Skyler
He was getting better, but not fast enough. Even with Scar and I feeding him, he has still lost a lot of weight; but that did make it easier for us to carry him. Other times, I used some of the powers that Lady Hecate had given me when I was blessed by the Goddess as a child. With our combined effort, two "petty and helpless" Daughters of Aphrodite had been captured, survived, escaped (with help), and traveled thousands of miles with extra luggage. Who says you have to pick between beauty, brains, and brawn? I'll take them all, thanks.
Once I saw dawn approaching, I woke Scar. No words were exchanged between us as we started to silently pack the little belongings we had. I knew that we were both tired as hell, so I tethered Xander to us. We both waited as the stream of light that connected the three of us become wider and stronger. Once, it was strong enough, Scarlett used the shadow-traveling powers she was given, and proceeded to transport us away from the edge of Africa, to the border between Mexico and Belize.
The world turned pitch black. I felt the air pressure increase as it threatened to pop my ears off. A great gust of wind started as if blowing us backwards. Then it all stopped at once. The darkness had some light to it now, as if someone was slowly undimming the sun. The outlines of unidentifiable objects graduately became the objects themselves.
As soon as the light was in the world again, I saw Scarlett collapse. I managed to reach her and hold her before she could hit the ground. I slowly brought her limp body to the ground. This had been the biggest jump yet, so it had drained Scar more than usual. I looked around until I found a smooth rock to put under her head. I did the same for Xander. I sat down and took out my canteen of water and poured it down my searing throat. I set up a magical barrier so we could not be seen by outsiders, even though we were the real outsiders on this occasion. My job was to keep watch, so I got my dagger and katana ready. As I sat there in the last lights of dusk, my thoughts floated back to the times before Scarlett and I had found out what we were.
Things were so simple then, no quests, no fighting monsters, no facing death again and again. Just the regular high school drama. When we had enrolled into Half-Blood High, we were so happy to finally be able to return to a somewhat normal life. Just Xander, Scarlett, and I against the world, nothing else.
But of course, once things were finally looking up, fate came in like a wrecking ball. I realized that I wasn't here to go to school and make friends and live a normal life. I was here to save the world. That was my destiny. If bad things really did happen to good people, then I was a saint. Scarlett and I were captured and separated from Xander. All that we loved was gone, except for each other. Of course we fought against the enemy, but even two of the strongest demigods were no match for deities.
This was no time to be reminiscing old memories. I had to stay focused. I did a sweep of my surroundings and evaluated where we were. Scar could only take us as far as the beach of Chutemal, a beach in Mexico near to the border of Belize, but no one was complaining. The landscape was breathtaking. The water was a beautiful crystal clear dark blue. The newborn night sky was a heart-stopping royal blue with wisps of clouds intruding the starless dome. The beach sand was white and garbage free, unlike those in other places. A beautiful dock extended outward into the glorious Atlantic Sea. A little white gazebo on the end of that dock was where we lay and I sat now.
Although it was nighttime here in Mexico, the beach was teeming with nightlife. The lights were on in a beautiful array that we only ever see on Chirstmas. You could see people of all ages enjoying food, laughing, and talking with old friends and new. The children were running around and laughing and playing until they could no more. In a sense, it felt like... home. It felt safe.
But I knew better. We were far from home or safety. Even here there was the danger of enemies and monsters. They was was only three safe havens known on Earth, and we were headed towards one of them.
I heard the water splash behind me. My head whirled around to look for demons. My body tensed up and my grip on my katana tightened. I felt the cool metal of my dagger against my waist. I slowly walked over to the side of the gazebo. I looked carefully into the dark water, looking for signs of a creature. The water rippled slightly. Bubbles started to form on the surface. For some reason, the water seemed a bit... darker in some areas.
"SKY, GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
I looked back to see Xander dragging Scarlett's unconscious body out of the gazebo. I looked back towards the water and saw a ginormous snake-like thing slither out of the water. I had seen it before somewhere... maybe in my reading. But now was not the time to be studying something that wanted to eat me.
I ran back to Xander and helped in carrying her, but by the time we made it to the end of the gazebo dock, the snake had made its way onto the beach. It seemed to be... waiting for us. As we got closer, I realized it was stuck in the sand. Although, it did manage to occupy the entire exit of the dock. The only way out was either to swim (with Scar unconscious and Xander wounded, that would not be our best option) or to somehow get past the snake.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Another snake had come up on the side of the dock, but this time it was bigger. I looked around. There was one snake at the end of the dock. One ready to kill us only a few feet away. Xander was badly injured, and he was trying to wake up Scarlett.
I have an idea.
"Xander, you stay here and try to wake up Scarlett. When the coast is clear, I need you to run. Keep running, don't look back. Don't worry about me, I'll meet up with you later. I'm going to distract these guys."
"Hey! Hey dumbass!" I waved my arms wildly to get the attention of the second snake.
"Skyler, no! Those are basilisks. Their teeth are poisonous!" screamed Xander from behind.
Basilisks, of course. I had read about them before, and I knew enough not to look directly into its eyes. I grabbed a mirror and two daggers from my bag as I ran towards the gazebo. I positioned the mirror so I could see the creature from behind as I ran. I threw back the first dagger. It landed straight into its right eye. The second one landed into its left. I almost never missed a dagger throw.
As the creature was temporarily disoriented, I sent one last look to Xander at the other end of the dock. He had caught my idea and was throwing his spears into the other basilisk's eyes. The snake screeched into the night sky as it went blind. Xander tried to send another spear into its throat, but narrowly missed. Somehow, Scarlett was still laying unconscious a few feet away, unharmed.
For a millisecond, Xander turned back towards me, and our eyes met. For a millisecond, we transferred a message to each other, knowing we would meet again soon.
Good luck.
With one last longing look, I plunged into the night sea.
Hey readers! Let me know how the chapter was. If there are any mistakes or something you would like me to change let me know. If you have any suggestions for the upcoming chapters, let me know as well. Also, if you haven't already, check out my other story "Friend or Foe". I hope my writing isn't too terrible! :)
QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:
What weapon is Skyler particularly skilled in throwing at?
You guys know the rules. You can either review or PM the answer to me, but make sure you are logged in (or get an account) so I can reply to you and let you know whether you are right or wrong. The first correct answer will get a 500 word preview of the next chapter. If you can get me the exact seven word sentence Skyler used, you will receive an extra 100 words. Thanks for playing and good luck! :)
Review replies:
giraffesplaycello: Aww, thank you. I'm happy that my writing wasn't too bad in that last chapter (even though it was XD). Yes, the OCs are to make the story more interesting, but I don't want the whole story to be about them. (Hint hint...) I'm glad you liked the chapter and thank you for reviewing! :)
Mystery girl 21: Yes that is the correct answer. Unfortunately you were not the first to answer. (If you were the first and I gave you the preview my memory is terrible and sorry if I am incorrect.) Either way, I'm glad that you knew this piece of information. Yes, in the beginning of the story I knew not what to write or what the storyline was going to be so I placed that in. Now the storyline is built and seems to be moving along quite nicely if I may say so. I'm so happy that you liked my story. Thank you for reviewing! :)
Youknowwho: I have already replied to your review, and thank you for the generous comments. Once again, I'm so happy you liked my chapter and thanks for reviewing! :)
DeerDoe23: I haven't yet? Well, I will make sure to add Calypso into the storyline at some point because Leo does deserve his happy ending as well. Thanks for reviewing! :)
Thanks to all the reviewers and readers! Let me know how this chapter went!
Anyways... Read and Review! :)
