The King bearer three

Part 11: Raven - haired boy

The boy had not been caught in the wave. Or, it's more that, he had, he'd just not entirely noticed. Something that few would have noticed in the chaos, what with most people in a hundred metre radius being swallowed by the wave, was that the boy had not been affected by the overwhelming wall of water. That he'd had no trouble of being lifted off the ground, or even being hit with the force and knocked around, drowning, breaking bones, or anything else that other people had to deal with. He'd simply walked through the wave, out one side and, noticing how the monsters were eliminated by all the things he was not affected by, and severely bored, strolled into the woods. He didn't really know why. There was a lot of other things he could have been doing -a lot of other things he ought to be doing, to affirm these peoples' belief that he was normal, but not much of that could be done at that moment, and he was bored, and he wanted to wander. So he did. Something brought him to the lake, a shaded space under a tree, with a small stain of red in the soil between the roots of a tall ash tree, with hanging branches that almost touched the water. Quaint, he thought. Tranquil. 

He was about to sit down in the seat made by the ash tree's roots when to stare at the lakebed, when he thought it was possibly a good idea to help the several aquatic creatures and naiads that had been affected by the son of Poseidon stealing all the water. Considering this, he stepped down onto the soggy floor, and over to the first creature he could see - a naiad, with long, dark hair and pale skin. Another thought entered his head. He nodded; continued walking. As he did so, little pools of water sprouted from where his feet had been. They were not the same colour as the lake water, and had a sticky consistency the water did not, but it would certainly help the poor creatures to breathe and gain strength. When he got over to the naiad, she choked out the word "Help", and looked at him with pleading eyes. He carefully dragged her hand over to the nearest pool, and dipped her fingers in. She gasped in a breath, and he could see her strength increasing as the water, if you could call it that for what it was, which had no name, shrank centimetre by centimetre every second, until it was gone. The boy drew up more, and then walked off towards the next creature. This would help them all survive until the water returned. 

When it was done and every creature he had found in the remains of the lake had a pool of the liquid he had created to sustain them, he walked back to the tree and sat down in the seat. Then he sensed something. First, it was a sound, light, like a whisper, but jagged like words muttered in anger. Curses, a stream of them, coming from somewhere behind the tree. He walked over the red stain, and peered around the tree. There was a girl, her hair long and twisting, appearing to be dark green, like twirling vines, was moist with sweat and covered her face. She was leaning against a large oak, whose branches blocked the light above her. Her breathes were exhausted pants escaping her lungs, her chest heaving with each one. She looked almost as though she had over - exerted herself. He walked closer towards her, climbing on one of the hanging tree's roots, and her head snapped towards him. Their eyes met. Hers were glowing green. This was not normal. A theory about her formed in his mind.

 "Buzz off," she said bitterly. He ignored her, mopped his brow. He was still wet. He looked behind him. The lake was filling back up. Percy Jackson, Poseidon's kid, had finished with it. He wondered vaguely if the creatures would be okay or if his pools of liquid would pollute the water. Then, not turning around, he returned his focus to the girl with green eyes and his theory. "Impressive," he mused. "What," she asked, biting. He shrugged, turning back around. "The odd things around camp. Rather impressive happenings, wouldn't you say?" "She looked taken aback. His suspicions grew. "Yes," she said. "Exceptionally strange. What was..." "The Oracle going to say," he intoned, suspecting, chances as they were, that she wouldn't have said that. If his theory was right, she wouldn't have said anything. "Yes, that," she said extatically, as if his suggestion was just what she was looking for. Or, what she needed. Almost like a distraction. The boy observed that, the longer the exchange went on, the more energy she seemed to gain. She's  an exceptional extrovert, the boy thought. Or it has something to do with the fading green light in her eyes, and the fact that I can see their whites for the first time. "It's such a mystery," the girl continued, "So unfair she didn't get to finish." Impressive, he thought. She knows more than I realised. "Oh, actually," he mused. "What made the Oracle stop? I wasn't there, so, all I know is from my friends, and they were a little too light on the details, so, I'd really appreciate the reminder." The girl, visibly stumped, stood starring at him with a vague and blank expression for; one; two; three beats, without an answer. 

By the third beat, he was done with her. His theory had been proven. This girl was one of the "strange things" coming to the camp. There were enough mysteries. It was time to get some answers. "Who are you," the boy asked, "and what are you doing here?" His voice was sharp and fierce, laced with anger, severe as stone at the bottom of the tall cliff which faces the sea. The girl met his eyes. "My name is Vita," she said defiantly, "and I am your end." She turned on her heal and ran, disappearing back into the shadows. He chased her, running and running, running almost blind in some parts, until he tripped over a root. In front of his face, there was a small sapling, two green leaves on a pale stem. He scowled in indignantly: he had a sense that the girl was gone. He got up off the ground, and looking around. The distinctive lack of humans - aka the girl - confirmed his suspicions.  

He screamed in rage, a wild, truly primal growl - before promptly covering his mouth. The others would be getting suspicious now - he had to get back to the dining pavilion. His eyes scanned the forest, finding the quickest way out, and a second later, he was gone, weaving through the underbrush and over hanging trees, back to where he had been before the wave had arrived. He managed to fight his way back to the dinning pavilion. It was a fight, however, as the further and further along his path he went, the more the forest itself seemed to fight against him, roots miraculously extending to trip him, vines catching his limbs and restraining him. The more this happened, the more he could be heard muttering curses. One nymph, a girl named Juniper, approached the boy and asked what he was cursing, and he said "Vita," in a harsh tone, and stomped off. Juniper was left very confused, but didn't give it much more time and went back to her business. The boy continued to the dinning pavilion. And was spotted. "YOU THERE!"