Chapter 17: The clearing
Seth still didn't understand everything about what was happening. The colonel explained a lot to him already but he had a lot of questions and I was happy to answer them. I remembered what it was like to be thrown into the world of demigods and monsters without knowing the ins and outs. Of course I didn't have any memories at all when I first arrived. I didn't know if that made it easier or harder to believe everything that he was told but I figured it had to make a difference somehow. Or maybe not, it wouldn't be the first time that I was too self centred to realize what other people were feeling. For some reason it was hard for me to realize having the line between reality and fantasy being erased. I got thrown right into a world that I didn't understand, everyone else still had to forget the world they used to know. I had it easier than I believed most days.
"It's all so hard to believe." Apparently Seth had finished his tour and joined me on the hill overlooking camp half-blood. For some reason I thought of when I first arrived. I saw this exact same place from exactly the same spot. It felt so different now, I knew this place better than anywhere else and back then I had no idea where I was. Seeing how nothing had changed made me smile. So much had after all. No person at camp half-blood was exactly the same as when I first arrived a year ago but the changes that had occurred didn't change camp itself. It was nice having something consistent. "Did you feel like this when you first arrived?"
"We all did, it's a big change." I said. I figured I wouldn't confuse him with the details of my arrival. That and I didn't really feel like telling the story so I didn't mention it. "But you'll get used to it eventually. Hell, maybe you'll even like it better than the world you know." I said. I didn't know what life would have been like if I hadn't been a demigod. But if it was the same as I remembered it, being a demigod really saved me. Camp half-blood was all I had, if that disappeared out of his life too I would have been far from the person I am now.
"Maybe..." Seth said as he sat down next to me. He looked confused, I figured he still had a lot of questions left about what kind of a world he had just entered. If he only told me what he wanted to know I would have given the best answer I knew but he just sat there in silence. After a while I figured I had to do the talking. He was always a bit of a quiet kid, that obviously didn't change now that he found out he was a demigod.
"Hey Seth, do you see that pine tree over there?" I asked. I actually doubted he missed it given there was a gold glowing fleece wrapped around the trunk and a huge dragon wrapped around that. Seth looked up at it and nodded without asking about the dragon or the fleece. "You know that used to be a daughter of Zeus. She fought for her life on that hill and when she finally fell Zeus turned her into a tree out of pity." I told him. I didn't really know why I told him that story, especially given the girl, Thalia, was back amongst the living breathing people and not just standing around as a tree.
"That makes no sense." Seth said. He looked back at me with a confused expression. I wondered what he meant. Seth was always a bit of a literal person and maybe the fact that a person turned into a tree didn't make sense to him yet. Once you spent enough time around monsters and demigods you got used to that but he was still pretty new. "If Zeus really pitied her he should have saved her, not turned her into a tree when she was already dying." Every demigod knew that was true but after a while you started realizing that the gods worked like that. They didn't really act on time, at least not on time for mortal lives to be spared. "Are all gods like that?"
"I don't know." I couldn't lie about it to Seth. I knew a few gods that were, or at least heard stories about them. I knew my dad wouldn't personally intervene if I was going to die but given he was the god of darkness and shadows I figured he was even colder than the rest of the gods. Of course there were also a few that really seemed to care, like Athena for instance. She helped me out a lot when I was fighting to stop Phthonos. She single handedly changed my opinion on the gods, and given how badly I thought of them that was quite a feat. "All I can tell you is that I met some that are, and some that at least seem to care." I didn't really know whether gods could really care like mortals did. I think Zeus thought he was caring when he turned his daughter into a tree while we saw it as neglecting. The gods didn't understand mortality like we did because they never had to face it. Saving a life was foreign to them because their lives couldn't end. It seemed like an empty existence without foreseeing an end.
"I hope my mom isn't." Seth said. Obviously he had heard about claiming from Adele or the colonel. Honestly I didn't want to guess who his mother was simply because I didn't want to be wrong but of course I had my suspicions. Whether I was right remained to be seen.
"I doubt it." I said with a smile. For some reason this made him a bit more optimistic. I guess he trusted my judgement. I figured he did since I was one of the few friends he had. I helped him out a lot when we were in Los Angeles. I remember seeing him sit on a bench near InDubio. He looked sad and alone, feelings I could relate to. I figured I'd have a chat with him just to let him know he wasn't alone. Ever since then he seemed a little less alone every time I talked to him. But he was never with anyone else. I didn't know if he had other friends, but I always believed that having someone to talk to made him feel better even if he still was alone.
"You know, I think I could get used to this place." Seth said. Not many people believed that so shortly after they arrived but the fact that he could be optimistic about it this soon made me feel better. I didn't know whether he was going to like camp half-blood but the fact that he was willing to accept that he belonged here would probably make it easier for him to start enjoying it. "I never really fitted in with the other people at school or anywhere else really..." I heard a sadness in Seth's voice. I knew it was tough on him being alone all the time. Back then I knew I couldn't do more than give him someone to talk to and hang out with but I knew here I could find people that he would fit in with. I wouldn't let him be alone any more. "Maybe I'll finally find someone I belong with here." He said.
"I don't doubt it." I said with a smile. I really hoped that he would. Seth was a good kid and if anyone deserved it, it was him.
Minutes later Seth left, he went to the mess hall for dinner. I told him I would come too but I wasn't planning on doing that. I wasn't feeling very hungry and I didn't feel like sitting in the overfull mess hall for half an hour. I doubted anyone would miss me there anyway. I didn't have any brothers and sisters and it's not like I could hang out with any of my friends during dinner because we were forced to sit on our own tables. So instead of sitting through that I decided to have dinner later and have a stroll through the woods now. I figured it would do me good. Of course as soon as I started feeling a headache come on, I should have left the woods as soon as possible. I should have seen it coming, but instead I ignored the pain creeping up inside my head. I walked past the trees I had seen so many times before. I started to recognize the marks and features of most of the trees because I spent so much of my time in those woods. But there were still parts I hadn't discovered. I discovered one of those parts that day. It was a clearing in the woods, small but there. It was one of the few places that when you looked up you saw the air and not just overlapping leafs. In the clearing there were a few things that seemed off. The first thing that he saw was a fallen tree trunk which seemed to have been laying down like that for a while. Part had been completely sucked in by the earth while the other half stuck above the ground. That happened, the weird stuff were the still standing trees. The bark of these trees had been completely destroyed and inside the pale trunk there were tiny wounds which seemed to have been caused by thick spikes. I didn't have to wonder for long who made those when I heard a voice behind me.
"This is where Jake used to train when he was here. The wood Nymphs never really liked him for it but it gave him a mean right hook." I heard Sophie say. Given Jake had punched me in the face a few times she didn't have to tell me that. Sometimes my jaw still hurt from his punches.
"I know." I said while rubbing over my jaw. I still remembered how those punches felt. I wondered why Jake chose to start punching trees instead of the dummies at the arena. Knowing Jake he probably thought that those were too weak and that he would need more power to destroy a tree with his fists than he would to destroy a straw dummy. He was probably right about that.
"So what brings you here?" Sophie asked me. Honestly I didn't have a real answer. I didn't even know Jake used to train in the woods while punching trees. I just went where my feet took me, I didn't have some kind of interesting story to tell her but I doubted she was expecting that.
"Just out for a stroll." I said with a shrug. There was nothing more to say about it. The only thing I wondered about was why my feet took me here. Some people believed that the fates decided stuff like that instead of dumb luck like I wanted it to be. But Sophie being here in the place Jake used to train. The chance of those things meeting at one point could hardly be a coincidence.
"Me too I guess." She walked past the damaged trees looking at them, they seemed to bring up memories of our mutual friend. She knew him a lot longer than I did and went through a lot more with him. I still missed him sometimes. He was someone you could count on to know what to do and whenever I had no idea I wished he was there to tell me. But for her it had to be more than that. If they really were such good friends, every part of camp must have reminded her of him. It couldn't have been easy. "You know, I had my first fight here." This place seemed to have more history than I could have imagined. "Jake, a son of Dionysus and me fought a giant scorpion here." A smile appeared on her face. Even though it was a fight, it must have been a good memory. "Jake really didn't like. He was always hitting on everyone and stuff like that. He was also there when we built the cabin. But given he didn't do anything to help but just tried to show off, and because Jake didn't like him, he didn't get written on the front." I wondered where she was going with this, and I wondered where this guy was now. Given how her face turned dark for a second, I figured he wasn't around any more. "Jake and I both got hurt in that fight. For me it was just a scratch, it didn't even leave a scar. Jake on the other hand got spit over with acid. His arm must have been burning horribly but he still looked out for me. He did that for everyone, he would have for Cyrus whether he liked him or not."
"That sounds like Jake all right." I said. It was true, he was always like that and it was something that I respected about him. Not many people could be that selfless. I think that, more than the fact that he beat Hyperion, was why so many people remembered him as a hero.
"You know, that's what makes you two alike." I was surprised for a second. So many people had compared us in so many ways that I started to believe most of it but this one was new to me. I didn't feel like I was that kind of a person. I wasn't that strong. "I know you don't believe me. But just like Jake you seem to just bite through the pain you feel and keep on fighting for the lives of others. I don't understand how you do that. When you are on the brink of death you still worry about someone else." Honestly, I didn't agree with her. She did understand because she did it too whether she saw it or not. After all even now she thought back about how badly Jake was hurt even though he wasn't the only one. I wasn't there of course. But I was sure that Jake felt that his wound was nothing more than a scratch then because all he could see was her wound.
"I don't know really." I said. There was a moment of silence then. Sophie sat down on the fallen trunk and I joined her while trying to think of how to explain. "I guess that Jake had been through enough pain already." I still didn't want to acknowledge that we shared that strength, but I understood how pain worked. "When you've been through enough pain, you either go mad, or you just want to prevent other people from feeling that too. So no matter how much pain you feel, you know you have to ignore it and make sure everyone else is all right because you don't want them to feel like you." I didn't know if that's how Jake would explain it, or if he would even agree with me. But that's how I saw it and that wasn't going to change.
I looked her in the eye after I said that. I didn't know if she knew what I meant or not but it was the best I could explain. Looking at her beautiful face and seeing her look back at me made my heart race. Though I constantly tried to convince myself we were just friends I couldn't fool myself on moments like this. That's when I saw her move closer and I unconsciously did the same. My heart started pounding faster. I didn't even know what was happening or what I was doing. We kept moving closer towards each other and when our lips were almost connecting, both of us simultaneously pulled away. We were further from each other than before now and were both staring out in front of us. It could only be described as an awkward moment.
"I think I should go back to camp." I just nodded not knowing what to say. I still didn't know what just happened and even if I knew my brain wouldn't let me acknowledge that it actually happened. We almost kissed, or at least it seemed like that. Either way, Sophie left me sitting there in my confusion. I wondered if she was feeling the same way I was or not. I had no idea what to think or feel. All I knew was that I was completely confused.
Hours later I still sat there in that clearing. I was sitting at the base of one of the beaten up trees still not sure about what happened. I was still so confused that I didn't feel the headache getting worse and worse. Only when it was nearly tearing me apart I took notice of it. Of course now it was way to late to prevent it. I was way to late to feel him coming. He had been scratching the door ever since I walked into the woods. Now he had been scratching so much without me taking notice of it that I couldn't lock him back up. I could feel him take over, the old familiar sting in my head which made it feel like I was actually splitting into two half's. Like before, when the pain disappeared, he was in control.
"Well that was fun." Colt said still a bit dazed. The head ache was almost completely gone now that there wasn't any struggle any more. "It's good to be back." Colt said with a smile. He stretched his body and felt like he had been sitting down for more than a few hours. It was always like that the first few minutes. It was like you had to get used to your body again which was a very weird feeling to describe. When the muscles in his body fully reacted to his wishes he wanted to leave the boring clearing he was currently in but when he heard footsteps coming closer he decided to stick around. He was hoping it was Sophie Brighton, the daughter of Aphrodite he would have loved to reunite with. Last time there was a lot of interference which kept him from slitting her throat but if she chose to return to this spot there would be no one around. That plus the fact that Angel had collected a lot of new dirt on her it would be a spectacular reunion.
"Hello who's there?" It was a girls voice, just not the one Colt was expected. Honestly he didn't even recognize this one but it definitely wasn't Sophie. When she showed herself Colt recognized her. She was there when Angel went after Ethan Raine. Dannii Parker, a blond girl that Colt honestly didn't know anything about, but that was soon going to change. She started coming closer to him trying to see his face. Just before she was close enough Colt's lips curled into a small smile. She had no idea who's web she had just entered, and she had no idea how hard it was going to be to get out. "Hey, I know you. You're Angel right?"
"Yeah." Colt said. He wondered how much she knew about Angel. He was pretty sure she was already gone when Colt returned so at least she hadn't seen him first hand. Maybe she would have been careful then and Colt definitely didn't want her being careful.
"I'm Dannii, daughter of Hecate. Nice to finally meet you." She said. Colt smiled kindly trying to act as if he was a perfectly sane guy.
"Nice to meet you too." Colt said to her. He figured she had heard Angel's name around camp. A lot of people had given when there was something important to be told, he was usually involved somehow. "So being a daughter of Hecate, can you use magic?" It was something Colt wanted to know. He wanted to know what to expect if he was going to end her existence soon.
"I can use a few spells yeah. Although what that Jaeden guy did to those Dracanae. I've never met a child of Hecate that was that strong. Even the strongest I've met doesn't come close. He must have been practising for a while to be able to pull that stuff off." That was quite a relief. Even Colt had to admit that someone with power like Jaeden Swift would be a tough opponent and honestly Colt wanted the upcoming fight to be quick.
"Still, it must be awesome to have that kind of power." He said. Colt was wondering what he could expect from her. There was quite a gap between what Jaeden could do and what someone who didn't know any magic could do. Where she was in that gap remained to be seen.
"Yeah I guess it is. I still try to train with weapons though." That was a turn Colt liked. He liked weapons so it was a good conversation. That and it could get him a tactical position if he played his cards right.
"What do you use?" Colt wondered what her skills where. Knowing your enemy wasn't just bullshit Greenday made a song about. To Colt, it was a advantage he would never pass on.
"I have a sword, but I usually use a dagger." A dagger, it could be dangerous if she was good with it but she would have to come close. If she had been training it might be a problem. But honestly she didn't look like the kind of girl that spent all her time in the arena practising. When it came to the sword, he wasn't worried. He knew he would be better with his preferred weapon and it didn't even look like she had a sword on her. Of course looks could be deceiving, he knew everything about concealed weapons.
"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" It was a bold move but one that could work out nicely. At first she looked a bit surprised because of his request. It wasn't a shock to Colt but he didn't want to raise any suspicion. He smiled trying to show good intentions and not any sign of what he was planning.
"Sure...I guess." She said hesitantly. Colt didn't understand why she handed him her weapon when she had doubts. When you doubt, no should be your answer. However, Colt was happy that this was her choice. She took the dagger from the small sheath that was hidden under her shirt. Colt didn't spot that before but that didn't matter now.
"It's a good weapon." Colt said while inspecting it. He could see that Luke made it. It was exactly like all the other daggers I had seen him make. So Colt knew exactly what they looked like. It was simple but effective. "This will do fine." He said. Those words seemed to tense her up a bit.
"For what?" As soon as she asked she realized that she made a mistake when she gave Colt her weapon. He slashed at her with the dagger. If she wasn't as quick as she was that one attack would have killed her. But because of the jump she made backwards she survived with just a cut. It was a bleeding wound but not lethal.
"Oh quick on your feet aren't you?" Colt didn't mind that she dodged, he was happy about it actually. He wanted the fight to be quick as he always planned but that blow would have killed her if he hit her, and unlike the fight he wanted the kill to last. It seemed like Dannii wasn't completely unarmed yet though. Out of her pocket she pulled out eye liner which uncapped into a sword. "Eye liner? Seriously? I knew make-up was a girls best defence but this is taking it a little far don't you think?"
"Shut up!" Dannii tried to ignore his taunting obviously. But the way she lunged at him made it clear that she wasn't prepared for this. There was no control in her attack, and not a single bit of intent to kill. If she was sparring with me, that would have been fine. But right now she was in a fight, and Colt was going to try and kill her. She couldn't afford to hold back right now. If she wanted to survive it had to be him or her.
"Is that all the fight you have inside you?" Colt asked her after he parried her attack. If it was he knew he won. Of course she still had a trump card that could become a problem. Maybe he could finish her off before she had the chance to use it. But given how much he enjoyed this, it was doubtful.
"You're a monster!" She yelled out when she attacked him for the second time. Again it was without the aggression that she needed. Still using the dagger he stole from Dannii he blocked her attack, kicked her and swung the dagger leaving a small cut on her cheek. He was getting so excited now, he didn't want this to end. If it was up to him he would keep on going like this until Dannii was so cut up that she couldn't move any more.
"Like I haven't heard that before. Seriously can't you come up with something original? I long for the day that someone actually hurts my feelings." Without saying anything Dannii charged at Colt again. This time he didn't even block. He stepped to the side and kicked her leg making her fall on the ground. He laughed at how weak she turned out to be. It was entertaining enough but it was far from a real challenge. He was considering paying Luke and his babe a visit once he was done with this pathetic daughter of Hecate. She seemed about ready to give up even though she was crawling back up.
"Bind!" She yelled out. At first Colt didn't know what to expect but given there was no fire dancing around he wasn't very worried. Slowly Dannii started to move away. Still looking him in the eyes.
"What the hell is that going to do?" He said laughing. When he tried to follow her however he realized that it wasn't an attack, but it would buy her time. He tried to step forward but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground. He couldn't move his feet an inch. It was bothersome, but he doubted it would last long. "Well that's annoying." Now that Dannii was sure that Colt was stuck she made a run for it. She ran as fast as she could. Each step made the gap between them closer, and each step Colt came closer to his release. Colt was trying to break free from her hold. Her magic obviously didn't work for long as he could already feel his feet being able to move slightly. If this was the best she had it wasn't going to save her. It didn't matter that she was running. He could smell her despair. He would catch her, whether she ran or not.
When he was free, he didn't run after his prey. He walked easily as if he was just on a stroll. He didn't know if she was still running but eventually he knew that he was nearing. She had slowed down, hoping that she had ran far enough. She was completely out of breath and resting against a tree. That's when she heard his voice. It was still far away which was a good thing, but she could clearly hear his words.
"One two I'm coming for you
Three four better run some more
Five six grab a weapon quick
Seven eight you better not wait
Nine ten here I come again"
At that moment Colt used shadow travel to appear in front of her. He slashed at her with the dagger. This time it left a deep, painful wound on her stomach. The pain made her drop on the ground once again, and Colt stood over her looking over his wounded prey. She tried to get away but Colt wouldn't let her. Swinging the dagger at her again leaving a thin, long cut on her back. She screamed in pain, and Colt loved it. He laughed sadistically letting her know how much he was enjoying her pain. She looked at him with terror in her eyes and he looked back at her with a look that seemed to explain that he was only getting started.
"Don't hurt her Colt!" Colt recognized her voice immediately, and immediately his will to kill the daughter of Hecate was gone. He couldn't hurt Dannii Parker with her there. Something simply stopped him from doing it no matter how much he hated it. "You don't have to be like this!" She yelled out.
"I told you Paxton." Colt sounded calm, but not as malicious as he usually did. "I'm not a very nice person." He said. Again she didn't want to believe him, but seeing what she just saw she could hardly deny it.
"If you're that bad, why did you save me?" She asked. It was a question Colt couldn't even answer. He didn't know why he saved her life while if it had been anyone else he would have ended it. There was no explanation for it. "If you're really such an evil person why don't you just kill me now." She opened her arms wide opening up her defence. If he wanted her dead, this was the most perfect moment there would ever be. He wanted to do it, but something held him back, and it wasn't Angel. Eventually he dropped his weapon.
"I can't." For a second Paxton seemed relieved. No matter how brave she looked she was probably afraid, how couldn't she be? There was a killer in front of her after all. Whether she was his target or not. There aren't many who weren't afraid when faced with a person like Colt.
"Why me? Why can you kill her and not me?" She asked him. It was the question he constantly asked himself and when she asked he couldn't think of a different answer.
"I don't know!" He yelled out with rage. "I wish I did because then I could get rid of it. If I could I would kill you, I'd chop you to pieces. But something holding me back and I need it gone!" It drove him mad. It was one of the few things he didn't understand at all. That's when he saw her face turn to shock. "What?" He asked.
"Dannii don't!" Before he could look behind to see what just happened he blacked out. Dannii had gotten up and hit him on the head with a rock. Immediately the lights went out inside Colt's head and Dannii broke out into tears. Minutes ago she thought she was dead. The younger girl that she met once before she saved her life. Sobbing she ended up in her arms letting all the fear flow into her tears, and across her cheeks.