House of Forbiddens [COMPLETE NOVEL]

28: PLOT TWIST!!!

Christine

In the crowded baseball stadium the only sound was that of tears. All but our little family was wracked with sorrow, and Kaden lay shriveled on the ground, sobbing and with no strength to even raise her head. We rushed to her side, laying gentle hands on her without understanding.

"Stop," Octavian sniffled, quiet at first, "Stop. Stop! STOP!" his last cry was a great burst of rage which echoed through the stadium. Those who could raised their eyes to him. "Stop crying, you nimwits, this is supposed to start a sad, agonizingly painful, eternal war in which everybody but the Romans will be completely obliterated!"

As he continued his oddly paradoxical speech about war and such, I was dimly aware of Jack and Audrey speaking in hushed voices behind me.

"Now is your chance," Jack whispered harshly, "You can shoot an arrow right through his heart and end this all right now."

"Not yet," she nearly growled, "I'm waiting for the right time."

"When is there a better time? He's monologuing!"

"There's so many things to consider, Jack!" they were still being quiet, but the conversation had intensified, "Like those blue orbs, or all the monsters surrounding him. I'm not ready to die. I'm not ready to leave all the people that I love."

There was a long, silent pause. "But you have to."

"But then," Octavian continued, "Some would ask how I was able to raise an army in such a small amount of time, not to mention being risen from the dead. Well, you see, I escaped out of Tartarus using a little-known magical object: The cut-up pieces of the Titan Kronos. They can age people to be severely older or younger, or, when used properly, they can travel a person through time."

Horrified, I crouched down and lifted Kaden's chin to reveal a haggard, elderly face.

"So you see," he said, "I traveled back in time to allow myself many years of living in secrecy and creating my plan to unleash bitter peril upon all realms of the universe, so they may all pay for what they have done to me.

"But alas," Okay, who says alas anymore? "I cannot take all the credit Discordia. This glorious idea has been formulated for millennia by , or as the Greeks name her, Eris, the goddess of discord herself." She materialized next to Octavian out of a great veil of black and red. Eris.

Before I knew what was happening, a silver arrow flew in a brilliant arch to meet Eris' heart. In one fell swoop, she changed the arrow's course, and it flew limply to the side.

Suddenly, Audrey was being dragged to meet the goddess by an unknown force. She gripped her bow with white knuckles as she frothed under the invisible binds, her feet kicking up turf as she was carried at an alarming rate, so quickly that we had to run to keep up with her. Even grandma-Kaden tried to keep up; nobody gets in the way of her family.

When we had come within a few feet of where Octavian and Eris stood, some invisible barrier kept all but Jack and Audrey from coming forward.

Audrey was released from the grip, but before she could recover she was disarmed by Jack and tied at the wrists by a thick rope in the matter of a few seconds.

"Your reflexes are slow when it's someone you love," he sneered, "But I guess that's all love does: Slow you down, get in the way."

"What an ambitious follower you have been these last years, Jack Solace," Eris mused, "The only one who could find the child of night. And then you stayed with her, were even poisoned by your own father... for me." She threw a golden dagger onto the ground at his feet. Audrey lunged for it, but he held her with an iron grip. "Finish the job."

"Jack, don't do it!" Will shouted from the other side of the barrier. Not so much as a glance was given his way.

Jack picked up the dagger without looking away from Audrey. She stared back into his eyes, her face like stone, as if she were daring him.

"I have been looking forward to plunging a blade into her chest since the moment we met, but before I do so I must alert you that there has been a slight change of plans." Octavian raised both eyebrows. "There is another child of night. A daughter of Selene. And she is standing before us." My heart fell and shattered as he pointed the dagger at me.

Instantly I was enveloped in a strange darkness in which I could not see or hear, I only knew to fight it. Throughout my body an intense pain flared and my mind burned. When light flooded my vision again, I was on the other side of the barrier. Jack was moving to take my dagger away, but unlike Audrey I knew what was coming and acted more quickly than I ever thought I could have.

I dove at Octavian, snatching one of his blue orbs while simultaneously taking hold of Audrey. Throughout all of these monologues it had occurred to me that Eris is immortal, how were we going to get rid of her? Audrey and I needed more time to think up our plan.

At the last second, Jack latched onto my feet. I tried to shake him off, but an intense pain gripped me as he began stabbing with the golden knife, shredding my calf.

The pain was momentarily shrouded by a bright blue light and an icy sensation running over me.

By: Elizabeth Pallan