What an adventure

Chapter nine: F**K

"Althea?"

Nick coughed up some blood, the sight before her amused Althea.

"Hey, Nick." Her bright eyes shown a glimmer of evil.

Ophelia whipped her head over when she had heard Althea's voice, "Althea!? What the hell-" Ophelia was interrupted by Calypso flipping her over to where Ophelia was now under her. Calypso grabbed Ophelia's pole and pressured it on Ophelia's neck this time. She stared right into Ophelia's honeydew eyes and spoke quietly.

Nick held his chest as it throbbed in pain. "Althea, why the hell did you blast me?"

Althea walked over to Nick and grabbed him by his hair. "You all are extremely naive. Never suspicious of the small one, huh? Quite stereotypical if I do say so myself." She threw him back against the wall.

She looked over to Finn and smiled, "Hey Finn, nice to see you again. How long has it been? Five years?"

Finn stared at her in shock, he never knew that she was working with Darian. Finn's shock was subsided by Iris walking through the portal, Argus followed behind her.

"Ophelia! I can't find the human. Argus, go help her!"

Argus nodded his head and ran over to Ophelia, pulling Calypso off of her.

Althea turned to Iris and smiled, "Iris! So good to see you again but too bad you aren't a part of the plan and Darian told me to get rid of any...irrelevant things." She stretched her arm out towards Iris but before she could shoot a blast at her, Finn grabbed onto her outstretched arm while Nick grabbed onto her other arm. She only managed to push Finn away, he hit the wall and went unconscious.

Nick was about to grab her other arm but she threw him towards the wall as well. Iris began running to Finn but before she could make it, Althea shot a blast at her and impaled her in the stomach.

Althea walked over to her and smiled as Iris coughed up some blood. "Holy sh*t dude, that hurts." she laughed a bit. She looked up at Althea and smiled, "look at you, you've grown to be so beautiful."

Althea kneeled next to her and put her hand on the wound, just as she was about to serve up another blast, she was pushed to the side by Argus. The big guy picked her up and examined her face. She was still clearly conscious but the blood loss made her sight go blurry.

He looked down at Iris, though Iris couldn't see his eyes that were always covered by his hair and he wasn't speaking, she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I'm fine, just stall Althea, for the time being, Nick's quest hasn't been fulfilled," Iris said to Argus, he nodded his head and stood up, taking each blow that Althea had thrown at him.

While he was busy doing that, Nick managed to sneak away and back through the portal to go get Eli. He looked back through the portal one last time before turning around. He began running down the hall, turning a few more corners, he turned one last corner and ran down a hall where he spotted two ginormous doors, he guessed that it was where Eli was by the odd carvings on the door that must have been to keep any unwanted guests from this realm from seeing the room which must have been the reason that Iris and Argus couldn't find it.

He ran up to the door and tugged it open, it was surprisingly unlocked. He fully opened the door and spotted Eli in the middle of the room. The kid was laying on the floor in a puddle of his tears. "Eli!" Nick ran over to him and kneeled. "Eli! Kid!"

No answer, Nick noticed that Eli had passed out of dehydration from crying. He reached into his pocket and opened the vial that was inside and poured the substance onto Eli's chains which melted them, he put the vial back into his pocket. Nick then leaned Eli against himself and pulled a green spiky plant with ombre pink tips from inside his bag, he ripped the plant open and pushed the spiky part against Eli's neck. Eli's eyes shot open, he began gasping for air like he was suffocating or like someone was choking him, Nick spotted a red, ring-like mark all around his neck.

Once he was fully conscious, he realized that he was out of his chains and leaning against someone. He jerked his elbow back, hitting Nick in the stomach. He quickly stood up and put his fists up. His eyes widened when he realized who it was.

"Nick!"

He jumped at Nick and embraced him into a hug, Nick made a small oof sound but ended up hugging Eli back. Eli quickly pulled away and held Nick by his shoulders. "Nick! We need to get out of here before that evil dude returns." Eli shot up and began running to the open doors, he stopped when he realized that Nick wasn't following him. He looked back to see Nick putting the plant back into his bag.

"Nick, hurry!"

Nick swung the bag over his shoulder and stood up, he looked over to Eli and smiled nervously. "Sorry kid, we can't necessarily leave just yet."

Eli gave Nick a blank stare "What? Why not?"