JustALittleInfinity's chapter on Wattpad: 77273642-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
A.N.: In previous chapters I wrote that all of the characters below died, but in the actual contest these are my remaining competitors. Thus they are still alive in this chapter (only to be killed again).
Expect the unexpected. This sentence haunts my thoughts as Kyle and I travel through Manhattan. For the first time in a long while, we've had a peaceful day. The optimist within me says it's the gods sparing us after the monsters; the pessimist within me says it's the quiet before the storm.
Expect the unexpected. A vague and fairly useless advice, isn't it? Our lives are merely sequences of continuous unexpected events. When you walk out the door, who says you'll make it through the day alive? You might get hit by a car, or a meteor could impact and wipe you out, or you could get an aneurysm and die right where you're standing. There's no guarantee you get to live happily ever after or die peacefully in your sleep at the age of 103. Life and death are as unexpected as they come.
Expect the unexpected, especially in a quest where you were chosen against your will and people have been dropping like flies, often literally. Or when you fall in love. Or when a pack of giant monsters ambushes you and kills your boyfriend. I sure as hell didn't expect that! Expect the unexpected, because shit happens.
So, Kyle and I get off the New York subway and climb the stairs to the surface. The massive tower of the Empire State Building rises in the distance. We've made it. We are only a stone's throw away from winning this contest. Then again, expect the unexpected.
"The Empire State Building!" Kyle cheers. "Come on, Kim, I'll race you."
"Kyle, we're in the middle of crowded New York..."
"Aaaw, scared I'm going to beat you to it?" he smirks. Challenge accepted!
"No, I wouldn't want to crush your precious ego," I bolt off and he sprints after me. We're laughing, running like dogs chasing a ball. We whiz by the New Yorkers, but they don't notice us. They seem to be looking straight through us as if we're air. They're definitely not expecting the unexpected.
Kyle catches up to me and speeds ahead. His smug grin only broadens as the space between us grows. In the back of my mind, I'm already relinquishing the Victor's crown to him. I never wanted to win, just to survive, and I succeeded in that. Let the boy have his fun, I convince myself, Men are more sensitive to competitions anyways.
I lose track of Kyle in the mob on the streets of Manhattan and slow down to a jog as I make my way to the Empire State Building. I feel happy letting him win, but my happiness is crushed when I reach the enormous skyscraper. The four other final tributes, who all so happen to be Camp Jupiter kids, are battling it out on the first floor. Expect the unexpected, buzzes in my mind.
Vayu, Kalila, Malissa, Ray and Kyle are attacking each other in turns. Kalila wields a bloody, tattered umbrella, whereas Malissa cuts through air, clothes, and flesh with a pair of throwing knives. Ray conjures up glowing spheres of light, while Kyle fights with his bare fists. Vayu, however, seems to be on the upper hand. He blasts everyone away with powerful gusts of wind...very powerful gusts...a bit too powerful...
By the great gods of Olympus, that isn't Vayu! Okay, it is, but not his personality. His demon half, Itzal, has taken over. Oh yeah, that devilish grin on his face, the unwavering confidence in his deer-like eyes, which have turned pale blue, and the supernatural wind power: that's good ole Itzal alright.
Addison, my 21-year-old sister who was Praetor at camp before I arrived, dealt with him together with Vayu's sister Divya. When Itzal possessed Vayu, Addison paralyzed him simply by blinking, her unique and, if I may add, awesome power, and trapped Itzal in an ice cage within Vayu's mind. She then taught him how to keep the frozen barrier up, but she knew it was only a matter of time before Itzal would break out. She told my older sisters about him and they told me. Expect the unexpected.
Itzal/Vayu, whatever you want to call him, swings his sword over his head, causing a mini twister in the lobby of the Empire State Building. His assailants crash against the walls unconsciously, but the tourists don't feel or see anything. Apparently, the gods even let Itzal's wind attacks appear like nothing but a breeze to the mortals.
Then the wind demon catches sight of me. He lowers his sword, strides across the lobby and smirks at me.
"Kim Hellfire, I presume?" he cocks his head to the side, his blue eyes twinkling like shards of ice.
"The one and only," I raise my chin up, a failed attempt at sounding confident. He levels his head and his smirk vanishes entirely.
"The daughter of Hekate Vayu so desperately feared...Chicken. I've seen kittens more menacing than you."
"Kittens still have claws," I retort. Itzal finds it ever so amusing.
"I knew a daughter of Hekate once. Addison. Ring any bells? Probably does, you lot were always thick as thieves. Anyway, she locked me away in Vayu's mind for years. Do you have any idea how cold an ice cage is?"
"As cold as the frozen shell of your heart, I assume," I shrug. I don't know why, but I strangely feel like I could take this demon out with ease. Itzal giggles.
"Such confidence, so courageous, many wow," I have trouble holding my laugh as he quotes the Doge meme. Damn you Itzal and your pop-cultural references. "Maybe I did underestimate you. Still, I have unfinished business with your sister. Your luck!"
He gestures and suddenly I can't breathe; he is literally sucking the air out of my lungs. I grab for my throat, a pointless movement in the face of death. So this is how it's going to be? I'll suffocate right before the end? Expect the unexpected.
I collapse on the floor like a sack of potatoes and gasp for air; air that Itzal keeps from my body. My vision blurs, but I can see Kyle storming to Vayu...Itzal...whoever. Unfortunately, this wind demon doesn't shy away from an opportunity kill. He whirls around, slashes with his wind-powered sword and nearly decapitates Kyle. Blood spatters over the cold marble floor. Some drops hit my face and it's as if something within me snaps, not unlike the way Kyle's head parted his body.
Because he distracted Itzal, I'm able to breathe in. I push up and drag my body to the nearest elevator. The doors close just as Itzal notices my departure. The elevator climbs a couple dozen of floors before I get off at a random level. I rummage my black backpack, take out my little black spell book and skim it. Where is it? Where is the...Bingo! The spell of the elements.
The spell of the elements is the most powerful spell ever created and my sisters and I are only allowed to use it in the direst of times, but I believe this qualifies as a dire moment. The spell basically turns the spellcaster into the avatar. I read over the ritual and dash to the ladies room. While running I grab a sad flower pot from a desk and some random dude's lighter right out of his hands as he is about to light a smoke.
In the ladies room, I crack the pot on the floor, which spills dirt everywhere. Then I twist a faucet open and let the water run freely. Next I punch the button of a hand dryer and warm air blows from it. I take a roll of toilet paper and light it with the lighter before I kneel in the middle of this freaky mess, spread my arms and close my eyes.
"Terra, aqua, aer et ignis. Ex terra veni et vola, nam vim volumus. Ad nos adveni omni malo tuo," I recite the Latin spell, which caauses black ulcers to break from my back. They ooze with blood and mucus; a nasty balancing act of the spell, but I bite through the pain. Yet then the scattered dirt on the floor crawls together and forms a solid ball of earth. Good, one element down, three more to go.
"Aqua, aer et ignis. Ex terra veni et vola, nam vim volumus. Ad nos adveni omni malo tuo," I repeat causing blood to seep from my nose and ears. The water running from the faucet lifts up in the air and forms a levitating water bubble.
"Aer et ignis. Ex terra veni et vola, nam vim volumus. Ad nos adveni omni malo tuo," the wind from the dryer blows so hard it rips strands of hair from my skull before it twirls into a mini tornado, "Ignis. Ex terra veni et vola, nam vim volumus. Ad nos adveni omni malo tuo."
Long bloody gashes appear in my arms and I finally let out a pained scream. The kindling toilet paper roll ignites fiercely, only to wither to a flickering flame. I did it. I've cast the spell of the elements and now I'm able to defeat Itzal. I wish I could spare Vayu, but if I do, Itzal lives, and if I don't, well, both Vayu and Itzal will be dead. So be it. Yet there's another wish growing within me, a desire for payback...for revenge.
"Water," I command as blood drips into my mouth, "go to Camp Half-Blood. Earth to Camp Jupiter. Wind to Olympus and Fire to the remaining tributes."
The four elemental representatives vanish into thin air and then I stumble out of the ladies room. Just when I reach the fire exit, the door swings open with a bang and there's Itzal again.
"Here's Johnny!" he calls deviously. He spots me and grins. "Good, I've found you. You wouldn't believe how many times I said that and you weren't there. So embarrassing!"
"Burn, you freak," I mumble. Suddenly, a raging fire flares and roasts half of Vayu's face off. He shrieks, but blows the fire out with a hand gesture. He eyes me from top to toe with rage and curiosity in his blue gaze.
"Well, well, looks like I'm not the only monster here."
"I'm a daughter of Hekate, and do you know what I also am?", he shakes his head, "Done with you! Earth, shatter his bones!"
Stone pillars shoot from the walls and floor, and strategically break his bones. He screams bloody murder as he collapses, but I don't care anymore.
"Air, leave his lungs!", he chokes and gasps like a fish on land, "Water, curdle his blood!"
He spasms and foams red at the mouth. He's dead now, but that's not enough for me. "Fire, incinerate him!"
I watch as the flames lick away at his corpse and stare at his impromptu cremation until he's nothing but a pile of ashes. Then I take the elevator to the top floor. On the way there, Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe plays in the background. At first, the song annoys me, but by the second chorus, I'm singing along to it and dancing like my bones are made of jello.
Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans
Skin was showing
Hot night
Wind was blowing
Where you think you're going baby?
I leave the elevator at the 600th floor, blood still dripping from my wounds. I cross the bridge to Olympus and then, at once, five tall and elegant figures appear: Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo and, as I had hoped, my mother Hekate. They gracefully step toward me, but, apart from Mom, they all look like they sucked a lemon dry.
"Congratulations, Kim Hellfire. You won this quest and proved once and for all that Camp Jupiter is best," Jupiter rattles off irritably. "Now can you please undo that curse of yours? Your winds are tearing Olympus apart."
"Not to mention the floods washing over Camp Half-Blood," Neptune adds.
"And the earthquake hitting Camp Jupiter," Pluto grits his teeth. Mm, he's really angry. Oh right, I killed two of his kids. Oeps!
"I'm not going to do a damn thing about my spell," I say matter-of-factly. The look on their faces is priceless. Jupiter nearly wants to slap me silly, but Mom intervenes. She gently strokes my cheek.
"My beautiful, beautiful Kim, what happened to you?"
"This entire contest happened to me. You wanted me to kill, didn't you? Not be a pacifist? Did I do good, Mommy?" I whimper. Tears start to form in her eyes as she realizes what the gods have put me through.
"Hekate, how long will your daughter's spell last? Can you reverse it?" Pluto asks while Neptune keeps Jupiter at bay.
"It will last for 24 hours until she reverses it, or three of her sisters combined," she responds, but her green eyes stay on me. Empathy radiates from them.
"Then get your other girls to do it," Apollo urges. Although I killed a handful of his offspring, he stays remarkably calm. Shows you how much he cared.
"They won't," Mom and I reply simultaneously. We giggle, but Jupiter glares at us.
"The lobby of the Empire State Building is also still on fire, ladies, thanks to you," he nods to me, "taking out your competitors." So I killed them all? Oh well, all but one will perish...
"I will reverse the spell of the elements on one condition," I put forward.
"Do you have any idea who you are dealing with, girl? You are not in a position to make demands."
"Oh no? Well, if I don't have a strong position, then why don't you save everyone yourselves?" I smirk. The gods glance at one another before they nod.
Jupiter sighs. "Camp Jupiter won. What else could you possibly ask for?"
"Camp Jupiter didn't win, at least, not entirely. It was a shared victory," I start. Expect the unexpected.
"Sweetheart, what do you mean?" Mom asks puzzled.
"I'm pregnant."