by Kristie Cook
“Who are you and what do you want?” Skylar huffed. While her fist tightly pressed into a ball, anger and fear boiled inside her.
“You really don’t know, do you?” The stranger circled Skylar, examining her from head to toe. “You can call me Alena. You don’t look like how I’ve imagined you would look at all. Do you know how difficult it was to track you down?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t care. Where are Mason and Nick? What have you done with them?” Skylar’s tone was sassy and demanding. Hiding her trepidation, she spoke loudly and forcibly.
Alena laughed, sinisterly. “You thought it was going to be that easy? Just show up and take them home with you? It’s been several weeks since you’ve heard from Mason, right? That’s how long it took me to find you, especially since they wouldn’t cooperate. After I found his cell phone, which he tried to break without me knowing, well the rest is history. And now you’re here. It’s a good thing you care about him, or else this plan wouldn’t have worked.”
“You’ve held them prisoner that long?” Skylar glared at Alena.
“Relax. I gave them some food … enough.”
“What do you want from me? I have nothing to give you.”
“Oh, but that is where you are wrong. Don’t you want to see your friends, or shall we talk all day?” she asked with an evil smirk, turning her back on Skylar.
Alena waved her hand in a circular motion and mumbled a few words. Mason, Nick, Everett, and Amanda suddenly appeared in front of her, as if a layer of clouds evaporated, allowing a clear view. She had held them prisoner behind some kind of shield, and whatever it was, it was still there. They were all sitting closely together on one huge boulder. When they saw Skylar, their eyes lit up with hope, except for Mason’s.
“Mason,” Skylar called hesitantly and headed toward them cautiously. She kept one eye on Alena and the other eye on her friends, wondering why Mason didn’t look happy to see her. Surprisingly, the Oracle stepped in front of her, making her halt. She had been hiding behind the tree so Skylar hadn’t noticed her until now. Now she knew the reason why Alena was protecting the tree when she first got there.
“I told you to kill her,” the Oracle said with anger in her tone, pointing her cane at Skylar. “Now she will doom us all.”
Clenching his jaw, Mason’s fists were tightly gripped as he shuddered in anger. He pounded the shield with his fist. “Don’t touch her or I’ll kill you myself.” The palm of his hand fizzled with electrical silver light, sparkling like lightning, but it was dim. It crackled for a few seconds before the sparks went dead.
Recalling Mason’s words, Skylar remembered that their powers were limited there. It was no wonder he couldn’t use them to escape. Stuck there, feeling helpless, he never gave Alena the information she wanted, just so he could keep Skylar safe. She was grateful and touched that he thought of her over his family’s safety.
The Oracle set her eyes on Mason, then to Skylar, and wobbled backward in a cowardly manner.
“Now, now,” Alena mocked. “You already know your powers are limited here. It’s one of the reasons why I tricked you to come. At Olympus, we are on equal ground. You can thank Zeus. He was always afraid someone would try to overthrow him. How smart he was. But too bad for his descendants.”
“What do you mean ‘she will doom us all’?” Everett demanded to know, now standing beside Mason.
“So it really wasn’t that you were protecting her out of some sick obligation,” Alena said. “You really didn’t know. Mason kept this secret from all of you. He has chosen her over his own kind. Pity, pity, pity. Doesn’t matter, you’re all dead after I’m done with you.”
Everett gripped Mason by his shirt. “I knew it. What are you hiding? We’ve been locked up here because of her? You’ve chosen a stranger over your own family?”
Mason didn’t even fight back. He just let Everett vent his feelings.
“Stop it!” Amanda yelled. “Can’t you see what she’s doing? She’s making us go against each other. Let Mason go.”
Nick looked like he was ready to take action if Everett’s anger grew, but he backed down when Everett released Mason with a shove.
“What do you want?” Mason asked Alena. “Why go all this trouble to bring Skylar here? We at least deserve an answer if you’re going to kill us.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to enjoy watching Skylar kill you.”
Skylar flashed her eyes on Alena, then to her friends. She backed away, shaking her head. Never would she ever hurt them. She had to run, but where?
“Face your destiny, my cousin. We’ve been waiting for you to take revenge upon the gods’ children.” Alena smiled cunningly.
“I don’t know who you are, and I’m not your cousin. I’ll never do it.” Skylar ran. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Mason slam into the invisible shield, trying to break through. When that didn’t work, he was cursing, trying to shoot lighting from his hands, but to no avail. His beautiful eyes sparked silver, but that too, quickly faded. Hopelessly, he leaned against the shield along with the rest of his family, watching Skylar run for her life.
Breathing heavily, Skylar hid behind the statue of Poseidon, contemplating her next move.
“Skylar, I just need a little bit of your blood, and then you’ll be free to go.”
“Why do you need my blood?” Skylar yelled, running next to the statue of Hera, trying to keep track of Alena by the sound of her voice.
“Oh, don’t play dumb.”
Skylar turned to her right, but before she could go to the next statue, Alena was right in front of her.
“I know how to play dumb, too.”
Stunned by her presence, Skylar screamed and ran. She was almost positive she knew where Alena was positioned when she heard her voice, but she guessed she’d underestimated her speed.
“I’m tired of playing games.” Alena yanked Skylar’s hair and dragged her in front of her friends. “Let me tell you a story about how this war began. Hades had predicted his brothers would massively reproduce to preserve their kind, while he remained in Hell to rot. Intelligent and cunning as he was, he jumped at the game. He knew that one day they would die as religion progressed, so Medusa and Hades created their own blood line, just before, you know, she got her head chopped off. I’m one of their descendants, and so is Skylar.”
Glancing at their shocked expressions, she continued with a smirk. “That’s right. Medusa and Hades produced offspring, creating evil blood, long before Zeus and Poseidon started theirs, and you know what’s special about Skylar? Why she should be feared? When she kills a being, its special power transfers to her. Can you imagine if she was vengeful and decided to kill just to suck up your powers? There are others like her out there … somewhere. They may not even know what they are, just like Skylar. She just happened to be the first one I found.”
Blood drained out of Skylar. Her pale face expressed no emotions. Having some kind of evil blood was bad enough, but knowing she was one of the descendants of Hades and Medusa was unbearable. Those two were the most hated of their kind. Now she understood how she was able to heal so fast. Mason had told her Remus was a fast healer. When she killed him, unknowingly, she swallowed his blood and took his power of healing. Remus even told her that when he attacked her.
“That’s right,” she continued. “Skylar has their blood. You know what that means, don’t ya? One droplet of her blood on your skin, or the skin of any of the gods’ children, will turn them into stone.”
“I told you to kill her,” the Oracle shouted again. “Just kill her.”
“Shut up, you old hag,” Everett yelled. “I’m getting really tired of you. You’re supposed to be all knowing. Why didn’t you know any of this?”
“It doesn’t work that way. There is only one of me. My other two sisters are dead. We were all knowing and strong once, when we worked together as a team.” The Oracle sheepishly, sadly backed away.
“Why don’t you kill them yourself? Don’t you have the same blood?” Skylar asked, testing her.
“I can’t.” She looked embarrassed at first, but then changed her expression to anger. “We do have the same blood, except mine is different. Over time, depending on the family line, our abilities and the potency of the blood changes. However, your family bloodline is strong. That means that in every generation in your family line, one of the parents had the HM blood—Hades-Medusa blood.”
“Why do you want to kill them? They haven’t done anything to you.”
“It was my mother’s wish. She was the same as me, but one of the gods’ children killed her.”
“We didn’t do anything. We didn’t kill anyone,” Amanda shouted. “We keep to ourselves. We don’t want any trouble. Let us go. We won’t hurt you.”
“I know you can’t hurt me, Amanda, just like Everett. But Nick and Mason, on the other hand, can. Their blood is stronger.”
“Tell her, Nick. Tell her, Mason. Tell her you won’t hurt her,” Amanda pleaded desperately.
“I won’t hurt you,” Nick started to say. “I’ll just annihilate your face and crush your body beyond anything you can imagine. Zap you with my volts, fry you from head to toe, and feed you to your ugly pets.”
Alena hissed like an untamed wild animal and jerked back, projecting eyes of evil. “After I kill all of you, I’m going to kill the others. There are more of you out there, hiding. We’re sending the vultures after them until every one of you is dead.”
“So you are the one who sent the vultures?” Amanda blared with fury in her eyes.
Alena laughed aloud. “You think I sent them? You have no idea. You hide yourselves in a little town, oblivious to the war around you. Now I’ve enlightened you. I take my orders from someone else. You really need to open your eyes.”
Alena was distracted by the conversation. Too busy being proud to have the upper hand, she didn’t realize Skylar was eyeing her dagger. Swiftly, Skylar twisted her body as pain jolted from the roots of her hair. She positioned herself in front of Alena and snatched the dagger. Skylar nicked Alena across the arm just before Alena gripped her wrist, causing Skylar to drop the dagger. Blood trickled down Alena’s wounded arm as she reached to retrieve it.
“Too bad I can’t kill you with my blood,” Alena sneered.
Skylar didn’t know where her courage came from, but she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. All that was on her mind was that she needed to help her friends, and at this point, she was their only hope. Her strength and speed were not comparable to Alena’s, but it didn’t matter because she knew if there was a will, there was a way.
Tangoing back and forth, Alena banged Skylar into the tree. Pain rang in her head, vibrating to the rest of her body, making her see double. She could see Mason’s worried face, and somehow that gave her strength. Remembering a move from a self-defense class, she kneed Alena in the stomach. Alena curled inward as she cursed and lost her grip. Without anything to defend herself with, Skylar ran, but Alena was faster.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Alena placed herself in front of Skylar, making her gasp sharply. “You think you can outrun me?”
“You know what your problem is?” Skylar retorted. “You talk too much.” Just the way she had been taught, Skylar swiped her right leg across the ground to knock Alena down, but it didn’t happen. Alena jumped and let Skylar have it with her boot, contacting her face. Skylar flew back and whacked her body against the tree. Blood trickled down her nose and the left side of her temple, dotting some of it on her shirt.
“How convenient. All I wanted was a few drops of your blood. We didn’t have to go through all this trouble.” Alena leaned down to Skylar, who looked unconscious. With her dagger, Alena cautiously swiped blood from her temple. “There. That is all I need to eliminate your friends. I said you would be the one to kill them.”
Pain shot through Skylar’s nose, her head, and down to her feet. Her skull felt like it was split into two. Drained and out of it, she sat still and closed her eyes. It was all she could do at that moment. Her thoughts were reeling, trying to figure out what to do and how to save her friends.
With her eyes barely open, Skylar watched, anticipating Alena’s next move. While Alena’s back was to her, Skylar attacked her from behind, clasping her arm round Alena’s neck.
“Release the barrier. You do know what happens when you touch my blood, don’t you? Would you like to find out?” Though she had stopped bleeding and had wiped the blood away as much as she could, Alena didn’t know that. As far as she knew, Skylar was still bleeding, and a drop of her blood would kill Alena.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” Alena said through gritted teeth. “But you’ll have to ask the Oracle. This was her idea.”
All eyes flashed to the Oracle, who was now close to the tree, her home. The Oracle extended her cane in defense, mumbled a few words, releasing the shield, and vanished with a flash.
Skylar was unaware her grip on Alena had loosened. Alena took that moment of weakness, jabbed Skylar in the gut with her elbow, and flipped her over. “Your strength is no match for me. You’re so lucky I was told to keep you alive.” Then she fled.
TWENTY-NINE
The barrier had been broken. Mason rushed to Skylar, helping her up, careful not to touch a drop of her blood. As expected, her wounds had already started to heal.
Standing before Mason’s family, Skylar confessed the events of the dreadful night when Remus had died. After she told her side of the story, Everett and Amanda seemed forgiving, but they weren’t any more welcoming than before. They kept their distance from her as if she had the plague. She didn’t blame them though. One touch of her blood could kill them. The only reason they even tolerated her was for Mason’s sake. Thankfully, Nick was the same as always—carefree and friendly.
From what Skylar could recall, there was never a real brotherly bond or affection toward Remus. Regardless, living with Remus and knowing he was their half-brother must have meant something. Though she knew it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t help the feeling of guilt consuming her soul, and she was unable to look them in the eye when she spoke. She had taken a life—their brother’s life. Though it was an accident and Remus did wrong by her, she could never forgive herself.
From what they gathered from Skylar’s story, Remus died from swallowing Skylar’s blood, not by contacting it, but Alena thought otherwise. From Skylar’s account of the events and from the information relayed by Alena—if she was telling the truth—they concluded that swallowing Remus’s blood had caused her to absorb his power of healing. It triggered her body to be more god-like so she was able to heal faster, unlike before; however, that was all. She didn’t move like them or have their strength and speed. The biggest question remaining was how the Oracle was involved. Unable to find her, they decided to head back home.
Finding their way back to the campsite was not a problem, but they were faced with how to get back down from the mountain, until Skylar reminded them, she had a car. She just had to remember where she had parked it. Though there was light on Olympus, making it look like it was daytime, it was still the middle of the night in the real world.
Without a flashlight, it was difficult to see. Suddenly light appeared. Nick and Mason’s bodies glowed, making them appear as if they were the center of the sun, but not as bright. Awestruck, Skylar dropped her jaw. It was the first time she had witnessed such a phenomenon. Mesmerized by this wonder, she tried hard not to stare, and looked elsewhere.
“Oh, God. Must you shine so brightly, Rudolph?” Everett mocked, covering his eyes with his hands from the intensity of the light.
“Are you color blind? Do you see red on my nose?” Nick snorted.
“I’ll give you a red nose.” Everett wrapped his arm around Nick’s neck and ruffled his hair. Everett jumped a few feet when sparkling lights zapped out of Nick’s fingers, shocking him on purpose.
“Show off,” Everett murmured
under his breath, rubbing his arm.
“Only when we don’t have a flashlight,” Mason said to Skylar, ignoring Everett and Nick.
“I see why,” she said, smiling. “Are you as hot as you look?” She rethought her question, blushing. “I meant … .”
Mason chuckled. “Awesomely hot.” He winked. “I know what you meant.”
Nick jumped in the conversation. “I’m the hot one. Hotter than Mace.”
“Walking flashlights don’t talk,” Amanda teased. “You should get one, Skylar. You’ll never get lost. It follows you wherever you go.”
“Shut up,” Nick laughed. “You’re just jealous.”
“What? That I’m not a torch like you?”
“No, that you can’t light up someone’s life like I can.”
“Ouch.” Mason nudged Nick. “Little harsh there.”
Amanda scoffed. “Shut up, both of you, and find Skylar’s car.”
Skylar remembered she had placed Alena’s instructions in the back pocket of her jeans. “Here.” She handed a piece of paper to Mason, and backtracking, they soon found her car. Mason offered to drive, and two hours later, they were at Nick’s house.
Instead of driving back to her college dorm in the middle of the night, Mason convinced Skylar to spend the night and head back to school in the morning. Exhausted, she agreed, knowing she couldn’t make the trip in her condition, and her body ached from fist fighting with Alena. She was glad the self-defense courses had come in handy. It was too bad she couldn’t tell her mom about it.
Mason excused himself from his room so Skylar could take a shower. He placed a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt on his bed for her to change into, while he took her clothes to the laundry room to be washed.
Standing under the hot running water, she wished she could wash away her poisoned blood too. Now that she could breathe easy again, the relief of everyone making it out of there alive poured through her. She cried so hard, she gasped to take in air. Her tears fell, blending with the water droplets. Through her sobbing, she let out all her worries, frustrations, and the one question she knew had no answer … why? Why did it have to be her?
