The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 20: This War Has Already Started

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Zach, Luke, Connor, Becca, and I exchanged worried glances, and then we simultaneously leaped off the comfortable couch and raced out the front door, heading down the empty street towards the direction of the male's scream. Even though the Monster Watch and I had only our pocketknives to defend ourselves, we were ready to save someone else for the second time that day. It was dark, but I could still see the silhouettes of one figure standing over another in the moonlight. And an old, wooden cane lying on the pavement.

So that meant it had to be Shane, or Hephaestus, lying in the middle of the street and yelling in pain. As the five of us slowed to a stop, we could see that the person standing over him was none other than Cole, with his caramel-colored hair shining under the stars, and he was wearing an expression of fear and shock. What the hell had happened?

"What's going on?" Zach shouted, glaring at Cole accusingly.

But Cole didn't answer, and instead his brown eyes sadly locked on me. Oops. "I thought you were grounded?" he said, his voice tight.

"I am, technically. I just..." my voice trailed off guiltily.

"Escaped, sneaked out, ran away, whatever you want to call it," Cole finished for me, now frowning. "You were at Zach's house the whole time, weren't you?" I nodded slowly, not bothering to hide the truth anymore. Cole turned away from me, a mixture of hurt and anger in his eyes.

Gasping in agony, Shane explained because Cole was obviously distracted, "I was walking home and one of those blasted harp -" I was pretty sure that Shane was about to say "harpies" when he suddenly stopped, and his dark eyes glanced up at the rest of the Monster Watch, Becca and I in the pure horror that he had almost given away our secret.

"What?" Cole asked in confusion. "When I got here, Shane was just lying on the street yelling in some weird language. Was it German?" Oh, poor Cole; he couldn't have been further off. But I guess that was a good thing. "I don't know. I just came over here to try and help, and that was when you all showed up."

The other gods who were there took a collective sigh of relief that Cole hadn't seen anything important. Thankfully, I could see no golden blood anywhere on Shane, although his left leg was bent at an odd angle under his jeans. In a way, it was a good thing that his already crippled leg was the one that was broken, so at least he could still walk a little bit.

I was about to discreetly ask Shane about what had happened to the harpy, when I noticed a little pile of gray dust lying next to him. I had no idea how, but the short, crippled Shane had managed to kill a huge flying bird with the torso of a woman.

Silently, I pointed the dust pile out to my fellow gods, and they nodded in understanding. Shane saw what I was trying to say as well, and he wordlessly picked up his cane. When Cole was looking away, Shane pressed a tiny, red button on the cane that I was pretty sure he had installed himself, and a small knife covered in gold-green monster blood shot out from the end, which answered my question. Zach, Luke, Connor, Becca, and I all gasped in surprise, and Shane clicked the button again just before Cole turned back around to see what was going on.

"I think my leg's broken," Shane complained as he tried to get up, but he failed miserably and fell back down hard. His rough hands grasped his mangled left leg as he groaned in pain. I carefully handed Shane his wooden cane again, and Zach helped him off the ground. Sighing, Shane ran his fingers through his short and already-graying hair, then quietly thanked Zach.

"Um, you should probably go home now," I advised Cole awkwardly.

"Oh, yeah. I wouldn't want to intrude on whatever the hell this is," Cole snarled, motioning to the rest of us, "since you obviously don't want me here to help." Then he turned on his heel and stormed away towards his house, disappearing into the night.