JustALittleInfinity's chapter on Wattpad: 71052673-writers-games-%CE%BC%CE%AC%CF%87%CE%B7-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%B1%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%BB%CF%86%CF%8E%CE%BD-battle-of-the?utm_source=email-uploaded_story&ref_id=13312859

Once our Pegasi had dropped us off at Middle Island, they flew back to Olympus. Now that the four of us were back on land, our alliance seemed changed as if the dynamic had been fundamentally altered. The time apart sure played a part, but my kissing Adonis before we took off on the Pegasi was the biggest culprit.

How I knew? Well, for starters, both of us hadn't said a word during the flight and on land, there was this uncomfortable tension zapping between us. Kyle and Ace, however, seemed the best of buds now. The stand-off between Adonis and I awkwardly continued as he scratched the back of his neck and I stared at my feet. This lasted until Kyle finally exclaimed:

"Oh for the love of Jupiter, make out already!"

This made both of us chuckle and lightened the tension. We stepped closer to each other and I stood on my tiptoes, lifting my face to his. Our kiss was short and innocent, a mere peck on the lips, but butterflies were still having a dance party in my stomach.

"Was that so hard?" Ace grinned.

"I bet something was hard," Kyle howled with laughter. I glared at him and Adonis protectively put his arm around my waist. I felt bad for him in a way. Here was this tall, buff guy who could win this quest on his own, but instead he got himself a girlfriend. Adonis was emotionally involved with me, whether he realized it or not.

Next, we searched for water and kindle wood. Once we had a fire going, I got into my potion grind again. If I was not mistaken, Pomegranate and Ezra were still alive, so a vanquishing potion for Pluto kids was in order. Since there were only two of them, I decided not make a big batch.

Adonis helped me brew it and even came up with a nickname for me in the process. While he assisted me, he affectionately called me "His flame". Get it? Hellfire, flame? I thought it was cute; it certainly made my girlhood tremble.

Anyway, as we were flirting and brewing, Kyle and Ace started sparring. Nothing aggressive, just training. Ace kicked Kyle's butt several times, but he kept getting up with a wide grin on his face as if he was actually enjoying Ace beating him black and blue. I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them had their own love affair.

After I filled a handful of vials with the black-colored potion, we ate the beef jerky from Harmony's saddle bag and drank hot chocolate from the thermos in Ace's red backpack. Kyle joked that I should have made soup instead of a potion, but I asked him if he'd rather have two powerful opponents or be hungry. He shut up.

To be honest, I actually regretted not using all the herbs and spices at my disposal to cook some soup. It felt like ages since I cooked a warm, delicious pot of steaming soup, let alone a tasty broth. Back in Camp Jupiter, I would serve a different kind of soup each week. Oh gods, how I missed camp…

My potion grind wasn't in vain, though. Soon after dinner, Ezra jumped us. I wanted to stretch my hands out to freeze him, but somehow I couldn't move my arms. It was as if someone had grabbed me from behind and was clutching my arms against my body. I was useless while Ace, Kyle and Adonis struggled to overpower the heavily trained Ezra.

However, I heard someone breathing in my ears, which meant there actually was someone holding me down, only they were somehow invisible. Luckily, my second oldest sister Astrid wrote a spell that counters invisibility.

"You may be slick, and you may be sly, but by my hands, you shall die," I chanted. The force around my arms suddenly disappeared, but I heard someone screaming right next to me. It was a girl's scream.

The scream intensified until a golden ring dropped on the ground and a panting Pomegranate became visible. The ring she dropped looked all sizzled up like charcoaled bacon on a burning barbecue.

"Pomegranate!" Ezra called while kicking Adonis in the gut. So the Pluto kids teamed up? I didn't see that coming.

"Your spell said 'die'. Why isn't she dead yet?" Ace asked as she recovered from one of Ezra's blows. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Magic isn't an exact science. Besides, you can't kill demigods with a spell."

Pomegranate still gasped for breath as if she had spent her whole life under water and only now came up for air. I took one of the Pluto vanquishing potions and put an end to her misery. As she burned and screamed, I threw another black potion vial at Ezra. Both demigods went up in flames and everything became quiet again.

We were all exhausted after the bloodbath at Half-Blood Hill, the aerial fight with the Pegasi and harpies, and the latest Pluto attack. We decided to go to sleep and take turns at standing guard. Adonis lay down beside me, spooning me with his tall figure. His presence didn't comfort me, though. Guilt flooded me as my eyes closed.

My dreams were restless and blurry. I saw the faces of the demigods I had killed, the children I had sent to the Underworld. I had gone from pacifist to serial killer in a day. How easy had it been for me to throw those vials? How little had I felt when they screamed in agony? How guilty did I feel having a steady alliance and a boyfriend to boot?

I wake up after several hours of troubled sleep and stand guard while the others snooze. The night sky suddenly brightens in a flash of light, showing the faces of the newly deceased demigods. Sonny, the Apollo girl I vanquished, is among them. A twinge of guilt stings me once again.

I sigh, sit down on the ground and poke the smoldering campfire with a broken branch. Then I notice a girl sitting across from me. It's not Ace, or one of the other female campers. I've never seen this girl before, but she is unbelievably and irresistibly beautiful. She beckons me with a sweet smile, her violet eyes hypnotizing me.

I get up after her, incapable of resisting to follow her. She beckons me further and leads me away from my allies, but I'm unable to think about them. I'm utterly focused on this astonishingly gorgeous girl.

She takes me deeper into the woods, my surroundings darkening under the overhanging branches. Something in the back of my mind warns me about her, signals me to stop and turn back, but I'm numb. I can only follow after her.

Suddenly, I can see clearly again. We're out of the woods at a small pond. The moonlight gives it a silver shine on its watery surface and makes my skin glimmer blue. I step closer to the pond and notice a silver pedestal. On it rests an exquisite Greek vase. It's decorated with priceless gems: diamonds, amber, emeralds, amethysts, rubies, sapphires and pearls. It radiates with a blinding light. I have to cover my eyes.

"Come open me," a warm, mature woman's voice beckons. I glance at the mesmerizing girl, assuming she spoke to me, but she's hiding behind a tree. I can't read her expression. Is she afraid? Anxious? Does she know what's going on?

"Come, come open and see what's inside," the woman's voice beckons again. I realize it's coming from the vase. How in the world can an inanimate object speak to me? However crazy this seems to me, I'm drawn into the vase. I step closer and open its diamond-encrusted top. I see a single spike and a blowgun inside of it.

"Come, take them. Use them, shoot someone," the alluring woman's voice says.

"Who?" I ask absentmindedly.

"You only need to shoot one person," she responds, but then she pauses. "It must be one of your allies."

I flinch back and step away from the vase. Which sociopath came up with this idea? Only kill one, but it must be an ally. Then again, it's probably the same sociopath who came up with this entire quest.

I want to step further back, but the voice calls to me. "Don't leave! Don't leave me here, please."

I step closer again because I don't want to upset her. Upset a talking vase? What's the matter with me?

"If you shoot one of your allies, they will die instantly," she offers. "When one dies, they will all die, except for you. You can go on to Olympus, to your mother Hekate."

The idea of winning this quest, of seeing my mom, draws me in closer. I reach into the vase, but before I can grab the blowgun, a thought stops me. What about Adonis? If one of my allies dies, they all die…Adonis would die. I couldn't possibly kill him.

"You've only known the boy for two days. Does puppy-love mean more to you than glory?" the voice sounds reasonable…if I were a ruthless fighting machine like most Camp Jupiter kids.

"You don't know him and you most certainly don't know me. To hell with glory!" I remove my hand from the vase and run back through the woods.

"Nooooo, come back! Take the blowgun…kill them…do as Pandora says…" the woman's voice begs relentlessly, but she made the wrong offer. After a quick run, I'm back at our campfire. My allies are still asleep…and alive!

In the morning, when the beckoning girl and vase have been thoroughly wiped from my mind, Adonis and I head into the forest to look for food. After last night's potion grind, I used up most of my supplies, so I replenish my stock along our search. Yet we don't just find food or herbs; a dead body lies sprawled on the forest floor.

Adonis tips the body over and a badly cut up Kalila is revealed to us. Her body's covered in gashes and blood stains, but the kill shot was an arrow through her heart. Poor Kalila, she only wanted to prove that she wasn't like the other Venus kids. Adonis notices the tears forming in my eyes and comforts me with a hug.

We move on, but I get distracted in my search for plants and berries. I suddenly find myself all alone in the dark forest. Where did Adonis go? I retrace my steps, but my horrible sense of direction makes me stumble across another body, another Camp Jupiter kid.

Vayu, a son of Favonius, stares at me with his dead, glazy eyes. I didn't always see eye to eye with his strict policy as a centurion, but as a 15-year-old boy, he was still enjoyable company. Then I notice a spike sticking in his stomach; a spike similar to that in the vase last night. Apparently, someone didn't feel the same remorse I did.

"It seems like we have a third performance on our hands," a voice says from behind me. I spin around and see Sailee, a stunning, fiery red-headed daughter of Apollo from Camp Half-Blood. I remember her well. During the interview, the boys were split between her, Kalila and me. She has a golden bow and a quiver of arrows on her back.

"So you killed Kalila," I realize. "Vayu too?"

"What can I say? I hate duets. On our program for this morning: Wicked," Sailee smirks. Haha, a joke about witches. She notches an arrow on her bow and releases, but I stretch my hands out and freeze it mid-air. Slightly frustrated, she launches a barrage of arrows at me, which I freeze each time.

However, I didn't pay attention to her first arrow unfreezing. It flies again and hits me in my right shoulder. Sailee sees an opportunity and swoops her bow under my legs, flooring me. She towers over me and smirks.

"There's a saying in theatre: break a leg," she stomps her foot down on my left leg and snaps the bone, evidently breaking my leg, "Now, my dear, the curtain drops for you."

She notches another arrow on her bow, but I notice something from behind her. Now I smirk.

"Show's over, drama queen."

Next, a vial breaks on her back and she goes up in flames, screaming. The fire is as red as her fiery hair. When she explodes, Adonis appears before me. He threw one of the Apollo potions I gave him.

"End scene," he bows theatrically. I chuckle, but my broken leg and wounded shoulder send pain through my body. I reach into my backpack, take the vial of healing Gorgon's blood and gulp it down, which heals my wounds entirely. Adonis helps me up, but before we head back to Ace and Kyle, I propose something to him:

"I feel bad leaving Vayu and Kalila to rot out in the open. Could you help me give them something close to a decent burial?"

He shakes his head. "Praise yourself lucky that I don't want to die a virgin."

I grab one of the remaining enchanted acorns in my backpack and throw it to Vayu's corpse. A magic sapling bursts from the acorn, wraps around Vayu and grows into a mighty oak. Adonis helps me look for Kalila's body and I repeat the acorn burial with her.

"Now they will live on as oaks," I wipe a tear from my eyes. Adonis watches me quizzically.

"You really don't belong in this quest, do you?" he wonders.

I shrug. "We can't all be murderers."