Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

27. Somewhere Along the Bitterness

Alice

"Annabeth's in trouble," I jumped. Removing the ice bag on my neck, I sat up. I nagged Tyler's hand away from my forehead. "Tyler, my twin sister is in trouble. I have to go."

"In that condition?" he replied, "I don't think so. You'll do no good to your sister dead."

I cursed under my breath. I didn't know what to trust. Had that only been a dream? I hardly believed so. I needed my sister alive. She could have a few mood swings. As much as I cared about her, it could be as much as I wouldn't want the rest of the universe scorched under her intense power. "I know she's in trouble," I insisted. "That dream of mine had been no dream. It was a vision. I saw my sister, being hunted down by a monster. We live in this camp, believing in magic. That makes no excuse for monsters to not exist."

Alex's eyes seemed pained. At that point, it had been obvious he understood me perfectly. He believed me. "It should be true," he said, his brows furrowed. "Should we ask the head mistress...?"

"No," Tyler answered. "We were all born to die. You guys just don't know. She'd never let us go."

"Why are you so loyal to the head mistress anyways?" Raven asked. Tyler fell silent.

There was something he wasn't saying. "Stuff," he managed, looking down. He faced me, signaling, Change the topic, please.

I looked at Colton, seeing how he would respond. Should my sister's own boy best friend not at all care about the situation? That seemed absurd. He looked frozen, biting his lip as he faced his pillow. His hair was messy, just like his past (like how Annabeth had once told me), and that was a life-and-death decision to be made by the cohort. I waited for him to say something.

Suddenly, he cursed in a different language... Latin?

"We need a plan," he finally blurted. "And I am so not risking all seven of us, barging into some forest of no return. Trust me, I've watched the movies. None of them ended well. I'm not letting any of us get back behind." Colton looked over at Annabeth's empty bed and dashed towards it. Under the bed, he was able to grab a book with a lock.

"Woah," Georgia said, "Colton, that might be private property—"

"Yeah, well, I'm marrying her one day, anyways, so who cares?" He locked eyes with her, totally poker-faced. I smiled, just like the rest of us in the room. Then he realized what he'd just said. "Wait, that came out wrong—" His ears turned pink—"Not a word!" He produced a key pendant hanging from the necklace under his shirt, and unlocked the book. "There's bound to be something in this thing. Give me a minute to rearrange my thoughts."

"So what are you saying? We split up?" a curious Raven asked.

"I-I don't know," Colton's lip began to tremble as he studied the words written in the book. "Annabeth was great at this." For some reason, I read his mind. That book held answers—things only he and Annabeth understood and discussed when they were alone together. Through his eyes, it was obvious he was going on panic mode. He had no idea what to do.

Colton

After everything Annabeth and I've been through, I couldn't believe myself for being so helpless. I was shivering in fear. I really didn't know what to do. A part of my brain told me she had to come back. 'Admit it, you miss her, doofus,' a little voice in my head would probably say. 'You just long for the heat she gives you. You miss her face. You miss the way she makes you feel and—'

Shut up, brain, I thought. If you were blabbering about something else that actually helped, I would be grateful.

"That book's not helping," Raven added.