Sorry for the long wait, the christmas season has been busy, this was not supposed to be a chapter by itself, but here you go anyway.
on another note, next time i post a chapter, the title of TFL and TFQ will be changed to " Wisdom and War:The Forgotten Legion" and "Wisdom and War: the Forgotten Queen"
Enjoy!
ZOEY
Zoey woke up feeling strangely refreshed, considering she had spent the night on a cold stone floor. She was the first one up, everyone else was spread out about the room, still sleeping. Zoey decided that she should wake up the others, starting with Harley and William, who were snuggled together in the corner. Better that she wake them up then Uncle Carl. If he found them he would probably skin William alive. Zoey shook the young pair awake, she smiled as William blushed and made excuses.
"We just fell asleep while talking..." he said.
"Uh huh. Sure you were." said Zoey with a knowing smile. "Next time get Harley to lie for you, you're terrible at it."
"Told you." said Harley to her Boyfriend.
After the rest of the group was awake, William explained his findings from the night before.
"So, basically," Sunshine said, " a rebellion of lizardlings created the ark to destroy there queen, and they hid the pieces when their rebellion fell."
"Yes." said William.
"And there is one here somewhere, but you haven't found the secret door yet. " asked Miki.
"Exactly."
"How long till you figure it out?" asked John.
"Not long now." said William.
"You said that last night." said John.
"True, but I only have three feet of wall left."said William.
"Ok," said John. "Just get to it."
So William got back at it, and only a few minutes later there was an excited yell as a section of wall slid back to reveal another tunnel.
"When you said it wouldn't take you long you weren't kidding." said Miki.
"Well, actually I kindof did that by accident." said William. "I accidentally touched one of the glyphs."
"So, is this the right way?" asked Harley "Or is this a trap designed by the lizardmen?"
But John and William had already shouldered there packs, and were now checking to make sure that they had their weapons ready.
"Only one way to find out." John said, throwing a flashlight to his brother.
"Your sure this is safe?" Sunshine asked as he swung his own pack onto his slim shoulders.
"No." said William, shining his light down the dark passage ahead. "But all things considered, it's well worth the risk."
"It seems to be all clear down there." said John. "let's go."
As she followed him down the passage, Zoey wondered how John was so calm all of the time.
"William." she said quietly. "Can I talk to you for a sec." William didn't do anything at first. But then he casually fell back to the rear of the group as they walked further down the passage. Only when zoey had joined him at the back of the group did he speak.
"What's up?" he asked casually.
"It's about John..." Zoey nearly whispered. William gave no noticeable reaction.
"How is he so... Calm, all the time." she asked.
William gave a small, knowing smile.
"He isn't." he said. "It's just an act, a blank mask he puts on to protect himself. He doesn't want people to know that he is devastated by all of this." said William. "He's seen so many die, and he can't see the good in the world anymore, all he can see is the suffering." William continued. "He never told you, but one of his missions-"
"Yeah?"
"-on one of his missions there was a boy there with him, he'd only have been ten or eleven. The lizardlings made John watch as they tortured the boy until he died." Zoeys jaw dropped in astonishment. "I wasn't there," said William "but from what I heard, it was especially brutal. John couldn't sleep for weeks ."
"How did I not notice?" asked Zoey.
"I think you were busy with that Mars boy." William said.
How could she be so stupid? How had she not noticed that John was Hurting? Why did she ever date that Mars boy when she had been in love with John all along?
"So that's why he acts so...distant all the time." she said.
"Yes, but he's also afraid of his own feelings." said William.
"Explain." said Zoey.
"Sometimes its that he's afraid that if he gets closer to someone, there is a chance he could lose them." said William. "And sometimes he's afraid to act on his feelings towards others, because he is scared that those feelings are not returned."
Was William implying that John loved her back? Or was he referring to something else. Zoey secretly hoped it was the first option.
"William," said Zoey, "Can we keep this conversation between us?"
"Of course," William said with a smile, "don't worry about it."
William started to move up to catch up to the rest of the group.
"Oh and William," Zoey said, grabbing the boy's attention. "Thanks."
He gave a small nod before turning to catch up with the others.
He dark passage soon ended, opening up into a large well lit chamber. The walls were covered in the same script as the chamber before, except for the far wall, which was carved with a map of Canada. But there was also a raised pedestal at the centre of the room, and sitting on top of it was a dark red spherical jewel.
"Yes!" Declared William. "We found it."
"Good, one down, two more to go." said John.
"Yeah," said William. "Have a good look at this map."
The companions gathered around the huge map on the wall, it was incredibly detailed for something that had been carved into stone. But it was the three faded red spheres on the map that caught their attention.
"It's amazing!" said William. "How could this pigment last for so long, I suppose it is protected from the elements, but how could it have survived since before the gods?"
"That's not Important." said John "What's important is that they tell us exactly where to find the other two Bloodstones."
Sunshine pointed at a little red dot on the east coast.
"There's one here." He said.
"That's Yarmouth, Nova Scotia." said William. "It's a little fishing village. We went there one day when we visited Dad when he was on leave."
"Perfect, we have to go all the way across the country, behind enemy lines, while the Lizardmen work their way closer to camp jupiter."said Sunshine. "Where is the last bloodstone?"
"Kinston." said Uncle Carl.
"What?" asked John. His eyebrows shot up In a surprised expression.
"What's wrong with Kingston?" asked Miki.
It was William who answered.
"We Used to live there."
"Ok, Hold on." Said Harley. "Why is it that te bloodstones are all in places that you've been? I mean, we just happened to find uncle Carl right near this one-"
"I was Hear because there was a higher concentration of Lizardmen here than anywhere else." said Uncle Carl.
"Fair enough." said Harley. "But how come the other two just happen to be hidden near places where you have been." she said to John and William. John and William gave each other a strange look, as if they were coming to a silent agreement.
"We don't know." said John.
"It doesn't really matter." Zoey heard herself saying. "Bottom line is, now we know where to look."
"Yeah," said Uncle Carl. "But there's just one problem."
"What's that?" asked Sunshine.
"Do you see any way out of here? Other than the way we just came?"
"I have a theory about that." said William.
"Let me guess." said Harley, clearly irritated. "Another hidden door?"
"Probably." said William.
"gods, so we have to wait another day for you to find out which runes to press?" asked John.
"No." Said William, reaching for the Bloodstone. As soon as the Bloodstone left the pedestal, the wall behind William slid open, revealing another passage.
"We can just walk out." William said with a smile.
"Good work, William." said Uncle Carl, striding toward the new passage.
"Let's go." Harley said as she grabbed Williams hand. She followed Uncle Carl down the passage with William trailing behind her. The companions continued farther down the passage, but soon it opened up into a square room about the size of a small house, with stone pillars holding up the ceiling. On the other side of the room, Zoey could see another door, but she could not see what lay beyond it. In the centre of the room however, a great cyclops sat with its legs crossed.
"Who is it?" said the Cyclops. "What do you want?
Zoey looked at the cyclops face, where she expected to find an angry eye glaring at them, instead she found a milky white sphere that only barley resembled an eye.
"It's blind." she said allowed.
"Rrrr... I can't...see." said the Cyclops. "But I smell... Demigod!" an expression of anger and loathing spread across the cyclops features as it got to its feet, it stood twenty feet tall, and was the biggest creature she had ever seen.
"Demigods... Murdurers! Kill them... All of them!" screamed the Cyclops.
"No." said Sunshine. "We're not murderers!"
But the Cyclops was not listening, instead he was screaming and yelling as he ripped one of the pillars free from its base, swinging it toward the Demigods.
"Here we go again."