Hello all! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

~ secrethalfblood

Hpov

I glanced at the scroll I was holding up in front of the cave entrance, comparing the carvings to the sketch, uncertain if I felt anxiety or relief at the realization that they matched.

"This is definitely it."

My body was still sore from hitting what felt like every branch of trees above me while crashing to the floor of the jungle, and I couldn't quite shake the feeling of unease that had settled over me the moment I realized I was alone.

Why the Interrealm had dumped me here, I had no idea. I hadn't been thinking of anywhere in particular when I'd been tackled into it, I'd been caught too off guard.

James had been the one to throw me into the doorway, dragging Ashton along with us, but where he'd come from was another story. Had he been there in Alexandria? Or was he just jumping from place to place and happened to run into the only other two people accessing the Interrealm at the time?

Somehow, I found that unlikely.

I had no information to back up this claim, but something in my gut was telling me that there was more going on in this situation than any of us knew. And James seemed to have more control traveling through the doors than any one person had a right to be. At least while they were uncontrolled.

'So why am I here?' I thought uneasily, looking over my shoulder. 'And how come James isn't?'

I glanced around again, almost certain I was being watched, but just as before finding nothing. Unless James manage to find a way to conceal himself while crashing through a canopy of branches and tangled vines, I had to think that he wasn't here.

Ashton clearly wasn't.

We must have been separated at some point while traveling between the doors.

It was strange, I'd almost thought I'd caught a glimpse of the entrance to the library when we'd left Alexandria, but it was as if I'd been jerked off course and tossed out into the middle of the jungle.

I wasn't sure what it meant, but if the library was closed, it had to be significant.

I'd thought I'd been dumped at random first when I fell back into the mortal world, but as I noticed the ruins around me, I'd started to think maybe that wasn't the case.

From my brief glance of the terrain before I smacked into it, tall mountains jutted beyond the trees, and though I couldn't be sure, I expected to see more ruins among them.

I glanced at the stone work above the cave entrance, rough rock smoothed into a familiar creature, that, despite the wear and tear of what was likely to have been thousands of years, was still decernable.

An owl.

'This can't be a conincidence.' I thought tersely, glancing around again, certain something was about to go wrong.

This had to be some sort of trap. There was no way the doors would just put me here, seemingly exactly where I needed to be.

I glanced back again at the scroll, both exhilarated at how the columns carved into the stone perfectly matched the sketch, and also a little dismayed.

Without really thinking about it, I reached into the side pocket of my bag and pulled out the golden olive branch, a war raging within me as I weighed my options.

There were three left.

I knew for a fact they would take me to Ashton if I asked them to. I'd done it before, and they could probably bring us back, but that would leave us with only one more chance to travel through the doors if they key wasn't here, and we were running out of time.

Crossing so many times zones, I wasn't sure how many days it had been since Ashton and I had left camp, but I knew if we couldn't use the doors to travel, we'd never have enough time to find it.

No, if the library had sealed itself against visitors, this felt like the end game. I had no idea where James was, but I was almost certain that if I was here, I had a head start. I couldn't waste that. Ashton would understand.

At least, I thought he would.

I started making my way towards the cave, unsheathing my sword, and feeling a cold wave of determination wash over me banishing the fear and anxiety that had surged through me from the moment I'd realized I was alone.

Yes, I was alone.

For the first time in my life, I didn't have Charlie running around after me, trying to jump in front of every problem that might come my way, or Ashton hovering anxiously in the background, ready to heal any injury I might have received no matter how minor.

But that didn't mean I had to be afraid.

And even if the situation I was in might be a little terrifying, charging into an unknown ruin, that was probably full of magic and monsters, completely by myself, and even if a part of me was a little scared. None of that meant I couldn't do it.

I was ready for this.

All those years, reading everything I could get my hands on. Every myth, every legend, every scroll. There was no one on this planet probably, that knew more about the library more than I do, or what I was likely to face. And I'd spent enough time in the arena to know I was up for it.

I could do this. And I didn't need Charlie, or Ashton, or my mother to help with it either.

I was just about to step into the cave however, when I hesitated. A possibility occurring to me only after I'd decided to go on.

Was I really alone?

Yes, the doors might have dumped Ashton at random, but there was no guarantee that they did. And if that wasn't the case. Ashton might not be that far.

Then again, James might not be either.

I glanced over my shoulder, feeling the hair rise on the back of my neck, again almost certain I was being watched.

If James was close by, I couldn't afford to lose time looking for Ashton, but I wasn't alright leaving him to worry if he was.

'What should I do?'

The voice was quiet in the back of my mind and I hated how uncertain it was. As if it was used to being told the answers, told how to act. And maybe it was.

But it wasn't me.

And it wasn't who I wanted to be, no matter how much Charlie and so many other people wished it was.

I was done waiting on other people.

Without thinking too much on it, I put the point of my sword to the ground and carved a quick message at the mouth of the cave knowing that if Ashton were nearby, it would be enough.

Then, before I had the chance to second guess my decision, adjusted the straps on my bag and the grip on my sword, and stepped into the cave.

The air outside, while it had been humid, had been warm, almost uncomfortably so. That was no longer an issue. Walking into the cave felt like walking into a freezer. A damp, very dark, freezer.

I fished a flash light out of my bag as I walked, seeing my breath rise in clouds as I clicked on its beam of light.

My steps echoed off the stone walls, giving an illusion that many people were moving with me in the gloom.

It didn't help that I thought I could hear something, whispering maybe, further down the passageway as I walked, whoever they might have been from however, seeming to say just out of the range of the flash light. Words, almost audible, carried on by a soft, glacial breeze form further down the cave.

Feeling more than a little alarmed at this point. I jumped when I thought I saw someone dart behind a pile of rocks, but when I approached it to investigate, there was nothing.

My heart rate increasing slightly, I looked over my shoulder and around the cave, trailing the beam of the flash light along the walls and ceiling wondering if I was going crazy, but there didn't seem to be anyone here…

"Harper."

I jumped and turned around, half convinced I'd heard Charlie, but again, found nothing.

What the hell was going on?

I then heard a laugh, one that sounded like Ashton's which was crazy, but I followed it, almost sure I could see a figure standing just on the edge of my range of visible light.

It was tall and definitely familiar, and I found myself wondering if it was possible that Ashton had made it to this cavern before me.

"Hello?" I asked looking around, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me, or if I was caught up in some sort of magic.

Nothing but my echoing voice responded.

"Ash?"

I'd lost track of the figure now, and fear was starting to grip me. What was he doing? Why did he keep walking away like that?

Uncertainty started to intermingle with the fear, tinged with a hint of anger.

This had to be a trick. This had to be some sort of magic, or maybe The Mist. Ashton wouldn't ignore me like this, and though I heard him laughing now, there was no possible way Charlie could be here.

Something else was going on here. Either that or I was losing my mind.

"Bambi, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

I'd just decided to ignore the voices, when suddenly, there was a sound like water rushing.

I frowned, feeling the temperature around me plummet even further, as a sharp, bone chilling wind ripped through the cave, buffeting me forward with a powerful gust.

I hit the ground feeling a sharp, painful sting on my for arm as the skin split, cut by a sharp rock.

I crawled behind a boulder as a second gust of icy wind howled through, but this time, instead of dissipating like the first, the wind didn't die. Instead, it grew stronger drowning out my thoughts with the chaos as it picked up.

'This is insane.' I thought.

It was as if suddenly, out of nowhere a tornado and found its way into the cavern and as it picked up, familiar voices seemed to come in and out, like a radio station that was just out of range.

Charlie, Ashton, my mother, even James.

"I need to get out of here." I muttered, curling up and covering my head as some of the rocks around me were picked up and thrown against the walls.

But where the hell was I supposed to go?

I couldn't go back, really, the only way was forward and hope that whatever was going on wouldn't follow me.

I looked up, hoping for an opening in the hail storm of debris and when i found one, started to run.

It was chaos. I was blown from side to side of the cave trying not to trip over dips and cracks in the surface of the stone and ducking flying chunks of rock that seemed determined to lop my head off as we were all buffeted by the storm.

I burst out into a massive chasm with jagged stalactites and stalactites several of which I almost hit as, with one final burst, the wind threw me from my feet, but finally died.

I laid there for a second, panting, flat on my stomach and rested my head in my arms wondering how far into the caves I'd just been forced, and where the hell I was.

"Harper, are you ok?"

Ashton's voice was panicked and I sat up convinced for a half a second I saw him reaching down to help me up like he always did, but when I lifted my hand, there was nothing.

A surge of anger went through me as well as a surge of shame at how relieved I'd been to think he was there.

This was so stupid.

I got to my feet, feeling bruised and annoyed as I brushed myself off, and scanned my surroundings.

The cavern wasn't as big as I'd originally thought, about the size of a living room, and as I turned, passing the flashlight over the walls I saw that apart from the passage I'd come in through, there were three exits to it that branched off into smaller, darker caves.

Though the wind had died down, there was a soft breeze still drifting about the room, more whispers being cared on it from all directions.

"Just give up."

I looked my shoulder in the direction of Charlie's voice, coming from the passage I'd just exited.

"Come home Harps. You can't do this by yourself."

I ignored it.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Just come home. You'll be safe."

Irritated, I turned away, only to feel my attention snap back to the cave in front of me where a soft voice said.

"No, come with me."

It was Ashton and it was right in front of me, and while his tone was gentle and inviting, I didn't move.

Something was wrong, this didn't make any sense.

I felt my heart rate increase as I looked around the caves, half expecting to see my brother and Ashton while knowing it was impossible. That they weren't here.

"Do you always do what you're told."

I turned to the cave on my right and had to hold back a shout when I saw him. James smirking, his eyes glittering as he said.

"You know I'm a little disappointed in you Davis." His tone was snide, not how I remembered him, but far more like the person he seemed to be turning out to be.

Definitely the sort of person he'd have Olympus punish in his place...

"You know you don't have to listen to what they say." he said his smirk widening, his eyes so cruel, he didn't look like himself.

He laughed as he stepped into the shadows, a light breeze carrying the last of his derisive words.

"Shame. And here I was thinking you might have actually been a challenge."

"But-" I started totally confused about to go after him, but was interrupted by Charlie.

"Harper, stop. He's bad news."

His voice was louder now, seeming to come from all directions. Ashton's too confusing me.

"Bambi, we just want what's best for you. For you to be safe."

James's laughter was back, it was louder now and it seemed to be bouncing not off the walls, but along the inside of my skull too. It had gone cold and cruel. It didn't even sound like him anymore. I felt my heart rate kick up as adrenaline and anxiety poured into my blood stream.

I couldn't let him get away.

"Just turn around."

"Come home."

Their volume almost painful now and I clapped my hands over my ears as again, the wind started to pick up.

'Oh gods, not again.' I thought.

I had to keep going, but the voices were so loud, it wasn't possible to think.

'Why wouldn't everyone just shut up?' I thought desperately looking around, my vision distorted from the wind and the voices vibrating in my skull.

'Why do you care what they think?'

The voice was soft, but confident and calm, and somehow, it seemed to cut through the din of the others.

The roar of noise was back as the wind picked up, pulling at my hair and throwing the voices around the cave, but even as I pulled my hands away from my head, my ear drums feeling like they might burst from the sheer volume of sound, the girl's words came through.

'They don't know better than you.'

I turned the cave on the far left and though the girl's voice was directionless, it was familiar, and somehow, I just knew that this was where it wanted me to go.

The wind was still whipping around me, and while I was aware of the noise, it was almost like I couldn't hear it as, after a moment of hesitation, I followed it.

'This way.' The girl said in what I was rapidly realizing to be a voice that was my own. 'Trust me.'

The voice vanished as I stepped in to the left chamber, but it didn't decrease my certainty, even when the ground started to tremble and I saw the horde of monsters barreling towards me from farther down the cave.

'Yeah.' I thought a tersely. 'That seems about right.'

I was fighting with my brother, separated from Ashton right after we'd become... whatever we were right now, my mom was pissed at me, and now I was stuck in the middle of a dark cave while chasing after the guy who stood me up, staring down a pack of monsters who were most certainly going to try to kill me. All that, and even if I succeeded and got the key, I'd still have to face Olympus.

Seventeen was not starting off so great for me...

I gripped my sword and took a deep breath, ready to face my fate, ignoring the chaos and calamity raging behind me, and the voices calling after me to return.