Dead Lines

41: Treasure the Stars

Unedited.

Chapter Forty-One

Monsters continued to crawl out of the crack but they scampered away. Like a switch flipped in their minds telling them they didn't belong here, that they should flee. Afraid of confrontation in this new world or unmotivated to do anything violent thanks to not having a leader to tell them what to do.

Something happened to the wolves. There was no barrier to keep things contained to the cornfield. Their magic failed.

The battle lasted an hour, two tops, and left countless dead. At least I tried not to count them as we stumbled our way across the field. There were bodies upon bodies and I tried not to soak in the details. The missing limbs, the holes in the heads, faces frozen in fear.

Andrzej carried me since Cecil was still wounded. We may have μαγνητισμός but it didn't fix everything. He ran point, not that any of the monsters approached us. They got one whiff of us and ran away in fear. Even the scariest of them.

Andrzej walked the length of the crack until we figured the middle of it.

"What now?"

I glanced up at him. "Like I'm supposed to know?"

"Gaia's still in there, isn't she?" I tested that assumption and yes, I still felt her weight on my mind. I nodded. "What does she say?"

"Not much of anything," I whispered and rested my head on his shoulder. "And even If she was talking, I'm not sure she knows."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?"

Cecil walked to the edge and peered in. His eyes darted back and forth over the expanse, taking it all in. Calculating. He didn't say anything before walking back to us. "Give her to me."

"You can barely keep yourself on your feet."

Cecil glared at him. "Just do it. I have an idea."

"Hope it doesn't involve bloodshed," I tried to joke as Andrzej handed me off. I winced as my side twinged a bit. "I don't have much left."

Cecil got me situated in his arms before carrying me to the edge. It was slow going and a few times I thought we'd fall but he kept it together.

"So," I cleared my throat. "Did you do the math homework?"

He chuckled and glanced down at me. "No. I was too busy with the English essay."

My turn to laugh but it came with the stabbing pain in the side. "We make quite the pair. Bloody, wounded-" A lightning strike hit the ground on the other side of the crevice and when it flashed away, Zeus' alternating form walked towards us. Then Poseidon appeared on his left, Hera to his right. So on and so forth until all of the original Twelve Olympians appeared. "I say we take a vacation after this."

Cecil knelt down by the edge and kissed my forehead. "Wherever you want to go."

I looked up at him. "Even though the world's changing?"

None of us talked about it on the walk here. What this battle meant, what would happen now that Caelus released monsters all over the world. Would the world find out who the Elite really were? As if they didn't already know.

His face was grim. "Even though."

The gods and goddesses spread out, six of them hopping over the crack in the ground as if they were doing nothing more than widening their stride. Apollo, Logios, and Ares among them. Apollo came straight to us, putting a hand on Cecil's shoulder in comfort.