Momentum (Completed)

Chapter Seventeen: Blind Eye

(Nephele) 

Felix, Imara and Noir wouldn't leave my side all night. After losing against Felix, he'd bound up my wounds with whatever he could find and he would not stop apologising, regardless of me telling him I was fine a million times over. 

Morning arrived and although  a lot of people noticed my cuts and bruises, no one said anything until Dimitri woke up. He was stressing out. "What happened to you?" He said for about the ninth time. Athena was also looking at me with concerned eyes. 

I rolled my eyes. "I already told you, I got into a fight." 

"Yes, but with who?" 

I didn't need to look at Felix to know he was terrified I'd drop him in trouble with Dimitri. Over the past few days they'd become quite good friends and I was sure he didn't want me to ruin that. Besides, Felix had this strange notion that he couldn't win in a fight against Dimitri...If he could beat me, he could beat Dimitri with his eyes shut. Either way, I wasn't about to spit all over Felix's trust in me. "I told you that as well," I said, "it doesn't matter who I fought with. I'm okay, aren't I?" 

Dimitri glared at me. "Nephele, just tell me what happened." 

I sighed. I guess I'd have to lie to him. "A stray Uxor followed us. Imara smelt her and I took her out." There was a pause while Dimitri stared at me, trying to figure out if I was lying, but I kept my poker face and soon I saw his shoulders relax. "Satisfied?" I asked. "Now, can we please get back to leaving?" Dimitri nodded and went to do a quick head count before we set off for Russia.

"Thanks for not telling him what happened last night,"  said Felix, appearing next to me. "You saved me a lot of hassle." 

"Don't worry about it," I said with a smile. "Since we'll be training in secret every night, Dimitri will have to get used to seeing me like this." 

"Training? Nephele, I can't train with you..." 

"Well, why not?" 

Felix scratched the back of his head. "Well...I kinda...I'm kind of sca-"

I raised my eyebrows. "Felix, if anything I should be the one who's scared. Now stop freaking out, we need to get all that anger that's in there-" I pointed to his stomach, "and put it to good use out here." I spread my arms out, "okay?" 

"I guess..." he muttered.

"We're ready Nephele," said Kassandra from across the camp. I looked over to find everyone, except Felix and I, standing behind her, all packed and ready to move. They were all looking to me for direction and it worried me that, as of yet, I had none. 

I took a deep breath and looked at them all. "Alright, let's go." 

                                                                                           *-*-*-*-*

Four long days of walking passed and so far it appeared we had gotten no where. I wasn't really sure where I was going and was relying purely on Allissa and the Animus. Kassandra was from Sweden; she knew the forests there, but not here, Dimitri had only been outside the walls of Uxor for about six months so he had no hope of knowing where we were, and Felix and I had spent most of our life in Russia.

The sun was setting on the fifth night of our journey and by this point almost every single one of my waking thoughts were of Lyra. Was she okay? Did she hate me? Would she forgive me? Would I ever reach Russia? I knew Dolosus would be unbearable to live with when we broke them out; he'd hate me until the day I died, blaming me for every cruel thing that happened behind those walls. It was okay, though; as long as Lyra was back, I could deal with it.