Cursed Mind

Chapter 18

*Alex POV*

When I saw Blackjack descending with Phoenix and Austin, it was one of my happiest moments. As soon as Blackjack came to a stop, I tackled Phoenix in a hug.

"I am never leaving you again. I regretted it as soon as we took off. I -"

"Alex, it's fine. We're together now so stop fretting."

We smile and start giggling as we let go. I walk over to Blackjack and stoke his nose. He leans into the touch and makes what sounds almost like a purring noise? I laugh softly as I touch my forehead to his.

"Thank you, Blackjack." I whisper so only he can hear. His tongue shoots out and licks my nose. He gave me a kiss. Awe.

"Love you too, Blackjack. I'll see you when we get back to camp alright? We'll have lots of fun together." I say stepping back. Blackjack unfurls his gorgeous wings and before he takes off he gives me a long hard look. Then he takes off to the sky, becoming a black spot in the blue.

Turning back, I saw Conner with his arms crossed as he grumbled under his breath. I smirked at him.

"Not jealous of the pegasus kissing me are we?"

"What? Of course not," he said.

"Oh, come here," I say opening my arms wide. He smiled before scooping me up in his arms and swinging me around. I giggled as he set me back down. He kissed my forehead before letting go of me.

I looked towards the others in our group. They all looked tired but there was work to be done.

"Okay so we've gotten through the first three lines of the prophecy. Any ideas for what to do next?"

Everyone stares at the ground, not looking me in the eye. Just because I was Athena's daughter didn't mean I had to make all the plans, right? I guess it did.

"So the next line tells of one of us dying, but that could mean lots of things. So let's come back to that one. The line after that says 'the quest of 5 will not retry'. I'm guessing we're going to do something that we're not going to do again. It might possible be linked to the death that's going to happen," I bite my lip looking at the others who all stare at me with hope in their eyes that I'll think of something. "The line after that one is 'a one way shot to kill a bird'. What greek mythology birds are there?"

"Could it have something to do with the sacred birds of the gods?" Cyprin piped up.

"I don't think it'd be right to go killing one of the gods sacred birds..." I bit my lip anxiously.

"What if we're supposed to though. Supposedly we're trying to find the cure to heal the cursed minds of Athena and Aphrodite. Maybe we need to shoot at one of their birds to get part of the cure?" Cyprian continued. I thought about it.

"I guess you have a point. But it says to kill a bird. A single bird and one shot. How do we know which bird we need to take a shot at?" I fired back, making Cyprian think.

"We'd have to take our chances. But I think it's a good lead. I mean, come on, we really don't have anything else to go with at the moment."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. We were grasping at straws now and I didn't like it. What if we chose the wrong bird? I felt awful taking a creature's life away. An owl or a dove. One of these three birds would be killed by us at the end of the day. I could call an owl and Phe could call a dove. But which one?!

We started walking down the sidewalk beside the busy traffic. We walked in silence as we all thought about what bird we could possibly kill and it be the right one. I'm thinking probably an owl, though it hurts for me to think of it. Since their minds are cursed and they can't control them, wisdom is something they'd need. The owl could be part of the cure.

We stopped in a small clearing where no one else was at. It was empty except for us. We stood in a circle, looking at each other.

"I think it should be the owl," I say wincing. The others turn to me for an explanation. "Owls stand for wisdom. Something that the cursed gods would need in the state their in. Wisdom and the ability to think properly. If you think differently then speak up."

No one did. I sighed.

"If we only have one shot at this, then I think it should be Phe. She has the best aim."

"Um, no. I'm not that very good," Phe said in protest.

I took her hands in mine and looked her seriously in the eyes.

"I believe that you can do this. I have faith in you. I know when I'm right, Phe, and I'm right about you. I know that you can do this."

Her eyes were wide as she listened to me. I knew she didn't want to do this. That she wanted to be anywhere else except here. But she had to do this.

"I'm going to call an owl, and you get ready, okay?" I say slowly, and she nods before pulling out her bow and an arrow.

I pulled away from her and took a deep breath. Mother, please forgive what we're about to do.

I made a weird noise with my throat. A noise only us Athena kids could do. My friends gave me weird looks but didn't question it. I made the noise again, louder this time. A few seconds later, a big and majestic owl sweeped into the clearing.

I gazed at in awe as it made eye contact with me. It made to fly towards me and land on my arm which I had automatically extended without realizing it. But it never had the chance. It fell to the ground with a thump, an arrow sticking out of it's body. The arrow had sank true, and the owl had died on impact.

I cradled the dead owls in my arms as a few tears ran down my cheek. I knew I was probably being childish, but I didn't care. This was my mother's sacred bird. I felt her presence through it, or at least I had when it had been living. Now I felt nothing and it made me scared for my mother. Scared that we'd fail and she'd have a cursed mind forever.

The owl suddenly poofed out of my arms and out of sight. Arms wrapped around me and I turned around and softly cried into Conner's chest. He tenderly stroked my hair and whispered soothing things in my ear. I wiped my eyes and pulled away, his arm still wrapped around me.

"Okay, I guess we made the right choice then. Olympus took the owl so now it's off our hands."

"What now?" Austin said.

"The next part of the prophecy."

I looked up at the sky, seeing the sun starting to set. That started to fulfil the next part of the prophecy. Close at night. Well, it was now close to night.