Me: HELLO!

Finn: I almost forgot we had this story.

Me: … How could you forget the most amazing end to a trilogy ever?

Finn: Because you abandoned it for seven months.

Me: You know what…

Finn: What?

Me: You can go… jump… off of a cruise ship.

Finn: … Is that a sp-

Me: In case you haven't read it, I won't let him finish that sentence. ON WITH IT.

Chapter 3

Max POV

I felt my blood boiling under my skin; as I got to my feet, ready to pound this kid to the dirt when Finn came running through the thick woods.

"Max!" Finn exclaimed. Then he noticed what was happening.

"Um, what happened?"
"She attacked me," he shrugged, slowly stepping away from the water.

"More like you attacked me," I snapped. "Stay out of it Water Boy."

"Bring it Pegasus Girl."

"Guys, calm down," Finn said, stepping between the growing hostility between Water Boy and I. He spread out his hands to block us from attacking each other. I felt my fists clenching into tight balls at my side.

"We have to work together if we're going to save anyone from anything. That's why I called you here Max. We need to defeat Maleficent once and for all, together." I heaved a sigh. Fighting wasn't necessary for now. I felt my shoulders relax and my hands unclench. Finn dropped his hands once he felt the tension break.

"The place of magic is one of the final battles. One will die when the bell rattles. Bird, demigod, and light combine. On the dragon's skin you will dine. Fairytales hold the key to winning. The light in the eyes will be dimming. The figures in the distance are closer than you think. Only true victory will help you find the chink. Keep together, through thick and thin. Only then will you find the light within," Finn recited. I gave him a look.

"What is that?"
"The prophecy for this," Percy said.

"Bird, demigod and light combine," I said slowly, starting to reason through it.

"Exactly!" Finn beamed. Before I could think about if this was worth it, Finn interrupted my thoughts.

"Where's the flock?"

"Oh, yeah they're a little ways away, I'll go get them." I had almost forgot about my flock. I spread my wings, got a running start before taking off. The wind whistled through my feathers. Flying made me feel free and I almost forgot my worries. Almost. I soared to the group of kids perched on the trees.

"Max!" Angel shouted.

"We thought you had gotten lost or something," Iggy said.

"I got busy," I said crisply, not wanting to remember the lost battle with Percy. Fang raised an eyebrow, noting that something was wrong.

"Come on, Finn and the rest of them are down there." I motioned for a U & A. Simultaneously, the flock spread their wings. We all rose and pivoted to the small clearing where I had been. That's when I heard the thunder crash. I glanced behind me. Sure enough, the large cloud was booming and crashing, sending branches from trees nearby whirling into the air. I felt my heart clench in my throat. He swore to leave my flock and I alone after I did the deed. Fang flew next to me.

"Is everything okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah… I just… I have to take care of something." I tried not to look him in the eyes, so he wouldn't try and stop me. Fang studied me for a moment before nodding and taking off with the flock, but not with a few glances over his shoulder. I waited until they disappeared under the trees. I turned and kicked into hyperspeed and sped to the ominous dark cloud. I hovered in the center, spinning around, trying to find him. Maybe it was just a cloud. Maybe he wasn't here and I was just paranoid. But just when I was about to leave, a figure in a clean suit, not at all like what he was wearing last time I saw him slid out on a cloudy platform.

"You," I growled.
"Hello Max," he beamed.

"I already did what you want, so you can go-"

"I did not break ties with you, so fortunately, I'm still your master," he smirked. I felt my muscles tighten as I felt the sudden urge to strangle him.

"Now now, you think you can attack me?" I lunged at him, swiping the air, only getting a faceful of cold air. He materialized behind me, making a tsking noise.

"Have you learned nothing? Maybe you're not as smart as I thought."
"At least I'm not dressed like I'm going to a funeral."

He chuckled.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Simple. Another task. Any other ridiculous questions?"

"Well, you're not holding any of my flock's identities this time, so what do you think you're going to do to make me do it?"

"Oh I don't think I need anything except this…" He extended his palm and a small glowing orb grew into a beach ball size.

"What is that?"

He grinned and poked it with his finger. A devastating pain shook my body and I doubled over, losing a few feet of air.

"Is that my-" I started, gasping for air.

"Yes, yes it is," he said cheerfully.

"What do you want, you fox-hearted-"

"I want you to do one thing for me, and you can have your precious soul back."

"And that is?" I gave him a withering glare.

"Kill Finn Whitman."

Percy POV

Apparently, Pegasus Girl had friends. When five flying kids came soaring over the trees, I knew that I had officially seen some weird stuff. Annabeth had come up behind me and was muttering under her breath about the dynamics of the wing, calorie burning and other nonsense. They landed before us and folded their wings behind their backs. Now they looked like regular teenagers, except three younger kids, ten at the most.

"Hi!" a small cocoa-skinned girl chirped at me.
"Hey," I replied, not sounding awestruck at all.

"I'm Nudge! I like llamas, and bananas! Bananas are good. They come from South America, and monkeys eat them! Are there monkeys here? I like monkeys. Monkeys are furry and-"

A tall boy clamped his hand over Nudge's mouth.

"She likes to talk," I said.

"Yeah," he said. I noticed that he wasn't even looking at me. In fact, he wasn't looking at anything. I waved my hand in front of his face. Could he see me?

"Um," Annabeth said from behind me. A small blonde boy was laughing silently. What was he laughing at? The tall blonde boy suddenly turned towards me and I stumbled back.

"I'm blind," he said bluntly.

Oh.

"Oh… um… sorry," I started.

"You get used to it," he said dismissively. "I'm Iggy."

"I'm Percy," I said.

"I'm Annabeth," she piped up from behind me.

"I'm Angel," the little blonde girl beamed at me.

What was with these names? I faced a lot of evils in my life, and these names were interesting enough.

We named ourselves.

I looked around. What was that?

I read minds. I can communicate and control them too.

I glanced at the little blonde girl who was still smiling at me. I needed to watch out for that one.

"I'm the Gasman, or Gazzy," the little blonde boy who had been laughing said.

"Do I want to know why that's your name?"
"No," Iggy said quickly.

"I'm Fang," a dark haired boy who I hadn't even noticed said quietly.

"Where's Pegasus-" I started to ask, noticing that she wasn't among them.

"Where's Max?" Finn interrupted me. He gave me a look that I didn't understand.

"She said she'd catch up with us," Fang said.
"Oh…" Finn said, although his tone was puzzled. Suddenly, the Keepers came crashing through the woods. The two groups squealed and greeted each other with eagerness. Annabeth and I sort of fell back.

"Where do you think Max is?" I asked quickly.

"I have no idea," Annabeth frowned. "I doubt she would go on the quest without us. Which we need to get a move on."

"We have no idea what our next step would even be," I pointed out.

"Solve the prophecy," she retorted.

"What are you guys talking about?" Finn interrupted.
"Uh…" I managed.

"What we are going to do next," Annabeth replied coolly.

"Yeah, I have no idea…" Finn frowned.

Maybeck filled 'the flock' in on the prophecy.

"We should probably get the Amazons with us, so we can head back to Disney," Finn decided. He started off to the woods and we all followed. I guess Finn was unelected leader. I trudged behind 'the flock' alone. Annabeth had gone up front to talk strategy with Philby. I felt wind whooshing behind me and I had my sword out within seconds. Max raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, it's just you," I said, and capped Riptide, slipping it into my pocket.

"Yeah, no need to decapitate me," she rolled her eyes.
"Where did you go?" I asked. She gave me a withering glare.

"None of your business Water Boy," she snapped and stalked past me to catch up with her flock. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the sky today.

Arianna POV

Valerye shot an arrow and a squirrel plummeted from a tall tree.
"Nice!" Lilia shouted from a few meters behind.
"Be quiet! You don't know who's out here," I said firmly.

"Like who? The Tree Monsters?" Valerye giggled.

"Girls," I snapped. They pulled on a serious face. As the oldest, I had taken command of them.

"Percy did us a favor getting us away from Ella after he saved us. He wants us out here looking for-" my mouth was suddenly tired of talking. I hadn't even said much, but everything seemed in slow motion. I saw Lilia wobble a bit as she sprang forward to help me.

"Arianna?" I heard.

"I-I'm fi-in-ine," I stammered. I felt like I was dying. My skin felt cold and I could only hear the blood roaring in my ears. I could barely see Lilia shouting before she fell over as well, I felt her against my leg before my eyes started to close. Someone touched my arm and a shock of warmth spread through my skin. My eyes flew open and I could see clearly, even clearer than before. I could see the stems on a leaf twenty feet away. I turned and saw Percy kneeling next to me, his eyes wide in concern.

"What happened?" I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

"We came looking for you, and you're passed out on the ground," he replied, anxiously.

"What happened?" Valerye groaned from the ground next to me.

"We passed out."

"How long?"

"It's almost sunset now," Annabeth said, an eyebrow raised.

"One more day to defeat the Overtakers," Lilia said. I nodded, my head throbbing. How could I look so feeble around the two I had to control? I struggled to my feet.

"We have to get a move on," I said.

"Where are we going?" Lilia asked.

"Back to Disney. We waited for you, but I volunteered to look for you. Of course, I had to get some help," Percy nodded to Annabeth.

"And-" Annabeth started.

"Found you!" a voice shouted. Maybeck tripped over a group of clumped bushes and fell on his face. Annabeth sighed and rolled her eyes. Percy suppressed a snicker.

"Are you okay?" Valerye asked.

"Yeah," he said, obviously embarrassed.

"If you keep thundering around like that, someone's going to hear you," I told him.

"Who's out here besides us?" Maybeck asked. A figure began shifting through the shadows towards our group. Annabeth cursed and grabbed Maybeck's arm, thrusting him behind her. She pulled out her dagger. We all had our bows out and armed, pointed at the figures. Percy had his strange glowing sword out.

"Show yourself," Maybeck yelled and Annabeth slapped his arm. The defenseless boy had no position to start taunting them. The figure slowly revealed itself. It was in tattered clothing and was bleeding. It took a step forward and fell on the ground. Percy abandoned his spot and darted to it's side. It was a pirate, from the looks of it.

"From Pirates of the Caribbean ride," Maybeck said. "They're Overtakers, Percy." I kneeled next to him, cradling the pirate's head in my lap as it choked on the blood spilling out of his mouth.

"Prince-" he gasped, grabbing Percy's hand as his body convulsed.

"Breathe…" I soothed, trying to motion to Valerye for some medicine, although I knew we didn't have any.

"Shh," Percy shushed. "Save your breath."

The pirate laughed, coughing up blood onto his chest in the process.

"Let me tell you what I can," he managed. Percy glanced at me and I nodded.

"Okay," he said.

"Prince Phillip has the sword," the pirate spluttered.

"What sword?" Maybeck asked.

"The only one that can defeat the witch, it's on his…" the pirate shuddered.

"The sword that stabbed her dragon form in the movie?" Maybeck asked, approaching slowly. The pirate nodded and winced.

"Where is it?" I asked softly. The pirate looked up at me.

"On the prince's back. Two hours east," the pirate said.

"Why are you helping us? How do we know you are telling the truth?" Maybeck asked. The pirate started to speak but began coughing up more blood.
"How much time do you think he has?" Percy asked me quietly.

"Five minutes maybe," I said, shaking my head.

"I can hear you," the pirate said, sounding annoyed for a dying character.

"Go on," Maybeck motioned.

"Because I'm on your side," the pirate beamed, which was a grotesque sight from his bloody teeth.

"Kill… the… witch…" he said, his breath slowing.

"Stay with us," I begged.

"Eat her skin," the pirate said, closing off the circulation in Percy's hand.

"WHAT?" Maybeck exclaimed. The pirate glared at him before sighing and closing his eyes. I pressed my palm against his chest. No beat. I checked his wrist for his pulse. No pulse. I shook my head at Percy and slowly let the pirate's head slide to the floor. Annabeth had been watching from a few feet away.

"Eat her skin," Maybeck repeated.

"It's in the prophecy," Annabeth pointed out. I recalled it quickly.

"On the dragon's skin you will dine. But why? And how are we going to get her skin?" Valerye said.

"I think we have to worry about that later," Percy said. He started away.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To see if he had friends," he said, and trampled back through the woods.

"We need the sword," Annabeth said.
"Two hours east," Lilia realized.

"We'll go get it," I offered.

"Arianna…"
"You all have a lot to do. Find the dragon's skin, eat it etcetera. We need to get the sword and come back before the end of tomorrow so we can defeat her," I interrupted. I glanced around at Lilia and Valerye who were nodding in agreement and squaring their shoulders.

"At least wait until Percy comes back," Annabeth said. As she finished that sentence, my vision got blurry again. I stumbled and steadied myself on a tree.

"Arianna? Lilia? Valerye?" Annabeth asked anxiously, but I barely heard her.

"PERCY!" she shouted. That I heard. Maybeck said something and took off. Suddenly I felt like I was going to collapse. I made an inaudible noise as I crumpled to the dirt. Annabeth shouted something again. Maybe I should close my eyes…. I felt a fresh wave of energy flow over me. I struggled up, pleased to see that the sky was still the same as it had earlier.

"Whoa, what happened?" Annabeth said, then frowned.

"PERCY WHERE ARE YOU?"

"HERE!" he called faintly.

"STEP BACK!"
"WHAT?"
"STEP BACK! I'M TESTING SOMETHING."

"WHAT?"
"JUST DO IT!"

There was silent reply.

"I STEPPED BACK," he finally shouted.

"MORE."

Silence.

"MORE."
Silence.

"MORE."

I felt my vision go blurry again and my knees felt weak. All the energy was sapping away from me. I stumbled and fell again.

"COME BACK YOU'RE GOOD!" Annabeth yelled. Almost instantly I felt better again.

"What in Zeus' name are you doing?" I demanded when I got my breath. Percy came crashing back through the shrubbery.

"What was the experiment?"

"See why they pass out," Annabeth said. "It's you Percy."
"What?" We all exclaimed simultaneously.

"He used the feather to protect you, so it seems like your life force is attached to either him or the feather," Annabeth explained.

"Our lives rely on a male or a feather?" Lilia exclaimed.

"Fantastic," I said.

Me: OOOHHHHH SO MANY THINGS HAPPENED.

Finn: Why didn't I have a POV?

Me: It's not all about you Finn. You'll get your spotlight, attention hog.

Finn: What? I was just wondering why-

Me: You don't have to make excuses.

Finn: I'm not making-

Me: You are there.

Finn: …

Me: Yeah. So who is Max talking to?

Finn: Maybe it's-

Me: SHUUUUSHHHH

Finn: I don't know if it's-

Me: SHUT UP. –puts duct tape on Finn's mouth-

Finn: MRGH

Me: I told you to shush.

Finn: MERRRRGHHH.

Me: And how are Valerye, Arianna, and Lilia going to get Prince Phillip's sword if Percy needs to be in two places at once? Meanwhile, the clock is ticking… the bells are ringing… it's a cliffhanger, anyways.

Finn: -silence-

Me: Yeah okay. THE END.

Read and Review? Sorry it took so long, I got busy, then I had the worse case of Writer's Block. But I planned out each of their fates. So it's all good. And the Keepers will be around a lot more in future chapters, I left them out for this chapter only I guess. But anyway… I READ THE NEWEST KINGDOM KEEPER'S BOOK (spoilers ahead) WHAT RIDLEY PEARSON WHY WHY IS PHILBY A JERK, WHY DID FINN JUMP WHERE DID THEY GO WHY IS STOREY MING ALIVE THROW HER OFF THE BOAT SHE RUINS FINMANDA okay I'm done.