Hey guyss! Sorry again for the late update. I was struck by that awful disease...Brain freeze. But I present you with this...masterpiece. nah. but I'm proud of this. Review please!
The girls ran out the door and were hit by a gust of cold wind. They shivered, but continued running in the snow. It was hard to run—the snow was deep, but they managed. They ran to a nearby wood without any trouble. No guards were waiting to take them away. No bombs were set off to drive them away from leaving. No diversions—nothing. It was as if they hadn't even left.
Annabeth looked back at the gray doors. They flew shut. Nothing came out of them… was this a trap? Annabeth didn't care. She was out! Five years of that hell, and all she had to do was run out. She felt like yelling happily. Instead she ran after Phoebe and Opal.
Opal continued running until she couldn't anymore. She threw herself to the snow-covered ground and began sobbing. Phoebe and Annabeth found her huddled in a little ball.
"I'll help her." Phoebe whispered to Annabeth. She nodded and sat down shivering. They weren't dressed properly to be in cold weather. Annabeth was wearing torn jeans and a thin long sleeve shirt. Phoebe and Opal were wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt. If they were to live and avoid being frost bitten, then they had to find a place to rest. And fast.
Phoebe walked slowly to Opal's figure. She still hadn't stopped sobbing. Phoebe knelt down on her knees next to Opal and touched her back. Opal immediately sat up and glared at Phoebe.
"What?" she snapped. "H-haven't you d-done enough P-Phoebe?" Opal sucked in her breath and turned away from Phoebe and started crying again. Phoebe stood up and sat in front of Opal. Opal didn't meet her eyes. She had a scar forming under her eyes. It was fresh—maybe given to her a day or two ago. Phoebe didn't want to know how she got it. Bruises, large and small, spotted both her arms. Opal was beat…that's why she was so hostile.
Phoebe suddenly felt hopeless. They were out in the middle of nowhere, in the freezing cold, and they were all wounded. Phoebe sighed, "I'm sorry Opal. It's my fault we're here."
Opal met Phoebe's eyes. They were hard and cruel. "Yeah, it is your fault Phoebe. And I'm sorry to say this, but 'sorry' isn't going to make anything better. You know nothing about what happened there." Opal wiped away her remaining tears. "You know what they did to me, Phoebe? They tortured me until I told them where the Hunters were. I couldn't! Sinclair showed me all his tools. He told me you and everybody else was going to die if I didn't tell him where they were. You know what I was thinking? I'd rather die than have you all die. I was going to die. That's what I was thinking. Hell, we're still going to die." Tears were forming again in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. "We need to leave these woods. They'll find us again."
And kill us.
Annabeth was shivering and breathing heavily. Her lips were blue. She looked like she was about to pass out.
"Can we stay here and build a fire first? I need to warm up." Annabeth looked at Phoebe and Opal expectantly.
Opal shrugged, "I don't really know if that's a good idea. But I agree. We ran far from the prison. We'll build a fire, go hunting, eat, and then try to get out of the woods and find a better campsite. I'll try to grow some strawberries. They go good with anything. Fortunately, they'll die once we leave, so there will be no trace that we were here."
Annabeth nodded and muttered thanks. Phoebe was already out in the woods. Opal and Phoebe's bows returned once they were outside the prison, as they tended to call it now.
Ten minutes later, Phoebe came back to their campsite with a beaver, two squirrels, and a small doe. She looked excited to finally be hunting again.
"The only good thing about being here is they have stupid animals that are slow." She grinned and sat on a log to start skinning the animals. She set aside the meat near the fire, and the fur beside her. The fur would make great coats for later after they were cleaned.
Annabeth was still shivering, but not so much now that the fire was built. She sat in front of it and warmed her hands. Opal had grown mint, strawberries, and some other herb that Phoebe forgot the name of. It's like ambrosia, but it doesn't kill you. Opal showed Phoebe the plant a few months ago. It tasted like grass.
Phoebe laughed, she felt like her old self again. "We're going to have a gourmet dinner tonight girls!"
Opal gave a faint smile. "I wish. But we have to eat and leave quickly. We can't stay here all night. They could find us because of the smoke."
The meal went by quickly and silently. They melted the snow around them for water. It tasted like soot.
When she was done eating, Opal made a sack out of weeds the put the furs in. They extinguished the fire and headed north until they couldn't walk anymore. Opal, being a daughter of Demeter, had taken to leading their journey. She now knew where they were— somewhere in the Northwest Territories, according the tree nymphs. Their tracks were hidden by gusts of wind. Hopefully Kronos' minions wouldn't find them, and if they do, they would be stupid enough to not look up in the trees.
Opal grunted and stopped. "We're going to bed. Now. I can't stand walking anymore. Up in the trees, you two. They won't find us there." Opal had also taken on a bossy attitude…another feature from her mother.
Phoebe and Annabeth didn't disagree with her. Phoebe climbed easily up the tree. Opal tossed her the beaver fur for something that would keep her warm that night. Annabeth, however, took a while to get up the tree beside it. It took five minutes before she could get up.
"Jeez. I feel like an old woman," she muttered. Phoebe giggled softly.
"You're anything but an old woman Mrs. Jackson," Phoebe whispered.
"Oh, please. Just call me Annabeth."
Phoebe laughed, "Of course."
"Go to sleep!" Opal hissed.
Annabeth and Phoebe groaned, but fell asleep almost immediately.