two

21 0 0
                                    

"Okay! You know the rules. First to be disarmed wins. No killing, no maiming." I say, reminding him.

"Scared, Bells?" Now I am. He has to know how that name affects me.

"Never." I say, regaining my confidence.

"One.. two.. three!"

I immediately go on offense, trying to get an opening against him.

"You know, you're really easy to read, bells." I ignore his comment, knowing he's trying to throw me off. "It would all be so much easier if you could just admit it."

"Admit what? Will you stop talking so I can beat your ass?" I say, frustrated with his words.

"As you wish." He says, and suddenly switches into attack mode, forcing me into defense.

I smirk, knowing I have the upper hand. He isn't nearly as skilled at offense as he is at defense, and I can use that as an advantage.

When I see an opening, I hold my breath and go for it. I wrap my blade arm around his, and pull. His arm is immobilized, and he can no longer hold his sword.

I continue to hold his arm in the weird position, too exhilarated to realize how close we were.

"I win."

"I regret teaching you, Ara." He says, disappointed in his loss.

"Jealous I beat you with your own moves?" I tease. My guard is let down due to the fight being over, and I have already dropped my sword, so I wasn't ready when he grabbed me and flipped me over, us both falling to the ground, him on top of me, pinning me.

"Trust me, sweetheart, you don't know half of my moves." He smirks down at me, probably seeing how red I am. But I'm not going to lose.

I flip us over, and now I'm pinning him. I lean close to his ear. "Yet I still beat you." I sit back up, staring into his eyes, slowly realizing how weird this looked. "I-i should go. I still have stuff to do." I say, scrambling off of him, and putting my sword away.

"Ara." He says softly. I act as if I don't hear him. "Ara, come on." I still ignore him. "Arabella!" He yells, "You can't just run away."

I turn around to face him. "I'm not running away."

"Yes you are. Every time we get too close you suddenly act as if i'm contagious. Why won't you just admit you like me?"

"We're just friends, Luke."

"I don't want to be."

"That's too bad." I say, turning my back to him, and starting to walk. That is, until he grabbed me and flipped me around, pulling me closer to him.

"Come on, Ara. We're not 12 anymore. You're 17, almost an adult. When are you gonna grow up?"

"Grow up? I'm grown up, Luke! I know it's a bad idea to keep attachments. What if you get killed? What do I do then?" I say, frustrated.

Of course I love Luke. I've always loved Luke. When you're a demigod, you live life in complete danger. I've learned to live alone. If I let myself give into Luke, I know it wouldn't end well. Sure, I would love to hug him, kiss him, act like there's no one else in the world but him. There is nobody else. It's not worth the pain.

"I'm not going anywhere." Luke said, sighing.

"I'm sorry, Luke." This time, he let me walk away.
_________________________________

Now that I'm stressed out, I decided to take a walk into the forest, to a clearing. The only place I feel calm.

I sit on the ground, crossing my legs. I place one hand on the ground, and focus. I feel a pull in my gut, and the ground started to twist in on itself, cracking and cratering, as vines shoot up and wrap around my arm.

Since I was a kid, I was always able to do things. Things that it seems even the other half-bloods here can't. That's why I kept it a secret. I mean, how would they react if they discovered my gifts?

"Arabella." I hear a whisper. No, not a whisper. An echo. Then the footsteps sound. "Hello." A tall man, with dark hair and boots stands in front of me, though he wasn't there a second ago.

"Dad?"

all's fair | l. castellanWhere stories live. Discover now