The Forbidden Children (on hold)

Chapter 13

Molly

Molly was certain that if not for Dylan's shadows, Reilly would've died.

When Dylan had seen Reilly black out, he'd panicked slightly. Those creepy living shadow-things had immediately swarmed to him, and somehow registered that watching Reilly slowly die in front of him was beginning to scar him a little bit. Molly had no idea how it worked, but one of the shadows had walked to Reilly's body, reached down, and extracted a barely visible ball of energy from her throat. It had then cocked its head slightly to the side and disappeared.

Dylan had picked her up and started walking away from Hades's palace, without speaking or stopping for anyone.

At that point, they'd been walking for maybe an hour. Dylan still wasn't talking. He was still carrying Reilly, who hadn't woken up or moved at all, besides breathing. Molly had given up trying to get him to have a conversation, and just watched him, getting a good look at him for the first time in a while. With a jolt, she realized just how much he'd changed, even in appearance. He wasn't the same person he'd been just four months ago, and that honestly scared her a bit.

Dylan's dirty-blond hair had grown out, so his bangs just barely fell over his eyes.  His features had hardened a bit, and his face was thinner, more angular.  He'd gotten taller, leaner, and looked way more serious. His light blue eyes had developed a dark ring around them, although that was probably from worry and lack of sleep, making them look about twice as bright as they really were. 

Dylan looked extremely pissed, but at the same time, Molly could tell that he was worried out of his mind. She was nearly certain he was beating himself up over what had happened to Reilly. She turned to him, trying to seem confident.

"She's going to be okay, Dylan." Molly said, trying to reassure him. He looked at her with an agitated expression, glancing away within a second. Before Molly knew what was happening, his shadows had swirled up her legs, stopping at her waist. She was stuck in place, unable to move her legs even the smallest distance. Gavin stopped walking and backed up quickly as Molly and Dylan faced each other. Even Paige stopped messing with her daggers, almost stabbing Sam as she came to a complete halt.

"Dylan, if these shadows leave so much as a scratch on me, I swear I will zap your ass so bad that Zeus will be jealous." Molly threatened, speaking in a low voice. Dylan glared at her and waved his barely free hand, causing the shadows to disappear nearly as fast as they'd shown up. She looked at him accusingly, and his glare broke into a look of complete exhaustion and worry.

"Molly, I-" Dylan started. Molly cut him off, waving her hand dismissively. 

"Save it, Lover Boy." Molly said, reaching into Gavin's backpack, taking the map. She didn't bother to look at it, seeing a little alcove jutting out of a cliff. That'd be perfect for them to stop and get Reilly back on her feet. 

"Here, follow me. We've got to get Reilly to wake up." Molly said, pointing toward the alcove. She stuck her hand into Gavin's pack again, this time drawing out a blanket. She put it down, letting Dylan lay Reilly down. Molly was still furious at him, so she walked out from under the alcove and leaned against the cliff face about fifty feet away. She was still so ridiculously angry,  she could see little waves of electricity radiating off of her hands.

"Molly."

She jumped at the sound of Dylan's voice, turning her head in his direction. Molly turned her head toward him, glaring at him as he materialized out of the shadows. He stopped next to her, and leaned beside her.

"Look. I'm sorry for being an ass. It's just..." he started, dropping the sentence as he tried to figure out what to say. 

"Just what, Dylan?" Molly asked. She sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair as Dylan struggled to form words.