by Candy Crum
“There is a lot to catch up on,” Cass said. “I’m not even sure what the hell is going on at this point. Are you hurt?”
“No,” Darius said. “I’m fine. Physically, anyway.”
“Good. We’re going to need all the help we can get. If you can swim come and help me save people. That bridge is about to go and…”
Cass wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before the ground began to shake again as the terrible sound of breaking concrete and grinding steel sounded out. Screams filled the air again as the bridge fell straight down, the pressure from the collision with the water busting the concrete into smaller pieces and allowing the cars to roll into the water.
“We have to go!” Jess shouted.
Darius climbed out of the car and they ran as hard as they could toward the water. Cass was the first one in. Aside from showering, he hadn’t been in the water since the night he’d been attacked in the pool. The thought only briefly filled his mind before he pushed it away, diving deeper. Once he was submerged, he took the risk of doing as he’d done before.
He inhaled.
Cass coughed once before inhaling again. Just as he’d been able to do in the pool, he was able to filter the water, though he wasn’t certain how much he would be able to do so with all the debris in the river. He decided that he would still hold his breath as long as possible to decrease the risk of hurting himself.
Cass swam hard, the current unable to faze him in the least. He was far quicker than he ever remembered. The water seemed to help him propel himself forward with every stroke and every kick.
There was a car that appeared to have sank to the bottom within just a few moments of him arriving. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. The power locks were stuck and the family inside was trapped. Darius pushed Cass aside before punching the window hard. It was no match for his strength and gave easily, the glass washing downstream. Cass climbed in and began freeing the people inside. Darius did his best to pull two at a time to the surface. People from the cars that had been stuck on the interstate had come to the rescue. They saved people swimming to the edge as they floated by, as well as those that Darius and Cass rescued.
Cass maneuvered through the water with ease, using loose pieces of concrete to bust through glass when it was needed, pulling people from vehicles. Several people had jumped prior to the bridge collapsing and some had been trapped with rubble. Darius went to work on them, using his new-found strength to lift water-logged vehicles and slabs of fallen concrete to pull them out to safety. He couldn’t look at their unmoving bodies as he dragged them to the bank, trusting in Jess and the others that they would be able to save them.
Kylie watched from the other side, trying to keep the spirits away from her. She was hopeful after she had seen several waiting by the river disappear as their bodies had been revived. In those moments, she knew Brittany had made the right call. If she had touched them, she would have pulled them into hades before they even had a chance to be saved. Instead, she was able to stand back and watch them be saved by her friends, and the bystanders that were strong enough to fight the rushing water.
She looked on, watching everything in front of her. She noticed a boy moving in and out of the water like it was calm pool water instead of a raging, flooded river. He was able to stay under water for a very long time; too long. He was able to go under and stay for minutes at a time as another boy would swim out to him, pull up two to three people, and then go back.
“How many dead are there?” Joe asked, running over to her after having just dragged another person from the water.
“There are quite a few,” Kylie said. “But there are so many people doing CPR that a lot of the spirits keep disappearing. They’re being saved. I think I found Cass. He’s tall and lean. Dark hair. Dark complexion He’s working with another guy that’s about the same height, but thicker built. From how Cass described him earlier, I think it’s Darius. They must have found him. Still, it’s not enough. We need more help. There are too many cars trapped down there. It’s been close to five minutes. Maybe closer to ten. If we don’t get them out, the brain damage will be too much to save them.”
Joe looked back to the direction the truck was in.
“I think we need the gryphon. She’s strong. She might be healed enough to help now. Screw the secrets if we let people die to protect them,” Joe said. “I’d rather them be terrified that a gryphon exists and that the world really is plunging into chaos, but still be alive to feel that way, than for them to be dead, but protected from the truth.”
“You get back in the water. I’ll get her!” Kylie said.
She ran hard and fast, grateful she was able to do something besides stand watch and give death reports. As she arrived at the truck, she threw the cover back, no longer caring who saw the precious cargo inside.
“There are too many cars trapped under the water!” Kylie said, out of breath. “We can’t keep saving them one at a time. Are you strong enough to help?”
The large, proud gryphon stood, putting her front talons on the cab of the truck as she unfurled her wings, stretching her entire body. She looked down at Kylie.
“If you can, just go! I’ll run back! Leave me!”
The gryphon wasted no more time. Her back lioness legs pushed off, thrusting her into the sky, high enough that her powerful wings could move without being hindered. Kylie smiled as the gryphon took flight. It was even more beautiful and magical than she’d imagined. She ran behind the gryphon as quickly as possible, but was unable to keep up.
Jess and Alee both worked from opposite sides of the river to help revive those that were unconscious, or dying. Alee didn’t know how to do chest compressions, but a bystander who did came over to help her while she breathed for her patients.
Everyone stopped as a loud screech ripped through the air. The gryphon flew with great speed directly above them. She stopped mid-flight, hovering and taking in the sight before her before aiming herself downward and giving a powerful thrust of her wings. Her entire body was pointed as she dove head-first into the water.
Alee, and everyone around her watched in awe, distracted by the mythical beast. In only a few seconds the gryphon lifted from the water, her powerful talons on either side of a truck, hooked in the door frames as her powerful body pulled it into the sky. She sat it down on an empty spot of land before smashing and pulling the windshield away with her powerful beak. Water rushed from the cab of the truck as people ran to help save those inside. The gryphon pushed off, taking flight once again.
Over and over, the gryphon pulled cars from the water. Spirits everywhere were disappearing as their lives were saved by the innocent bystanders working tirelessly to do so. Kylie wondered how many she would have to welcome to Hades due to so many lives being saved. She also wondered what became of the witches that had caused all of the destruction that laid before her. It occurred to her that if the witches could use spirits to see all of them, then she might be able to do the same.
Kylie walked up to one of the wandering spirits, careful to keep a close distance.
“Excuse me,” Kylie said. “I’m still new to all of this. The ability to talk to the dead, I mean. Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing, but I need to ask you something.”
“Yes?” the woman asked.
“First,” Kylie said. “What is your name?”
“I’m Amy,” she said. “I’m looking around, staring at all of this, and I don’t remember how I got here. Some of the others remember, but I don’t. They said there was an explosion, then all this happened.”
“I can’t be sure if you died in the explosion, or if your body is in the river,” Kylie said, sighing directly after. “I’m sorry. I know this must be hard. I can’t even imagine. But I promise you; we are going to figure this out. That brings me to my second question.”
“Yes?” Amy said.
“Do you see two women standing around anywhere? One is blonde, the other brunette. That sounds vagu
e, but it’s possible they are smiling, or laughing,” Kylie said.
The woman’s eyes widened. “Why would someone laugh at something like this?”
Kylie’s eyes narrowed as anger flowed through her. “Because they are the ones that did this. They are dark witches. They used magic to try and lure us out, killing all of you in the process. Help me find them. Help me stop them.”
The woman’s face distorted. She was no longer a curious, or worried spirit. She was seething with rage. Hatred filled her.
“This was done on purpose?” the woman asked. She looked off again, staring at the rushing water before her. “Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember something. I remember driving. Seeing a woman on the side of the road. I don’t remember what she looked like, though.”
Amy’s eyes widened.
“Fire. I remember fire. It was so blue. I’d never seen it such a bright color. It hit the bridge. I thought that I got lucky because it hit under my car. I was thrown in the air, but when I came down, I rolled off somewhere. I don’t remember, but I do recall the woman. She had blonde hair. When the other side blew, it was massive. Something was wrong with that blonde girl though. Now that I can think back on it, it seems like she wasn’t as strong. It took her so long to do what she did.”
Kylie nodded. “All that is very helpful, actually. Help me find them and stop them before they hurt anyone else. Stay clear of me, though. Don’t touch me, or you will be pulled into hades. Tell any spirit around here that you find. Those women are hiding and watching around here somewhere. They’re cloaked from all of us, but it’s possible to the dead, they won’t be. Bring them to me. Somehow.”
“Nothing would make me happier,” Amy said. “Promise me something.”
“Anything,” Kylie said.
“My little girl’s birthday is next weekend. I don’t know if I’m really dead, or like some of the others and just waiting to be saved. No matter what happens to me, make sure that you tell my husband and my little girl that I’m sorry. I should have left sooner. Tell them that I love them. I’m sure you’ll come across my things. My phone is in the console. Hopefully it made it.”
A tear slid down Kylie’s cheek. “I’m going to try very hard to make sure that you can tell them yourself, but if that isn’t possible, I want to tell them that we stopped those witches from hurting anyone else.”
Amy nodded, then vanished. Kylie didn’t know if vanishing was something that all spirits knew how to do, or if it was just her anger allowing her better control. Kylie began looking harder, trying to find anyone, or anything that seemed out of place, but nothing seemed to stick out.
Across the river, Jess worked hard saving people. She had to take a break from chest compressions, allowing someone else to take over so she did not become too exhausted to help. Instead, she helped wrap wounds with bandages made from shredded clothing.
Kylie could see Jess from where she stood, though Kylie didn’t know who she was. A brunette woman materialized behind Jess. Kylie had no doubt it was one of the witches. It was then that she knew that the girl helping other victims was one of them, that it was Jess. There was no reason otherwise that the witch would single her out over all the other bystanders.
Kylie tried to call out, but it was too loud for anyone across the river to hear. The woman struck out with a large rock, or piece of concrete, hitting Jess on the side of the head. Jess went down hard on the ground. People that surrounded the witch backed away, having seen her appear out of nowhere. Kylie was filled with rage. She ran forward, preparing to jump in the river and swim across.
“No!” a masculine voice shouted from inside her mind.
Kylie stopped hard, only barely keeping herself from tipping forward into the water.
“Do not jump in the river!” the voice said. It was weak, just as the others had described of their own experiences with their respective god speaking to them. He sounded exhausted, sick, or possibly dying. Still, he managed a terrible warning.
“That is something you will greatly regret. As angry as you are, if you jump in, you will send everyone that is dead, or close to it straight to Hades without even touching them. You will be connected to their life forces through the water. Your powers are out of control with the amount of death around you and adrenaline in your veins. Lure the witch to you. She cannot win against you and your army of the dead.”
Kylie shivered. She’d heard Joe talk about a voice. Cass had heard one as well, but that was the first time she’d heard one. Though his voice was weak, it was clear he was worried that she would make a mistake that she would hate herself for and never be able to take back. He’d saved her from that.
Relief flooded her, but the anger ensued. Instead of engaging the witch further, she walked away. Something inside her knew that walking away would serve only to make Ariyah angrier. It was just what Kylie wanted to do in hopes of luring the witch directly to her as Hades had suggested.
Amy materialized in front of Kylie. Her expression showed just as much anger and determination as it had when she had initially disappeared.
“Is that one of them?” Amy asked. “She isn’t the one that I saw, but others that died on the other side, or on the bridge described that one to me.”
“Yes,” Kylie said. “I need to lure her to me, but I don’t know how. I still haven’t seen the other one.”
“I think I can help with that,” Amy said. “Leave that to me.”
She disappeared again, leaving Kylie to question what her words had meant. How did she plan to help?
A loud scream turned everyone’s attention to the water. A young girl of about eight years old was being washed downstream. Kylie could do nothing but watch, knowing that she would kill everyone else that was weak as soon her body impacted with the water.
A loud crash could be heard from her right. She looked over to see the gryphon dropping another vehicle down and smashing out the windshield.
“Hey!” she shouted.
The gryphon’s eyes met Kylie’s.
“There’s a girl in the water! I can’t save her! Hades told me not to touch the water!”
The gryphon pounced, taking brief flight before snatching the girl out of the water with her talons as a smaller bird of prey would do to a fish. She gently laid the girl on the ground next to Kylie before landing a few feet away.
“Are you okay?” Kylie asked.
The girl nodded, coughing a little. “Yes,” she said, her larynx forcing air through the bit of water in her throat.
She tried to stand, but tipped back over. The gryphon stepped forward, lightly grabbing the back of the girl’s shirt with her beak and lifting her. The girl turned and latched onto one of the gryphon’s front legs.
“Thank you,” she said as she stabled herself using the gryphon.
The gryphon curled her other leg around the girl, holding her for a moment before stepping back and taking off once again. Kylie looked over to the other side of the river, but she didn’t see Jess.
“Stay here,” Kylie told the little girl. “Actually, go stand over there, closer to the crowd in case something bad happens. I’ll come back to check on you, okay?”
The girl nodded and ran off. A young woman saw the little girl and kneeled to greet her as she made it over. Satisfied that the little girl was safe, Kylie set out to find Jess. She searched the other side of the river, but saw nothing. No evidence of her anywhere.
“Hey!” she heard someone call from the water.
Kylie looked over to see the boy she believed to be Cass. He had a young woman in his arms and it appeared to be Jess. Kylie ran over to the edge of the water, careful not to touch it.
“Are you Cass?” Kylie asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I saw you with that gryphon and hoped you were actually one of us.”
“Is she badly hurt?” Kylie asked. “Or is she just injured? I’m the descendant of Hades. If she’s close to death and I touch her, I could pull her in.”
“She’s just p
assed out, but she’s been groaning a bit. I think she’s starting to come around,” Cass said. “I don’t know what happened, but I wanted her with someone that I could trust. I think that we’re getting close to the end. We’ve gotten most of the people out of the water. Can you watch over her?”
Kylie nodded. “Yes I can. As for what happened, one of the witches appeared and hit her in the back of the head with a rock, or a piece of concrete.”
Cass’ brows furrowed. “We need to find them.”
“I actually have someone working on that for me,” Kylie said.
“Kylie!” Alee shouted. “Over here!”
Kylie held up her hand, signaling for Alee to wait. Kylie then helped Cass get Jess out of the water and on the bank. Checking Jess over, Kylie was satisfied that she was only injured and nothing more, just as Cass had told her.
“I’ll be right back,” Kylie said. “I won’t let her out of my sight unless I have another one of us to look out for her.”
“Thank you,” Cass said. “I’m going back out there to check for more people. That gryphon saved the most. If not for that thing, a lot more people would have died.”
“She’s our guardian,” Kylie said. “She protects us and the humans.”
Kylie ran over to Alee, who was no more than a few yards away.
“What is it?” Kylie asked.
“Joe sent me to get you. There is a woman asking for the girl who can talk to the dead. Amy is her name. We just pulled her out,” Alee replied. Alee looked over to Cass swimming back out into the water. “Who’s that?”
“That was Cass in the water and the girl on the bank is Jess. One of the witches knocked her out. I can’t leave her side without someone else to watch her. Will you sit with her while I check with Joe?”
“Absolutely,” Alee said. “Go. We’ll be fine over there.”
Kylie ran to find Joe, who was on the bank next to where the bridge once stood. When he saw Kylie coming, he rose to meet her.
“This woman asked for you. We just finished reviving her, and she asked specifically for you,” Joe said. “She said it’s about what you asked her to do.”
