artemis ; pjo

Extreme Shadowtravel

The joy and peacefulness didn't last long.

Ben found an opening where we could slip out into the quiet part of town. We walked down the road towards Ben's workshop casually, and all was well... Until we reached a cluster of run down houses. Surrounding them was a group of men in Greek armor. Ben cursed.

"What?" MK asked.

"My workshop is in there. Those people are from our military" Ben explained.

MK cursed.

"Isn't there another way to get to our world?" Dan suggested.

"No, the Republic, our government, has shut down anyway to get to the Overworld, except they missed one. I just happened to stumble upon it" Ben said.

"Can't we sneak in? It can't be that hard, especially when we have more than enough geniuses in this group" Gabby said, "You have to have a secret entrance, Ben"

"There's a trapdoor, but if they've gotten inside, all entrances must be locked"

As I was thinking of a way to get in, a horrible thought crossed my mind. I wished someone would say that because I didn't want to speak to Ben, but everyone was in a thoughtful silence.

Reluctantly, I asked the horrid question, "Uh, so Ben, what's the chance that they've destroyed our only way to the surface?"

Horror struck everyone's faces.

"No, no, no, it's fine. I always have it hidden, just incase something like this," he said, gesturing to his house and Republic soldiers," Happened."

I gave him a slight acknowledgement. "So, anyone have any suggestions of getting into the house, and staying in the house, unnoticed?"

"I don't have any superpowers," Gabby declared, "Does anyone with an advancement have anything?"

We all stayed quiet.

"Rainbow Boy? Flower Girl? Water Man? Girlie? Funeral Dude-"

"Never call me that again!" Eric cut Gabby off.

Gabby put her hands up in surrender and took a slight step back.

"But," Eric continued, "I think I have a way to get us to the surface. Er, Ben, I hope you have everything 'cause we aren't going into the house. I'll need help, though. Amanda, this is a huge step up, a dangerously huge step up, but do you think that you could help me shadowtravel everyone up, and keep us hidden"

I knew how harmful this would be to me. I could barely shadowtransport myself, let alone a group of seven. Reasoning with myself wasn't going to help because I already knew my answer, might as well do the sacrificing now.

"I'd love to, but what about moonlight?" I considered.

Eric pointed to my necklace while everyone stood there having no idea what we were talking about.

"Oh, okay. Give me the low-down"

"First, figure out how to make moonlight. Then it's just trying not to die while exerting all your power to get us to Prince"

I took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

I closed my eyes and focused on moonlight. I felt my necklace move, then let out a small 'thud'. Looking up, I saw a beam of moonlight above my head. The beam of light followed me as I walked closer to Eric.

"Everyone, hold hands" Eric said.

James, who was right next to me, calmly grabbed my right hand. Ben sprinted from the other side of the group to join me at my left, but played it casually. James glared at Ben, but Ben gave him a fake innocent look back. I let a chill crawl its way up my spine when Ben shifted closer to me. Thankfully Eric noticed James' and Ben's silent competition and cleared his throat.

"Amanda needs quiet," Eric said, trying to direct it generally, but James and Ben understood it directly, "Amanda, deep breath and focus. Make a noise when you're ready for me."

"M'kay" I sounded out nervously.

I closed my eyes and heaved a deep breath. My thoughts consisted of only the moon and Prince.

Moon; Prince; moon; Prince; moon; Prince, I thought, imagining both in my mind.

I grunted and Eric sighed, then we were flying through shadows and moonlight. Both boys tightened their grip on my hands. Pain seared throughout my body and fatigue swept over me. My eyes were still closed when we reached Prince and I landed on top of Ben, who was next to James. I scrambled off of him faster than we shadowtraveled and shuddered before climbing on Prince.

"Amanda, you need sleep. Now" Eric said. But he didn't need to tell me, I was asleep before he said the words.