Chapter 10
Chase had the sword pointed right by my neck.
"I'm going to have her stand up. If any of you even breathe, I'll kill her," Chase said.
They glared, but didn't move. Chase looked at me. I slowly stood up and he pulled my closer to him. He held the sword at my neck still. He looked at them and took a step back. Nico took a step forward and Chase pushed the sword to my throat a little harder. Chase took a couple more steps back before stepping into the shadows. All I saw was darkness before I blacked out.
-0-0-0-0-O.O-0-0-0-0-
"Amber…"
I opened my eyes and dizzily looked around. I sat up and my head swayed back and forth. My vision was blurry and I could barely hear a thing. Someone steadied me. Chase was standing in front of me, smiling.
"Come on. Get up," He said.
He grabbed my arm and yanked me up and I almost fell over. He caught me and helped me up again. My head fell forward and the hair covered my face. He lifted me and looked me in the eyes.
I tried to say 'what did you do to me?', but I got out "Whahh dib oo too meh?"
"Isn't it obvious? I drugged you."
I couldn't stand straight. I still couldn't see. Chase grabbed me firmly and kissed me. I tried to turn away, but it made me dizzy and tired. He pulled away and frowned.
"Lemme go…" I slurred.
"Can't do that," He said.
Amber: Help!
Chase cursed.
"Forgot about your telepathy," He said.
Then, he knocked me out again.
Alex's Pov
We chased him into the shadows, but he disappeared.
"What can we do?" Percy asked.
"We have to try and find her," I said.
"How?" Nico asked.
"My powers," I grinned.
Nico raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and took out my sword, Hurricane.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Positive."
I took a deep breath and concentrated.
"Power of the witches rise,
Course unseen across the skies,
Come to us who call you near,
Come to us and settle here," I chanted.
I used Hurricane and made a small cut on my hand.
"Blood to blood, I summon thee,
Blood to blood return to me!"
In my head, I sent a silent prayer to my mother, hoping she was helping me.
I was pulled into a vision, starting out where I was then, and where Amber was, knocked out. When I came back to my body, I gasped.
"I know where they are! He took her to the waterfall!"
"The waterfall?" Nico asked.
"It's a place in the woods that has a beautiful waterfall. I found it when I was walking through the woods a couple of weeks ago," I said.
They looked at me strangely.
"Okay…where is it?" Thalia asked.
I turned and pointed.
"That way."
We ran towards the waterfall until we heard the growl.
"What was that?"
A roar broke the silence and a Hydra came out into the open.
"You guys go! I can handle it!" Thalia said.
She ran over and started fighting it.
"You two go and save Amber. She thinks she can do everything on her own," Percy said.
"But-" I started.
Amber: Help!
Nico took off running, so I followed him. We made it to the part that led to the waterfall. Nico held up three fingers. Two. One. We both jumped into the opening.
Amber's Pov
I woke up and sat up for the second time. I didn't feel dizzy or tired this time though. I looked around. There was a beautiful waterfall over to the side and I was lying on a log that had been carved to make a bench. I stood up and darted for the opening that led back into the forest. I accidently ran right into Nico and Alex. They were confused for a second, but then, they went back to normal.
"You're alright!"
"Amber!"
I hugged them both.
"Come on. We have to go. Now."
We all started running towards camp. There were two figures ahead, so we hid. The passed us and we heard a little of their conversation.
"Shut it, Kelp Head, before I shut it for you."
"As if you could, Pinecone Face."
"Pst! Over here!" Alex whispered/shouted.
The two cousins turned around in bewilderment. They came over to where we were hiding and we started the walk back to camp.
"So nobody was there?" Percy asked.
"Just Amber."
Percy looked at me suspiciously. He poked my arm. I swatted his hand away and glared at him.
"What was that for?"
"Just making sure you weren't Chase who had shapeshifted into Amber or something," Percy said.
Thalia closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Boys," She muttered.
-0-0-0-0-O.O-0-0-0-0-
"So what do we do now?" Thalia asked.
We were all standing in a circle, around a table, in the Big House.
"We have to find the last Wild Power and last Wiccan Warrior. Thea and Blaise are both in the cabins. We need to get Gillian and Poppy win here. One of them could be the last Wiccan Warrior," I said.
Jez left to go get the two witches. They came in looking really nervous.
"So, one of us is a Wiccan Warrior?" Gillian asked.
"Yeah. We need to have a test. But first, do either of you want to be a Wiccan Warrior?" I asked.
I looked at Poppy first. She shook her head.
"It would really be an honor, but I'm more vampire than witch right now," She said.
I nodded and looked at Gillian. She just merely nodded.
"Okay, so first, we need to check the power," Alex said.
She went to stand in front of Poppy.
"Goddess Hecate, show us the light of truth!" She said.
A small light enveloped Poppy. It was more of a background than anything. Without a word, Alex moved over to Gillian.
"Goddess Hecate, show us the light of truth!" She said again.
Gillian's light shined. It was a beautiful golden light, outshining Poppy's light. It died down and Gillian looked at us with wide eyes.
"We found our last Wiccan Warr-"
"Amber!" Thea ran in.
"What?" I asked.
"It was all fake! Blaise faked it! She had said another spell that made her light shine too. She tried to separate me and Eric too. She's…she's…she's-"
Thea was trembling with anger.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"She's in the Hecate cabin, crying," Thea said.
"Poppy, can you go get Kestrel and ask her to talk to Blaise? They understand each other better," Thalia asked.
Poppy nodded and ran out. Gillian was comforting Thea. A thought occurred to me at the same time it occurred to Alex.
At the exact same time, we asked, "If Blaise isn't a Wiccan Warrior, then who is?"
Katie's Pov
"Okay, let me put this on, and…done!" Kestrel announced.
"So, let me get this straight. I kissed Travis again a while ago, now I have to ignore him?" I asked, confused.
Kestrel nodded.
"You're going to ignore him and hang out with me. He's going to beg for you to come back. Then, when the time is right, you'll get revenge," Kestrel said, smiling evilly.
"And you think this outfit will help?" I looked at myself in the mirror.
My hair was up in a pony-tail and I was wearing a tight yellow tank top that showed my curves perfectly and brown short shorts.
"Definitely. Other guys will be drooling all over you too," She said.
At that moment, Poppy burst into the room. She whispered something in Kestrel's ear.
"Right. I'll be back later, Katie. Go on and…explore the world," Kestrel smiled slightly.
She left with Poppy. I got up and went outside. While I was walking through the camp, several guys were checking me out. I walked just like Kestrel showed me and turned to wink at guys occasionally. I made it to the Big House. I walked in.
"There you are, Katie. We need you to find the other Night Worlders and bring them in here. ASAP," Percy said.
I nodded and went back outside. I braced myself as I saw Connor and Travis Stoll. I walked right past them, pretending not to notice them. Apparently, it worked.
"Katie?" Travis asked, bewildered.
"Hey Travis," I said, still walking.
He started to jog to keep up with me.
"So, I, um, wanted to apologize about sleeping through you almost getting killed. I was stupid and now…will you be my girlfriend again, Katie?" He asked.
I froze. Remember what Kestrel said. I took a deep breath and turned to face him.
"Travis, I would never date you again. You are the last person on Earth that I would ever like. You're nothing but an annoying klepto," I said.
With that, I turned and walked away to go look for the Night Worlders, leaving behind a shocked and angry Travis.
Amber's Pov
"This means that we have to wait even longer to start our training!" Alex whined.
All of the Night Worlders and all of the camp counselors were here.
"We're going to have to look for the last Wiccan Warrior in the mortal world. Which means, we need another group of three," Annabeth said.
"This is crappy," Connor groaned.
"Very," Agreed Alex.
"Guys, we need to send some people. Who wants to go?"
No hands were raised.
"Come on, we need people to go," I said.
"Well, what if we don't want to go?" Pollux asked.
"Why wouldn't you want to go?" I asked.
"What if we want a normal life, or at least as normal as it can be? What if we want to have campfires, concerts, and normal camp life? Why do we always have to go on missions, huh? Why do we have to risk our lives? Why can't you go?" He asked.
I sat down in my chair. I blinked a couple of times.
"Hey, idiot, she does go. Amber's gone on almost every single mission since she got to camp. I haven't seen you go on any missions lately," Alex quickly defended me by accusing him.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Alright, is that what you want to hear? You're right. I have been staying at camp. I've been here training the next generation of campers. I've been here during the middle of the night when one of the new campers needed my help or my advice or something! Where have you been when the camp needed you?" Pollux shouted.
"Enough!" Thierry shouted from the back of the room, where he was standing next to Hannah.
"I'm out of here," Pollux stormed out of the Big House.
There was a long pause that seemed to last forever. Alex is the one who broke it.
"So…what do we do?"
Everyone shared looks. Rashel stood up.
"We have to split up," She announced.
"What? Why?" Poppy asked.
"If we split up across the country, we have a better chance of finding the last Wild Power and the last Wiccan Warrior," Jez said, also standing up.
"I don't want to split up again," Alex said.
"We have to-"
"No, we don't. We need to send one group. As much as I hate to admit it, Pollux was right. We took our best fighters and left the camp defenseless," I said.
"But if we don't have enough people on this mission, the outcome could be-"
"Terrible. Bloody. Death-filled. Horrible. I know. But we can't leave the camp defenseless. We need at least two children of the Big Three to stay," I said.
"Who?"
The question was the one that everyone dreaded.
"Two pairs of soulmates, two children of the Big Three and one of them has to be a Wiccan Warrior. Which means…" Alex and I locked eyes.
"One of us has to go," She said, sighing.
"And the other has to stay behind," I said.
"I'm going for sure," Percy said.
"If you're going, so am I. I'm not going to lose you again, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.
"I want to go," Rashel piped up.
"Are you sure? This is a hard mission."
"I can handle anything," Rashel said.
"And wherever you go, I go. We're a good team," Quinn said, wrapping his arms around her.
"We need one more soulmate couple," Percy said.
"We'll go, right Morgy?" Jez asked her soulmate.
"Right. I could kick some butt on this mission easily," He said, cracking his knuckles.
"Then its Rashel, Quinn, Jez, Morgead, and…" I looked at Alex.
She looked at me. We sighed in unison.
"I want to go," She said.
"Alex, I can go if you-"
"No, I'm going. I can do this. I have to do this," She said, standing.
It was decided.
The next morning…
I stood on the top of Half-Blood hill, looking out into the sunrise. Everyone had gotten up early. Nico came behind me and held my hand.
"You afraid?"
"I'm not the one going," I replied.
"I meant are you afraid they might not come back?"
There was a pause.
"I'm not worried about Percy. I know he can do this easily. And Alex can take care of herself now. I mean, she's a big girl. She doesn't need me to be her 'big sister' anymore. Even if I'm only older by a minute," I sighed.
"But sometimes, Alex does need her big sister. You two are twin witch demigods. Even if you aren't here in person, she can always bug you in your head," Nico said.
I smiled. That was true.
Alex: Talking about me?
Amber: Are you almost done packing?
Alex: On my way up the hill right-
"Now!" Alex came up to stand next to us.
"You gonna miss me?" I asked.
"You're my sister. Of course I'll miss you," She said.
We hugged for a minute before a car honked down on the street. She smiled at me and hugged me again and then Nico and then ran down the hill. She got in the car. Percy walked up to stand by us, holding hands with Annabeth. They both gave us hugs before going down to the car too. The two pairs of soulmates were already down in the car, so they were ready. I watched as the car drove away.
-0-0-0-0-O.O-0-0-0-0-
"Hi Travis," I heard behind me.
I turned to see Katie smiling flirtatiously at Travis. Whoa. I blinked. Am I missing something? Travis ignored her.
"Travis?" She asked.
He didn't say anything.
"Travis?" She asked again, only this time, her voice was full of worry.
"That is enough, Katie Gardner. I have had enough with you. I loved you and you turn into this. You're not Katie. Not anymore and I hate what you've become," Travis exclaimed, his face angry.
Katie stood there in shock.
"I'm dating someone else anyway, so back off," Travis said.
"What? Who?" She asked.
"Anna."
Katie's face fell. So did mine. Travis belongs with Katie, not the psychopath who tried to kill me for Nico.
"B-b-but-but…"
"Oh Travvy!" A shrill voice called out.
Speak of the she-devil. Anna walked over towards them.
"Travvy?" I asked, my voice filled with sarcasm.
She turned and glared daggers at me. Then, she turned to Katie and smiled sweetly.
"Just because you had him for a while doesn't mean he's yours now. Come on, Travvy. We should go to my cabin so we can… 'talk'," She winked at Travis and walked out.
"Bye Katie. Bye Amber."
He left. Katie stood there, staring at the door in disbelief.
"It won't last, Katie. I promise that. Anna isn't right. Something's wrong in her head. He'll get over her soon," I said.
She just stared at the door. After a minute, she ran out of the Big House and to her cabin. I sighed and made sure everything was good in the Big House before going out to head to my cabin. Nico was standing by my cabin, waiting.
"Can you help me with the patrols tonight? I need more people," I said.
He nodded and followed me to the Demeter cabin. I knocked and Katie opened the door. She had changed her clothes and taken off all the makeup. She looked like normal Katie Gardner.
"Can you help with patrols?" I asked.
She nodded. Connor Stoll, Jake Mason, Pollux (-.-), Anna (Bleh.), Clarisse, and Chris all came with us to watch the borders.
"Okay guys, let's spread out. Two of us should go walk through camp, making sure nothing had sneaked in earlier and no campers are out of bed early. Who wants to do that?" I asked.
"I guess I will," Connor volunteered.
"Oooh! Me too!" Anna said.
I nodded and the two walked off. The rest of us spread out for walk the boundary of camp. I walked around for a bout and hour until I was by the beach. That was when I heard them. I heard giggling so I peeked around a tree. Anna was standing there, smiling at Connor. He looked uncomfortable.
"Look, Anna. You're dating my brother which means I can't reall-"
She interrupted him with a kiss. She kissed him long until I took a step back in shock. Damn leaves. They both turned and saw me. Connor's eyes widened.
"Amber! You saw, right? She came onto me! I told her to back off and…well…um…" Connor sounded like a four year old trying to explain it.
"It's okay. I saw the whole thing. And I'll be damned if I don't tell 'Travvy'!" I said the nickname with a girly voice.
Anna glared daggers at me, which from her, looked like she was glaring the brush thing from mascara. Let's just say it didn't look too intimidating. I shook my head and walked back towards camp. Connor jogged up and walked next to me.
"So…are you …going to tell…Alex about this?" He asked.
I stopped and turned to look at him.
"Connor, do you like my sister?" I asked.
"No doubt about it," He said.
"You know, just because she comes off strong, doesn't mean there's nothing wrong. She wrote a poem when you were with Delilah. She told me to give it to you when she left. I hope you're happy," I searched my pockets until I found the letter and handed it to him.
Then, I walked off to go find Travis and tell him the truth about his crazy girlfriend. A slight smile came to my lips as I remembered something.
"Crazy Aphrodite Chicks! C.A.C! C.A.C! Whoop whoop!"
Connor's Pov
A letter? A letter? You have got to be kidding me. I slowly unfolded the paper and read it.
Dear Connor,
I guess I should have come to tell you this in person, but I guess I'm too much of a coward. Sorry. I don't really want to admit this, but…it's easier to lie. To hide the hurt and emptiness and to smile instead of to cry. I'm really not supposed to love you. I'm not supposed to care, at all. I'm not supposed to spend my entire life wishing you were there. I'm not supposed to wonder where you are, what you're doing, and what you're thinking about, but…I can't help it. I'm in love with you, Connor. You actually helped me in all of this. I would never have had the courage to go on this mission without you. I just had to get away. I really wish I could hate you because it hurts too much to love you. I'm sorry thing turned out this way…I just have one last question. Should I smile because you're my friend, or cry because that's all you'll ever be?
-Alex
I frowned. Is this really what she thought?
Katie's Pov
"You idiotic, stupid, ugly, dumb, bastard!" I yelled, stabbing my knife into the picture I had of Travis when we were dating.
I had just come back to the cabin after patrols and was currently by my nightstand where the picture was.
"Um, Katie?" A small voice whispered from the back of my cabin.
Rosie Holloway was my eight year old little sister. I didn't answer.
"Wasn't it your fault you broke up?"
I turned to her, my eyes blazing in anger, but then, I froze. The fire died down and my shoulder slumped.
"Yeah. I'm the bastard here," I mumbled to myself.
I shook my head to myself.
"No," I disagreed, whispering so Rosie couldn't hear. "I've been more of a b**** lately."
"Maybe you should say you're sorry?" Rosie suggested.
"I don't think that will help," I said, smiling sadly.
"It will help. A little," Rosie said firmly.
I sighed. Why not? I got up and put her back in her bed before going outside to go for a walk. I went over to the strawberry fields. I walked through, checking the plants, making sure they were alright. I walked right under it. The tree-our tree. I kept walking. I heard something behind me. I turned around and took out my dagger.
"Who's there?" I asked.
No answer. Of course there isn't going to be an answer, I thought to myself, there's going to be no answer and the anticipation will build until the chainsaw killer comes and whacks her head off.
I bent down next to some strawberries and slowly worked on them.
"My pretty little flowers will always be there for me. Always," I murmured.
I waited for a while before heading back to my cabin. On the way, I accidently bumped into a Stoll. It was Connor. He glared at me as I got up. I helped him up too. He still glared at me.
"Katie." His voice was cold.
"Connor," I greeted, my voice level.
Connor was about to walk away, when he turned back to me.
"You really messed up my brother's life, you know that? I don't know what he did that was so bad. You just had to go and ruin his life for nothing!"
He kept yelling so I turned away. I felt a tear go down my cheek and then I was full-out sobbing. I sank to the ground, crying. Connor looked at me, surprised.
"Katie, I didn't mean to-"
"Yeah, yeah you did. And, you know, you're right. I'm just this terrible person who broke your brother's heart, right? And along the way, he broke my heart too. It's a fair game now. Thanks," I sobbed.
"Aw, Katie, please stop crying. I-I hate it when girls cry. Gods, please stop crying!" Connor begged.
He helped me back up again. I fought out of his grasp and ran towards the woods.
"Katie! Wait! No! Aw crap. They're gonna kill me!"
Amber's Pov
"She did what?"
"She cheated on you, you idiot. She practically threw herself at him. Connor feels really bad, actually. Anna's crazy, Travis. That's all there is to it," I said.
He was silent for a minute. Then, he looked down at his wrist. It was a friendship bracelet with the name: Travvy + Anna.
"She gave you that?" I asked suspiciously.
"Yeah."
Then, there was a really high-pitched noise, like a dog whistle. I covered my ears and so did Travis. It went away after a minute, but Travis didn't move his hands away. That's when I looked at his eyes. His eyes were plain white. No other color at all. I stumbled back.
"Travis, are you alright?" I asked.
He looked confused, like he didn't understand something, then he became angry. He took out his sword and started towards me.
"Hey! Travis! What the Hades?" I yelled at him, backing up.
He swung his sword at me. He backed me up against the Hermes cabin. He was about to kill me when a stygian iron sword pushed his sword out of the way. Travis was knocked over and Nico came to stand in front of me.
"Are you okay?" He asked me, still looking at Travis.
"Yeah, but don't hurt him! He's hypnotized or something. Look at his eyes," I said.
Nico saw Travis's eyes as he got up and his eyes widened. Travis charged. The two boys fought for a moment. It ended when Nico slammed the hilt of his sword on Travis's head, knocking him out.
"What the Hades was wrong with him?" I asked, walking towards Travis.
"He's being controlled. Somebody in this camp is controlling him," Nico said.
"How?" I asked.
"It's Godly power. Some god is behind this. And tomorrow, you and I are going to find out. We should go to Olympus. Just get some rest for now, alright?" He said.
I nodded. I gave him a hug and a kiss before going back to my cabin. When I walked in, I sighed. Percy and Alex's stuff was gone with them on their quest. I hated being alone. Okay, I thought, I can do this. All I have to do is call them tomorrow, as Thalia to go to Olympus with us and find out which god tried to get Travis to kill me. Hmm, not too hard.
Not too hard at all. Okie dokie. That was it until next time. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. Go ahead and guess away at which god tried to kill Amber, but keep in mind, more is coming! Next chapter will be up ASAP. Please, please, please, please, please, please review! PLEASE REVIEW!
