3 Silver Stones

Chapter 5-Where it all went wrong

   My eyes slowly escaped from the darkness to see everyone vanished. I find myself sitting down next to a dim fire and a wounded wolf. A loud noise came from outside the door. I looked outside and find a black tiger and a black lion fighting outside the cave. As they fought I noticed two more sneaking up on the one with purple eyes. It was Amethyst, she was outnumbered three to one. Hunter raises and tilts his head as I walk up to the door. As soon as I warn Amethyst, all of them target me. Amethyst runs at the door and I quickly close it. As soon as I close it the rest of them disappear. Amethyst turns back and sits down. "I can't keep fighting...We need to leave..." She says slightly groaning.

"You're right... I'm sorry I wasn't much help..." I said feeling my pocket for my coin. Unexpectedly I feel more than a single coin inside my pocket. I pull out three coins and a small folded paper falls out. I pick up the paper and unfold it to find a letter written inside. "Where did that come from?" Amethyst asked peeking over my shoulder. "I don't know... I just found it in my pocket..." I replied reading the note. Ally or Foe... Which one are you? Choose not now, then when will you choose? It read. I looked closely at the three coins and I realised that the other two were not mine. One was Lily's and the other was Aydan's. On the paper there was a small blue chip that said Magic137. "What is this mean?" I asked. "Well, Maybe it is Magic?" She answered. "Only one way to find out..." I said putting the chip on the sunflower. The sunflower was halfway dead when we put it on. "Nothing's happening..." I said looking at the chip. After a while it turned a bright neon blue and it stood up and grew blue spikes on the stem. The blue faded and it was still left with blue thorns. "Wow, who could have sent me this?" I asked myself.

We packed some sunflower seeds and we got the bowl and the dome. Hunter got the last of the fish in the dome. While we headed out to the creek, Hunter walked up sunflower with the chip we have forgotten and nibbled at the petals. He noticed the little blue chip and slowly got it off and ate it. A strange noise came from the cave so we turned back for Hunter. When we arrived Hunter was on the ground almost completely healed from the vines scars, but something else happened. The sunflower slowly crumbled and Hunter's back was completely covered in spikes.

Down his spine and on his sides there was long rows of bright crystal blue spikes. "Hunter! What happened?!" I asked rushing to the wolf. He was currently unconscious at the time. "Who gave me that chip?! And the three coins?! This doesn't make any sense!" I said stressfully thinking where the others may be. I wondered where we were supposed to go once we left the cave. Hunter opened his eyes showing they were completely blue. He stood up and could barely balance. He turned and looked at his aching back. When he turned around Hunter saw the spikes along his back and tail. Amethyst looked at Hunter and then walked outside. I laid Hunter down and followed her. When I walked out, I saw her drawing five animals. "Did you know that shapeshifters here can only turn into five different animals?" She asked as I sat down next to her.

My five are: Snake, Cat, Tiger, Wolf, and Eagle... That hawk you saw near the creek... It couldn't have been me..." She said. "I know it wasn't you..." I said trying to cheer her up. "Wait, if shapeshifters can only turn into five animals... Does that count for Hades?" I asked. "Maybe... What animals can he turn into? I know he can turn into a lion and a hawk, anything else?" She replied. "Yes, he can also turn into a wolf and a boa." I answered thinking of others. We started thinking of the fifth one. "Well then, I guess we should find that out sooner or later." I said. We went back inside and packed everything. Hunter stood up and followed as we walked outside. A sudden cry came from the bushes. Amethyst shifted into the snake and went through the bush. Ssssss... I heard as she came back out she shifted again and said "Hey, Jayda... You might want to see this..."

We walked behind the bush and saw Sofia sitting next to the cave wall crying. "Sofia? Are you ok? Where's Cody?" I said walking towards her. Hunter poked his head out from the bush and his blue eyes glowed through the shady area. As he walked to Sofia, she stared at him curiously. "What happened to Hunter?" She asked as her tears started to calm. "Long story..." Amethyst answered. A loud growl came from Hunters mouth as he stared into the dark swamp. Red eyes glowed through the trees. "Guys we need to go..." I said reaching for Sofia's hand. We ran towards the creek's far end at found a large tree with a hole in the bottom. When we went inside, growls went past us and red eyes glowed the other direction. The tree was tight and cramped so we couldn't stay. We went out slowly and searched the area some more.

Afterwards, we found a small box on the ground near the other camp. Sofia went to it and opened it. A small writing on the box said Unknown. When she opened it, a small blue glow came from it. When she looked inside, she found 3 crystal coins that looked similar to mine. I walked over there and picked up the one with the fire symbol. I put my coin next to it and my coin glowed. The crystal coin shook and disappeared and my coin's symbol was now crystal blue, just like Hunters spikes. I got the other coins and placed them down next to their crystal. The crystal coins disappeared just like mine. I picked them up and put them in my pocket. "Hm... Wonder what that was..." I said walking towards the camp site. The growl returned, but this time it was deeper and louder. We ran past the camp with two panthers chasing us. We ran into a small tent closing the curtains on the door. We were trapped. Their claws ran through the walls, one's eye staring right through. Suddenly, when Sofia's cries grew louder, they disappeared.

Amethyst walked out slowly and cautiously. They were gone, just like they were never here. As we all walked out of the torn tent we walked cautiously to the part of the swamp where we found Hades. We walked far past it and found a boulder with weird symbols on it. It had a hole in it about the size of the coins and two more boulders behind it. "Wow, these coins are pretty important..." I said putting my coin in. It did nothing, I tried Aydan's and it did nothing. Finally I put Lily's in and the cracks in the stone glowed green. Small saplings grew under the stone and I walked to the next one. I put mine in and it did nothing, then I put Aydan's in and it glowed dark blue and water started leaking from it's cracks.

Finally I put mine into the final stone. It glowed red and a small fire appeared at the top of the rock. "Well then, now wha-" I cut off seeing Amethyst and Sofia were nowhere to be seen. "Guys... This isn't funny..." I said thinking it was a prank. "Guys! Come on... Where are you?!" I sat down next to the first boulder almost crying. I was all alone in the middle of a out-of-the-ordinary swamp with no one else to help me. Hunter sat down next to me and laid in my lap. "At least you're still here..." I said drying my tears and petting Hunters back. Hunter sat up and looked at a bush rustling. A rabbit popped out and hopped towards the stone. Grrr... Hunter growled at the sight of the rabbit and chased it. "Hunter, No!" I yelled chasing Hunter. We ran around almost the entire swamp, but Hunter stopped and yelped and looked up at a tree. "Hunter slow dow-" I said but paused looking at the tall dark tree. Hunter ducked his tall and backed up slowly. I walked up to the tree and touched it. The world turned into a blur and I fell.