Cursed | Book Two of Chosen

Chapter Two: Athena

The horses were freaking out, and Scarlett perked up behind me. They heard something, though I didn’t know what. Then Scarlett screamed, “Run!” 

Everyone pushed their tired horses to the maximum. We were speeding through the forest, in between trees. The air was filled with thick smoke and dust, and everyone was coughing. It was hot. It was obvious that what we were running from was a fire, or someone setting the forest on fire.

The only question was, how did they find us?

But there was no time to figure it out or discuss it because we had to run from the fire.

The trees started to thin out, and the salty smell of the ocean mixed with the smell of the smoke. We'd almost traveled across the entire island.

"We are going to have to leave the horses!" Jazmine yelled back at us.

"No!" shrieked Myra. "They're going to die! They're going to kill them!"

"We have to! They can't get on the boat!"

The horses were slowing down, like they were giving up. I couldn't blame them: they were tired, hungry, thirsty, and trapped. But we couldn't give up, we couldn't leave more people to be tortured and killed. We couldn't give Scarlett's mother the satisfaction that she had gotten to us.

The trees stopped, and the ground was sand, and the horses refused to go any farther. Everyone slid off of there horses, even Myra, though she seemed to be whispering to hers. And in the water was a large boat, one that was used by the kingdoms to transport goods - or people.

"This is it," Jazmine said. "This will probably be our last time on land in a long time."

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We slept in the dark with a load of wooden crates. I'm pretty sure I saw bloodstains on the floor in the light of my magic, meaning this was probably a slave or fugitive ship.

I helped the others ward and hide the ship from view of anyone who didn't know to look for it. Then we moved the crates and stacked them to the sides. Some of the crates had food and clothing, others had weapons. All of them were useful.

Scarlett and I dug through a crate full of men's clothing, which looked like they would fit us. We each grabbed a loose, light shirt and pair of pants, then everyone took turns changing out of their bloody clothes behind a wall of crates.

Jazmine and Jay stayed up, guiding the ship by magic, while the rest of us stayed below to rest.

Scarlett was much paler than usual, and she looked very tired.

"You should take some of my blood," I said. "Please. You don't look well at all."

"No," Scarlett said fiercely. "I will not. I'll have a rabbit, but I won't bite you."

"Scarlett-"

"No. What if I hurt you? What if I Turn you, or kill you?"

"You won't. You don't even have to bite me. I'll cut open a wound just enough to get you a bit of blood. I don't want you to get sick or die."

"But-"

I grabbed a small, sharp knife out of my bag and made a tiny cut. A few drops of blood dripped out onto my skin. Scarlett's eyes unfocused, then rolled back into her head. Then they rolled back and were red. She bared her teeth, which were sharp as needles.

This hadn't happened in a long time. She hadn't lost control like this before.

She grabbed my arm tightly and brought it to her mouth. Then she sank her teeth into my skin. It hurt, but I closed my eyes and let her.

After a few minutes she pulled away, wiping her lips. Her eyes were back to their normal dark green, and a bit of blood was smeared on her cheek. She looked better, but also as if she felt guilty.

"Why did you...stop me? I didn't want - did I hurt you?"

"No," I said. "I'm fine. I promise. And you look better. That's good."

"Athena...please don't do that again," Scarlett said quietly.

"I won't," I said, then turned to put the knife away. I realized everyone was looking at us.

"She's a vampire?" Myra asked. Scarlett covered her face with her hands.

"It doesn't really matter," I said.

I handed Scarlett a blanket and then laid down next to her.  We slept the rest of the night.