The Daughter of Apollo.

Chapter 5 - Warning;...

Chapter 5 - Warning; Invasive Voices and Heavy Backpacks Often Result in Confusion.

I started hyperventilating. What could have happened? Yasmine would never leave her stuff unattended like that, she was protective over anything she owned. Where would she have gone off to in such a hurry that she forgot her stuff? Surely, nothing can be that urgent, I thought. Oh, how wrong I was. I decided that wherever Yasmine was, she wouldn't want someone to steal her things, so I quickly zipped up her bag and picked it up with a heave. Man, this thing is heavy.

"Ok," I sighed to myself, "Now to find her."

I started walking cautiously around the school, the tingling feeling (that still hadn't disappeared) seemed to intensify by the second. It was funny, because no one else seemed to notice it. Was it just me? If so, how come? I kept an eye out for anyone that seemed to be feeling this sense of dread to. Maybe they would know what it was? Or what was causing it?

Run while you can... The thought was seeping into my mind, forget your friends and save yourself... No! I wasn't going to do that, not after everything that Yasmine had done for me. I kept repeating these stubborn thoughts in my head, an attempt of drowning out that horrible voice, completely oblivious to the fact that the voice had said friends, with a plural.

You know you want to... The voice continued, wouldn't it be so much easier if you did? No! No, it would be so, so, so much worse.

If you run now, you will live your life in peace... NO! I didn't even know what this danger was, but I did know that I wasn't going to let Yasmine fall victim to it. At some point, amongst all the running I was doing, I decided that I would even fight this beast myself.

Come on... The chilling voice seemed to whine, do it, I dare you... For the last time, N-

"NO!" I stopped running. Another voice was ringing in my ears, this one aloud. My breath hitched, had I just yelled that? No... that wasn't my voice. The other voice belonged to someone else, a boy perhaps. I looked around desperately, searching the crowd that now stood still with me. And we all looked at him. Even though he was facing away from me, I still recognised him. No one could forget that orange curly hair so easily.

I studied my kind-of-friend closely. He was on his own and holding his head tightly, he seemed traumatised, yet he still kept walking at a brisk pace. I didn't know for sure that he was hearing this creepy voice too, but I was far from being concerned if I was called crazy. I ran as fast as I could towards this boy, well, as fast as I could while lugging two backpacks. I tenderly put my hand on his shoulder, trying to slow him down a little. The reaction I got was not one I was expecting.

As soon as my hand came into contact with his shoulder, he flinched so hard it made me flinch too. He then turned so quickly that I stumbled back a little in surprise. His expression was frantic, his dark blue eyes wide and desperate. I put my hands up where he could see them, a class and cliché sign of surrender. His once frantic eyes softened when he realised it was me.

"S-sophie?" He mumbled, stopping and facing me fully. "Can you.... Hear it too?"

"Yeah, I can." I reply quietly, taking him gently by the shoulder, trying to direct him away from the prying eyes of the flamboyant students. "I don't know why, but it's trying to get me to run away."

"Really?" He whispered over his shoulders, sweat obvious on his face. "It's trying to get me to let it kill you and the others." With that one quiet, scared sentence, it seemed like my insides were being squeezed by an iron fist.

"Me? The others? Who are the others?" I asked quickly, the tingles on the back of my neck felt more like pin pricks. I knew that soon, they'd feel like knives.

"No time." He told me, "Just follow me!" The sudden urgency, which replaced his old tone of tiredness, surprised me. He grabbed my arm, leading me away silently.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

After a rushed minute of jogging through hallways, twisting and turning, we came to a classroom that I hadn't thought existed. This was surprising, since I basically knew every inch of that place. The boy, whom I still didn't know the name of, plunged his other hand into his pocket. He pulled out a small, grey, rusted key, and preceded to fumble at the lock, while I doubled over, exhausted. His other hand, which was still clasped around my arm, tightened. I winced and moved to take the key from his shaking hand. He pretty much shoved me inside the classroom after I opened the door.

"Ow." I yelped, trying and failing to regain my balance. I went down, arms flailing around, mentally preparing myself for impact. But it didn't come. Instead of feeling the ground smash into my face, I felt warm arms wrap around my waist, securing me into a slanted position, my face just inches away from the ground. I released a shaky breath, trying to stop my heart from racing. My light brown hair surrounded my face and brushed against the ground, and I was thankful as it hid the shock on my face. Whoever the strong arms belonged to started lifting me, and two heavy bags, upwards, until my feet were happily planted on the ground. I turned my head around to see who had saved me and was so shocked with the answer that I almost fell again. It was Bradley Alan!

"W-what? Uh... why?" My words stumbled out, my confusion evident through the way my mouth was agape. In the next few seconds of silence, I decided that I probably shouldn't have questioned him, I didn't want to be pushed over or punched. I gritted my teeth. "Ah, I mean... thank you."

"Yeah. Whatever." He gritted out, his ears a little red with anger. I backed away a bit, I had already experienced way too much today to deal with this. I clasped my hands together behind my back, something I used to do when I was nervous or uncomfortable.

"Oh, sorry Sophie!" The red-haired boy hurriedly apologised while I slid mine and Yasmine's bags of my shoulders. I had almost forgotten that he was there. He was standing in front of the door, his back facing Bradley and I, constantly leaning over to peek through a window.

"Ryland!" Bradley yelled at the boy desperately, I could tell from his voice that he was confused. I realised that the red-haired boy's name must have been Ryland, that's strangely suiting. "What, exactly, is going on?" For some reason, it comforted me knowing that I wasn't the only one in the dark.

"No time!" Ryland shook his head frantically, "I have to go find Yasmine and get you all out! Lock the door behind me and don't open it for anyone!" With that, he flung the door open and launched himself out of the room.

"What..."I started meekly, reaching my hand out to where the frantic boy just was. "theheck?"