Hero

Chapter 3: Crystal's POV

Kasey and I exited the Labyrinth in a very destructive way.

The Delta symbol must have been triggered or something because once Kasey touched it, it released a huge earthquake.

We crouched low, our hands shielding our faces. When the earthquake finally passed, we were dirty and our clothes were shredded, but we were fairly alive.

We climbed out of the Labyrinth and I barely noticed how good it felt to breathe in fresh air again when I saw the destruction we created. Boulders were scattered everywhere and an immense number of large chasms and crevices had formed in the earth.

“Kasey…what have we done?” I muttered.

She ignored my question. Instead, she pointed ahead. “Look! There’s a forest a few yards forward. Artemis may be in there.”

I thought it was a little selfish for Kasey to be searching for Artemis after we created this destruction. What if some people were here while the earthquake was occurring?

Then I realized the sense in her words. Why would there be people here, at this time? It would be way too much of a coincidence.

So I followed Kasey toward the forest, scrambling over boulders, avoiding wide chasms and leaping over the narrow crevices.

Just as we were nearing the edge of the trees, I saw a figure crouched upon a small hill of boulders.

“Who’s that?” I asked Kasey, pointing, my heart beating as I realized that there apparently was a person out here at the time the earthquake occurred.

Kasey knit her eyebrows. “I don’t know. Let’s go see.”

Soon, we arrived at the hill of boulders, and I realized that the figure was a dark-haired girl.

“Hello!” Kasey called.

The girl turned around to face us, her eyes dark with grief. “Hello,” she muttered glumly. Her muscles were tense and her hands hovered near two deadly-looking swords strapped to her back.

“Hi, I’m Kasey Johnson, a Hunter of Artemis,” Kasey greeted in a friendly way. “And this is Crystal. What’s your name? What are you doing here?”

“I’m Roselyn, a demigod daughter of Zeus,” the girl muttered darkly. “And I’m searching for my friend.”

Guilt pierced my heart as I realized Roselyn’s friend had been buried by boulders because of the earthquake.

“We’ll help you find her,” I offered. I kicked a boulder with my foot and recoiled as pain blasted up my leg. “Ouch! Hard boulder.”

“Definitely,” Roselyn agreed. “So how do you plan to move these, huh, smart one?”

Saying that, she sounded so much like Zeus it scared me. Then I remembered that Zeus was her father.

My mind worked like gears as I thought of a strategy. “Here, all three of us try to move one boulder. We might be able to do it.”

Kasey and Roselyn immediately agreed, so we took our places around the boulder.

We mustered up all our strength and tried to lift it. Somehow, we managed to throw it into a large chasm.

We did this again and again until a girl with light brown hair was uncovered. Fortunately, she was breathing. Unfortunately, she was obviously close to death.

I turned to Kasey, ready to high-five her and Roselyn for our awesome teamwork. But Kasey seemed paralyzed, staring wide-eyed at the girl. “Oh my gods, that’s Leafy!”

“Yeah, so?” Roselyn challenged. “Come on, we’ve got to heal her. She’s dying.”

“That’s my friend!” Kasey muttered, still staring at the girl. “She’s a Hunter of Artemis, like me!”

Roselyn froze. “You mean, you know her?”

Kasey crossed her arms and glared at Roselyn. “Well, duh! She and I are part of the Hunt!” Her gaze softened. “But yeah, you’re right. We have to heal her. And soon.”

Roselyn smirked with satisfaction. She scooped Leafy into her arms. “We need a fire. And somewhere to spend the night. Do you-”

“Got it,” Kasey interrupted, snapping her fingers and making a tent appear.

We entered it and I gasped in disbelief at what I saw. Fluffy pillows were arranged everywhere with thick, soft blankets for warmth. There was even a beverage stand with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, you name it.

And Kasey somehow just made it all appear with a snap of her fingers.

“Settle in,” Kasey said. She took Leafy from Roselyn and propped her up with some pillows.

Just when Kasey was starting to feed Leafy herbs, Roselyn said with a sneer: “Anything for me?”

Kasey rolled her eyes. “You don’t need anything.”

“Oh, I don’t?” Roselyn asked, taking off her coat and rolling up her sleeves to reveal deep engravings in her light brown skin. “Sort of got in a fight with Hera,” she added with a smirk.

Kasey rolled her eyes again and tossed Roselyn a cubed object. “There. Happy?” She rolled her eyes once again before going back to feeding herbs to Leafy.

“Is that ambrosia?” I questioned, studying the cubed object in Roselyn’s hand. As usual, I didn’t know where I got this info. “The food of the gods? It’s heals demigods but incinerates mortals, right?”

Roselyn popped it into her mouth. “Yep, and it’s all gone.” She sneered at me. “Poor Crystal doesn’t get some.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I know this is hard for you, Roselyn, but can we please all try to get along?”

Roselyn’s eyes darkened. “I’m sorry. I’m just so…worried, I guess, about Leafy. I get crabby when I’m worried.” She gave me a weak smile. “So, what brings you two here?”

I told her about our search for Artemis (apparently, she and Leafy were also looking for her, so we decided to search together) and how we got stuck in the labyrinth.

Roselyn raised an eyebrow at the mention of her dad. “Oh, sorry about him. He’s pretty…selfish.” She rolled her eyes. “You know what he did to me? He abandoned me just because my mother died.”

“Ouch,” I said, wincing.

I continued my story, and as I got to the part where Kasey and I exited the labyrinth, I quickly added, “I’m sorry about Leafy. I swear, we didn’t mean to cause the earthquake.”

“It’s alright,” Roselyn said, but her voice was hollow.

Then something occurred to me. “Hey Kasey, why aren’t you giving Leafy ambrosia?”

“Leafy’s not a demigod,” Kasey said shortly.

Roselyn sat forward and asked a bit too quickly, “Then what is she?”

Kasey hesitated for a long time before replying. “Wow, is it dark! You two should really get some sleep.”

I was wondering why Kasey was so abrupt in changing the subject when I realized how exhausted I was. Too tired to protest, I fell into a deep slumber.

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A/N:

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I updated! I'm FAAAAASSSTTTT!!!

Jk, I actually have the whole thing written out, I just need to edit some parts to make them smoother. Like I said, I wrote this a long time ago, and I've improved my writing over time. So. :P

This chapter was kind of short, and sorry about that.

But remember VOTE AND COMMENT. Or just vote. Because votes make me happy. ^_^