Chapter Thirty-Two: Betrayals and Secrets

ATTENTION: I have an announcement. There is a new writer - bluelife000. She's a great writer with amazing and creative ideas. She just posted her first story, and I would love it if you could check it out and support her. If you do this, thank you.

So, I feel kind of bad because I've forgotten to include the narrators lately. I always get so caught up in the story that I don't add them, and a lot of the time I forget to do it later. But, I remembered this time! In case you forgot, the code is
Female Narrator
Male Narrator
Brooke

Again, no author's note at the end of the chapter because I want to leave you on a cliffhanger again. So, I'm just going to say here please review and vote on my pole. A lot of secrets will be revealed in this chapter, so brace yourselves.


WHAT?!

So, you're telling me that Amanda has a BROTHER?!

I can't believe this.

No one can!

Shhh, let's see what happens!


Silence.

Shocked, scared, confused silence.

That was all that there was after Cedric's statement, which he said so casually.

But the silence was filled with emotions. Amanda still looked like she wanted to strangle Cedric, but also looked down in shame.

Slowly, the demigods memories returned.

"I can't believe this," Izzy said, trying to look Amanda in the eyes, but her friend looked away and focused on glaring at Cedric.

"You couldn't even let me tell them," she said angrily.

"Sorry, sis," Cedric said in an offhand voice.

They all saw Amanda's hands curl into fists. It was clear she was retraining herself from punching Cedric.

"I remember now," Alex muttered. "You had a brother and a sister - Emma and Cedric. You were triplets."

"After all, three is the most powerful number in Greek Mythology," Izzy added.

Amanda nodded, not even able to look at Cedric anymore. She looked down at the floor so no one would see the tears welling in her eyes. Emma. It was the first time she heard that name in eight years. She had even refused to say it in her head after losing her sister.


She had a sister too?!

Brooke-

How did we not notice this? We are THE NARRATORS!

Brooke!

What?

Brooke, weren't you listening? She lost her sister. By that, and their previous conversations, we can guess that she is dead.

Oh...


"You all slept in a triple bunk bed because you couldn't stand to be away from each other, and Emma had night terrors that only you two could calm down," Zoe recalled.

Again, Amanda nodded, hearing her sister's name said so casually feeling like another stab to the heart with a knife.

"You were best friends," Jacob said. "But one day Emma disappeared, and then Cedric did a week after. But we never remembered them after that."

"I'm lost," Cerise said, looking confused.

"To put it simply, Amanda had a brother and sister. Then, they both disappeared. Cedric - her brother - is here now. So, the only question is what happened to Emma, and why did we lose our memories?"

Amanada opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Looking furious, she turned to Cedric and tried to speak again.

"Sorry, little sister," Cedric said. "But I think I should be the one explaining this, since you've had eight years."

Amanda tried to start forward, but shadows came out of the ground and held her back. However, they couldn't stop all the rude things she was clearly mouthing at Cedric, who ignored his sister.

"Here's the story. Have a seat."

He waved his hands and chairs made out of shadows appeared. They all sat down, uneasy. The feeling only grew when shadows appeared and held them in the seats.

Alex's eyes were fastened on Amanda. She had stopped "shouting" at Cedric and was trying to break the grip the shadows had on her, but her efforts were fruitless.

Alex frowned. The Cedric he had grown up with was a kind-hearted boy that only used his powers to protect his family. He would never do this to his sister. Something was clearly wrong.


Wait, what's wrong with Cedric? This is such a weird experience!

We know. It's so strange to go from narrating the story and knowing what happens to...this.

Is this what it feels like to be a normal reader?

Dad, we read all the time.

Yeah, but we also narrate the story of Ever After. Now, we're doing this.

You have a point.


Alex was snapped out of his thoughts by Cedric speaking.

"We grew up at Mount Olympus, living as normal lives as the children of Hades could with our friends and family. One day, a day like any other, Emma - who was the youngest out of the three of us - went out into the mortal world.

"She didn't tell us, only left a note. We found it and Amanda and I wanted to go after her, but Dad stopped us. Emma may have been the youngest, but she was more powerful than the two of us. In fact, she was probably the most powerful demigod to be born in years. And she knew how to take care of herself.

"So, Dad told us to stay. We listened. The note said that Emma had gone to get a surprise for us, so she didn't want us to follow her."

Alex had been watching Amanda this whole time, and noticed that when Cedric started talking about Emma so casually, her eyes teared up. But she lifted her chin and seemed to be refusing to let them fall.

"However, Emma didn't return after a few hours, and we got very worried. We left to search for her, not telling anyone because we were afraid they would stop us."

Amanda started to blink as though keeping her tears back was getting harder and harder.

"Do you remember that night?" Cedric asked his sister.

She raised an eyebrow and motioned to her mouth. Cedric nodded and waved his hand.

"It was dark," Amanda said immediately, her eyes beginning to become glassy as she recalled the events perfectly, the pictures forming in her mind. "There was a huge thunderstorm going on in the mortal world, but it was fine at Olympus. We didn't really worry about Emma being soaking wet when she got back, though. She always loved the water.

"When we left, it was dark. We walked around for a moment, thinking about where Emma may be. We decided to check the stores, since she said she was getting something for us. After walking a few streets down, we arrived at a jewelry shop. We were going to go past after we checked inside and found nothing, but then I saw something shine. For some reason, I said that we should check behind the building. We did and-"

Her voice broke, and she wiped her eyes, furious and upset. Cedric nodded, as though he hadn't expected her to finish.

"We found our little sister, behind the building, dead. She had no wounds, and it was a mystery to how she had died," Cedric said, no sign of sadness in his cold eyes. "That night, we cast a spell on everyone but our family to forget Emma. Later, the Mistress adjusted the spell so they forgot me too."

Amanda looked down at the ground, breathing heavily.

"The only things found on Emma's body were two bracelets and a necklace. They all looked similar, with silver chains and silver lockets on them."

He waved his hand and a shadow appeared over Amanda's bracelet, making it fly off her arm. Her eyes widened and she tried to grab it, but it floated out of her reach.

Cedric waved his hand again and the shadow opened the locket. He made it fly up to the group, so they could all see the picture in it. It was of an eight-year-old Amanda and Cedric. Next to them was a girl a bit smaller than them, but with the same blue eyes. Behind them were a younger Aiden, Daniel, and Jax. Their father - Hades - was also there.

The demigods felt their hearts break. The memories of Emma had returned vibrantly, and they remembered the sweet, smart, and brave girl that had been their friend. They had had a spark of hope that she had disappeared like Cedric, but now that hope had fizzled out.

The Ever Afters froze in horror. They couldn't imagine the pain and misery that Amanda and Cedric had had to live with for eight years. It must have been horrible to lose your sister. Cerise couldn't even imagine how she would feel if she lost Ramona.

But to everyone, it all made sense. The triple bunk bed Zoe remembered, Amanda crying over her bracelet, her strange behavior whenever they said that she would have been a good big sister...it all made sense.

Cedric waved his hand and the bracelet returned to Amanda's arm, which she smiled faintly at. It was all she had left of her sister.

"But, why did you choose today to finally appear?" Hopper asked.

The demigods already thought they knew, but Cedric just confirmed their suspicions.

"Because today is the anniversary of the day Emma died," he said, looking his sister in the eyes. To everyone's surprise, Amanda didn't back down, but stared her brother straight in the eyes.

"Amanda," he said. "Do you know how Emma died?"

Amanda shook her head.

"No one does," she said. The others were all worried when they heard her voice. She sounded so...hollow.

"Well, you're wrong about that. The being that killed Emma was none other than Zeus," Cedric said, watching as his sister's face paled.


WHAT THE HECK?!


"No," Amanda muttered. "He wouldn't..."

"Yes, he would."

It wasn't Cedric who spoke, but Alex. They all turned to him in surprise. He wanted nothing more than to rush forward, throw his arms around Amanda, and comfort her. To tell her that Cedric was lying. But he couldn't lie.

"Amanda, we grew up in the same house as my dad. He's a nice guy sometimes, but when his power is threatened he won't hesitate to do anything to protect himself and his throne. He would definitely even kill his niece."

Amanda's eyes looked blank as her brain tried to process this information.

"I bet you feel stupid for trusting him and dating his son," Cedric said cooly.

Amanda's eyes came back into focus, and narrowed. Shadows flew across her arms, but they weren't Cedric's shadows. They were hers. And they were fighting against her brother's. Suddenly, the shadows released her.

She jumped up and slowly bent her hand into a fist. Cedric's shadows were quenched.

She turned to face her brother and windrew her sword.

"So this is how it is," Cedric said, taking his own one out. "You may want to think about what you're doing, little sister."

Amanda looked into his eyes. They were cold, dead blue orbs. They weren't the soft and sparkling eyes of the brother she'd grown up with.

"You're not my brother," she said, her voice still hollow.

Cedric sighed. He waved his hand and, before they could say anything, the other sixteen were lifted into the air, shadows swirling around them. Their faces were frozen and their eyes turned glassy, as though they were far away.

Amanda's eyes widened in horror, but when she turned to Cedric seemed to be glowing a bit with anger.

She faced the boy she'd grown up with, except now he was only an empty shell. One that she may have to kill.