Medusa's

Chapter Eight

One hour. One excruciatingly painful hour. One hour of watching Dylan suffer and bleed to death on the floor. One hour of being tortured. Now, I lay on the floor of the cell I share with Dylan. He wraps his arms around me and I cry into his shoulder. He shakes with sobs too. “I'm so sorry.” He says. He tells me the story. The man, who Dylan says is named Caloses, kidnapped Dylan and planted him at Camp Half-Blood. It was his job to kidnap me and take me to Caloses's warehouse. He was supposed to get close to me and learn my weaknesses, but he fell in love with me. He tried to put off taking me as far as possible. But two days before he took me, Caloses told him he needed me the next day or else. Caloses wants me dead because I am a dangerous combination and a threat to his work of eliminating half-bloods. Dylan shifts his hand down to my ribs and I let out a small cry of pain. He draws back. “I should have left,” he says, “I should have just left him, kept you safe at camp and died for you.” I scoot back towards him. “It's okay.” I say. "It's not!" he cries, "It's not! You're gonna die and it's all my fault!" I take his hand. "You didn't volunteer for this. Caloses forced you." He tries to stand, but I gently pull him down. "I forgive you." I roll onto my side without broken ribs and look into his eyes. "I love you." I say. And then I'm kissing him, here on the floor of our cell, bloody and bruised, broken. I hear the cell door open. I turn sharply. Caloses is there, slowly clapping, flanked by four guards. "That was beautiful." he says. "It's a shame it has to end." The guards advance. I try to fight them off, but I'm way to weak. Two of them grab my arms, and the other two hold back Dylan, who is fighting harder than I thought he could. The guards drag me out of the cell. Caloses leads the guards to a small room. It only contains a chair. The guards drop me in the chair and tie my wrists and ankles. I stare daggers at Caloses. "What?" I demand. "Ah, ah, ah. Temper will get you no where, my dear." Calsoses scolds. He walks slowly behind me, twirling my hair in his fingers. He idly ties a gag around my mouth. "Dear, you know I want you dead. But I don't think you will cooperate." He gestures to the door. The other guards come in, holding between them an unconscious Dylan. I strain towards him. The guards drop Dylan on the floor. One pulls out a whip and begins lashing him. I fight against the gag and the rope. I hear a soft click and feel the cold barrel of a gun against my temple. "They will stop if you allow me to shoot you with no resistance." Dylan groans on the floor. "No," he says. "no, it's okay." I start to cry. Caloses pulls the gag off. I take a shaky breath. "Go ahead." "Bailey, no!" Dylan calls. Three. His eyes glisten with tears. Two. I meet his eyes. One. "I love you."