and my jacket didn't even look like a jacket anymore. I had cut off the sleeves and part of the front to stop several bleeding injuries, and I still had the sleeve wrapped around my upper leg.
I hadn't washed my hair since I started out, almost a week ago. It fluttered around my hips, and bats were starting to bite at it. "It's hair," I hissed to them. No matter how old I got, I always felt the need to talk to animals. "Stop it." My fingers were starting to give out on me and I threw my head back, staring at the ceiling.
I flung my legs up and my heels caught onto a piece of wood that was hanging from the crumbling stone that was connected to the rock wall. I kept my voice down as I complained about my mission. But I was almost there. After six days of people attacking me, groups at a time, I was almost there.
The black heart locket that rested on my tore-up shirt was one that held a picture of me and him in it. It was the one he gave me before he left. I thought he was just going back home to pack up things for a year-round Camp Half-Blood experience. He gave it to me, kissed me on the cheek, and walked out the Camp borders.
And now I'm here. Saving him from someone. I don't know who I'm saving him from either. I just know that I need a lo of weapons. A bow was latched onto my back, and a pouch full of bows was in the bag that I had brought along. A knife was stuffed into my pocket along with a pack of candy so my blood sugar wouldn't get too low.
Once I was back on the shaky and unstable boards, I gripped tightly to the wall. Even though there was nothing to hold onto to, I tried my very best to hold onto it. "I'm almost there," I whispered, keeping my voice low in case the bats got too hungry and wanted a treat. "I've been good," I told myself. "I'll make it."
I crept along the boards. One more yard. One more step. The bats came up and I screamed. More dirt shook from the ceiling and coated my hair. The bats swarmed me as I was engulfed in a memory from my past. From my painful, painful past.
I was battling him. At first, it was just another fun push/splash fight as we tried to keep our demigod lives normal. Then he pushed me too far. The waves took me under. Drowning is very weird, in a way. It doesn't hurt if you don't struggle, which, being the smart person I am, I didn't struggle.
It's like you can see, but you're blind. You can hear, but you're deaf. You can feel, but you're dead. You feel the water, quickly rushing to your skin. You see the light, streaming through the water, breaking through the waves. You hear that weird sound that water makes, like when you dunk your head under in a pool.
If you're lucky, you feel someone's hand wrapping around you. You feel your head get yanked above the water. You choke and sputter for air as someone pulls you to shore and holds you tight as you try to forget what happened to you. But no matter how much pain you DIDN'T feel, the memory sticks. It always does.
I tried to break through the cloud of bats, and soon enough, all of them had gone, and there was only one cut on my cheek, and it was oozing warm blood that made me shiver in pain and fear. One more step and I swear it will be done. You'll get to see him again. I promise. No more pain. You'll go back to Camp together.
Everything will be perfect.
I took deep breaths as I got the spikes. On the other side of these deadly, shiny, silver things, is him. You'll finally see him again. I dug my toes into the crumbling stone and hoisted myself up. The spikes seemed to shift to the right to allow me to sit on the stone and get ready for the long jump down.
"Thank you," I whispered to the spikes. Tip One: If spikes move aside for you, that's a red flag. I pushed myself off of the stone, and landed on the ground with a thump. My feet stung, but other than that, I was alright. I straightened up, brushed myself off, and looked up, smiling, thinking that it was him I would find.
It wasn't him.
