Chosen

Chapter Forty-Seven: Scarlett

Athena grabbed my arm. Then she pulled me close to her and hugged me, her head on my shoulder. Her body was shaking, and I realized she was crying. 

“Scarlett,” she whispered, “you can’t. You can’t kill yourself. W-we...I need you. I need you to stay alive.”

“But Rosalie-”

“I know. I know. SHe’s not going to die.”

“She’s going to suffer until I die. If I don’t die soon enough, she will be poisoned. You don’t understand, do you? I have to die. If you want to stay alive, I have to die. It’s better for everyone this way.”

“Scarlett, listen to me. Won’t you listen? Rosalie told me about your connection. She told me that once you really, truly die, with no hope of surviving, so will she. Rosalie will die anyway.”

“But at least she won’t suffer,” I whispered. 

Athena pulled away and looked at my face, straight into my eyes. “Yes, she will. She will suffer either way. We have to escape again, this time for good. We’ll get her out, and then we’ll go somewhere and hide until the Competitions are over. Once they’re done, we’ll go to the castle of Myron and find out what they do to the people.”

“But Athena-”

“We have to. It’s the only way.”

“Or I could just die. It would be easier.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Athena said. “Not for me. Not for Julian. The only person it would be easy for would be you, Scarlett. You don’t seem to understand that I love you-”

“If you love me,” I whispered, “why say that we couldn’t be together? Why avoid me?”

“Because of Julian,” Athena said just as quietly. Then she pulled me back, but instead of hugging me, she kissed me, long and slow, like we had all the time in the world. Then she pulled away and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“So, we can’t?”

“No, we can. I mean...I’m sorry I was so stupid before.”

I smiled a bit. “So when do we leave?” 

“When do we leave where?” Julian asked, walking into the room. He was frowning.

"We have to go get Rosalie and hide," Athena said. Julian's frown deepened.

"We have to go now," Julian said,  "before they have the time to set up their defenses against us. Grab our things. Hurry!"

Athena frowned. "But-"

"They already know," Julian said. "They know. We're being watched, remember?! Hurry!"

"Oh," Athena said quietly, then slipped out of the room. I followed her out.

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We quickly packed the essentials and then left the castle. Then we went through the forest, following the same path as we had the first time.

The forest was dark and quiet; not even the noises of the animals cut through the thick silence. Athena and I exchanged a look, then we crept on through the forest.

The closer we got to the edge of the forest, the more it felt as if something was wrong, completely wrong; it smelled and even felt like death, the death of many. I gagged; Athena and Julian were pale.

I smelled the blood, spilled blood, and I wanted to chase after it. A fresh kill, fresh blood. And quickly after that I heard the sharp sound if metal on metal, screams, and flesh tearing apart. And the smell, the smell was overwhelming, sickening at the same time as appetizing. I closed my eyes. Though I had just eaten blood a few days ago, Julian's blood, I felt hungry again, and very weak. Very weak.

"Scarlett?" Athena was right behind me, hugging me, or holding me up, I couldn't tell. "Scarlett, are you okay?"

"I'm...fine. Fight. They...are fighting," I managed. "I...can't control myself...much longer. Get away. Please."

"No, Scarlet."

"I don't want to attack you. Just let me go, so I can Feed, and follow behind at a safe distance. Try to stay hidden."

"As long as you don't get yourself into trouble," Athena said wearily. I nodded, and she let go of me. I stumbled forward, looking back. I turned around and hugged Athena, then kissed her, then hugged Julian.

"You'd better stay hidden and survive," I said fiercely. Julian smiled a bit.

Athena grinned.

"As long as you do."

I then turned and ran toward the smell of blood with the speed of a vampire. The first body I found, and only that body, would be the one I fed off of. With the speed I was running, the thorns and thin branches whipped me, cutting into my skin, reminding me of when the Queen used to whip me.

"Take your dress off."

I hesitated.

"NOW! Take it off!"

I unzipped the back of my dress and let it fall. Then I removed the rest of my undergarments, baring my back to my mother.

Crack.

The whip hit me, so hard, so fast that I didn't register the pain until it hit a second time.

Crack.

The hot blood dripped down my back-

And I was back to the present. I was hovering over a body, blood all over my face. I wasn't full, but neither was I unbearably hungry. I hadn't remembered finding a body or feeding. But there I was, there I was, like the monster I had feared I would become.

I looked up. I was in the midst of a battlefield, a circular field of flattened grass filled with people and dead bodies. Looking around, I spotted Athena locked in battle with a light brown skinned boy. Julian was harder to spot, but I eventually found him fighting a girl with white-blond hair. Or...maybe not fighting. They seemed to be talking, pretending to fight. What were they talking about?

It was almost like I didn't exist. I wad inside a smaller circle of bodies, where almost nobody living was, and if they were, they were unconscious or gravely injured.

How did I get here without getting hurt?

Sighing, I stood up and walked into the battle.