Forbidden (A Luke Castellan Love Story)

Chapter 52

Grey’s POV
            When Nico asked me to be his girlfriend, I couldn’t explain how happy I was! Currently, we were walking back to the cabin, hand in hand, talking about what happened to Chase.
            “How did he die?” I asked softly as our hands swung back and forth together as we walked.
            “Bled to death,” Nico answered. “He must have been there for a while too,”
            I nodded my head sadly. Dying was nothing light. I remember how terrified I was when I first died. Not something I want to go through with again. “Avery was crushed.” I said ignoring and escaping my thoughts of my tragic experience of dying.
            Nico sighed and stopped walking. He turned so he was facing the front of me and took my hands in his, looking deep in my eyes, regret in his. “As much as I want you to myself,” He said. “Maybe you should go check on her.”
            I smiled thankfully at him. “Thank you, Nico.” I said then leaned up on my toes and pecked his lips. I bent back down and saw a smirk on Nico’s face.
            “Maybe just one more kiss.” Nico said then leaned down to try to kiss me but I giggled and made myself become transparent. He passed through me and looked up at me. He growled and, because he was a son of Hades and could touch ghosts, he concentrated then grabbed my shoulders and smashed his lips on mine.
            I giggled but kissed him back just as passionately. His lips moved against mine and I rethought the idea to go and find Avery and instead stay here kissing Nico. His hands found their way to my waist and he pressed me close to him. My arms snaked up to his neck and, with the tips of my fingers, I played with his hair.
            We broke apart gasping for breath when we heard a wolf whistle from an Aphrodite boy. “Remember curfew!” The boy smirked then walked away laughing with his friends.
            My cheeks were red but Nico just had a triumphant smirk on his face. I smiled and pecked his cheek one last time then went off to the Hermes cabin expecting to find Avery in her bed looking depressed. When she wasn’t there I turned to Jacie. “Hey,” I smiled and she smiled back. “Have you seen Avery anywhere?” I asked.
            Jacie’s smile faded. “No, I haven’t seen her since Chase’s burning. I assumed she was with you.”
            My face scrunched up in confusion. “No, I’ve been with Nico.” Jacie shrugged.
            “Then I don’t know where she is.”
            “Okay,” I said, “well, thanks anyway.” I walked out of the cabin confused. Where could she be? I closed my eyes then searched for Avery’s spirit.
            When I found her spirit, I was surprised to find her in the woods. Suddenly, my eyes snapped open. She’s in trouble. I thought. I could feel her emotions and thoughts; they were all terrified.
            “Nico!” I yelled then ran to our cabin. He heard his name and was outside the door when I ran to him.
            “What’s wrong?” He asked, panicked as he saw tears in my eyes. He had a firm grip on my shoulders and he looked into my troubled eyes.
            “S-she’s in trouble!” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.
            “Who?” Nico demanded.
            “Avery! She-she’s in the woods, something happened to her!” I said frantically.
            Nico’s eyes widened and he gave me a swift hug of comfort then rushed into the cabin. He reappeared with his sword in hand and a determined look in his eyes. “Show me the way.”
            I grabbed his hand and ran towards where I felt Avery’s spirit.
            Right as we were about to enter the woods, we froze as we heard a howl that seemed to shake the whole earth. The howl seemed stronger and mightier than even a hellhound’s howl.
            Nico and I froze, as well as the other campers that were around. Everyone’s eyes were on the woods as we watched it, surprised and fearful of what could have made that sound.
            Another howl split through the silence and soon it was followed by many more.
            I looked at Nico to find that his expression matched mine; panicked and worried.
            At the same time, we ran into the forest towards the sound of howls, snarls, growls and teeth gnashing. I knew that Avery was there, she was in so much trouble! We had to save her!
            Tears were running down my cheeks as the noises seemed to get more and more savage as we approached them. I heard people screaming and our legs pumped faster. We rounded a corner and smacked into someone, all of us landing on our butts.
            The three people screamed and scrambled upwards as well as Nico and I did.
            “Clarisse?” Nico asked, once his eyes adjusted to the dark. I was shocked to see that the three people were indeed Clarisse, Derik and another girl from the Ares cabin. All three of the, usually so brave and fearless, Ares kids, had a wild look in their eyes as if they had been visited by Lord Hades himself! Tears were in their armor as well as huge slash marks that cut through their armor and to their skin. Strange marks were on their arms and Clarisse had a large claw mark on her face.
            “T-they’re after us!” Derik yelled. I blinked in surprise; he looked like he was about to cry.
            “Who is?” Nico asked quickly, wanting answers.
            “They’re horrible!” Derik yelled, not answering the question and instead looking back as if ‘they’ were going to attack him. “They’re h-huge and oh gods they’re going to kill us!”
            “Is Avery there?” I cut in, not wanting the back story.
            “Yes but-” Derik was cut off by another howl that could have split a rock. All three Ares kids screamed and bolted forwards, running for their lives.
            I gripped Nico’s arms, “We have to find her!” I cried.
            Nico nodded sternly. “We won’t be able to continue running straight. Whatever was chasing after them will get us. Do you know how to shadow travel?” he asked and I nodded. “Good. Shadow travel to her and I’ll meet you there.”
            I nodded once more then sprinted towards a tree. My body felt tingly as I ran into the tree.
            Instead of hitting the tree and falling back, I was plunged into darkness as I ran until I found where I could feel Avery’s spirit the strongest.
            My legs pumped forwards and soon I ran out of another tree. A gasp escaped my lips as I fell forwards onto my knees, my head slightly spinning. I hadn’t shadow traveled for ages!
            Nico flew forwards onto the hard ground next to me, looking dizzy but we both immediately snapped out of it when we heard a low and deep growl.
            We scrambled up quickly to see a huge silver wolf standing about three yards in front of us, snarling at us with vicious teeth. My eyes trailed to behind the wolf and I gasped putting my hands to my mouth when I saw a limp Avery on the ground behind the huge wolf. A small sob escaped my lips. Had the wolf killed her?
            Nico’s hand pushed me behind his back to protect me. He raised his sword and the wolf growled more viciously. The wolf stalked forwards slightly until it stopped about a yard away from Avery.
            “We have to get to her!” I said, tears blurring my vision.
            “I will, Grey, don’t worry!” Nico responded back but he seemed as if he was trying to convince himself.
            He took a step forwards and the wolf’s growl intensified. He took another step and the growl just got louder and more menacing.
            The wolf stood in a protective stance but of what it was protecting, I didn’t know.
            “I’ll distract it and you run to Avery.” Nico told me and I nodded. “Ready? Go!”
            He rushed forwards as the wolf did the same thing. They started to fight with Nico crying out from sharp teeth penetrating his skin but he wasn’t the only one getting wounded. You could hear slight cries from the wolf as well from the sword on its flesh.
            I ran as fast as I could towards Avery, lifting my dress to keep from falling. I fell to my knees when I got to her body on the ground and my hand hovered over her as tears slipped from my eyes. “Oh Avery.” I whimpered looking at her state. She looked pale but I could tell that she wasn’t dead. Her spirit was still on Earth.
            Tearing a piece of my dress off, I held it up to Avery’s head. As soon as I touched Avery, the silver wolfs head rose and jumped off of Nico, bolting towards me with a howl of rage. I screamed but braced myself in front of Avery so the wolf couldn’t harm her.
            “Grey, no!” Nico yelled as he staggered from the ground trying to reach out to stop me.
            I closed my eyes and stayed where I was, ready for the force that would knock me away from Avery but it never came. I felt hot breath on my hair and I looked up to find the wolf sniffing at me. It sniffed up my hand to find it covering the wound on Avery’s head. It licked my hand causing me to let out a startled yelp but I kept my head on Avery’s wound. She couldn’t lose too much blood. The wolf head raised its head and looked at me with its head tilted. The wolf licked Avery’s hair in a gentle matter and suddenly everything clicked. The wolf was trying to protect Avery! It was trying to protect her from us!
            Nico came running with his sword raised, ready to kill the wolf. The wolf growled and started to run at him but I yelled, “Stop! Nico but your sword down!”
            There was a look of defiance in Nico’s eyes but he dropped the sword. The wolf flattened him to the ground and snarled at him then racked its claws on his cheek then jumped off to rush to Avery. The wolf nuzzled her affectionately and made a small whine from the back of its throat.
            I heard Nico groan from the force that knocked the air from his lungs but soon he stood up. “That was stupid.” He muttered and held a hand to his cheek. The wolf growled at him when it heard his voice. He put his hands up in a surrender but I couldn’t give him my attention and instead held out my hand to the wolf whose head turned back to me. “What are you doing?” He asked panicked.
            The wolf licked my hand and as if accepting that I was a friend. I smiled, “Come here,” I told him. He looked warily at me but started to approach only to have the wolf growl again, it’s body over Avery. Nico raised his hands and looked terrified as he took a step back. “Come slowly.” I told him. He looked at me like I was crazy then shook his head and muttered something under his breath about girls. He came slowly with the wolf still growling at him. Once he was within feet of the wolf and Avery, I took his hand and started to bring it towards Avery’s head. He flinched away from my grip, “Are you crazy!” he yelled at me, thinking I was giving his hand to the wolf. The wolf snarled at him from his sudden outrushed but I held up my hand for it to wait. It growled but didn’t lunge forwards at him.
            “Just do it,” I said, “The wolf thinks you’re trying to hurt Avery. You need to tell it that you’re here to protect Avery, not harm her.” I told him.
            Nico nodded and slowly touched Avery’s head in a gentle way. The wolf growled and jumped at him, pinning Nico to the ground again. Nico made a squeak as the wolf sniffed his face. Another surprised yelp came from him when the wolf licked his face then jumped off him to nuzzle Avery again. The vicious look in its eye was gone and replaced with a concerned and gentle look as it whined again.
            “It wants us to help her.” I told Nico as he wiped slobber from his face that meant that the wolf trusted him. He looked disgusted at it but looked back at me and nodded. He sheathed his sword then gently scooped her up in his arms and stood up, trying to be careful. He turned back around towards the camp while I followed after him and the silver wolf trotted on his side looking up at Avery every once in a while.
            Both Nico and I jumped when we heard a howl that sounded vicious like the first howl that we had heard. We looked around wildly then looked at the silver wolf but she calmly walked past us then noticed we had stopped. It turned back and tilted its head as if to ask why we weren’t following.
            The howls got louder and soon we saw shadows surrounding the forest. The shadows slowly came out to reveal hundreds of wolfs. I screamed while Nico held onto Avery tightly, prepared to run. While we were freaking out, the silver wolf walked up and started to growl and move its head as if it was talking to the other wolves. One last bark from another wolf and the other wolves started to disappear back into the shadows. Both Nico and I looked at each other then back at the silver wolf who seemed to be impatient and was looking at us then towards the camp again pawing at the ground.
            We looked back at each other and cautiously started to walk to the camp but when the silver wolf barked at us to hurry so we tried to pick up our pace.
            When we finally got to the camp grounds, campers surrounded the woods and the silver wolf let out a snarl that made even the Ares kids flinch and take a step back. The wolf seemed to size up everyone and keep us behind it to protect Avery. It turned to anyone that made sudden movements and made a deep growl deep in its throat, always having its back to us.
            Everyone gasped and took a step back then looked up for us to explain. “Avery’s hurt.” I told them and walked forwards. “We need Chiron.”
             As if he heard his name, Chiron came trotting at full speed towards us with all three Ares kid- that we saw on the way to the woods- running behind him. “Clarisse has told me that there is trouble in the woods.” Chiron said with his bow in hand and quiver on his back. His eyes looked panicked as he came towards us. He didn’t seem to notice the wolf before it growled at him with a vicious sound that made him jump back. “Goodness! What is this?” Chiron shouted.
            Nico stepped forwards and the wolf followed growling at anyone that got too close to the limp Avery in his arms. “She needs help.” Chiron nodded and was about to place his hand on Avery’s head but the wolf’s snarl increased and he flinched back.
            “Do it gently.” I said, “The wolf is trying to protect Avery.”
            His eyes widened and he looked at the wolf as if it was a bomb waiting to explode. “Get a satyr here to tell the wolf that we will not cause harm to Avery,” Chiron said fast and when people weren’t moving he yelled, “Quickly!”
            A satyr came short after and walked up nervously towards the wolf. The wolf growled and snarled at him, its head low to the ground and its back end in the air in a defensive pose. The satyr gulped and started to talk to the wolf. After their ‘discussion’ the satyr said one last thing then turned to Chiron. “You are only allowed to touch Avery besides Nico and Grey or um- or else the wolf will tear you apart.” Everyone’s eyes widened and it didn’t seem to reassure Chiron to hear that. He glanced at the wolf then looked at Avery and took a step forward and placed a hand on her head.  
            “She had a deep wound on her head.” I said quickly. “It looks pretty bad.”
            Chiron nodded and looked at the wound. “My Gods.” He muttered then quickly gestured to Nico. “Give her to me so I can quickly get her to the infirmary and fix up her head. Nico nodded and was about to give Avery to Chiron but the wolf growled and snapped its teeth at Chiron.
            “Only Nico can carry her.” The satyr translated.
            Chiron looked annoyed but spoke, “Very well,” he nodded to Nico, “Quickly Nico.” They started to run to the infirmary with the wolf running after them growling and snarling at everyone as they passed by.
            I rushed on after them and when we got to the infirmary, Chiron tried to have the wolf not come inside but the silver wolf was not going to take no as an answer. Looking annoyed and slightly on edge, Chiron placed Avery on the bed gently then went to get supplies to tend to her wounds. Immediately after she was placed on the bed, the wolf jumped up next to her, its paws and head by Avery. Nico looked like he was going to move the wolf but the wolf glared at him –if wolves can glare- and Nico stopped putting his hands up in surrender.
            Chiron dressed the wound and when he finished cleaning it, he wrapped a small piece of cloth on it. “Should stop it from getting infected.” Chiron said, “She just needs to have some nectar and she’ll be all fixed up.”
            “Thank you Chiron.” I said and he nodded.
            “You best be getting to bed soon, I will allow you to stay until Avery wakes up, it may take a little explaining. She should wake up soon, and Nico? I’d like you be getting in your cabin for curfew as well, tell the campers that Avery is well.” Nico nodded obediently and left giving me one last smile then disappeared through the doors. “I will tell everyone to be getting to bed.” Chiron said, “Have a good night, Grey.” He left to leave.
            He trotted slowly and I could feel the question forming on my lips but tried to stop it from coming out, unfortunately, my mouth didn’t seem to communicate with my brain. “It’s really true isn’t it?” I blurted.
            Chiron froze and turned to me. To anyone else, the question wouldn’t be enough to answer but Chiron knew exactly what I was talking about. His eyes were panicked and looked afraid. “You should not speak of it.” He said, his voice monotone.
            “But it is her? It’s true?” I pressed.
            He closed his eyes and turned his head away from me. It took him a long time to speak. “I did not believe it when I was first told but, all signs are pointing to….” He trailed off looking at the Avery then back at me. “Yes,” He said nodding slowly. “I believe so.”
            I looked back at Avery and then back at Chiron. “You must not speak of it anymore.” Chiron warned. “It is already risky enough that you and I know about her past. Be wise, the less you talk about it, the less people… or… others, will know.”
            “I’m sorry.” I said putting my head down.
            Chiron sighed and trotted over to me, his hooves echoing on the wooden floor. He put a hand on my shoulder causing me to look up at him. “Do not be sorry, child.” He said, “Just be careful. Your duty is to protect her from the harms of this world but also to be there for her.” I nodded and he gave me a small smile. “Very good, I will be off.” He nodded a fair well then trotted off and out of the infirmary.
            I looked back at Avery and sighed. If it was true and she was the girl, things were going to get much more complicated between the Gods and the mortal world.
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A/N: Oooooooooooh what does she mean??? Did you guys like this chapter??? Please comment guys!! I love to hear what you guys say!! 
        -Breann