I Found Love- In Hell

4. I Think You Need To Talk To Julian

Since our encounter in the forest, I've hardly seen Julian. In fact, I've seen him once. He showed up for the first half of our Sword Fighting lesson, and then he left. He went to his cabin, and he hasn't been out since.

After three days of silence, I decide to talk to him. I wait until midnight, when Tom is asleep, and leave the cabin. The fire pit is brighter than usual- Hanna couldn't sleep either.

"Hey," I go over and sit next to her on the ground.

"What's wrong with Julian?" The girl turns to me.

"He's in his cabin...like everyone else..."

"I saw him follow you into the woods the other night," Two big brown eyes focus entirely on me. "And he hasn't been the same since. What happened?"

"He followed me to-"

"The place it happened...?" Hanna's eyes open wide in shock and her mouth forms into a perfect "O" shape.

As soon as it is mentioned, tears form in my eyes. Hanna's little arms pull me close and I don't resist her comforting hug.

~

The August sun beats down on me from above, causing my metal armor to heat up. My breath comes in short, desperate huffs, my poor lungs trying to supply my body with much needed oxygen, but failing. My legs are tired from running so hard for so long...

A deafening roar fills the forest, and the sound of heavy footsteps hitting the ground cause me to run faster.

"Zoe!" A deep voice calls from somewhere far away. Too far away.

"Andy! Andy help!"

My feet splash into the stream. A big hand wraps around my waist and plucks me from the cool water as if I weigh nothing. As if I'm just a Barbie being played with by a little girl.

"Zoe!"

"Help!" I scream in pain as the Minotaur grips me tighter. The pain is overwhelming. I hear Andy yell, trying to either get my attention, or the attention of the monster. I look down at him.

He's wearing jeans and a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, and two different pairs of sneakers. One Nike, one Adidas.

"Put her down you-"

I don't even hear the rest of the sentence as it's drowned out by the sound of another roar and the tightening of the beast's hand around me. It's becoming harder and harder to breathe. I suddenly feel extremely tired...

Everything slowly slips into darkness...

*Splash*

Cold water surrounds me, shocking me out of almost unconsciousness. I look at the monster, whose back is now to me. I breathe a sigh of relief, until I see who the beast is looking at. Andy.

Andy looks at me, taking his eyes off the beast for one moment.

"Andy look out! An-"

~

"It was as if time itself slowed down," I whisper, staring into the fire. "Andy didn't even feel anything."

~

The Minotaur brought his fist down on Andy's skull. The beast turned to me as I screamed out helplessly at Andy to get up and run. My mind hadn't yet caught up with the fact that Andy was dead. And the monster was charging at his next victim. Me.

The Minotaur took one step towards me, let out one last ear-drum rattling roar, and then fell to the ground. I ran the few feet to Andy.

I checked for a pulse- for a breath- for anything...there was nothing.

I brushed Andy's brown hair off his forehead which was caked with sweat. His sea green eyes stared back up at me, but didn't see me. He looked as if he was lying on his back looking up at the sky, trying to find shapes in the clouds. But I knew he wasn't.

He would never do that again.

~

"Hanna, I loved him," I say.

"He loved you too,"

There are a few moments of silence, and then Hanna speaks again.

"What happened next?"

~

"C'mon, please work!" I dragged Andy the few feet to the water and dangled his fingers in the rushing current.

For a few moments, nothing happened. I slowly began to give up on any hope I could find. Then, the water began to flow all over him. Only, he didn't heal.

As the water touched him, he turned to water too. First his fingers, then his hands, then his arms, his torso- until there was nothing left except for the trident pendant he wore around his neck in honor of his father, Poseidon, god of the seas. Julian appeared at my side.

"Where'd he go?" I asked, picking up the pendant.

"To join his father," Julian said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "His body has, at least. His soul is on its way to the Underworld right now."

~

I pull the pendant out from under my shirt and look at it in the light of the fire.

"I went to the stream last night because Tom and I got into an argument."

"About what?" Hanna asks. I sigh.

"He thinks I'm falling for Julian the same way I fell for Andy. The daughter of Zeus is better than the likes of Andy and Julian, especially Julian. He said I should have learned my lesson the first time."

"He had no right to say that!" Hanna is silent for a moment. "Who saved you that day?"

"Andy."

"Who killed the Minotaur?"

"Julian."

"What did he say last night, when he followed you?"

"He said for me not to listen to Tom and that if anyone deserves to be the daughter of Zeus, I do."

"Hmm..."

"What?"

"I think you need to talk to Julian."

"I was about to...that's why I came out here, actually."

"Go. You two need to talk." Hanna pushes me towards the cabins. Towards the cabin dedicated to Hades. Towards Julian's cabin.

I walk up the hill to the black cabin. Everything is dark, inside and out. Not a single light to be seen. Just as I'm about to turn away and just come back tomorrow, I hear voices.

And the voices don't sound too happy.