The Shadows

6

"Scar!" Sam yelled, rushing out of the water, to Jerome's side. "Come quickly!" To Rose's surprise, Scar seemed to materialize into the clearing, rushing over to Sam and Jerome.

"What happened?!" Scar exclaimed, helping Jerome limp over to the Tree, leaning him against it. She pulled out her Medic bag and quickly began putting an array of medicines onto his wounds.

"Scar, calm down! Don't waste that on- ow!" Jerome winced as Scar tightly wrapped his badly cut lower left arm. "Thank you, Scar, but really! We need to move. The Flames are here, and they brought some friends. I was spying on them so I could warn you, but they found me and tried to kill me. They would have too, if it wasn't for these. I heard them coming."He pointed to his ears, which Rose now noticed were pointed and elf-like. Just then, angry voices sounded from far away in the forest.

"They're here!" Scar shouted. By that time all of  them had gotten out of the river, awaiting what to do next. Scar grabbed everyone's weapons and shoved them into their hands, saying "We split up. Run in different directions, make them tired before we fight." And with that, a group of people burst from the other end of the clearing. Some of them Rose remembered from the earlier confrontation, but some were all new faces. Fear filled Rose's body, but it dissolved when Jack grabbed her hand and yelled "Run!"

And run is exactly what they did. As the ran from the clearing, she saw that three of the group had broken off to chase her and Sam. She recognized the girl Clary and the treacherous Percy, but there was one more boy that she didn't recognize. He was tall, and probably at least one year older than Rose. His handsomely sharp features were complimented with fierce fiery eyes. And then he burst into flames. He literally combusted on the spot, startling Rose and making her jump a little. Then she noticed that he wasn't burning up, but running after them as a giant ball of fire. This motivated Rose to run even faster.

Soon, the group started steering them onto a rocky path shouldered by boulders on the left and thick trees on the right. Rose started faltering, and Jack got this odd look in his eyes.

Taking her hand he whispered, "I'm going to lead two away. Then you've only got one to worry about." Rose protested, but Jack only silenced her and let go of her hand. Just before he sprinted off into the forest, he looked Rose straight in eye and whispered, "Be brave." And he was gone. Flamey and Clary broke off to chase him, and Rose was left with Percy. She had noticed that they were reaching a point where the forest stopped, and the path just dropped off. Percy had her trapped. It was fight or jump, but Rose didn't know which to pick. She stood on the precipice as Percy slunk forward like a cat who had cornered its prey.

"What've we got here?" Percy asked in a smooth voice. She looked over the side and saw nothing but a grayish most that blocked her view, so she looked back up at Percy. His grey eyes were filled with malice, and Rose knew if she choose to fight she would die.Hoping and praying that there was water below, she spun around and plummeted off the cliff. She landed feet first in water with a splash. As she surfaced, though, she heard another splash, signaling that Percy had jumped as well. In a panic, Rose tried to gather all of her broken memories of swimming. She finally remembered how to swim the fastest and swam with the current of the river that she supposed she was in. She swan for what seemed like forever until she was caught.

"Gotcha!" Percy yelled, grabbing her from behind. He dragged her to the river bank and bound her hands, tying them tightly behind her back. "Now, we have a meeting to get to." He grabbed her elbow and started off down the bank, and they soon emerged out of the grayish mist into a weird looking clearing. The river ran along one side while the forest lay on the other side of a sort of stone wall. The clearing was already occupied, and a sickening feeling filled her when she saw who it was. Quick, Sam, and Jack were knelt on the ground, three archers aiming at them so that they couldn't move. Percy steered Rose over to the archers, forcing her to kneel as well. They were turned to see Annabeth, who stood with Clary, Flamey, and a couple of other strangers.

"We're here!" Yelled a familiar voice from the woods. "And we caught Him!" Lydia, Thalia, and a stranger stepped out from the small part of woods not covered in rock, Lydia dragging Jerome with them.

"Where's Scar?!" Annabeth shrieked, infuriated. "Where is she?" She demanded. Rose could see everyone tense up. Scar was still out there, and that scared them. "Well, whatever! Let's just do this so we can get out of here." Annabeth turned to Jerome, whom Lydia had dragged over to Annabeth. "Where is it, spy?"

"Well, it depends on what you mean, Annabeth. I have many things." Jerome smiled, keeping his cool even in Annabeth's intense gaze. His polite words infuriated her even more, and she drew out a dagger.

"Tell me where the Key is now, or I will kill you!" Annabeth stated in a voice so filled with hatred that it almost made Rose wince. Jerome just smiled at her and rolled his eyes.

"Go ahead, kill me. Then you'll never find it." He stared straight at Annabeth as he this, holding her stare. Rose was amazed at how bold Jerome was, but also confused at what this Key was.

"So be it. I'll have to get it out of one of your friends instead." Annabeth sneered, raising her knife to deliver a killing blow. At that very moment, two arrows whizzed through the air, one knocking the knife out of Annabeth's hand, the other thumping into one of the archer-guard's right shoulder. Everyone was astonished, even Rose. The other guards dropped their weapons to help their injured colleague.

"That was a warning shot." Shouted a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. "Touch one hair on any of their heads, and you die." And with that, Scar materialized out of thin air, standing on the large rocky wall, multiple arrows nocked into her bow. Everyone looked up at her, and Rose saw that as a chance to make a move. The discarded knife had landed close to her, so she leaned over and cut the ropes free of her hand. In a split second she had her sword out and sliced off all of the boys' ropes. The guards tried to fight them, but were quickly bested, and the group ran to help Jerome. No one else moved in fear of being struck by Scar's arrows. Once they were safely in the woods, Rose watched as Annabeth screamed at Scar, who completely disappeared into thin air, ending up right next to Rose seconds later.

"Go, Run!" Scar yelled and they all ran into the woods, leaving the once again defeated a Flames behind.
***************
About an hour later, they found themselves on the edge of the Meadows. Jerome explained that the Key was a way out of the game, a way to escape. He had found where to put it, but he only had two of five pieces. He also explained how he didn't know that the Flames had known that he had it.

"Well, we can't go back to the Clearing, so we might as well go look for the other pieces." Scar said, explaining that the Flames would be awaiting the back by the Tree and that they couldn't go back. When she was done explaining, Scar rose to her feet and set off across the Meadow. The others rose as well, hurrying to catch up to her.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked, wondering why she was leading them into the very place she had told the never to go.

"If we're going to find the rest of those pieces, we are going to need help. And I think I know where we can find it." Scar stopped on top of a slope, looking down at the scene below. The herd of Draco was grazing on the dark meadows grass. "Maybe the Draco are more useful than I thought."
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Hi guys!! Sorry for the confusing chapter! I still hope you enjoyed!!thanks for reading!
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-Foxstorm