The Sacred Thievery

Chapter XXIII: Duct Tape.

I'd honestly love to say that we were able to stay well ahead of the crazed high-schoolers, but we didn't. Jesse was in the lead, followed by Bryan. But we all seemed to be sure we couldn't keep this up. We could hear their bare feet gouging footprints into the path.

Ava shouted to the rest of us. "Guys, they're getting really close. We can't-"

Ava shrieked as a stone was sent rocketing over her head at the speed of sound. If she was any taller, her head might have a hole in it now. As it was, the rock disappeared into the forest. Ava, quickly recovering, gave a Told you so! look.

Leroy nodded in agreement and pulled something out of his fanny sling. It was a large roll of duct tape that seemed unused, and Leroy pulled the tape up so he could pull some if he needed. However, before anyone could do much of anything, he shouted out to us.

"Scatter! Rendezvous at the tree!"

I had to admit I was impressed at him being able to think of that and run, but my reaction speed was anything but. It took me a full three seconds to realize exactly what to do, but I doubled back in a direction the rest hadn't covered. However, this was right by the Maenads, which I didn't consider in my three seconds. Natlee took a swipe at me, and her longest finger clipped my arm, cutting a gash.

I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or annoyed that I was the one who'd suffered a strike from the Maenads first, even though I was the most durable. Luckily, after that, the three of them, not knowing the rendezvous, took a while to decide who to go after. They ended up splitting their forces in between our directions, which was an annoyingly good idea, but I was sure we could still get away.

It took me a few minutes to get back to the tree. It was my third time now at the entrance in this park, but I wasn't complaining.

Jesse, Bryan, and Leroy were back already, but Ava wasn't there yet.

"Um, is she okay?" I asked Bryan.

"Don't worry, this is typical Ava behavior," he assured me. "She'll be back in a minute."

Sure enough, Ava came into view after exactly 61 seconds, but I'd take the golden drachma Bryan silently owed me after we survived the Maenads. When Ava arrived, the first thing she asked was what Leroy planned to do with the duct tape.

Leroy cleared his throat, like he was giving a presentation, and told us his plan.

After I heard it, I wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't completely crazy, and it could work, especially since we couldn't kill the Maenads if our lives still meant anything to us. Everyone else agreed almost a good minute after it was explained. It was decently thought out based on the circumstances, except for one part of the plan, which just had to be the beginning.

"We have to get them all together for this to work," Leroy promised, which, according to what I'd told them about how they'd split up, wouldn't be easy.

I chimed in once again. "Well, if they didn't follow us, which they couldn't have done, how are we supposed to find all of them?"

Bryan actually laughed. "The Maenads are as good hunters as we are. We don't find them. They find us."

Whether or not this was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't.

"If so," Jesse started, "We should probably move around and stick together, for when they do find us."

No one disagreed once again, but her tone made it seem as if it was a 110% chance we'd be found first, which gave me a shiver.

Whether we all liked the plan or were too tired and miserable to disagree with anything, I couldn't be sure. We all turned back around and went in the vague direction of where we tried to ambush Chari, as if subconsciously.