Chapter 28:

Tears well up in my eyes. All I can think of is that I made this beast go through all this pain. After its final breath, all of its muscles go slack and even more weight is put on my back.

I fall on the ground, my chest in the soft grass and have no energy to get up. I just let the tears quietly roll down my face while the hair from the beast's shoulders rest along my exposed neck.

A few moments later, I feel the burden of the bear lift a little and I look up. Reed and May are holding up the bleeding bear's head, and are telling me to get out.

"Come on. We can't hold it up much longer," May says with a strained look on her face. I slowly crawl from the dead bear and when I get up, Reed notices I'm crying.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He puts down his throwing stars and moves toward me. I stop him with a wave of the hand.

"No," I begin. I just don't know how to explain my emotions right now, because I am just so ashamed of myself for killing the beast and making it suffer. I just witnessed a beast dying, even if it was a monster.

At that moment, the bear burst into a yellow dust, almost exactly like the snake that I fought, back in New York. Another wave of tears fill up my eyes and threaten to spill onto my face.

"Just, I felt its heartbeat, all while it was dying. I felt its last breath and moans of pain," I try to explain, but my voice cracks and I don't trust myself to talk again.

"Oh," May starts. "I remember having that problem. The first time I killed a hellhound, I couldn't sleep for days. At least you're unharmed, that's something good."

"Okay, it-. I just feel guilty for making it suffer," I sniffle. I wipe my running nose, and still feel pretty depressed. Some part of my mind knows I'm being silly, because the bear-man would have killed me if I didn't kill it first.

We are quiet for a while, and then I realize that we are still stuck in the forest. "So, are we still stuck in this damn forest?" I ask. I don't want to know the answer, fearing we may still be stuck. By now, what light that has been filtering through the leaves have gone almost nonexistent.

"Probably. I think the magic was linked to him, and since he is, well, dead, I think we can scurry along home," Reed replies.

May leads and we start walking back the wheat trail she made. I keep thinking about the bear's failing heart, and can almost feel it against my chest. I try to keep my mind off of it, thinking where my mom is and what she is doing.

"Well, that was unbearable," Reed concurs. He keeps walking, waiting for a reply. It takes me a second to realize his pun.

"Yea, he used the second amendment to literally bear arms," I reply, looking up and cracking a smile.

"You two are impawsibe," May says. I don't have to look at her, but I can tell she is rolling her eyes.

I shake my head, amazed at the change in mood, where not even five minutes ago, we were battling a man-bear, and now we are making bear puns.

"Can we please just get to the cabins and wash up before we meet the Muses?" May asks. We keep walking until we get to the fork in the road where we found the clump of flows and stop.

"So, here we are. The moment of truth," I murmur. Reed, with his weird augmented senses, overhears my whisper and replies.

"Yep, and if I'm not mistaken, we go this-a-way," Reed replies and points to the right. We follow him without saying anything, and keep walking. The adrenaline rush I got from the battle has worn off, and now every step is labored. Thankfully, that takes my mind off the guilt filling my mind.

"Let's hope we aren't going in circles anymore," May mutters loud enough for Reed and me to hear. I am just as nervous as her about getting out of here. If we are still stuck, we risk not meeting The Muses and being stuck in the woods overnight, and maybe forever. I can tell all three of us are keeping our eyes peeled for the notorious patch of white flowers that indicate we are still stuck in these dreaded woods.

After a few more tedious and worrisome minutes of walking through forest that seems to repeat itself, the wheat path stops and we see the main trail up ahead. All three of us run toward it, as if it will disappear if we aren't fast enough.

"We finally made it," I sigh with relief. "Thank the gods. I was scared we would never make it out." We all stop, panting. Reed checks the time on his smartphone and doesn't have a happy look on his face.

"If we want to talk to The Muses alone, before they start playing, we don't have much time," he says. May starts to half-jog half-walk toward our cabin to clean up.

"I call having a shower first!" May calls and locks the door behind her.

I protest, but know it's futile. She's already locked us out. I still have some blood crusted to my shirt and the weird dust that monsters turn into after they are sent to the underworld.

I grumble and run after her. Reed follows close behind. We sit I hear her turn on the shower and realize Reed and I are stuck out here until she finishes her shower.

"Well, if one of the park rangers see us, we will have some explaining to do," I say. I doubt they will take it well that I am covered in blood and this strong-smelling yellow powder.

"Yeah, and the only option would be to kill all the witnesses," Reed bluntly states. I give him a look, confused. I can't tell if he is joking in the darkness, but he finally loses composure and starts laughing. "Dude, I'm joking. Don't look at me like I'm a serial killer or something."

I resisted the urge to call out something sassy, but keep it to myself.

May finally opens the door, wearing a new shirt that I have no idea where she got. She has a towel in her hands and is drying her red hair.

"Where did you find new clothes?" I look at her new jeans and shirt. Her shirt has rows of wheat and a logo that says "Demeter Farms". I skirt around her and get a towel for the shower.

"In the backpack. I just thought of new clothes, and bam, there they are in my hand. Mother must have thought about everything," May replies. I test my luck and put my hand in the backpack.

A split second later, I feel a soft t-shirt fit itself into my hand and I pull it out. The "Demeter Farms" logo is stitched onto the side.

When I get out of the shower and change, May and Reed are waiting for me, drinking some nectar.

Reed hands me one and I slurp down the mouthful that he left me. Natasha's coffee ice cream flavor fills me with energy and dulls the aching in my muscles.

"Let's go and meet some Muses," he says, acting drunk. He stumbles out the door and May follows him. I quickly look back and scan the room. I have my trusty backpack and dagger strapped to my leg.

We haven't left anything behind, so I close the door behind me and we walk through the grass to the main log cabin.

We silently walk through the doorway and are greeted with a whole different interior than we see the day before. A small stage next to the bar has been set up with seven chairs are arranged in an arc around the stage. I see a soft drink on a table and walk toward it. May and Reed follow, and I can tell they are looking to see where everyone is.

"Nick? Is anyone here?" I hear May call out. I pick up the soft drink can and pop open the lid. I sip it, nervous. I have my other hand ready to grab for my sword. I've realized that whenever something feels suspicious, to be ready to fight.

All three of us swivel our heads to a small clattering in one corner of the room. I hear someone curse and someone walks in, through a door leading to something that looks like a kitchen.

"Hey guys. I didn't hear y'all come in. Sorry, I was in the kitchen, making some dinner for us all," he explains. He still has his yellow park ranger shirt on, with a snapback holding his semi-long hair in place. "The other guys are making a final run through the entrance where the Muses will be coming through."

He walks to the bar and pops open a beer. I pick up the soft drink that I is eyeing. "So, uh, how was your day?" Reed asks once he settles into a bar stool near Nick.

"Fine, the usual. I found some bear tracks, which doesn't happen very often. What did you guys do?" Nick replies. I tense up at the think of explaining any of our day with the bear.

All three of us are silent, and we look at each other nervously. I quickly reply, so Nick wont notice that anything is wrong. I work out an idea to just blabber on about something, so Nick will forget about his question. "We went out to have a picnic. We are really outdoors-y kids. You should have seen us at home, begging out parents to let us spend the night in the backyard, which really is a fores-"

"Okay, you can stop now. I know you three are demigods," Nick interrupts. "I can smell it everywhere you go."