Truth [Book Three in Fake Series]

Part Eighteen:

Part Eighteen:

"Silena, guard the door." Alex said. She was standing in front of Silena, gazing at the crown as though it was worth a million dollars - which it probably was, in Silena's point of view.

"Why?" Silena asked, curious at the powers the crown held but also wanting to look at it just as much as she was curious.

"I don't want any monsters sneaking up on me while I look at this thing." Alex replied in a tone that suggested to Silena that she should back off. Even though Silena was sure that she could take Alex easily, after what happened with Jaz, she was hesitant to make Alex angry.

"Okay then," Silena turned back to the entrance of the cave and walked out.

She breathed in some fresh air and sighed. Ethan and Alex's voices echoed from the cave behind her, but all Silena cared about was that it was beautiful day. And maybe how she had noticed that Ethan had been staring at her...

Okay, okay, she did admit that he was kind of cute. His thinking face when he scrunched up his nose and eyebrows and went into Ethan-world was adorable and his eyes -

Wait. No. Back up. Did Silena just call Ethan adorable? Silena's cheeks were on fire. She was glad that he was back in the cave with Alex, otherwise this would've been on Silena's Top Ten Most Embarrassing Moments list.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting scream came from the cave. Silena pulled herself from her thoughts and dashed back inside the cave, heart pounding. "What's going on?" She cried. The cave walls were shaking and Alex was clutching her forehead, the crown resting on top her head.

"Silena, run!" Alex yelled, glancing up at Silena briefly.

Silena turned around. But then she hesitated and turned back. She should help Alex who looked like she was about to collapse. But then her eyes locked on Ethan's. Go. He said. The cave walls continued to shake, and Silena watched Alex as she straightened her body and then stretched her hand up towards the ceiling. Silena's eyes widened as a dome came over Alex and Ethan. It was like glass but also had an orangey flare to the outside of it.

Alex looked at the cave entrance where Silena was still standing. Her eyes widened in alarm and Silena tried to move, panic seizing her body. Oh no. Oh gods, no.

A rock slammed into Silena's head and she felt a crack as another hit her shoulder. She fell to the ground, the cave collapsing around her.

No. This wasn't how she wanted to die. Maybe fighting a monster army or eighty years later from old age, but not like this. Anything but this.

But Silena didn't have time to think further, because just then, everything disappeared around her and she saw Jaz standing on a shore, as though she were waiting for Silena.

'You're late,' Jaz said, but her voice sounded miles away.

'Are we really dead?' Silena asked her.

'I'm afraid so.' Silena drifted beside Jaz towards where Charon was waiting, to their new lives in the Underworld.

•••

As the cave collapsed, Ethan screamed. He screamed his feelings; his love for Silena, hate for the Fates and also pain. Alex's dome had worked. They had been protected, and when the cave stopped falling to pieces and they were open to sunlight, Alex broke it and Ethan ran over to where Silena was buried under the rubble.

His fingers ached as he dug through the mountain of rocks, sobbing as he pulled them away. When he found her body, Alex helped him pull her away from the wreckage. Blood soaked Silena's shirt and she had several large gashes on her arms and head. Ethan's sobs slowed to a stop as he looked at her.

Even coated in dust and beaten bloody, Silena still looked beautiful to him. Her eyes were closed and she looked peaceful. But also dead.

"No, no, no." Ethan choked on his words. "She - she can't be d - dead."

Alex put a hand on his shoulder. "Ethan, there's nothing we can do." She said softly, but her words felt far away to Ethan.

Suddenly, a light surrounded them. In a flash, Ethan felt himself be transported somewhere far away. He only hoped that it was somewhere safe.