Chapter Forty-Three

MOON

“You’re just mad that you didn’t think of it first,” Alex interrupts.

“Yeah a little,” Quinn admits, rolling her eyes. “That’s totally my problem right now.”

It was times like this where I couldn’t figure out if she was being sarcastic or genuine, most of the time I just assumed that it was sarcasm, hoping that I was correct.

“Well you wanna know what I’m pissed about?” I ask them both.

They share a look, and I could tell that neither of them wanted to know. But I didn’t want to be here, so it was only fair that they suffered with me.

“I’m pissed off that you forced me onto that plane! And then you made me jump out of it! Into the middle of this forest, which is located in the middle of nowhere!” I rant.

“Huh,” Quinn says, turning to Alex. “Weird. I thought that she’d be mad about the blindfold.”

“Or the fact that we tied her up,” Alex adds.

“She should’ve felt right at home falling through the air like Zeus’s dirty underpants,” Quinn adds.

“SHE IS STANDING RIGHT HERE AND EW!” I shout at them.

“Shh!!!” Alex and Quinn hiss simultaneously.

But it seemed to be too late for whatever they wanted to warn me against, because on that very moment the forest became silent. Not even a bird, a cricket, absolutely nothing.

“We’re screwed,” Quinn whispers.

Before I could ask what she meant by that about a dozen ropes drop from the trees. Then a bunch of girls slid down the ropes, dropping to the ground around us.

“What the heck are you guys doing here?” One of the girls demand.

She had shoulder length curly brown hair and bright green eyes. She was glaring at Alex and Quinn.

“Wow Ephiny, that’s not that much of a welcome you know,” Quinn says, rolling her eyes.

“Maybe you should take the hint!” Another girl snaps.

Alex presses a hand to her heart, “That was rude.”

“You’re trespassing!” Ephiny snaps.

“I don’t see a sign,” Quinn says, looking around like she was confused.

“I thought we were family!” Alex says sarcastically at the same time.

Ephiny looks a bit taken aback by the double assault, but she doesn’t say or do anything else.

“Besides, wouldn’t you think that I have much more right to be here than you do?” Alex asks, touching her chin with her index finger like she was thinking.

“No,” a new girl snarls. “Certainly not with an outsider as it were!”

The girl that had spoken had short black hair, that looked like it had been cut by a five year old, but someone was still stylish. Her eyes were grey, and they held silver and green pieces and seemed to swim around.

“Teralee,” I whisper, recognizing her from Derek’s descriptions.

She looks at me funny, glaring but at the same time curious. It was an odd expression, I didn’t think that someone would be able to make it.

“How do you know me?” She asks, looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Oh, nothing,” I say hurriedly, not knowing if I was allowed to mention her brother. “A friend of mine mentioned you. You met him at some party. You look a lot alike. Could’ve sworn you guys were related, but that’s just hilarious.”

Her eyes widen slightly, and my guess is that she finally got the hidden message that I was trying to convey. After a heartbeat when I thought we were all going to be in deep trouble she turns and places a hand on Ephiny’s shoulder.

“We must take them to the Queen,” Teralee states.

Ephiny looks at her, slightly confused, before nodding.

“Come on then,” Ephiny states.

“Should we be worried about the-” a new girl starts but an elbow in the ribs by the girl beside her cuts her off.

“The?” Alex prompts.

“Um,” the girl that spoke said. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Centaurs,” Quinn says. “Am I right?”

“Too much for you own good,” Ephiny mumbles under her breath.

“Aww thanks,” Quinn says. “So long as I help you as well!”

“You greatly annoy me,” Ephiny hisses.

“Guys!” The same girl shouts. “CENTAURS!”

“Right we should go,” Teralee adds.

“NO I MEAN CENTAURS!” The girl shouts, pointing through the trees where a bunch of centaurs where galloping towards us.

“Oooh,” Quinn says. “You meant like right there.”

“Time to go!” Alex adds, grabbing my arm and shoving me forward.

I stumble lightly, before finding my footing. And then we were running, at least, I thought that we were running. My feet barely hit the ground, and the air whooshed past me.

“HOLY HADES!” An Amazon yells, I didn’t know who. “LOOK AT HER!”

It takes me a second and a quick survey to see her pointing at me to figure out she meant me. I frown, and that’s when I realize, the reason it didn’t seem like I was running was because I wasn’t. My feet weren’t pressing against the floor with every step, because I wasn’t stepping. Wasn’t running.

I was flying.

The second I made the realization however, I was falling. I give a strangled cry and fall through the dense trees. Just as I was about to land on a huge boulder, and most likely crack my head open a wave of water rushes out and up to meet me.

“You okay?” Quinn asks, pausing to help me up.

“Yeah, just, never,” I say, out of breath because my adrenaline rush was wearing off.

“You know,” Alex says appearing behind me. “Normally the rule of flying is to remain in the air.”

“And the rule of dying is to remain in the grave!” I snap. “You couldn’t do that so why should I do anything you couldn’t handle?”

Alex’s eyes widen, just a fraction for less than a second. And that’s when I realize that I had said something I had obtained from Clato’s memories and not my own. But before anyone could say anything Quinn was pushing us forward.

“Get going!” She mutters. “Argue later.”

“Or we could die now and argue later?” Alex offers, “Then Moon would be able to see how boring it is to be dead.”

“So long as it gets me away from you I’d be willing to try anything and everything,” I retort.

“Or run now and argue now,” Quinn says shaking her head at the both of us.

“Where are we going anyway?” I demand.

“Amazon territory,” Quinn answers, probably to save her from the headache if Alex had answered.

“Why?” I ask.

“Cause the centaurs won’t cross into it!” Alex snaps.

“Which is great and all, but you need to get your eyes checked,” I say.

“What?” She demands, practically snarling.

“No one is chasing us,” I say. “They didn’t even try.”

Quinn and Alex share a look.

“Bad?” Quinn asks.

“Bad,” Alex repeats.

“TRAP!” I shout, before either of them have a chance too. “STOP IT’S A TRAP!”

None of the Amazons listen to me, they keep running.

“HALT!” Alex yells.

Without question ever Amazon in the forest stop and turn to stare at Alex.

“I wasn’t sure that was actually going to work,” Alex says simply, with a shrug. “Glad it did, now we can get on to business.”

“Why have you ordered us to stop?” someone demands.

“Trap,” Alex says pointing at me. “She said trap it’s a trap.”

“SHE LIES!” The same person says, jumping forward. “LIAR!”

In a blur of movement the Amazon that had shouted that lunges at me, drawing a dagger as she goes. I yelp, and back into a tree. The knife comes down at me in a slow arch.

I turn my head to the side and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the blow to land. Except it never does. I hear the squish as the blade enters flesh and a small gasp of surprise which was followed by a cry of surprise. But the pain never came. Then there was a thump, like someone was hitting the ground.

Slowly I peel my eyes open, a very surprised Amazon stood in front of me. All around us the Amazon’s look horrified. I look at Quinn, trying to see what was going on, but her eyes were on the ground, by my feet.

Following her gaze I see red-golden long hair and black attire. Worn by only one person I knew. Alex. I look around, I see another Amazon laying on the floor too, coughing up blood. Quinn steps forward and places a hand on Alex’s shoulder.

The next thing I knew Alex disappeared, she then went over to the other Amazon that was on the ground and did the same thing. Over and over again Quinn made Amazon after Amazon disappear. Until I was all that was left.

“What?” I ask.

“Mist travel,” Quinn answers, holding out her arm. “Come on. Time to go to the Amazon Camp.”

As we disappear I hear a cry of outrage from someone, or something.

۝

“Why did the other Amazon drop at the same time as Alex?” I ask Quinn.

We had made it back to the Amazon camp, and we were being told to wait until the queen could come see us.

“Her name was Emtalia,” Quinn starts. “As for the other thing, Amazon’s participate in this binding ritual. Where you are bound to another Amazon. It is meant to give you strength in battle, as well as a greater chance to live. When two Amazons are bonded together they experience everything their partner does. Including wounds. However, it is known to make two highly skilled Amazon’s invisible, as well as protect new recruits.”

“So Alex and Emiana-” I start.

“Emtalia,” Quinn corrects me.

“Emteli-” I try again.

“Talia. Emtalia,” Quinn repeats slower.

“Emtalia, her and Alex, they’re bonded aren’t they?” I ask.

“Yes,” Quinn says.

“So when one of them gets hurt the other one does too? But what happens if they both die?” I ask.

Quinn shrugs, “What happens if they both live?”

“They’d be the luckiest people on earth,” I mumble under my breath.

I couldn’t really hear it, but I could’ve sworn that I had heard Quinn say, ‘They already are.’ But it could’ve been my imagination.

“So who’s the queen?” I ask, trying to change the topic.

There was a chuckle from the doorway, “Me.”

I look up and see, “Alex?” I ask.

“No,” Not Alex says. “I am her older sister, Earleen.”

She pronounced it like ‘Ear-lean’ I would have laughed if she wasn’t carrying a bunch of weapons.

“You look just like her,” I say, with wide eyes.

“Quinnavev,” Earleen says. “You know better than to bring an outsider here.”

“Quinnavev?”I repeat, Quinn gives me a glare.

“She just got out of Tartarus, and the love of her life is most likely dead because he sacrificed himself for her,” Quinnavev snarls at Earleen. “I can do whatever I wish.”

Earleen looks surprised for a moment, but then the shock was gone and she composes herself.

“Very well,” she says, standing tall. “She can stay.”

“How’s Alex?” I ask, desperate to know if she was alright.

I didn’t like her, but now I respected her. After all, she had jumped in front of a knife for me. Earleen gives me a look, like she could tell what I was thinking.

“That’s actually why I’m here. She’s requesting to speak with the both of you,” Earleen says. “I’m afraid the dagger that Kella used was poisonous, unable to be healed by anything under or above the stars.”

“Lead the way,” I say immediately.

Earleen gives me a strange look, like she didn’t trust me or something before leading the way. I just assumed that it was because her sister had jumped in front of me and now was dying.

We walk through camp, and the Amazons all stop and turn, bowing down in respect of Earleen. Standing the second she passes them. We got to another tent, and I assumed that it was the medbay, but I wasn’t really positive about that.

Not until the flap was open revealing a few rows of bed, all empty except for one. Alex was laying on her back, pale and shivering, but covered in sweat at the same time. Her eyes open slowly, almost like it was painful to force them open.

“Hey,” she whispers, her voice hoarse and scratchy. “How you guys doing?”

“Better than you,” Quinn says sharply.

Earning a glare from Earleen, to which Quinn replies with a shrug, like it wasn’t her problem.

“Thanks,” Alex says, laughing lightly. Or trying to, it ends with a coughing fit. “Everyone around here has been lying to me. I’m a daughter of death, I know I’m about to die. You don’t need to sugar coat it.”

“Why did you save me?” I ask, needing to know. “You don’t even like me! Why would you die for me?”

Alex smiles at me lightly, at least I thought she did. Her eyes close a second later.

“Alex?” I whisper.

Her eyes open, this time I see the pain behind them before she can fight it off. I swallow, knowing that she was in pain and that I should let her die peacefully. But I still had to know. I didn’t know what to do. Luckily Alex chose for me.

“He’s not dead,” Alex whispers. “And you.” she groans. “You’re destiny has just… Just begun. You… Had to live. Future depends on it.”

“What?” I ask.

“Love will save you both,” she says, her eyes dropping again.

“Let’s go,” Earleen says. “Let her go.”

“Wait,” Alex hisses, not opening her eyes. “Moon. Your destiny starts now. I want you to. Take. Take my Right of Caste.”

Earleen gasps, her hands covering her mouth, Quinn’s eyes widen.

“Alex-” Quinn starts.

“Please!” Alex exclaims, coughing afterwards, she forces her eyes open again. Struggling to sit up she stares at me.

“Lay down! You’re hurting yourself!” Earleen cries.

“Please,” Alex whispers, falling back.

Her voice was soft, broken. Like there was nothing left to fight for.

“Yes,” I say. “Yes, I’ll take your right of caste.”

Alex smiles, “Thank you.” Then she laughs lightly. “Guess you get your wish. This time I’ll stay dead.”

She closes her eyes, her body goes still. She takes a breath for the last time. Finally, Alexandria Drevak was free.

۝

Atropos

“Sisters, it is time,” I say, rising.

Lachesis and Clotho rise with me.

“Time?” Lachesis asks.

“She has died,” Clotho states.

“Now we must go get Alexandria’s soul,” I add. “Then she may take her rightful place beside you until the time comes for her sisters to join her.”

“Let us go now,” Lachesis says. “We must get her before she boards the boat.”

“You two go,” I say. “I am fading I shall be nothing more than a dead weight by the time you arrive.”

Clotho and Lachesis look at me.

“Be free my sister,” Clotho whispers to me.

“Speak through the stars,” Lachesis adds.

I nod. Then they were gone.

“Dear Alexandria,” I say to the stars. “This message will come to you when you need it to. For the stars listen and they deliver. You were made for greatness. An Angel of Death. More so than I have ever been. You will be brilliant, and kind, caring. Emotions I never possessed. This life… It will try to take the life that you lived away from you. Do not let it. Your friends will need you once again.”

And then the stars took me.