The Promise Path

~ Chapter Nineteen ~

Authors' Note: We hope you like our story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes we make.

Avery wakes up a while later, looking confusedly at her surroundings. The last thing she remembers is being in the room with the intimidating nine Coven members and Agni speaking in her head. He told Avery he could help, she agreed, then everything went dark. Now she's laying in the forest, looking up at the leaves fluttering in the wind above her. The sky is a mix of blue, orange, pink and purple, indicating the sun started to rise not long ago. She slowly sits up, groaning at the action. For some reason, her whole body feels kind of sore, and she feels colder than she ever has before, like her powers were drained out of her. Avery doesn't know what happened, but right now, all she's thinking about is Lucy.

"Lucy?" Avery calls out, hoping to hear a reply. Wen she doesn't, Avery shouts again, this time her voice filled with concern, "Lucy!"

"Avery?" She hears Lucy yell back, and relief flows through Avery immediately. She slowly stands up and starts to stumble in the direction that she heard Lucy's voice from and where she can now hear footsteps, eager to see her love. Once Lucy bursts into the clearing, Avery pauses for a moment, then murmurs under her breath,

"Lucy."

"Avery, why are you up? You should be resting, you used a lot of energy yesterday." Lucy says, stomping over to Avery and immediately supporting the taller girl as best as she can.

"What happened yesterday?" Avery questions.

"Do you not remember?" Lucy responds, shocked. Avery tells her,

"Not a thing. Last thing I remember is Agni saying to me he can help."

"Strange," Lucy says, "Well, we'll figure out what happened eventually."

"Will you tell me what happened?" Avery requests as Lucy helps her sit down next to the fire Lucy made while Avery was asleep. Avery didn't even notice the fire when she woke up, she was too worried about Lucy.

"Sure." Lucy agrees and sits down next to Avery. She proceeds to tell her everything that she did, not leaving anything out. Not long later, Dimitri enters the clearing, Daniel and Cassius not far behind him. Avery immediately becomes tense when Dimitri appears since she doesn't know him very well and as far as she knows, he could be a spy for the Coven.

"It's good to see you awake, Avery." Dimitri states, his thick Russian accent more obvious now that there isn't something over his mouth. Avery nods in response, watching his every move in a cautious manner.

"Can we go now? We're not exactly safe here." Cassius suddenly says, his voice slightly whiny. His voice makes Avery jump out of habit, but she quickly calms down when she feels Lucy pressed into her side. Avery briefly looks away from Dimitri in order to look over at Cassius and Daniel. She is surprised and confused when she sees Daniel glaring over at her and Lucy.

"We can go when you tell us why you were flying to Russia in the first place." Lucy retorts, frustrated by Cassius keeping secrets. She has asked him many times since they rescued him and Daniel, but Cassius won't answer. Before, he was using the excuse that he wanted to wait until Avery woke up, but now he can't do that. Cassius stays silent, trying to think of an excuse, when Daniel suddenly answers for him,

"Axel wants Cassius to find a goddess and ask for her help."

"Dude!" Cassius exclaims, smacking Daniel on the arm, "They're not supposed to know!"

"They won't stop asking about it, might as well tell them." Daniel says with a shrug. Cassius groans and rolls his eyes, glaring at Daniel. Avery looks on in curiosity at Cassius' glare. She has been on the receiving end of that glare a lot throughout her life. Any time Cassius sees her he glares at her, well not really anymore, but he used to. Therefore, Avery knows what his glare looks like when he is truly angry. Yet, Cassius isn't glaring like that at Daniel. His glare is more like how Lucy glares at her instead of how Cassius would usually glare at her. Could Cassius be fond of Daniel in the way Avery is fond of Lucy? Avery is filled with the desire to find out.