*sobs* I-I know I ha-hadn't been on-online for et-eternity, bu-but I had finals and all t-those school stuff. *sniffles*
Sam: Oh, she's just sad not a single review came into the last chapter….such a whimp..
Me: N-no I-I'm NOT!
Sam: Well, go on with the long awaited story! Gods, you can be such a cry baby sometimes.
Me: O-Okay.. Maybe just a shout out to my-silver-lining for being an awesome beta.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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KIARA'S POV:
"It's just the guard," said the boy, about 13. Despite his reassurances, he seemed a little too jumpy. He helped me get up into a standing position, and I felt the fading feeling of the strong grip the skeletons, that held me. It blocked the blood that went to my hands, leaving them pale and slightly blue. I rubbed my wrists. You know, for the undead, they sure could be strong.
"You all right?" he asked me curiously.
"Yeah. Just need to get my blood circulating again," I chuckled humorlessly.
"Yeah." He laughed weakly too. "And by the way, my name is Payton. Payton Gardenton and son of Demeter."
"Demeter? As in Katie's brother?" I asked, not really knowing if he had met his siblings. Heck, I didn't even know if he had gotten into camp yet.
"Yes." Well, I guess that answered both questions. "You?" he asked warily.
"Uh, Kiara. Daughter of Poseidon," I said. He looked at me, shocked. In one fluid motion, his hands were on my shoulders. He looked frantic. His blue eyes were mad - not the angry mad, but like he's a mad scientist doing a new experiment or something.
"Is the war over?" he asked, his hands squeezing my shoulders so tight I had to whimper.
"Yes," I whispered and, to my good fortune, his grip loosened.
"Good," he sighed, and I wondered why it mattered to him. Surely he had other concerns, like getting out of this place, than helping the war, right?
I waited for the right time - like when he wasn't a delusional wacko - to try to talk to him. One moment he was this dude that could make you feel comfortable in this damp place, the next minute he's squeezing the life out of you.
I've really got to make a list on why everyone wants to kill me. It would probably go like:
-Doing something I didn't do. Check.
-My weakness against little girls. Check.
-Knowing something, like the war ending. Check.
-Being alive. Check.
Gods, the fates really hated me.
Payton was curled in a ball in the corner of the room, shaking his head like he was trying to get things off of it. I walked up to him and knelt down, speaking calming words.
"Where am I?" I asked once he had settled down. Payton's blue eyes were weary and his blond hair stuck out into spikes. As bad as I felt, I couldn't stop wondering what he had been through. Probably something much worse than my situation.
"Under the castle, in the dungeon," he replied, not looking my way. He was staring into the distance, as if in another world.
"Wow. They have a dungeon? Cliché," I muttered and looked around. The place really did look like those dungeons you see in the movies. Obsidian black, shackles lining the walls, steel bars separating us from the upper castle and a pile of bones here and there. Yeah, cliché.
The only things that stood out were a layer of cotton (a blanket, I suppose), a glowing orb on the ceiling shining a dim white light on us, and a hole in the wall. The hole wasn't even big enough for a rodent, but it was large enough to see the outside or to whisper something to the other side. Something was behind it - I knew from the light that seeped through. I found myself half hoping it was the sun - then again, we are in the underworld. There was no sun anywhere near here.
I walked casually near the hole, not minding Payton's stare, and slowly knelt down to try to look through it. But before I got a glimpse at the other side, I was pinned to the ground.
"Don't do it," Peyton whispered, his eyes piercing.
"I wasn't going to do anything but look," I said, creeped out by how fast he had moved and the closeness of our position.
"No," he insisted, his eyes crazed again.
"Okay! Okay!" I said and he finally let me go. Note to self, Payton was fast for his age and looks. I risked a glance at the wall, but he thankfully didn't see me. Curiosity brimming on what was on the other side. Maybe I'll have to sneak a peak when he sleeps.
"Okay," he repeated and went back to his corner, muttering something inaudible to himself.
Crazy kid.
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Nico's POV:
Mystical. The castle was something you see out a Disney princess movie - not that I've watched that kind of stuff. Still, the castle was like a dream. Literally. It was like I knew this castle from somewhere, but I couldn't place where.
"So, my dad wants to see my friends first before we tour you around, okay?" Aanastassia
chirped and Gavin nodded, dazed. Really? She was younger than him!
Kara gave the girl, Aanastassia, a glare before slapping the back of Gavin's head.
"Ouch!" he whined but continued to track the girl, like a puppy. I face palmed and Aaron just shrugged.
"We'd better keep an eye out for him. I don't really trust this girl," Kara said.
"She seems innocent enough," Aaron said and walked after Gavin.
"This isn't going to get us anywhere near Kiara," I said and Kara gave me a 'you-think' look.
Past hallways, through doors and minutes later, we were standing before a large oak door. 'Seriously, extravagant much?' I thought and had to laugh inwardly. I was already thinking like a hormonal teenage girl!
"Okay, you guys seemed to know how to act around gods, so I'll leave you to him, okay?" Aanastassia asked with a soft giggle. She seemed to take the girly act way too seriously. She nodded her head at us, but she seemed to look pained when she stared at me. Like, literally pained. As if there was something she wanted to tell me but couldn't.
Apparently giving up on relaying the message I couldn't get, she stomped her feet lightly.
"I'll leave you now," she huffed and stalked my way. Instinctively, I moved a little and blocked her path.
"You want something," I accused as I looked down at her. She gave me one more scrutinizing look and shook her head.
"I still need you. Just don't anger him," she said in a voice almost too low for me to hear. "And remember, I'm just in the next room," she added, stressing the last words. It was like she was hinting at something, but I still couldn't get what. With a short twirl, she entered another door and left.
"Shall we? Come on! I'm too hungry to wait," Gavin whined.
"I don't know. Something tells me we shouldn't be here," Kara said.
"Come on, she was just a girl! What can she do?" Gavin insisted. Little did we know she could do a lot more than we expected.
"Kara's right," I said, but Gavin had already pushed open the doors.
Our breath caught in our throats as we looked at what awaited us in the room.
We found nothing. Nothing but an old throne. It wasn't even grand. Just a wooden throne at the center of the room, with only the carvings on the oak as decorations. It showed flowers blooming, which made the seat of the throne and twisted into the legs. The arm rests were vines, curling around a trunk, looking almost as if it were moving.
"This is bad. Go back," I ordered, but Aaron had already took a step closer. Again, nothing happened.
"'Go back,'" he mimicked. He went around the square room, circling the throne. "Well, what do you concur, Gavin? Nice pad, right?" he asked mischievously.
"Yeah," he said. "Comfy chair, too, I bet," he said and raised his hand to touch the chair.
Something about the way that the vines twirled should have given it away. But the moment it shook was the only chance of responding I had. "NO!" I yelled but it was too late.
Thrown back into the wall, as everyone else was, I felt my head bang into something sharp around the edge of my forehead. Before I blacked out, I saw the start of a pool underneath me. A red pool with a sticky texture and a rust scented tang. A pool of blood.
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Well that went…bad. I know I had reasons, but seriously, give me some slack. I have racked my brain for 3 days! It was torture! And I had to stop thinking anything but body systems, wars, history, language and so on!
And, this is short because, I'm really busy with my clearance sinning. After that, it'll be like the old times where I update faster. Promise.
But seriously guys, not to be a review hugger and all, but could you please review?
I didn't know what I did wrong in the last chapter. So please tell me what I did. REVIEW!