Truth [Book Three in Fake Series]

Part Eight:

Part Eight:

Ethan felt his chest tighten when he saw his sister hit the water. His gut told him that she was alive, but Ethan wasn't so sure. She was probably just MIA, but he couldn't be sure - no, he didn't want to be sure.

Silena and Jaz had been surprisingly quiet since Zoe had fallen, and he didn't know why. Jaz had flown down to try and find her, but had found no trace of her body, which lead Ethan to suspect that the current had swept her away. Yet even if the current had swept her away, then there was definitely a slim chance of them finding her again. The ocean was ginormous. She could've washed up in Australia for all they knew.

Ethan should've been sad. But instead of feeling sad, he felt pained. Zoe was his sister. Even though his instincts told him to be sad, he just couldn't bring himself to be, no matter how hard he tried, he could only feel annoyed.

It was like the gods were messing with him. First, he had agreed to go on this stupid quest. Second, he hadn't admitted to Silena that he liked her. And third, Zoe was now dead. Well, 'dead' wasn't the right word to use. 'Missing In Action' or 'temporarily misplaced' sounded better.

Ethan sighed. They had been following the magical compass over sea for two days since Zoe's fall, but still nothing. The gods were definitely messing were them. He was sure of that much. And only that much.

"Hey," a voice said from behind him. Ethan was sitting in the middle on Festus, wedged in between Silena and Jaz. It was Silena who had spoken. Ethan turned to face her.

"Hey," he replied, trying not focus on the fact that she looked absolutely stunning. Her Camp Half-Blood shirt was torn along the bottom and her shorts were worn. She had her dark hair tied back with a bandana and a scowl took over part of her face.

"So..." Silena looked down at her lap awkwardly. There was a moment of awkward silence before she finally asked, "are you sad?"

Ethan thought over his answer for a second. "In a way, I guess." Ethan sighed. "It's just, I feel that she's not gone just yet. She's not dead, either. I can feel it in my bones." Wow, Ethan, he scolded. Nice job. Now your crush is totally going to think that you're a loser.

"Can you, now?" Silena raised an eyebrow. But it didn't sound mean. Her tone suggested that she was interested in what he had to say.

"Yeah," Ethan shifted uncomfortably. Her gaze made him feel as if she were sizing him up; like a predator waiting to pounce. "I have no idea how, but I just feel as though she's not gone. Maybe it's a sibling thing or something."

Silena nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe you should-"

"Look over there!" Jaz yelled suddenly, cutting off Silena's words. Ethan felt annoyed that she had interrupted them, but he whirled around to look in front of them all the same. As his eyes got used to the light, he saw that Jaz was pointing to an island.

The island looked tropical; like a place that you could go to for a holiday or something. It was beautiful. Palm trees were scattered towards inland, the sand was a gorgeous golden-white colour, and the waves that sloshed against the beach were perfect for swimming in.

Festus started to descend towards the paradise. As they neared the beach, Ethan spotted two figures standing there, holding hands and waving up at them frantically.

The compass had worked, he realised. They had found Ogygia, and down there on the beach were the two people that Ethan wanted to see the most.

Zoe and Charlie.

•••

Alex gazed down at the map, her face morphing into a scowl. She should've been in the boxed area that had been highlighted by now, but instead she was still in the middle of nowhere. This journey was becoming increasingly harder, even though Alex had no idea what she was looking for. The only thing that she knew was that it was incredibly important.

Up ahead, Alex spotted a village, the first one she had seen since the sign post which had been, to her surprise, in Greek. She started walking again, hurrying until she reached the outskirts of the small village. Alex moved down what looked like a main road towards the centre of town. There were a few shops with cars parked in front of them, but otherwise not much else.

As she walked, Alex noticed that there was no one around. The street looked as though it were abandoned, and everything else around it. She spotted what looked like footprints in the road which was covered in mud. It seemed that no one had been here for days. Alex got a closer look.

"Damn," she murmured as she examined the large prints. "Whatever went through here must've been big."

Suddenly, something moved in an alleyway out of the corner of Alex's eye.

Heart racing, she whirled around and sprinted towards it. Something was definitely there. When she got closer, she noticed that it was a boy, much younger than her.

The boy backed up, eyes wide with fear. "Please do not hurt me." He rasped, his voice scratchy and hoarse, as if he hadn't drunken any water in a day. Alex noted the fact that his voice didn't sound like he was speaking English, but she had understood him perfectly well. Maybe he was speaking Greek, and since Alex was a Greek-god legacy, she could understand Greek?

Alex's shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry," she said in perfect, fluent Greek, then slung her backpack off her shoulder and pulled out a bottle of water. Her hand outstretched, she offered it to the boy.

The boy dived for it. He took cautious sips, slowly working his way towards the end of the bottle. Alex waited patiently. When he finished, the boy handed the now-empty bottle back.

"Thank you," he said, leaning against the brick wall behind him.

"What happened here?" Alex asked, gesturing towards the desolate town that lay outside the alleyway.

The boy shook his head. "Big creature," he said. "Went that way." He pointed towards a forest which rose above the buildings a few streets away. "Scared everyone. They ran."

"Oh," Alex glanced around. "Why are you still here, then?"

"They sent me to kill creature." The boy sighed. "My father is..." his voice lowered considerably, as if afraid of being overheard. Alex noticed how his brown eyes brightened every time he got scared. "Apollo."

"You're a demigod?" Alex asked, excited.

"Demigod?" The boy nodded. "Half-blood; yes."

"Cool. Well, I'm a legacy."

The boy looked at her curiously. "Legacy?" He questioned, testing the word on his tongue almost cautiously.

"My dad's a demigod. And my mom's a nymph."

"Oh," the boy nodded, then looked back out of the small lane. "I must go," He said. "Keep looking for it."

"Good luck!" Alex called, as the boy ran off. She stayed for a moment in the alleyway, admiring the brickwork, before heading off too.