"Scatter!" Shane screamed at all of us. "Now!" Griffin added.
Doors began to open faster and faster. Warlocks melted out of the cottages and into battle with the unsuspecting witches and wizards. "We need to go." Ivy emphasized, yanking on my arm. She started sprinting, so I followed her through the town.
Our first almost-fatal mistake was stopping to rest. We stopped near a few cottages on the border of Damaskuas' town square, just to catch our breath. Someone came and tried to ruin it.
"Come here, Davie! It's the prince!" some random girl started practically shrieking with delight. "We can get even more credit from mother and father for killing the prince!" she added. My blood quickly turned to ice and my body practically went numb.
"Crap." I said quietly. Something in my body immediately lurched. Whatever was inside of me interpreted "crap" as some kind of spell or whatever, because the teenager who'd screeched at me flew backwards.
She hit one of the cottages surrounding us, smashed through the side of the wall, and lay unconscious in the splintered wood and thatch. "Oh." I muttered in surprise.
"That really wasn't what I thought was going to happen. I didn't even do anything." I looked at Ivy. I could hardly do anything but stand there in utter shock. I couldn't believe what I'd done.
"Come on, she's fine." Ivy said impatiently, yanking my arm again. We started to stretch back into a regular pace—sprinting with whatever energy we had left from walking all day.
While we were sprinting, I was slowly beginning to thank Joey for what he'd done—all the running he'd forced me to do on the treadmill. Without the strain he'd put on me, I'd be asking for breaks every 5 seconds that I tried to jog. It would've slowed us down pretty badly.
But Ivy and I were moving in a full sprint, accelerating, speed increasing, trying to keep away from all the people that caught sight of me. All I knew was that we needed to get away from all the commotion.
I had a strange but interpreting feeling that Shane's first and foremost priority was to find our mother first. He would've wanted to get her to relative safety. And I knew he'd put that need above all else.
I also had the strange but interpreting feeling that Shane would've wanted me to hide away from everything and everyone and try not to get myself killed. And, seeing all the commotion and psychotic warlocks in the town, I was okay with that.
Shane and everyone else probably would've wanted me to be prepared for any serious stuff that I'd need to do later. I could at least keep myself out of a lot of trouble by being away from everyone else. I also needed make sure that all the scorpion poisoning out of my system so I could be sure I was ready for action.
I thought about all of that as I ran. I focused on it for a long time, so I could ignore the pain in my lungs and legs.
Things seemed to go on the same way for a long time—until a knife soared through the air, barely passing me. I thought it had been a pretty terrible shot, until I realized its target.
Another warlock had aimed it at Ivy, who had just run into another warlock in the street. She'd told me that she didn't use her magic, but our situation seemed to be an exception. She was trying to keep me alive, considering I had no idea how to use my magic unless it was by accident.
Ivy was generally the smart one, so I let her do whatever. I hadn't even realized that she'd been trying to use magic to fend warlocks off. People were definitely targeting me, but not extensively.
But yes, a warlock had actually thrown an accurately aimed knife at my best friend's throat. She clearly wasn't going to outrun it before it lost momentum and clattered back into the street.
Ivy was trying to fluently speak a foreign language, trying to ward off spells and charms. The knife, of course, was spinning closer and closer to her. I could just see the evil smile on the warlock's face when he realized his aim was perfect.
Me, not thinking of anything else except Ivy's safety, stuck my arm out to block the warlock's shot. The sharpened knife buried itself into my arm. I shrieked with pain. I'd expected the tip of the knife to hit me and then fall back into the street, but it stuck into me.
I quickly pried it out of my arm and wiped the blood onto my shirt. I made it a point to keep the knife, because it was sharp, and I needed to be able to defend myself a little bit without Ivy.
I couldn't conceal the pain of having a giant gash in my arm, though, and I definitely couldn't hide the blood. I wasn't exactly sure what the knife had done but the wound was clearly deep.
Ivy turned around instinctively to see if I was alright or if something had happened to me. The warlock boy who'd been battling her seized his chance and hit Ivy with a spell that sent her flying back towards the warlock that had thrown the knife at her.
She dropped onto the street. I could hear a thud and a skid. She groaned in pain. I looked over towards the boy who'd hit her with the spell. He seemed to instantly know he was in some serious trouble with me.
And, quite frankly, he was. I'd never felt super protective over Ivy before, but I wanted revenge for what he'd done. He didn't even look ready to defend himself. "The prince, Marietta!" he yelled to the girl next to him. "You have to help me!" he added in a shriek.
But before either of them could simply move a muscle, their clothes just spontaneously combusted. I clamped a hand over my mouth. I hadn't been trying to set them on fire or anything. I didn't want to have the kind of reputation where people thought I was a ruthless human barbeque-er.
"Ouch," I murmured silently. I could hardly imagine what kind of pain I'd inflicted on them with my fire. I wanted revenge, but not fiery revenge. Being stabbed hurt, but I'd rather have been stabbed than roasted.
They were frantically trying to put themselves out. Nothing seemed to be terribly wrong. They had a few minor burns—it wasn't like their entire bodies had caught fire and their skin was bubbling and slowly melting off.
Ivy got up and stood next to me. She looked extremely disheveled. "Nice." She said. "Yeah..." I looked down at her. "I'd really appreciate some help with this." I said casually, holding up my arm which was still gushing blood.
Blood was all over my clothes and streaming down my arm. She looked shocked. "How in the world did you do that? It's only been a few minutes." She said frantically.
"You should be a little more thankful." I retorted. "I saved you this time." I added. "How many times in 24 hours do I have to make sure you're not dying?" she still looked shocked and completely unhappy.
"I don't know, but at the rate I'm going, it'll probably be a lot. But it's not like I MEAN for this stuff to happen." I said worriedly. "Let's just get somewhere save. Then we can get ourselves cleaned up." She ran alongside me throughout the cottages and town squares again.
We tried our hardest to find a place where we could be safe. We ran and ran, but there was almost no place we could go. "Ivy—what about Shane, Jay, and everyone else?" I asked her, still running and leaving a blood trail behind.
I was feeling lightheaded. I needed something to stop my blood-flow. "We have no choice but to leave them behind for now. They'll be fine. We need to worry about you. Trust me." She panted. But I still worried.
"Oh, hey, Ivy, guess what?" I asked. "This is not the time for jokes." She said almost immediately. "I already know what you're going to say." She added. "No, you don't. I was just going to casually mention that my blood was red again." I smiled.
That had to mean I was getting slightly better, which meant I had one less thing to worry about. "Yeah, that's definitely not funny." Ivy said sarcastically.
Soon, as we continued to run, the cottages before us thinned out and disappeared altogether. There was a progression of desert into grassy forest, like there had been back at the castle. The forest just bordered the desert, after a bit of transitional scenery, like dead grass and trees.
Ivy seemed to think the forest was the safest place to stay, even though we had no idea what could've been in there. But I thought it was our best bet and I followed her in. I thought we might be able to get some rest after the long day we'd had.
She told me to climb a tree, which I wasn't very happy about, because I was terrible at climbing trees. I was naturally off-balance and useless when it came to climbing things.
But at least I could see everything that was going on in Damaskuas, even though I couldn't distinguish one person from another.
Ivy was trying to clean and sanitize my arm with whatever she'd brought in her magical-healing backpack. I tried not to let her help me too much, because, whenever she touched me, it hurt. So basically, I felt like she was just stinging me. I felt like I'd been set on fire.
She tried regular soap first, which hurt more than it should have. I had assumed that all she could really do was clean it, but she thought otherwise. Apparently medical practices were much deeper than I realized.
"I can't fix everything. You know that, don't you?" she asked. I nodded. "So you can't do something like this again." She added. "I did something good. It was either your life or my arm." I told her.
She ignored me and wrapped my arm tightly in a white bandage. "I still can't believe you did that." She said. "I had to." I replied. She just stared at me for a second, not saying anything.
"Well, at least I got the knife he threw. We're not completely defenseless." I wiped the rest of my blood from the knife onto my shirt. Ivy said it would be safer for us if we stayed in the woods—mostly to keep me away from anymore knives. Staying in the mysterious forest was a better alternative in her eyes.
***
To try and pass the night, we built up little bits of shelter so we could stay dry and keep other people out of the wet or cold—or whatever the weather decided to be.
The best we could do was build a small shelter. Ivy decided it would've been a good place for anyone who was sick or dying. We were sure, after that day, there'd be plenty of dead, dying, and wounded.
Once we found Shane and the rest of my brothers, we decided that we could redirect everyone over to where we'd set up our camp. It seemed like a working plan.
The shelter was small, but at least it was something. It was big enough for the majority of anyone who needed it. Everyone was accustomed to sleeping under open skies anyway, so I didn't see much of an issue.
The shelter was warm and dry on the insides. I thought it would be sturdy enough to withstand a mild amount of wind and rain. It was just made of some simple branches, leaves, and nettles that thatched together a thick roof. The wind might've made it slightly drafty, but that was the only visible flaw.
Once everything was done, Ivy and I propped ourselves against a tree together and dosed off. I was letting her lean on my arm and shoulder because of how exhausted and uncomfortable she was.
I was comfortable, anyway. She let me use her head as a rest for mine. And I got to have the knife—I was clutching it in my hand, hoping nothing dangerous would happen.
But, of course, early in the morning, I heard someone race into our hiding place. It had to have been at least 3 or 4 in the morning. It was pitch black outside. We had built a small fire to keep us warm, and to see each other, but we hadn't expected anyone to find us.
Ivy jerked awake suddenly and scared the crap out of me. She hit my head with hers. I gripped my knife and almost stabbed her. I didn't know what had happened. What if an enemy had managed to find us? Neither of us had legitimately prepared for danger.
Ivy pressed herself up against my back. We tried to make ourselves less and less obvious in the dark. We kept back-to-back for safety.
Shane suddenly burst through the trees. Everything had been completely still a moment before, but then chaos followed. Shane had our mother slung over his shoulder. Her small, frail figure, looked broken and battered.
"Maybe a warning next time, Shane!" I shouted. "You scared us half to death." I added. "Mom needs help, now. No warnings. No time to waste. I'm sorry." He put mom down lightly, looking at me with an alarmingly terrified look on his face.
He turned back to face Ivy. "You have that book. Help her, please. You've got everything. We went over this." He said. "Okay. I'll do what I can, I promise. I'll get to work with what I can." I said.
Shane nodded and took one last glance of worry at our mother, who really wasn't looking so great. She'd been knocked unconscious with bruises and cuts covering her face and arms. "Don't worry, Shane. She's going to be just fine." I assured her.
"She'll be as good as new in a few days. I might be an amateur, but she'll be fine." Ivy said, looking determined, flipping through the pages in her book. There wasn't much light to go by, but she was trying her hardest.
Shane sulked off. I sat down with Ivy and stared at my mom for a minute. "Cyrus, I bet Shane needs your help." She said. "I don't want to go out there." I mumbled. "Come on." Ivy retorted.
I didn't need to be told twice. She looked serious. I raced after Shane. He didn't seem to notice that I'd caught up with him, though. He looked at me, but I wasn't sure if he'd seen me.
"I'm coming with you." I announced. "K," he replied. "Where is everyone?" I asked. He didn't answer. it seemed he'd gathered everyone out near the very front of the forest. They'd had the same idea to take refuge there.
Shane clearly directed everyone back to Ivy. People started filing out. Everyone looked worn out and tired. It wasn't hard to see that they were just as hopeless as they were before, especially the people who were carrying dead or dying. It almost literally brought tears to my eyes.
Shane held a few men back. He had sent them to go raid cottages in the town for what they could find: food, water, blankets, medical supplies, etc. They had to have something in the town we could use for ourselves.
"I told them to go a long time ago." He said. "We should have plenty for tonight. Everyone will have some kind of food, at least. "We have to establish a camp..." Shane started to go on and on about safety and whatnot. "We need everything we can get our hands on, to be safe." He finally concluded.
He got me to call back all the men that were raiding so we could find and divide what they'd gathered. We didn't run into many warlocks along the way. I didn't feel like there was very much danger. If we ran into anyone, Shane just blasted them out of my way.
I was impressed with the work that the raiders had done. They'd gathered plenty to go around. And, despite all of them looking tired and beat down, they were the only ones who seemed to have determination left.
"Wait a second." Shane said quietly, stopping me on the path. "What?" I asked. The other men stopped and stared at us.
"Guys, keep going straight into the forest. It shouldn't be hard to find everyone once you've walked in far enough. Find Ivy. She'll help you distribute what you found—she'll portion it out evenly. If you need anything, ask her until we get back." Shane instructed.
They didn't ask questions. All of them just walked off without a word. "Why did you send them away?" I asked. "I just needed to ask this so we don't look like idiots. Is that cool with you?" Shane asked sarcastically. "Okay, what is it?" I replied.
"Have you seen Griffin?" he asked. "We found everyone else, didn't we?" he said. I was drawing a blank. "Did we ever FIND Griffin?" he asked again, slowly. "I thought someone did. I wasn't even there." I protested.
The two of us sighed. We faced the city again. "GRIFFIN!" Shane screamed at the top of his lungs. "Shut up! You're going to draw attention to where we are." I said. But Shane sounded desperate.
I didn't expect a response. So I was really surprised when we got one.
We heard a terrifying scream come from the cottage—one that wasn't entirely too far from us. Lucky for us, he kept screaming, which gave us just enough time to locate him exactly.
Shane ran towards a cabin where all the noise seemed to be coming from. "Shane, we don't even know if that's him." I shouted after him. He was moving at a furious pace. "I know it's him." He shouted back.
He tugged on the door until it gave way. "Griffin?" he said quieter. Everything had just gone silent. Without waiting for a response, Shane stormed into the cottage, looking thoroughly through all the rooms and checking every nook and cranny of the place until there was just one door left.
"What are the chances he'll be in there? Honestly, come on. This is creepy. He's probably back at came with the rest of them." I said skeptically. "This is a lesson for you. You don't stop looking because you're scared." Shane opened the door anyways.
And, of course, he was right. Griffin was strapped to a chair, being guarded by an enemy—bound, gagged, and unconscious, probably because he'd been screaming so loud.
It seemed like his captor was trying way too hard to be creepy. He had a greasy black beard and hair—his clothes were ragged. He looked like he'd been pulverized that day, and all of his teeth were knocked out. The ones that were left in his mouth were extremely rotten.
I exchanged quick looks with Shane. I could tell he was trying to get me to quickly understand one thing: take him by surprise. But it wasn't like we could plan anything out while he was standing right there.
"Your brother won't be making it back to your camp tonight." The warlock drew a knife out of his pants pocket and poked Griffin with it.
I looked back over at Shane again. He and I were both at a loss for words. Any questions or things we had to stay would've been stupidly obvious. "That's nice." I said. I was winging it—and I was hoping with every fiber of my being that I wasn't doing anything wrong.
Shane looked at me like I was a complete idiot. The warlock seemed a little surprised, too. "Excuse me?" he asked. "That's nice—it's cool, it's fine." I repeated. Shane looked ready to punch me in the face.
"How could you not want to rescue your own brother? You're supposed to be saving everyone, aren't you?" the warlock asked me. "I don't know. I mean, he's not THAT useful." Shane said, probably catching on to what I was trying to improvise on.
"Why are you here, then?" he asked. Shane and I just looked at each other. "FOR AMBUSH!" I said dramatically.
In no more than a millisecond, the warlock froze and fell on his face. Griffin immediately woke up. "What? What? What?" he asked. "Nothing. Everything's perfectly fine." Shane cut his ropes. "Did you kill him?" Griffin asked. Shane hesitated. "I had to. He wasn't going to back off—not that we asked or anything." He replied.
Griffin got up. But he was injured. He walked with a limp and he had a huge welt on his forehead. "Thanks for coming to get me." Griffin said. "You thought we weren't going to notice you were gone?" Shane asked.
I mostly blocked out their conversation and looked around at what had happened that day. Bodies were everywhere. There were piles of them practically grouped together. Most of them were lying in puddles of their own blood, spears or swords stuck in their chests or stomachs, their eyes still open and everything.
When I wasn't paying much attention, I tripped over a dead body and landed in someone else's blood. I almost screamed and scrambled away from it. Griffin and Shane stopped to stare at me. They laughed, but I was not amused.
Shane was about to say something, probably to joke around about how I wasn't paying attention—and then the body that I tripped over literally took a deep, raspy breath and sat up.
The guy literally stood up and stared at us for a second, wide eyed. And then he turned around and ran away. All three of us just looked at each other.
"Is that supposed to happen?" I asked. "Not naturally, I don't think so." Griffin replied. "But..." I could hardly find the words to explain how freaked out I was. I'd just tripped over him. He'd been dead—not breathing—heart not beating. And then what? He could just walk around again?
My brothers just dropped the subject. I couldn't just push it to the back of my mind. A dead guy just came back to life and ran away from us. I still didn't understand how that was possible.
Griffin just continued on in their old conversation. "I don't know. Maybe Cyrus wouldn't have noticed that I was gone." He said. "I mean, maybe he was too busy gawking at his cute friend for him to even notice me." Griffin said jokingly.
"What?" I asked. "That one girl you're always hanging out with." Shane intervened. "No, come on. You can't say that." I glared. "Yeah, right." I scoffed. "I don't like her like that." I lied. Shane scoffed back.
"Well, he does really like her. He's just a really big liar." Shane added. "I do not!" I retorted. "I have more important things to worry about." I said.
"Has no one noticed that something happened to my arm?" I asked loudly, trying my hardest to change the subject. "Fine. How did that happen?" Shane asked. "Technically I got stabbed." I said. "And your cute friend rescued you?" Griffin asked sweetly.
"I hate you both." I concluded. I tried to ignore their joke and their teasing, even if what they said was mostly true. It was slightly annoying. I tried to block them out and navigate my way back to camp.
It didn't take me too long to find the camp by myself, so that was helpful. It meant I didn't have to listen to either of my brothers tease me.
We all visited our mom as soon as we were back. It looked like everyone else had settled in nicely. It looked just as cozy as the other camp that they'd made—it looked homey, even. Being around everyone made it feel like home, despite the circumstances.
Mom didn't look so good. "I've been trying to reverse this weakness thing that the warlocks put on her. It's pretty hard, but my counter has been working slowly." Ivy told me. I smiled down at my mom and ignored the guilt.
"Thank you very much, Ivy. I appreciate all the responsibility you've taken on." She looked over at Shane, Griffin and I. "Don't worry about me. I'm feeling much better already" she said. "You should all try to get some sleep. It's been a long day." Mom added suddenly.
"You go ahead." Ivy said to me. "I have a lot of work to do here. Take Shane with you." She commanded. "Yeah, come on." Shane agreed. "I guess we could all use some rest."
Shane led me away from everyone else and tried to get a fire started for us. It was still early morning, but I was exhausted, and I was going to sleep. "Why is she the one that's always protecting you?" he asked.
"We're friends. She literally saved my life at school. I think I like it better this way." I said. He nodded, looking absorbed in is work. "Need help?" I asked. He glared. "What could you possible do to help me?" he asked sarcastically.
I looked at the fire, making it flare to life. Shane reeled back. I was pretty sure I'd scorched him. "How did you do that?" he asked. "I do what I want." He said triumphantly. "Right. That's cool." He mumbled.
"So..." he said awkwardly. I wasn't really sure how to start a real conversation with Shane. We weren't THAT talkative back at home. We mostly just teased each other—or he was working, or he was with his friends. But I'd never taken him for someone who was very serious, and there he was.
But I felt like I couldn't really talk to him. I would've called us "close" at home. We knew each other, but it seemed like we didn't KNOW each other. We would've had nothing in common. He was 24 and I was 15.
"You been sleeping well?" he asked. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I asked back. "I just noticed back at the camp. Maybe you just had a lot on your mind or something. I don't know." He replied.
"Well, no. I guess I haven't been sleeping so well. I don't know why." I lied. "Nightmares?" he guessed? "Where'd you get that from?" I asked. "I just assumed." He replied. "Yeah."
We didn't talk to what seemed like a long time. "You might want to try and get some sleep, then. Since all of this has started, I think you'll really need the rest." He said, after about 20 minutes of silence had passed.
"Yeah, I'll do that." I agreed. I laid down on the cold, hard ground, and I really tried. But the temperature had seemingly dropped dramatically. It had to have been at least 20 degrees cooler than it had been. I thought the fire would've kept me warm, but it seemed to have no effect.
In response to my cold discomfort, the ground seemed to become soft, like I was lying on one big, soft pillow. I sighed heavily. "Thank you." I mumbled to myself.
Despite the fact that I tried my hardest to sleep, I ended up lying awake for a long time. I remember it seeming as if the whole world was trying to let me sleep—I couldn't hear the chatter of people around me. All I could hear was the sound of cracking fire and chirping birds.
All of that combined, I slept pretty peacefully, after I had eventually fallen asleep. It was definitely one of the times I'd gotten to relax.
The little voice in my head, who I'd named Kevin, woke me up really suddenly. He's watching you. So I'd recommend watching your back, yeah? "What?" I asked sleepily. "Oh, thanks, Kevin." I mumbled. I didn't know what he was talking about, but I knew better than to ask.
I felt slightly out of place after that. I felt like he was being watched, just like Kevin had told me. Something told me that I wasn't going to have a very good day. But that wasn't the time to think about it.
I tried to drift back to sleep, until Shane came and shook me awake. "WHAT?" I asked angrily. "Get up." He said. "I've been awake." I replied. "Goodmorning to you, too, Shane." I rubbed my eyes.
"Ivy could use some of your help today, I'm sure. She's been awake for 2 consecutive nights. Maybe give her a rest." Shane suggested.
Ivy looked busy. She was hustling across the camp with people. The shack we'd put together was almost full of people. Men, sons, daughters, mothers, and even children. I felt sick to my stomach.
I got up shakily and went over to see Ivy. Shane had been right—she looked absolutely terrible. "Shane said you might need me today so you could get some rest." She looked at me blankly. "You look like you've been hit with a bus." I told her.
"Thanks, Cyrus. I'm sure that's what every girl wants to hear in the morning." She said sarcastically. "Sorry, sorry. But really, you should get some sleep." I told her. "No." she replied. "Why don't you go figure out what's going on with your brothers?" she suggested.
I went to protest. "Go. Now." She commanded. "Are you sure you don't need me?" I asked. "I can manage. Go on." I sighed. I really didn't want to see my brothers. I felt so useless around the majority of them.
But that wasn't really what was bothering me. Kevin's warning that morning was making me jumpy and alert, like I'd had a lot of coffee. I wasn't sure what Kevin had been talking about, but I felt watched, just like he'd warned. I didn't know if I was paranoid or just restless.
"Go kill someone for me, k?" she asked. "What?" I asked. "I'm tired." She admitted. "Seriously, though. You need to go with them." She added. "Just be safe and come back." That said, she hugged me tightly. "Are you that delirious?" I asked.
I hugged her back, trying not to be awkward. It surprised me whenever she hugged me first. She was hardly ever like that—and if she was, she was totally out-of-it. 2 days of sleeplessness could do that to anyone.
"I'll see you later, then." I said awkwardly once she'd let me go.
I went to go find Shane in the camp again. "I thought you were with Ivy." He said, pocketing a few small blades and strapping a knife to his side. "No. She told me I should come help you. Feel free to send me back, though, because I'm useless to you guys." I mumbled.
"No, I think I'll keep you." He looked at me and shifted uncomfortably. "I wasn't going to go and help the other 5, though. You should go find Griffin instead." Shane advised. "Where are you going?" I asked curiously.
"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone." He admitted. "I better be an exception, because now I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me." I said determinedly. Shane didn't look happy about it, but he told me, anyway.
"Mom told me this last night. It's got something to do with his real disappearance." He said quietly. "But she never meant for it to happen. I mean, it was an accident. None of us even really had a clue."
Shane trailed off for a second. He had aroused my suspicions, so I had to know. "Spill." I demanded. "Dad was the one that got mom kidnapped."
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