The Hunters of Artemis

Chapter 34: The Death

Liam and I stumbled out of the room and heard a yell and a crash from down the hall. "I guess they went that way,'' said Liam, leaning on me for support.

"Yeah. Most likely." We walked along the hallway slowly, past a few doors and then we found an open one with bright light filtering out and loud shouts and crashes coming from inside the room.

We poked out heads into the room and saw Atlanta and Hannah trying to calm down the Ethiopian Pegasus which looked like it was panicking. while everyone else fought the guards. I led Liam over to a chair and said, "You stay here. You could get hurt even more if you engage in battle."

"But I want to help," protested Liam. 

I shook my head. "Not if it risks you reopening your wound. Now, sit." He grumbled but sat down and crossed his arms. 

"Fine." 

Walking over to where Lyra was punching one of Lycaon's men, I said, "Need any help?"

"Sure," was her reply. She clipped the guy in the jaw as I swept a foot underneath him. He fell hard and cracked his head on the floor on the way down. I high-fived Lyra quickly before moving onto the next guy. There were only a few left and we was taking pretty good care of them.

In less than a minute, we had one calm pegasus, six groaning men writhing in pain on the floor and eight tired demigods. Wait, eight? Then I saw Liam knuckle-pound Noah. I stomped over to him. "What are you doing? You can't be in battle yet! You're not healed!"

He laughed, earning a glare from me. "It's alright. I'm feeling better!" And sure enough, he looked like he did. Even his bloom of blood didn't seem as big as it had been.

I sighed. "Don't do that again. You might reopen your wound."

Liam shrugged. "'Kay. Now, we should get out of here."

I nodded. "Alright, guys! Let's get out of here before another psycho demigod comes and tries to kill one of us."

That was when Rhea showed up at the door with an evil grin on her face. Her green eyes were glittering and filled with malice and hatred... and aimed directly at me. 

"Speak of the devil," muttered Olivia. 

Grinning, Rhea held out her arms. "The gang's all back together! Well... sort of."

"Where's Emma?" said Lyra cautiously. 

Rhea flicked her hand nonchalantly. "I took care of her." I heard Olivia gasp. As far as I knew, Emma had been Olivia's best friend before she went... cray-cray. "Now, it's Kat's turn." Only now did I see the bloody knife strapped to her thigh. Paling, I saw that she meant what se said.

She turned to me and knocked an arrow on the bow that mysteriously appeared in her hands. "This time, I won't miss."

I saw mirror to my right, mounted on the wall and stepped backwards, as though I were frightened. But really, I was stepping towards the mirror. "I thought we were friends..." I whispered.

"We were. But no one wants me when they could have you. The only solution is to take you out of the equation." The arrow flew out of Rhea's hands and I lunged for the mirror. I snatched it off of the wall and held it up to my chest, right where the arrow was aimed. As the arrow bounced off of the mirror, I could hear Rhea's shriek of frustration. 

Then everything seemed to switch to slow motion. Everyone in the room watched as the arrow shot straight up into the air, bounced off of the light above us, changed angles and flew straight at Rhea, hitting her in the chest.

Instead of screaming in pain, she froze and slowly looked down at the arrow protruding from her chest, right above her heart. 

I heard someone screaming, and it might have been me. As much as I hated the way Rhea was acting, she was still my best friend. Robyn shrieked and ran to Rhea. "Rhea? Rhea, say something!"

"Ro... byn..." managed Rhea. Blood was pouring out of the wound; the arrow must have hit an artery or something... she didn't have much time. 

Robyn grasped Rhea's hand. I kneeled down next to Rhea and pulled the arrow out. She cried out in pain, but sank back down to the ground. I tore off a strip of my shirt and pressed it to the small hole in her chest. She winced, but let me apply pressure. 

"Rhea, stay awake, okay?" ordered Robyn who had tears running down her cheeks. 

Groaning, Rhea said nothing but kept her eyes open. "I'm... I'm not... sorry," she muttered. 

I was taken back. "What do you mean?" I pressed.

"I... still... would've... done it." She smiled apologetically at me. "If... I hadn't... been shot... that is." She waved me in closer, so she could whisper something into my ear. I leaned down, brushing my pony tail off of my shoulder so it wouldn't get in her face. "Kat... I'm not... dead yet..."

Just as I was about to ask what she meant, Rhea used the last of her strength shoving a dagger she had concealed into my stomach.

I screamed as it entered my body and from that moment on, I couldn't hear anything but the blood rushing from my head and my heart beating erratically. I couldn't hear the screams of my friends, or the shouts of a furious Liam, or the even my own cries. 

I hugged my stomach and fell back. I lay there for a few seconds before I felt someone grasping the handle of the dagger and pull it out, which made me cry out in pain. The blood was flowing strongly... out of my stomach and pooling onto the floor. 

I felt my head being lifted up. My head throbbed. Either from blood loss or the fact that my head collided with the floor as I fell, I didn't know. Maybe both.

"Kat!" Suddenly, the hearing rushed back into my ears. There was much screaming and running around. Robyn was still crouched over Rhea, wailing her head off. Was... Was Rhea dead?

The pain clutched at me and I cried. I could feel the tears falling down my face. Now, I know in movies whenever a person gets shot, or stabbed, there's always that "last words" scene. There was none of that here. 

There was just friends crowding around me and tears falling. Mostly from Liam. I wanted desperately to reach up and touch his face, but all I could feel was pain. Pain beyond what you could ever believe. 

Time seemed to slow down as Lyra and Atlanta dripped nectar into my stab mark and tried to get me to eat some ambrosia. I shook my head, even though it felt like it was full of lead. "No," I managed.

"Kat, let us help you," cried Lyra. 

I shook my head again. My mouth formed the only words I truly wanted to say. "Get... home safe. Just... do that... for me. Okay?"

I felt someone grasp my hand. I glanced over and saw Liam clutching my hand. I wanted to say something to him, but my mouth felt heavy. So, so heavy. I wanted to stay awake for him, but it was so hard. I just wanted to... to sleep. Darkness began to crowd my vision and one last tear dropped before I fell into nothingness.