Author's Note: Okay, another chapter! I am still waiting for A Very Potter Senior Year. The minute it comes you become less important, sorry.
Dalia drank the cup of plant poison and put a pained expression on her face. She always pretended the poison hurt her, because she feared if she didn't, they would hurt her even more.
"Now hurry up and tend the soil. The seeds need to be planted tonight."
Dalia looked up at the white-haired boy in disdain, but stuck her hands in the soil like he told her to. He had been watching over her for a week now, he seemed to be her personal guard.
Please come get me out of this hell hole.
Dalia held back the tears in her eyes, and kept urging power into the soil. When she finally took her hands away, the ground glowed with power, illuminating the tall walls.
"Plant them." The boy said. Dalia had noticed he was always cool and calculated. It annoyed the crap out of her.
Dalia, with shaking hands pulled out a bag of glowing silver seeds. They radiated power. Enough power to destroy the gods. Dalia dug a hole in the dark dirt of the soil beneath her, and with a silent sob, dropped in the seed. She felt the power dig through the soil and bury itself into the building. It was absolutely packed with power. She covered up the dirt and cowered.
"What about the rest?" the boy asked, sneering.
"They must be planted one by one…. For maximum power." Dalia said with a shaking voice. She wasn't lying though, what she said was entirely true.
"Fine." The boy said grudgingly. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The boy walked over to it, and Dalia heard quick whispers, and the door shut. She let the tears silently fall down her face. Her stomach screamed at her. She hadn't been fed in days. She stared at the seeds in her hand, examining one up close. She wished they were beans, instead of seeds. Suddenly, she heard the doorknob turning, and in surprise, her hand slipped, sending the seed into her mouth, and down her throat. She widened her eyes as she felt the power of it spreading through her.
The boys blue eyes peered in and Dalia tried to look innocent.
"We must go after them. Some other guard can watch her. They are more important."
"Both of us?"
"Yes."
Dalia looked up. The second voice had been the familiar voice she had heard before. With the power of the celestial seed, she could see clearly, and when she saw who stood behind the white-haired boy, a gasp came out of her mouth.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Evelyn kept her fingers gripped on the steering wheel. It was a couple days after the incident in Philadelphia, and Louise's leg had almost completely healed. Her and Sicomba took turns driving, since they looked the oldest. They hadn't been pulled over yet, but that was probably because every time they saw a cop Evelyn kicked up the mist around their car. Evelyn could now feel the power in the car fading away, and she knew it wouldn't make it much longer. She figured they should find somewhere they could stop and get some food. Unfortunately, they were literally in the middle of nowhere. They were driving through West Virginia, and all Evelyn could see were small mountains everywhere. Up ahead though, she saw a sign. They were close to a ski resort. That would have to do.
"We're stopping guys. This car's nearly dead."
The others sighed. The car was their only source of comfort now. It was like their little home away from… camp? Well, not for much longer. Evelyn pulled into the ski resort as the car puttered into death. She mourned the poor car for a moment before pulling on a jacket from her backpack and hopped outside with the others. Louise stood up, testing her leg, but she seemed to be okay. The five walked up to the building and went inside. Evelyn pointed to the restaurant inside and they all headed gratefully over. They hadn't had a proper meal since cheesesteaks.
They all sat down and ordered some food. Evelyn, Elizabeth, and Sicomba got pizza while Louise and Mary both got sandwiches. They sat and ate gratefully, enjoying some real food. After a while Evelyn noticed a boy in the corner who kept staring at them. At first she just thought he was just checking them out, and she ignored it because he was wearing a Stetson, and Stetsons are cool. But after a while she thought the blue eyed, white haired boy was being creepy. He shifted and Evelyn saw a flash of metal.
Oh no.
She looked around the table, trying to catch someone's eye. Finally Sicomba looked over. She looked into his blue eyes then gestured over to the boy. His eyes widened and he nodded.
"Hey guys, maybe we should go skiing." Sicomba said inconspicuously.
"Wait?" Elizabeth said.
Sicomba looked at the boy and Elizabeth's eyes widened. The five of them casually got up and the boy also stood.
Oh crap.
Evelyn knew he was either extremely dangerous, or extremely stupid, because she knew he knew they knew he was following them. They walked out to the ski room, and he followed them. The five Demigods calmly walked outside, and so did the boy behind them. As they walked through the snow on the small mountain, he carefully slid out a knife. Only Evelyn noticed, and she waited to the last second.
She tackled Elizabeth, sending both of them to the ground as a blade went whizzing about their heads.
"Run!" Evelyn yelled, pulling Elizabeth along. They started running, dodging random skiers and snowboarders walking to hills.
Suddenly there was another boy in a ski mask, joined with the other boy.
"Oh great, now there's two." Evelyn muttered. She looked around. The only way out was the ski lift. She looked at Sicomba.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
He nodded.
"Louise's leg though."
"I'll be fine." She muttered.
"Problem is," Mary interjected as the two boys moved closer, "once we get up, we need a way down."
Evelyn cursed. Then she looked to her left and saw a stack of skis and boots.
How uncanny and strangely useful. Thank you gracious luck god…. Whatever your name is.
Evelyn dived for the pile before the boys could see what she was doing, and threw random boots at everyone. She grabbed a handful of skis and some snowboards and jumped onto the lift, pulling Elizabeth and Louise with her. She glanced back, but saw Sicomba and Mary jumping on before the two boys could reach them.
Evelyn quickly put on the boots and attatched the skis. She gave Louise some as well, and a snowboard to Elizabeth.
"Anyone know how to ski?" Evelyn asked.
"Nope." Both of them replied.
"Well… I know how to waterski, but I feel like this'll be different."
The two others looked grim.
"Okay, look. If we… When we get to the bottom, we wait for each other. We'll fight if we have to, but don't split up, okay?"
The others nodded. They were almost to the top.
"See ya guys." Louise said, and they jumped off, splitting in different directions. Evelyn didn't know a thing about skiing, she had only ever been cross-country skiing before. She tried to copy what people did on T.V., and she only had fallen twice so far…
Suddenly, she heard a sound behind her. She turned her head to see what it was, and saw the ski mask dude on a snowboard following her. He was actually doing some cool tricks on his way down.
"IMPRESSIVE!" Evelyn screamed as she half skied, half fell down the slope.
The boy didn't answer, but she thought she heard a chuckle. Who knew evil people had a sense of humor? She tried her best to speed up, but she knew she wasn't as fast as this guy. She felt him gaining on her.
Go go go go go go…
Her skis weren't really listening though, or they didn't care. Suddenly, she was on the ground, her face in the snow, not really knowing what was happening. Only when she felt arms holding her down did she realize the guy had tackled her.
He turned her over and held a knife to her face. She looked cooly up at him, but couldn't tell much from the ski mask.
"Gonna kill me then?"
The boy hesitated, then picked her up, shaking his head. Evelyn knew he wouldn't, she was what the enemy called, "useful." Brother was the child of the prophecy, and she had super amazing water skills. Of course the enemy wanted her. The boy took her down the hill the rest of the way.
When they were near the bottom, he pulled off his ski mask, revealing blonde hair and blue eyes. Familiar blonde hair and blue eyes.
"BEN?!" Evelyn shouted, confused. But she was mostly relieved, and thankful. "Thank the gods!" she said, hugging him. He paused for a moment, stunned, but then hugged her back, squeezing her tight. "Don't you ever scare me like that again! What in the name of Hades are you doing here?!" Evelyn couldn't believe it.
"I-" he started, but was interrupted.
"Oh good." A voice said. Evelyn turned, expecting a familiar face, but saw instead the white haired boy. "You got her. Take her to Kronos, he wants her right away. Good job."
"Sure thing Steven." Ben replied.
Evelyn stared at Ben, then the other boy, then Ben again. There was no way… Ben was NOT a traitor. He was basically Evelyn's best friend. He was her most trusted ally. He was… he was…
"No." Evelyn muttered. "No. No, no, no."
"Come on." Ben said, pushing her toward a car. He shoved her in the passenger seat and jumped into the drivers seat. Before she could argue, he was driving away.
"Ben. What are you- Stop this car! Elizabeth, Louise, Sicomba… they're all back there! Go back! What are you doing?!"
"Shut up Ev."
"Don't call me that."
Ben looked over at her with sad eyes. Evelyn wanted those sad eyes to go away. She wanted the happy, joking boy from camp. She just couldn't believe this was happening.
"The others are fine. They'll be coming too."
"Shut up Ben. What is going on?"
Ben said, nothing but kept driving.
"BEN WILLIAMS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Ben pulled over and hit the brakes. Evelyn turned to him, but he was already out of the car, and pulling her into the woods on the side of the road.
"What are you… get your hands off me!"
Ben let go and held up his hands when they got to a clearing.
"Happy?"
"No," Evelyn said bitterly, "my best friend just betrayed me, while my other friends are back with some psycho evil guy, and one of my other best friends is in a dark room with Kronos being forced to grow seeds that will kill both her and my father along with all the other gods who make the world go round!"
"This isn't my fault."
"You're helping!"
"I have to!"
"NO YOU DON'T!" Evelyn screamed at him. "This is why you were acting so weird and withdrawn at camp, wasn't it?"
"Yes."
"You traitor." Evelyn said, with venom in her words. Ben winced. His eyes were so sad… Evelyn almost felt empathy toward him, but… No. She couldn't feel sorry for him, she couldn't understand him.
He walked up to her and grabbed her elbows, looking into her green eyes with his blue ones.
"I did this to save your life, okay?"
"You just tackled me on a ski hill and now you're literally driving me straight into Kronos' hands. I don't think you're doing me any favors, Ben."
"He said if I joined him, he wouldn't hurt you!" Ben said, obviously frustrated and angry.
"He lied! And what makes me so special anyway!" Evelyn said.
"I wasn't kidding that one time in Truth or Dare. I honestly would marry you, you know." Ben said with sadness. Evelyn felt a pang of something in her chest, and looking at Ben's torn face, she realized what she had never realized before. She liked Ben, she really did. And that's why this hurt so much. She knew somewhere in her heart that her best friend was already gone.
"Great way to make an impression, Ben."
"I'm sorry! Okay? I just… I don't want you to die! That prophecy…"
"Is about Percy!" Evelyn yelled, "It was ALWAYS about Percy. I thought you knew that."
"I didn't." he said quietly.
Evelyn felt like crying.
"I want Ben back. The one who ran around camp in his underwear singing the goofy goober song. The one who covered me in honey. The one who helped me plan Dalia's 'wedding'."
"That's still me." Ben whispered.
"No." Evelyn said with disdain and sadness, "it isn't."
Ben just leaned down and kissed her forehead, then took her back to the car, where she got in willingly, and the whole ride to Kronos, kept her head facing the window, trying to hide the tears.
Author's Note: AH CRAP! Ben's a traitor Shame, right? The light-hearted, funny, caring one. Yeah, it's depressing. But he did it for love! Haha, idiot. Sorry to put all that intense crap on you at once. Pretty depressing chapter altogether really. But, if you are feeling down, go read Chapter 4 again! Ben dancing around in his underwear! Oh, the good old days. It's much sadder now you know he's a traitor, isn't it? Well. There's my sad stuff for the day. Good night!
