The Gathering

Chapter Thirty One

We woke up the next morning and continued our trek. We walked well into the afternoon until we reached the Iowa state border and decided to stop and eat.

"How do you think this meeting is going to go over?" I asked Kat, who I was sitting next to.

"From what I've heard, Demeter isn't the nicest goddess. She can be as unpredictable as the wildlife she governs, and the apple never falls too far from the tree. We should just definitely be prepared for anything" Kat advised.

"Very true" I responded.

Now that we were in Iowa, I could
figure out the exact location of Demeters hideout so I took out my map. "Well it looks like they're 20 miles west of here, nowhere near any city or landmark. Let's get going!"

We headed off western bound, prepared for anything.

A giant hedge maze came in sight right as the sun dipped below the earth, so we stopped and made camp to prepare what to do.

"We need to be careful here. First off there could be all kinds of dangers within the maze" Ava began.

"And there's no telling if Matalel knows we're here and/or if he's talked to the kids already" James finshed.

"I can shadow-travel" Damon said. "I could scout it out and shadow travel out if there was any trouble"

"I think that's our best bet. Any better ideas?" I asked rhetorically, already knowing no one was going to come up with anything better.

"Just be careful" Mandy said.

"Of course. I'll be back before you know it" Damon reassured. With that, he disappeared and we all waited in anticipation for his return.

I decided to sit and talk to Mandy since we never finished our conversation from the previous night.

"Hey Mandy" I said, as I walked up to her.

"Hey Vande. Thanks for coming and talking to me. If not I'd probably be freaking out over Damon" Mandy said.

"Yea, no problem. Are you guys close?" I asked.

"Yea. We were neighbors growing up, and we traveled to New Orleans from Pennsylvania together" Mandy said.

"Wait, can you and Damon control the dead? I feel stupid for asking, but the Aphrodite kids could, so I wasn't sure" I said.

"We used to, but recently, about when they started to form groups, they resisted our commands more and more" Mandy said. "That's why we were so intrigued by Matalel and why I was studying those zombies the day you were captured-we were scared we were losing our powers and were going to die"

I was about to respond when I heard a whooshing noise and turned around to Damon.

His clothes were in tatters and he looked terrible. Me and Mandy rushed over and walked him over to the fire Kat had made.

"The maze... Horrible... So cold... Monsters... Don't go... Not worth it" Damon croaked out.