Chapter Twenty-Five

James

Alex falls backwards against the wall, eyes wide, one hand clutching her chest, right over her heart.

“Alex?” I ask hesitantly. “Alex, are you okay?”

Alex’s eyes were wide and she blinks, looking like she was about to have a seizure. Her expression was similar to those that were experiencing a loss. Like she was at a funeral and someone died. But someone did die. As death always comes to us all.
“I’m fine,” Alex says. “I um, I just think that Mutt might be dead.”

“What?” I ask, my eyes widening.

Quinn looks up from where she had been sitting, looking at the floor of the patio at the park. Alex had insisted that we stopped and waited for something, and this seemed to be what she was waiting for. A mother and a young kid walked by, the mother urging her kid to hurry away from us. In their hurry to get away the small girl drops the teddy bear that had loosely been held in her hand.

“I don’t know, I’m just. I’m pretty sure that something very, and I mean very bad just happened to him and Moon.” Alex mutters, reaching out to grab at the wall.

As if she was going to fall and it was the only thing that she could use to support her.

“Alex?” I ask, taking four steps towards her, hands out as if she was a wild animal that would snap at me any second. “Are you sure that it was Mutt?”

Alex swallows, and for a second she actually seems to think, and then she nods, “Yes, I am very much positive. I-I know that he’s dead. I think.”

I frown, trying to sort out her words before I shrug and give up, whatever was said had to make sense.

“Quinn?” I ask. “Are you okay?”

Quinn blinks, her eyes were illuminating blue in the darkening light, she was just acting like it was no big deal. But it was, because when Alex called someone dead she was never wrong. That was the plus side to being the daughter of death it seems.

“I’m fine,” Quinn says, looking at me for a second. “Why? Is there something that hints that I shouldn’t be fine?”

“Um, maybe Mutt’s death?” I offer silently, trying not to sound rude about it.

Alex’s fist clenches, she presses it hard into the wall. I had never actually see her when she was experiencing the death of a person. I figured that she just blinked and it was gone, but this, this seemed like more of a physical pain. Like someone was tearing out her organs or stabbing her with a knife. But this was worse. So much worse.

“Mutt can’t be dead,” Quinn says, her fist clenching around a necklace that had been in her pocket.

“He is,” Alex mutters. “I know he is.

“Alex?” I whisper, tilting my head to the side, hoping to get her to look at me.

She makes a noise, like a wounded animal and then she coughs, falling to her knees as blood pours out of her mouth.

“ALEX!” I shout, dropping down beside her.

Quinn stands immediately and walks towards us.

Alex coughs, going to cover her mouth, staring blindly as it comes away red with blood. She groans, grabbing her side where a knife wound had formed.

“Alex! No, no, no, no! Come on! Don’t leave. You have to stay. You can’t die!” Quinn shouts, grabbing her shoulders. “No. Alex. Please don’t leave me! You’re the daughter of death remember? You conquer death, it does not conquer you!”

I step back, a hand over my mouth as I watch in horror. Alex falls to the ground, her head slamming into the grass. Blood expands over the bright green, painting it with her blood.

“This is how Mutt dies?” Alex mutters. “I knew he would get me killed.” Her eyes close slightly, and her breathing stops.

“ALEX!!” Quinn shouts.

I couldn’t say anything, I just watched in silence, collapsing onto my knees on the ground beside Quinn.

“Alex?” Quinn says quietly.

I place my arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards me as she starts to sob.

Alex’s body shimmers, turning to dust, and then it was gone. Leaving nothing behind. She was just gone, as if she had never existed in the first place, and as if she never would again. Alexandria Drevak, the only living daughter of death, was now gone.

“Has that ever happened before?” I ask, even though I knew the answer to that.

Quinn gives me a look and stands up, “They didn’t die. This is just some really stupid, and not funny trick that our enemies have used to try and ruin us. It won’t work, it can’t work.”

“Are you sure?” I ask softly. “Because Alex seems pretty dead to me you know?”

Quinn turns and glares at me, “If she was dead her body would be here correct?”

“I’d assume so, but then again she’s dead right now and her body’s not here,” I say, backing away.

“Or maybe she’s not dead,” Quinn says. “Maybe they’re both alive.”

“Listen, I understand how desperately you want to believe that. Ok? I do. I really, really do. But it’s not true. You have to realize that,” I say. “They’re dead. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Quinn freezes, “That’s where you're wrong. If they are dead I am going to do everything I can about it.”

“Like what Quinn?” I ask, throwing up my hands. “You’re not a god. You’re just a demigod. You have nothing. You are nothing. You have to realize that one day. You can’t make miracles. How can you save someone when you can’t even save yourself?”

Quinn smiles slightly, as if I had just challenged her to get herself killed. “We’ll see about that. But Mutt can’t be dead. If Mutt’s not dead that means Alex isn’t dead. You go back to town and let the others know. I’ll take care of this.”

I shake my head, it was like she didn’t hear anything that I said. She just believed in something so much that she made it true, despite the fact that it wasn’t true at all. I shake my head at her, kind of disappointed in the fact that she wasn’t accepting the obvious truth.

“Quinn, you can’t fix this. Not this time,” I say.

Quinn turns a glare at me, her eyes igniting with blue fire. “Wrong. I can fix this, I know I can.”

“How?!” I ask, throwing my hands into the air. Again. “How can you possibly fix this?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Quinn says. “You just go back to town and get a few more people, and then go get Callie and them.”

I hesitate, wondering if there was really any point in objecting.

“There’s not,” Quinn adds. “It’s all over your face.”

“What are you doing to do?” I ask.

“Do what I do best,” Quinn says with a huge grin. “Screw something up enough that it gets put back to normal.”

“That’s it?” I ask. “That’s your whole plan?”

“Pretty much yeah,” Quinn nods.

“That is a terrible plan!” I shout.

“Do you have a better one?!” Quinn snaps.

“No, but nothing is better than that!” I yell.

“You want me to walk into death with no plan!” Quinn shouts. “What kind of lunatic do you take me for?!”

“Who said anything about walking straight towards death?!” I snap.

“We’re demigods! When do we not walk straight into death?!” Quinn snaps back.

“Why are we yelling?!” I ask-yell.

“Because of your ridiculous plan!” Quinn snaps.

“Oh right,” I say. “Wait what? My ridiculous plan?!”

“I at least had a plan!” Quinn whisper yells as someone walks by.

“YOU CALL THAT A PLAN!?” I yell.

“Yeah,” Quinn says, talking normally. “What would you call it?”

“Suicide!” I yell, but in a slightly less loud voice.

“Well when you put it like that it sounds stupid!” Quinn hisses.

“Maybe because it is stupid!” I say.

“Are you saying that I’m stupid?” Quinn asks.

“What? No, of course not,” I say.

“Well then we have an agreement,” Quinn says with a grin as she takes a step back. And then she was gone.

“Vapor travel, great,” I mutter to myself. “Why does she always do that?!”

“Maybe to keep you from being able to follow her,” a new voice says, a very angry voice.

“Lord Zeus,” I say, without turning around.

“Hello son,” Zeus says.

“I am not your son,” I snarl, finally turning around. “And you were never my father.”

“Of course I am, boy,” Zeus says. “I sent Mutt into Tartarus to protect you, and all the other demigods. His insanity, when he finally cracks, he’d go insane. He wouldn’t remember anyone or anything. He’ll just want revenge. On what? Anything. He’ll go on a killing spree, and better he does that in Tartarus than here.”