(A/N: Warning- This chapter is so cheesy. I know it is, I tried to make it serious and emotional, but it just came out like this. So whatever, tell me how I could have fixed it if you have any ideas.)
Leah realized that she had to go back sometime, so she started walking back through the forest. She stopped when she saw a red pool at the base of a tree. She traced the mark up the tree with her eyes. Up a few yards was an unnatural looking mass of vines.
A frown stamped itself across her face when she saw a boot hanging out of the bottom. Leah quickly scaled the tree and cut through some of the vines. The tendrils fell apart and she nearly fell back down the tree with shock.
It was Eric. He was covered in blood, still wet and oozing from a gash above his eyebrow. She quickly cut away the rest of the vines and he dropped like a rock. Hitting the ground with a thud, but still didn't wake up. In fact, no sound left him. Leah slid down the tree.
He was covered in blood and it was still pouring from a deep cut in his neck. 'Why is he here? Who put him here? Is this what punishment is like at this place?' Leah frantically thought.
The worst part of all is that he had stopped breathing and when she placed a hand to his chest she felt no heartbeat. She didn't know what to do. She just stared at his motionless, bloody body in horror. Leah looked up when she heard soft footsteps approaching.
A young stag, whose antlers were merely nubs, approached. He walked over and lay next to Eric, facing Leah. The stag blew a breath into Leah's face and she knew what she was supposed to do. Not how or why, but none the less she knew. She looked sadly into the stag's big eyes.
She wrapped her right arm around the creature's neck and placed her left hand on Eric's chest. A silver shimmer passed over her skin from her heart, down her arms and into the stag and the boy. The creature went limp against Leah and an agonizing scream was ripped from deep inside her.
Leah and Eric started to glow, him trophy gold and her like concentrated starlight.
What seemed like an eternity later, her screaming stopped and she collapsed on top of Eric. It took all of her strength to turn her head to look at his face.
Then she heard the most beautiful sound in the world; the first beat of his heart. A second later, he breathed in. Still unconscious, but alive. Leah wasn't sure how she had traded his life for the stags, but she had. Blackness claimed her and she fell unconscious, unaware of the pair of eyes observing her.
Nico stood a ways off, he had seen what had happened, and it startled him. He had seen it; Eric had been dead, on the ferry to the underworld. Then Leah had taken the life of the stag and ripped Eric back. No one should have that power, it was dangerous.