The Seeker

Chapter 5- Monsters

The centaurs were able to escape the Minotaur. Liana turned back again as the centaurs slowed down to a stop. Gabe was still resting in the arms of the centaur that he was being held by originally (his name is Buck).
A centaur said to Liana, "We're taking you and Gabe to a place where you will be safe." Chiron had galloped up next to Firenze.
"Where are my mom and dad?" Liana hadn't quite thought about asking that before. That moment she almost unclenched the hand that was holding the parchment. The parchment! There was no parchment there to hold on to or let go! It was gone!
Firenze said, "They are being held captive right now. They are okay, but they won't be forever. We have to-"
"The parchment! It's gone!" Liana interrupted. "It must've fallen out of my hand while we were running!"
"No. It couldn't have- it just- no!" Firenze started shaking.
"I have to go back and look for it!" Liana shouted.
"No! You can't! We don't know how far back the Minotaur is." Firenze made a good point.
"I'll be fine. If I go alone, it won't hear me. I'll search the leaves. I had it for part of the run, so it can't be too far back." Liana had a feeling he would never let her go anywhere alone.
"Go alone? Are you crazy? The Minotaur came after us because of you! Not the sound, the smell. Monsters smell the Seekers, and that attracts them." Firenze looked as if he couldn't believe Liana could even think about going alone.
     "Okay, then you come with me. If I can't go alone, have one of your centaurs come with me, or you. Because I know that parchment cannot be left unprotected out in the middle of the woods." Liana said, very confident.
     "I would never ask one of my herd members to take that big of a risk. Which means you can't either. Like I said, we don't know how far back the Minotaur is, so none of us are going back, even for that." Firenze looked confident too, but also as if he wanted to go back to it.
     "You told me the parchment was important! How can you think about leaving it!" Liana needed to convince him.
     "You do realize that with one smack, that Minotaur would kill you, right?" That wasn't going to convince Liana.
     "But you are the one that said it was really important! At least tell me what it is." Liana hadn't thought about what that parchment even was.
     "It's-" Firenze started to tell Liana, but froze.
     "What?"
     "Go. Run!"
     "Why? What is it?" Liana started to turn.
     "No, Liana go, now!"
     So Liana bolted away while Firenze met up with Chiron, and they both ran toward whatever Liana was running away from. She saw all of the centaurs, and they started running as well. Liana assumed that they all heard Firenze telling Liana to run.
     Liana thought she had run far enough away where she could turn and look. But when she did, she was horrified. She screamed. It was some kind of dog, but it was huge. A black creature with fire for eyes. Liana thought hard about all of her school studies about mythical creatures. She put all the features she saw in the dog thing, and thought.
Of course, a Hellhound! Liana remembered the studies she did in school about a mythical creature called a Hellhound. Well, in this world, they were not mythical.
     Liana remembered that they had sharp claws, and long fangs that spread poison into your blood. They were very deadly. There were only 20 Hellhounds in the entire world beyond the tunnel. Liana did NOT want to face one.
     Even though she was running, definitely farther and farther away from the Hellhound, all she could hear was deep, fiery growling, and claws slashing at the centaurs that were risking their lives to protect Liana and Gabe.
     Wait, where was Gabe? Liana hadn't seen him being carried by that centaur just now when they were running. Where could he be? "Um, do any of you guys know where my brother is?" Liana got really anxious. One of the centaurs slowed, and turned to look at her.
     "He was brought to Camp. It is was safer, especially with monsters after you and him. If Buck can't get him past the border line you will have to be separated. We are not quite sure yet if he is a Seeker as well. It is very rare to have two Seekers born from the same parents. Normally it is just one. Well, actually it is very rare to find Seekers in the first place."
Brought to camp? What camp? Liana thought. "What camp? What are you talking about?" That's when Liana noticed The Mark.
It was a small Mark on the hind leg of the centaurs that said 'SC' the C was placed lower than the S.
"Um, what is that?" Liana pointed to The Mark.
"That is The Mark of Camp. Once you cross the border, The Mark appears on either your arm or neck. For a centaur, it appears on our hind leg. Oh, for the Seekers, it appears on the arm of males, and the neck of females. It shall appear on your neck as soon as you cross, which will be quite soon." Said the centaur.
"Wait, back it up. You said 'separated'. That's not happening, we stay together." Liana couldn't even think about being separated from Gabe.
"Well, if Gabe turns out to be a normal human, you will have to be separated. He wouldn't be able to get past the border. And you would have to. It's the only way to be safe." The centaur looked behind Liana. His eyes widened. "Keep running!"
Liana turned.
The Hellhound was bolting through the forest, but Chiron and Firenze weren't there chasing after it. Oh no. Please don't let them be dead. They can't be dead. Liana got scared. Though she barely knows them, she was really worried. And her care for them is what made her almost get killed.
"Firenze! Chiron!" She shouted their names as she ran toward the beast. She was hoping that it's reflexes weren't quick enough to see her coming and Liana would be able to run past it.
But she was wrong.
Liana tried a trick that Gabe taught her (he played a lot of video games, and they happened to be about monsters).
She ran in front of the Hellhound, got its attention, and stood in front of a tree. She was hoping that if she dodged the hound at the right time, it would smash into the tree, giving Liana some time to find Chiron and Firenze. But the Hellhound had seen this trick before.
As soon as Liana jumped to the side, the Hellhound swiped out its long paw and smacked Liana aside. It turned its body perfect timing so it's head didn't slam into the tree. Liana was flung about 50 feet in the air and landed hard on a rock.
And then, nothing.