Hey everyone! I hope you like this chapter! It's gonna be a good one. =)
Chapter Seven: The Run
Alice sighed. They had been traveling for eight days. Eight days. Nothing. Zeus was still not telling her what the plan was, and Alice was getting just a little bit restless. They had to find Lin soon, but it seemed like Zeus was just leading them in circles.
"Can we go a little faster?" Alice asked Zeus on the morning of the ninth day as they trudged through a forest. "I could run. If you want, I'd carry you."
"Oh, no, darling, I couldn't ask you to do that. I'm content just walking."
"But I'm not!" Alice cried. "We need to save Lin, and you're wasting time walking everywhere. At this rate, we'll save her next century!"
"Well, is that a problem?" asked Zeus. "We're both immortal."
"But Lin isn't and neither is the human race!"
"Actually, Lin is. But who cares about the human race? They're horrible to each other and they are destroying this planet. If you ask me, the Shadows are doing them some good."
"B-but you said you'd stop the Shadows!"
"I said no such thing. You inferred it, but I never said that. We're going to save Lin and let the humans rot."
"No."
"I'm sorry, but did you just say no?" Zeus looked perplexed. "You can't say no. What can you possibly mean by no?"
"I mean that no, we are not going to leave the humans to rot. We are going to save Lin and the humans, and if you aren't going to help me with that, I'll do it myself."
"Oh, dear Alice. Poor, poor Alice. You have no chance of saving Lin without me and you can't save the humans—only Lin can. You should know this already! Oh… wait, that's right. You don't have your powers anymore. All you have is a crippling need for human blood and a longing for your ex-boyfriend. I forgot."
Alice snarrled. This woman—this god—was teasing her. "I can save her myself."
"Why does she matter so much to you? You barely knew her for a week. Can't you just give her up?" It almost sounded like Zeus knew something that Alice didn't. Of course she does, Alice thought, Don't be arrogant. But… she's teasing me about Lin and she knows something about Lin that I don't and she wants me to know. That's what it sounds like, at least.
"I—no. It's not that she matters to me; it's that the human race matters to me and she's their only shot."
"Oh, no. That's not it at all."
"Yes, it is," Alice insisted.
"No, no, no. Who is your mate?"
"Jasper."
"No. You fell in love with him, but he isn't your mate."
"What?" Alice was shocked. She had been head over heals for him. She had loved him. He was her mate, and even if they'd had a falling out, she still loved him. But now there was doubt in her head. "What do you mean? Of course—of course he's my mate. Who else could…" Alice trailed off as she realized what Zeus was implying. Her brows rose. "Do you mean?" was all she could get out.
"Yes." Zeus smiled. "You care about her far more than you know at this point."
"How could you know that?" Alice asked.
"God, remember?"
"Why does this matter? We still need to save her and the human race!"
"No, actually, we don't." Zeus said.
"Fine. I'm leaving."
"No!" Zeus cried. "You can't!"
"And why not?" Alice asked as she grabbed her things from Zeus—Zeus had been levitating them for most of their journey. "It's not like you will be stuck here forever. You're a god, remember?"
"Yes, I am," Zeus said bitterly, "You're staying here." Zeus grabbed Alice's wrist.
Alice glared at Zeus. "Why?"
"Because."
Alice felt like a child as she said, "That's not an answer. Let go of me."
"You missed part of the message on the wall. The one part that I can read. I get stuck right where you leave me."
"Can't you just follow me?" Alice asked.
"No, it doesn't work like that. The second that you decide you don't want me to be near you at all is when I get stuck."
"Good then." Alice smiled devilishly. "You can stay here forever!" She twisted her wrist out of Zeus' grasp.
"I'm not sure about that," Zeus said as Alice ran away. But at that moment, Alice was more concerned about getting away from Zeus than listening to what she had to say.
Alice ran, and she ran, and she ran. She didn't know why she was so upset about this. She had been betrayed before. But somehow, this felt different. Because Zeus really might be the only way she'd ever free Lin. Except, if she stayed with Zeus to save Lin, the humans would suffer. So she had a choice to make—go back to Zeus and save Lin, or try herself with the chance of failing to save the human race.
Maybe Zeus had just been messing with her to get Alice to stay. Maybe Jasper really was her mate. Maybe she could save Lin on her own. Maybe she could save the humans. But maybe not.
And so she ran, and she ran, and she ran. As though running would let her get away from everything that had happened. Everything that was going to happen. She ran until she had no idea where she was. She ran until the sun set. She ran until she saw the ocean. And only then did she fall to her knees and sob. She knew that she couldn't save Lin on her own, but if she went back to Zeus, that would almost be worse. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Shh. Hush dear. I'm here for you. You don't have to worry about anything. You know that I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens."
Her hair shifted in the wind. She turned her head to look at Jasper. "I love you. I'm so sorry about before. I'm so, so sorry," she said and she felt as though what had happened in the past few weeks had just been a dream. It seemed so surreal. It was so nice here, and calm, and peaceful, and—
"I'm sorry too, Alice, for what I have to do," Jasper interrupted her train of thought.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Then he held up a baseball bat. She took a step back.
"Jasper? What are you doing?"
"I'm saving your life," was all he said before he raised the bat. She couldn't do anything as he brought it down.
What is happening to me? She wondered as the world began to tilt. It was as though she had run too much and now she couldn't move anymore. But what was even stranger was that it was a wooden bat. The world went black.
