Chapter 11* Ride from Pegasi
Soft grass shivers in the wind as Sam and I stand in the middle of the field. Usually, I would’ve been overcome with the beauty of the whole thing, seeing as it was so breathtaking, but this time, what took my breath away was entirely different.
We are in a field of Pegasi. I’d gone through a Greek myth phase, so I thought I knew all about them. Just flying horses, right? Wrong.
They are tall, like really tall. Two heads taller than Sam. The one closest to me is brown with a star in the middle of his forehead, and he has a beautiful set of creamy white wings tucked neatly at his side.
“Wow,” Sam breathes.
“Wow indeed,” I murmur.
I take a step closer to the brown one. He looks up, snorts, and skitters back, glaring at me with suspicious eyes. Oops.
“There, there,” I coax, not moving and staring at the ground instead of maintaining eye contact. “I’m Kayla.” Not like he could understand me, but still.
The horse whinnies and goes back to grazing. Taking it as an encouraging sign, I take another step closer, and another, until I am finally just inches from him. Carefully, on the alert, I stroke his soft mane. The horse whinnies again, rubbing his head against my hand affectionately.
I look back and realize Sam is staring at me. I can’t help but make a remark.
“Enjoying the view?”
“Of what?” he asks, puzzled.
“My edible ass.”
Rolling his eyes, Sam shakes his head. “It’s amazing how fast they like you.”
“Thanks,” I say, turning my attention back to the horse. It is now staring at me with intelligent eyes, seeming as though it is trying to tell me something.
Its wings flap a bit, agitated. It takes a step closer, and walks past me, stopping when I am beside it. The wings flap again.
“What?” I say, biting my lip. “You want me to sit on you?”
The horse gives a snort, as if it is offended that I took this long to figure it out. When I don’t make a move, it stamps its foot. Hard.
“Okay, okay!” I grab a fistful of mane, and swing myself up clumsily. “Shit,” I swear, as the horse- or Pegasus, I really should stop calling it a horse- unfolds its wings.
“Sam!” I yell, panicking.
“Hold on, Kayla!” he shouts back, just as the Pegasus takes off. I let loose a scream. As I look down I see Sam swinging himself onto a black Pegasus and taking off after me. Meanwhile, it is all I can do not to fall off. Every time the wings of the Pegasus flapped, we would drop, and I would scream.
“Sam!” I shriek, my voice lost in the clouds. “Sam!”
“Right here!” he is shouting back.
“Do you think they’re bringing us to their boss or somethi- ahhh!” My Pegasus dropped dangerously low and I flatten myself on its mane, screaming my head off.
“Oklahoma City!” I hear Sam shouting. “Take us to Oklahoma City!”
“Why are you telling it that?” I screech to Sam. I can totally imagine him shrugging.
“For what it’s worth!” he shouts back. Then I look back and he is lost in the clouds.
“Horsey,” I say nervously. “Don’t you bring us to your bossy and get us killed, okay? Good horsey,” I stroke its mane. “Good horsey.”
My stomach settles after a while and I feel like puking. Occasionally Sam’s and his Pegasus would appear beside us, popping out of a cloud or something. It’s really cold up here, and dressed in nothing but a tee shirt and jeans, the cold is really starting to get to me.
My stomach growls. I manage to pry my fingers off the Pegasus’s mane and rummage in my bag for some biscuits. Extracting some, I pop a few in my mouth. Thank the Cookie God for making them taste so good.
“Sam!” I yell through a mouthful of chocolate chip. He pops out of the cloud to my right, looking green.
“Cookies!” I yell, waving the packet at him. His face perks up and I toss the packet to him, making sure I aim properly.
Thank god he catches it. I watch as he stuffs some into his mouth and throws it back to me. Unfortunately, I miss it and almost fell off my horse in the process. I swear colorfully as my Pegasus gives an angry snort when I grab a fistful of mane to pull myself upright!
“Sorry, sorry!” I right myself and settle back in the seat. Thank god I have more biscuits.
The ride passes uneventfully and I am starting to doze off (on a Pegasus’s back, don’t ask me how) when suddenly I hear Sam shouting my name. I jerk awake and my first thought is that we have reached the resistance. Warmth spreads through my body, but Sam’s voice finally breaks through my haze.
“Duck!”
Immediately I duck. And just in time, too. A few seconds after my head goes down, a bolt of lightning flies by alarmingly close, maybe even zinging the tips of my brown locks. Giving a yelp, I press myself flatter.
“What’s going on?” I yell.
“I think-” I hear a grunt as Sam ducks himself- “We’re being attacked!”
“You think?” My voice drips with sarcasm. “Lightning bolts are zapping at us and all you manage to figure out is that we being attacked?”
“By Zeus!”
Fair enough. My thoughts are interrupted when another bolt zooms by, raising the hairs on my arm.
How are we going to get out of this? “Go down!” I yell to the Pegasus, hoping that it can understand me. For good measure, I give it a little prodding. Thankfully, it seems to get the message and swoops down. My heart rises to my throat as the land speeds towards us.
“Ahhh!” I can hear Sam shouting too as his horse follows suit. We fall towards the ground in a deathly spiral, and the Pegasus swoops up at the last second, flying just above the canopy of a green, green forest. I can just touch the tips of the tallest trees.
The lightning bolts keep coming and the horses pick up their pace. “Fly,” I urge. “Fly, you can do it!”
And finally I see it. A towering mountain, with imposing grey walls and thick platforms jutting out at intervals. I think I see a man with binoculars looking at me, though it might have been just the fog. I can’t be sure.
“The resistance!” I shout, just loud enough for Sam to hear me. He doesn’t reply; my shout got lost in the wind.
And then the Pegasi are landing, all too fast, the ground zooms up to meet me in a blur. Their hooves thump heavily on the ground, and the jolt ejects me out of my seat. Sprawling on the ground, I quickly pick myself up. Sam scrambles to his feet, and I steal a last glance at the Pegasi- Now flying specks in the distance. They’ve gone off.
“Hurry!” I hiss. Sam dashes for the gaping hole in the cave face-the entrance- and only needs about a second more to get his ass to safety.
But like I’ve learned a lot in recent days, a lot of things can happen in a second.
A bolt of lightning, cackling blue electricity, comes flying out of nowhere. It hits Sam squarely in the back and I see his face as he falls. His eyes widen, his hair backlit by the setting sun, and time seems to slow as he topples. Rushing forward, I catch him in my arms, and drag him inside. The bolts stop as soon as we get inside.
It’s hard to touch him. Electricity cackles between the stands of his hair. Smoke curls off his shirt, and his face is blackened.
He’s going to die.
No. The resistance is just a few steps away. And I’m not going to screw up now, when Sam needs me most. And Apollo should be inside. He can heal Sam. He will heal Sam.
Gritting my teeth, I sling Sam over my shoulder. He screams. The sound is gut wrenching, but my focus now is not giving him comfort, it’s bringing him to someone who can help him. And comfort is a luxury, one I cannot afford.
I practically drag him all the way in. With each step, my heart gets heavier. What if this is not the resistance? What if they are too far inside? And if by the time I get there Sam is dead, then even Apollo cannot heal him. Hades will have him.
Tears spring to my eyes. My arm is growing numb, not just from his weight but from all the electricity coursing through Sam.
And then miraculously, I hear something. Footsteps. Three sets, getting closer and closer. I stop completely, too tired and in pain to carry on. A blonde guy comes into view, with a dark haired guy and the familiar face of Apollo. All three are looking at us with a mixture of curiosity and worry.
“Glad… you could… make it,” I manage to say, before passing out.
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Hi :D This is a special upload for the 13th of August! Know what day this is? >:D It's International Left Hander's Day, that's what it is! Happy lefty day everyone!! I'm a lefty too :D
Hope you're as excited as me for the upcoming chapters!
xoxoxo Abigail.