Chapter 8
Happy Reading!
(major plot twist in this one, might go against your wishes Queenof Music :D)
Definitions:
"Drachma for Charon" – Greeks believed that there was a boat that leads you to the underworld, and the boat keeper, Charon, expected money in return for the ride. The Greeks buried their dead with a coin in their mouths to pay the ferry into the underworld. If you do not pay, you are in limbo for the rest of eternity.
Elsa looked behind her, and her mind immediately began spinning. The girl behind her was a split image of Megara. She had her long brown hair, and her killer figure, but while Megara had brown eyes that matched her hair, this girl had green piercing eyes.
"Zoella" Elsa breathed, trying to catch her breath. Zoella looked amused at her, and handed her a vial "here, drink this, it makes the Underworld a lot more bearable"
Elsa looked at the potion, and then stopped thinking, and chugged it. It was her best friend, if couldn't trust her, who could she trust?
"Come" said Zoella, motioning for Elsa to walk with her. Elsa briskly walked over, and the two walked together, like old times, through the lands of the Underworld.
Zoella started the conversation "So, Elssie, how hos the world changed in the years since I've gone?"
Elsa shrugged mindlessly "Honestly, after you left, it was like me reliving Anna's death again, I didn't visit the mortal world for a while" Zoella looked silently to the ground and Elsa took this opportunity to ask her friend a question "So what have you been doing in the underworld?"
A flash of anger pierced Zoella's eyes "nothing, I was just wondering around. You see, when I died, I died alone, with no one to give me right of passage, no fricking drachma for Charon. I've been wandering the riverbanks since"
Elsa looked at her friend, shocked by her words "Oh Gods! I'm so sorry, I'm pretty sure that Artemis didn't expect to do your rite, she probably just forgot"
Zoella looked away with a glazed look in her eyes, but then shook it off as quickly as it came from. "So Elsa, how was it taking over my position? Do you like being head of hunt?"
Elsa explained what she did and how her strategy skills helped her most of the way "We battled Scalia, and we were all great in that battle, we saved the Hunters ass"
"YOU SAVED THE F****** HUNTERS?"
Elsa nodded, regally. "Our rift has drifted closer in the 200 years that you were gone for"
Zoella first looked like a madwoman, but then she shrugged and turned her attention onto Elsa again "So how's Megara? Is my bloodline still surviving?"
Elsa looked on the floor, unable to break the news to her best friend. She looked up to see Zoella's expecting eyes. "Megara? Well we didn't get along very well, actually, she hates me. She tried to kill me three times before she got sent here and she brought me here. Actually, where is she?"
Zoella looked at Elsa after she stopped talking and nodded, slowly. "I don't care where that daughter of mine is, all I needed was one thing, and I've got it now"
Elsa looked at Zoella, expecting explanation, when Zoella's hand immediately went to Elsa's neck, opening the wound from the night before, which Megara gave her with a knife. Pinning her against a rock on the floor, Zoella began talking, in a harsh tone that Elsa didn't remember being part of her friend
"Do you have any idea how long I've waited to get my position back?" Zoella asked Elsa menacingly. "Artemis kicked me out like trash, even with a baby inside me, A girl"
Elsa looked surprised, bat she was actually very emotionally tired. She was tired of the betraying game and honestly wished for it all to be over.
"Zoella" she said gently "You did fall in love with a guy, and that was against your vow… It wasn't all Artemis's fault, you know"
Zoella looked hurt, then angry. "You are just like them, the brainless followers of Artemis. It's all like that now, people have no compassion for each other, they'd rather see people die than see them succeed. No matter, when I come back, I'll make everyone care" Zoella smiled cruelly at the thought, but it left Elsa rather confused.
"Come back? Zoe, we're in the underworld. Heck, I'm alive and in the Underworld. WE can't go anywhere"
"That's where you're wrong Elssie. Imagine my life, scorned and kicked for centuries, and finally found salvation in the huntresses; I met you, and was Head of the Hunt. There was one thing that I never got, LOVE. When that boy approached me, and we slept, I felt love, warmth, and kindness. Then I find out that I'm pregnant, and Artemis won't even look at me anymore. Then, imagine my surprise when you, YOU of all people, take over my position"
Zoella looked at Elsa with a murderous twinkle in her eyes. "YOU. Think of all the years that you have been the Head, years that actually should have belonged to me. But don't worry, I'll be getting them back, very, very soon"
Elsa snaps "YOU CAN'T GO BACK ZOE, YOU'RE DEAD" She looked at her friend, pleading for her to understand
Zoella flashes a smile at her. "That's where you're wrong, sweetie. Obviously, you are not familiar with the rules of the dead. You see, those who are trapped, like me, all we need to do is kill someone who shared the same life as us, and then we'll be set free, we can leave, with the other soul taking our place in the Underworld"
Suddenly, all the pieces clicked in Elsa's mind. She was the reason that she was here, not Megara. Zoella was going to sacrifice her or whatever in order to get her life back. Megara, Zoella, Megara, Zoella, like mother like daughter.
Zoella crackled as she drew a knife from her pocket, ready to take advantage of her good position when Elsa tensed and drew her foot upwards. Zoella looked at her with suspicion, and Elsa kicked, hard, at Zoella's chest, and she stumbled back.
"Zoe, if you wanted to kill me, you'd actually have to try. Oh and by the way, as Head of Hunt, it is called treason, even if you are in the underworld" Elsa replies snarkily, while taking out one of her own swords, and a knife, ready for attack.
The two women locked eyes for a split second, and both of them ran to each other, and met together with a sheet of energy and a clang of metal on metal. Their swords struck one another as the two women parried and trusted with no flaws. The floor beneath their feet began to crack, as the girls were fighting to kill.
Elsa had the advantage, she'd come in surprise, and she had practice. She went in, feeling prepared, but lost some of her confidence when Zoella struck. Zoella was the camps best swordswoman, while Elsa preferred bows. That didn't matter now.
Elsa made a beautiful vertical slice that knocked the blade out of Zoella's a little bit.
"What the –" cried out Zoella. Her grip was weak, and when she came back for her offensive blow to Elsa, Elsa knocked the blade out of her hand. The blade fell onto the ground with a metal clang, which startled both Zoella and Elsa. Elsa recovered the fastest however, and elbowed Zoella on her neck, knocking her onto the floor.
"I believe that I declare victory" said Elsa. After the furious fight, she could feel some of the potion's effects wear off, and her breathing was becoming more and more painful with each breath. Zoella gave her a cruel smile, as she watched her friend point the blade at her.
Then, out of nowhere, a blade pierced Elsa's throat, not knocking her out, but enough to make her bleed. "What the –" cried out Elsa, as she looked behind her for her assailant. Megara, a foot away, stood there holding a pocketknife, with bits of Elsa's blood.
Megara looked like doomsday. Her breathing was all over the place, she was bloodied and scared. She had her hair cut short and her chiton was torn beyond recognition. "Mother….." she panted "I've done what you've asked…. Please, give me the potion to take away the pain" (talking about the potion that Zoella gave Elsa, to make the underworld more bearable)
In the moment of weakness on Elsa's part, Zoella has managed to get up. She looked at her daughter with disgust and contempt. "Yes Meg, I could definitely take you out of your misery" She took her knife and threw it at Megara. Megara looked shocked for a second before crumpling onto the floor.
Parts of Zoella seemed to drift upwards, but stopped "Pity" she says "Since she was of my blood, the fates do not take that offering from me. Besides, she is just a lowly huntress, you have the gold and I'm not settling for the silver"
Zoella grabbed the knife again and prepared for attack, and Elsa followed. They were soon duelling in the underworld, floor cracked with the evidence of their fight, and ground filled with scarlet blood. The two girls, equally matched by skill, once best friends, have actually taken the fight to the grave.
-The End-
Lol NOPE, like it or not, I'm going to stick around :D
This chapter was a gamechanger. Some of you wanted it not to be Zoella or Anna, since they were too good, but I felt that with one of them, you could feel Elsa's confusion, and her trust being tested.
Next chapter, we'll be following Jack, and his and Artemis's journey to track Elsa. Do you think that Elsa and Artemis are lovers? I tried for them to have a mother – daughter relationship, and not a romantic one, and if you are wondering, Artemis and Elsa are not EVER (in my story anyways) going to have feelings for one another.
Did you like the plot twist? Oh and I killed of Megara, in the most grueling death ever (she'll make an appearance in the finale, however) I hope you are satisfied, and I will eagerly await your kind reviews!
