The Seeker

Chapter 7- Lilly

Getting rid of the Hellhound wasn't too hard once a few more centaurs came back to help. They had just wounded it earlier. It had regained some strength and was fighting again. Eventually, Buck stabbed it, and it disintegrated into golden dust. (Wait, Buck did that. But Buck was the one who had Gabe earlier. So where was Gabe now?)
     "Um, did it die?" Liana had asked, because she had never seen anything explode into golden dust before.
     "No, you cannot kill monsters. They go to the UnderWorld for a while, then they come back. It is keeping us all very busy, because we can never know when they come back." Buck explained.
     Liana had so many questions right now, but too much was going on to ask them. All the centaurs gathered their weapons and prepared to travel to Camp.
Liana rode on Firenze's back for the trip. When they had been traveling for over an hour, they started to slow down, then came to a stop.
Firenze turned his head to look at Liana. "We're here."
     But all Liana saw was woods. "Um, there's nothing here." She raised an eyebrow.
     "Just wait." He glanced at a couple of the larger rocks.
I really hope they know where they're going, because right now we are in the middle of the woods. Then she thought of Gabe. "Where is my brother?" She was shaky again, because earlier one of the centaurs mentioned being separated, and if that happened, Liana couldn't even imagine. All her life she had been with Gabe, and she was not leaving him. They had been through everything, but since they had been through the Stone, they hadn't been through a lot together at all really. As soon as Liana came through the Stone, Gabe was hurt, and he got taken away from Liana. Was that for a reason?
     "Oh! Here we go..." Firenze darted his eyes around the trees and rocks around them, seeming to be connecting them one bye one with his eyes.
     When his eyes stopped moving from side to side, and settled on a tree, something odd happened with the forest. Things were creeping out from behind trees- they looked like Nymphs, Liana had seen pictures of them in school- and there was a pond over to their left, and creatures like horses with fins- Liana eventually learned that they were called Hippocampi- started poking their heads out, and then a huge wooden entrance just appeared out of nowhere.
     "Liana, welcome to Seeker Camp." Firenze smiled as his centaurs ran into Camp.
     (Seeker Camp. That's SC. That's the Mark on the centaurs.)
     "Woah." Liana couldn't say anything else. But then she looked at the centaurs running in, and thought of Gabe. "Wait, where the hell is Gabe?" Liana shouted at Firenze.
     "Uh," He hesitated. "Well, see he, uh, couldn't get past the border. So that means he, uh, isn't a Seeker. He was-"
     "What! Where is he? I can't believe this! Tell me where he is, now!" Liana glared at all of the other centaurs as they ran by.
     "Okay, listen Liana-" Firenze started to say.
     "No! You tell me where he is right now." Liana gritted her teeth.
     "He was brought to the Stone, so he can be taken in by satyrs to care for him while your parents are in captivity." Firenze wasn't making eye contact.
     "What? You had your horse men take him away from me without my permission! How dare you!" Liana was furious.
     "It was for his own good. And your own good. He could distract you from training, which, by the way, you need to  start soon. Soon as in about five minutes." Firenze still wasn't making eye contact.
     "Take me to him now." Liana crossed her arms.
     "I can't. It's not safe for you now, all those monsters can't cross our border but when we cross, they can come for us. And they will." Firenze made a good point.
     But Liana wasn't going to get convinced by anything. She was going to Gabe no matter what. "I don't care. Take. Me. To. Him. Now." and she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms again.
"Liana, you will get killed. We will all get killed. They will be waiting for us on the other side of the border." Firenze tried all he could to reason with Liana. But just nothing could convince her.
"Well, then if they kill me, it would be something worth to die for." Liana didn't care if she died along the way, all she's wanted was to make sure Gabe was happy, and safe, and alive.
     "Liana! If you die, that could-" Firenze hesitated. Maybe that's what he has been waiting to tell Liana. He took a deep breath. "That could end the world." He looked down.
Liana opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. She looked at Firenze. End the world? Me?
     "Don't be ridiculous, I could never end the world." Liana's eyes narrowed in curiosity as she pondered that thought. Liana decided that now what not the time to worry about that, or was it? But she has sworn to protect Gabe all her life, and no matter what happened, whatever she would have to do to keep her promise, she would.
"Okay, than how about this," Liana said. "You take me back through the pathway thing-"
"The Stone." Firenze corrected.
"Whatever, the Stone, and I don't die." Liana pursed her lips. She thought about something that a friend of hers had told her in school-

- "You're not afraid, you go forward, you seem to care much more about others than yourself. You can fight. People don't expect that much from girls." A boy named Jayson had told her.
"From girls? Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Liana had said this with a smirk (she secretly had a crush on Jayson, and she thinks Jayson had a crush on her. She now wondered if she would ever see Jayson again...).-

-"You look like you're thinking." Firenze commented.
"I'm not."
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm not thinking about anything."
"This is about a person."
"You don't know my thoughts."
"True, but I'm experienced with Seekers."
"What does that have to do with my thoughts."
Then, Firenze changed the subject. "Liana, I have some questions for you."
"As do I." Liana muttered.
"I know. You will get your chance to ask anything you would like. Though now is not the time. I want you to tell me everything you can as I ask."
"Okay."
"Liana, what was your life like before you came here?"
Liana thought, then answered, "Complicated."
"In what way?"
Wow. Liana had never tried to describe her life before. This would be hard. How is my life complicated? Well... where do I start.
"My little sister was killed by a bull when I was eleven. She was seven." Liana said. Her eyes were tearing up, and she was putting all her effort into not crying. She missed Lilly more than anything.
"Liana, I am sorry you lost your sister, but she is not gone forever." Firenze looked at Liana.
"Yeah, I know. 'Cause she's in my heart." Liana had heard that before.
"Liana, Lilly is still alive."
Liana looked up. "What?"
"Lilly is alive."
"That's not possible."
"Did you see everything to how she 'died'?"
"Not really." Liana thought back to the day Lilly left her life~

~They were at a carnival, watching a bull chase a red curtain.
"Can I get a corn dog?" Gabe had asked.
"Sure. We can head over to the food cart. I'm pretty hungry too." Liliana (their mother) said. They turned and starting walking to the food cart. "Lilly, do you want something to eat?"
Liliana turned to look at Lilly. But Lilly wasn't there.
"Lilly?" Liliana had a panicked voice.
I'll check behind the food cart," said Gabriel (their father), he rushed over to the food cart.
"Liana and Gabe, you two come with me." Liliana took the hands of her children to take then to find her other child.
Then there was a scream.
Many heads of people at the carnival turned to see where the scream came from. And it came from a little girl named Lilly who was wearing a bright, red jacket.
Lilly was very small, and could fit through the bars of the gate that was containing a bull.
Lilly loved bulls. Her favorite book was Ferdinand, the story of a friendly bull. I guess she wanted to see if all bulls were like that. And she found out that not all bulls are.
"LILLY!" Liliana screamed. She let go of Liana and Gabe, and that moment their hands were taken in by another's. It was a stranger. A strange stranger.
Gabriel heard the scream and came running over. He saw Liliana trying to open the gate to the ring where a bull and a seven-year-old were about to collide. He went to help her.
The person with the red curtain had fallen, and was getting up. The bull that was charging towards Lilly heard the man struggling to get up and not die, and charged him. The man must've been really experienced, because he ducked away from the horns and rolled to the side to avoid getting squashed. He threw down his red curtain and ran over to Lilly to get her safe.
The bull had slammed into the side of the arena, and was shaking his head to come back into focus. The red curtain man had picked up Lilly and was running towards the other side where the main gate was. It was a really, really big arena.
The bull came back into reality before Lilly and the man were safe. It charged them. The bull stuck his horn through the mans back, impaling him to the point where the tip of the horn came out of the mans chest. His lifeless arms dropped Lilly, and flailed beside him. The bull swung his head and threw the man out into the crowd of people watching. Lilly was scrambling to get up, though she barely knew what was happening.
She got up, looked around, made eye contact with her sister, and said, "Liana!"
The last thing she saw was Liana.
The last thing she said was Liana.
After that, there was nothing. Literally nothing. Lilly could not be found. The only trace of anything was golden dust, lying beneath to spot where Lilly died.~

"So I never really knew how she died. If the bull kicked her, impaled her, or-" Liana cut off. She had just explained all that to Firenze and could no longer hold it back. She let tears flood from her eyes, and her hands covered her face.
"Liana Wood, please don't cry. It's alright. You will see Lilly again."
Liana was so confused. She wiped her tears and said, "Oh yeah, when?!"
"Maybe in about, oh I don't know... Right now."
"What?" Liana looked up. A girl was standing at the entrance to Seeker Camp, and her face looked familiar.

"LILLY!"