The blazing storm

Chapter 17

James clasped Darcy's hand as she held the vial up to her lips.  Chiron leaned across his desk expectantly.  Darcy took a deep breath and tipped the liquid into her mouth.  It enveloped her throat with a slight burning sensation.  For a second nothing happened, then her entire body convulsed and she blacked out. 

2 years earlier
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Darcy woke up.  Her head was pounding and her vision was blurry.   She felt like she had been asleep for a very long time.  Once her vision cleared, she saw glass only a few inches from her nose.  She panicked and reached around nervously.  Glass on both sides of her; barely enough room to move.  She kicked her feet and they hit a solid surface almost immediately.  She was in a glass box. 

In a panic, she pressed her hands against the glass above her and tried to force the box open.  Nothing happened.  She dropped her hands.  Two sweaty hand prints were left imprinted on the glass. 

Just beyond her hand prints, she saw a familiar body lying over top of her in another glass case.  James' hair was no longer brown and it had grown out.  She started to cry.  She was terrified. 

She as her head started to spin from lack of oxygen, James' case was dragged off of hers.  The scrapping sound of glass on glass made Darcy's teeth ache.  Her case was ripped open and a Cyclops stood above her.  His breath rotten seemed to shake Darcy from her trance.  Before she knew what was happening, the Cyclops snatched her from the case and forced her onto her feet.  "Forwards." He spat, jabbing her in the back with a thick finger. 

Darcy's legs felt like overcooked noodles.  She stumbled through a dark corridor that she didn't recognize.  Where was she?

"Here." The Cyclops growled.  Darcy looked back at him and saw him pushing open a wooden door.  Inside was a table she recognized all too well. 

"No," Darcy shook her head.  Tears brimmed I  her eyes.  "Please." Her voice was weak.

The Cyclops snarled and grabbed Darcy's shoulder.  He shoved her inside and she crashed to the ground in tears.  "Please!" She cried again.  "I just woke up!"

The Cyclops laughed cruelly.  "Yes, you did." He yanked Darcy up by her hair.  "Thirteen months in a Death Trance." He grinned.  His teeth wers riddled with cavities. 

Darcy kicked at the Cyclops weakly.  "Don't-" She started.  The Cyclops got impatient and threw her to the ground. 

The wind was knocked from her lungs.  She grappled for something to defend herself with but came up with nothing.  The Cyclops dragged her from her feet and glared at her with his ugly yellow eye.  "You and your little boyfriend have been big problem to me and brothers." He said.  Darcy decided to to correct the grammar. 

He strapped her to the table and took out a glistening blade.  Darcy looked away as it descended towards her back and screamed. 

Present day
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Darcy came to her senses, still screaming.  James held her against his chest and Chiron handed her a glass of water.  She wiped away her tears and gulped down the water as fast as she could.  She almost regretted taking the potion but the damage was done and there was no backing out now.  As soon as she swallowed the last of the water again, she slid back into the memories.

2 years earlier
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Blood was smeared across the glass of her box.  Darcy was feeling light headed.  She couldn't decide if it was from the lack of oxygen or the loss if blood.  Maybe it was both.  They had taken woken James a few hours ago and took him somewhere; he still wasn't back. 

She could hear him over the blood pounding through her ears and he sounded like he was in pain.  She couldn't stand it any longer and started to cry.  She was feeling claustrophobic in her glass case and she was running out of air. 

She was in so much pain and was so miserable she almost welcomed the idea of death.  She would die happily if I weren't for James, the boy she loved and Leo, her best friend.  They kept her anchored to the earth.  If one of them died, she would float away, into space and never come back. 

Finally, James was returned to his case.  He was just as bloodied as Darcy.  She pressed her palm on the side of her case.  She wanted to touch him.  He would comfort her.  She would comfort him and they would devise a plan to escape again.  Her vision blurred and she slipped under once more. 

When she woke again, she was strapped to a wooden chair.  A table stood in front of her, strewn with food.  Her eyes lifted to see James sitting across from her also strapped to a chair.  He seemed to have just come to his senses as well.  Their eyes met and Darcy let put a strangled cry.  There was a cut across his face, travling fron the center of his forehead to the edge of his jawbone.  Dried blood had crusted to his face. 

"Darcy..." He exhaled.  His breaths were laboured. 

Darcy yanked against her restraints.  The leather cuffs bit into her wrists but she ignored the pain.  She needed to get to James.  With a slam, a giant wooden door burst open at the other side of the room.  Four ugly Cyclopses lumbered in and sat down around the table.  They started to eat, ignoring James and Darcy. 

Another way to torture them; straving them.  Darcy tried not to scream.  Why were they doing this?  The Cyclops sitting beside James leaned over and spat in James' face.  James hung his head and spit dripped from his face. 

"Stop!" Darcy screamed. 

The Cyclopses momentarily paused and looked at her curiously.  The biggest one spoke up first.  Darcy recognized him as the one who had thrown her around.  "Brother Cyclops do what we want with puny demigods." He laughed, spraying chewed food everywhere.  "You present form mother Gaea."

Darcy felt bile rise in her throat.  They were being treated like dispensable pets.  James looked up at her.  Her heart squeezed.  The Cyclopses horked down the remainder of their food then they yanked Darcy and James fron their chairs and caried them to a room.  A hose hung from the ceiling. 

The Cyclops pointed at them.  "One minute to shower both." He said. 

Darcy didn't hesitate.  She grabed the nosel and water flowed from it.  It was freezing but it would have to do.  "James," She reached towards him.  "Come."

James took her hand and Darcy pulled him towards her.  "It's cold." She warned.  She gently washed his face and once he was done, she quickly washed hers. 

The Cyclops was back in the dark room in a minute, just as he had said, and grabbed the two demigods.  He dragged them further down the hall and threw them into a a dark room.  He slamed the door behind them and the room was plunged into darkness.  Darcy curled up against James' chest and they held eachother until they fell asleep.