A Thousand Demi-Gods~Chapter 8- The Woods

A Thousand Demi-Gods~

Chapter 8: The Woods

The war is getting stronger. People of all sides collide, creating a huge barrier of warmth. I glanced out my window, the wind blowing. I sighed and looked away, the door opening. A guard walks in with someone and I turn around to see a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, sun-kissed skin. I recognized him immediately.

“Charlie…What are you doing here?” I ask in a whisper.

He looks at me, “I need to talk to you,” He says, sitting on one of the couches. “What are you doing here?” he asks, folding his arms.  I sigh and sit next to him, throwing my feet up on the coffee table.

“The senator of Olympus promised me he’ll let me meet my dad. I’m waiting for him.” I say, looking over at him.

“I don’t know about that, Ray. He might be manipulating you.” He says, setting his hand atop mine. I swallow, looking down.

“He won’t.” I say, blushing.

He flashes a smile and tilts my face up with his finger. Just then, in that moment, the doors bursts open and guards fill the lounge. Their swords, matches and armed guns all around me.  They grabbed Charlie by the arms and he shoots a round of lightning at them, grabbing me and throwing me over his back.

“Charlie! What are you doing?!” I ask, confused. He doesn’t say anything and snatches a rope from the table-side.

It wasn’t like I hated being carried; I just don’t have strength for it. If my mother finds out about my “meeting dad” attempt then she could explode! Worse, expel me from going into the Olympus war. That’s the only thing that matters to me right now.

I let him do what he wants, making sure he knew who in-charge was now.

“Hey, you know I’m in-charge—,” he wouldn’t let me finish before he ties my mouth with a cloth and jumps out the window with me. Glass shatters, like broken memories.

He cautiously lands on his feet with a light trip, but catches his balance quickly. That’s another advantage of being a soon-to-be-god of Olympus. He dragged me along the stone covered walkway, still carrying me until he drops me inside a small cave near the woods. I could already hear the wolves…we must be close to their den. It’s never good to be near Olympus wolves. They are bigger then ones down in the real-world, and politely more vicious. Their jaws could down your whole upper-body faster then you could scream for help. That’s a disadvantage of being out in the woods at this time of night.

“Rayah, stay here. I think we should stay in here for the night. The guards are out for us. I’mma go get us something to eat. Hunting.” He says, stepping out without hesitating.

I looked at him, wide-eyed. I grabbed his foot before he could leave. “What about the wolves? The Minotaur? The snakes? Bears?” I ask, slightly shaking from the lack of heat. Its winter and my element power, fire, gave me an advantage but nothings worse than being out in the snow with no blankets or cover. He sighs his charming sigh, something I could never say no to ever since we’ve met at the banquet.

“You’ll be fine. They only come out later around twelve. It’s only seven.” He replies about the time.

“But I hear the wolves. They aren’t usually out at this time, I could agree with you on that, but I can hear them. They don’t howl in their sleep, do they?” I swallow, glancing around.

“Ray, trust me. I know what I’m doing? I’m the demigod of Olympus, remember?” He flashes his award winning smile.

“How could I forget? Just…At least let me come with.” I argue, plead in my emerald green eyes.

He sighs, “Fine. Do you have any weapons? Hunting stuff?” He asks, eyeing me.

“Me? How could you even ask that, Charlie? I always have weapons on me!” I chuckle.

He laughs with me, “In that case, C’mon.” He says, motioning me out.

I smile and followed, grabbing my knife from my boot and headed out with him by my side. As we walked, he started up a conversation.

“You ever hunted before? Out here in the woods?” He asks, still keeping alert for incoming predators.

I shrug, not sure, actually.

“I bet I have but don’t remember. It’s been a while since I’ve been out here.” I say, a grin forming on my lips.

“Well,” He says. “I bet you’ll do fine.”

I nod in agreement. If I could hunt down different evil demigods in the underworld then I can sure hunt down a single deer, rabbit or sawil. Sawil are only animals you find in Olympus, the only animals that are kind enough. These birds are beautiful, yet hard to catch. They make a really annoying squawking noise at night, I’ve learned to sleep through it over my childhood. Once you catch those birds it’s really easy to lose them, so you have to keep a good eye on them, even if you think their dead.

After about three minutes of hiking up and down the rough terrain, I spot a sawil. I grin widely, creeping up on it from behind.

Charlie’s footsteps startle it and it subconsciously flies away. Charlie laughs evilly and I glare at him. “You probably just lost our only chance at dinner.” I say, flashing a smile.

He shakes his head at me and chuckles. “No it won’t. I can get stuff.” He says, confusing me.

I almost choke on his words, a smile still on my face. “We’ll see about that, lover boy.” I laugh.

I run away playfully, climbing a tree and hooking my feet onto the nasty bark. I dangled my legs down from it as I looked down at him. He smiles.

“Rayah, come down from there,” he begs, starting to climb it himself.

“Why would you tell me to come down if your climbing up yourself?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He stops and glances up at me for a second, moving some of his hair from his electric blue eyes. “’Cause. I just did,” He says, and continues climbing.

I sigh once he reaches me and jump down from it, chuckling. He looks down at me, shaking his head in an ‘I’mma hunt you down and give you a big old hug’.

He stumbles his way down and I start walking again, trying to actually keep some focus. Something about him made me want to lose focus…

I shake the thought out. What am I thinking? He’s Charlie for Pete’s sake! I shake my head out as I see a bird high up in a tree. It must be a bluebird. Back in the house, me and Jas used to always share Bluebird eggs as a breakfast while Katie, Cupid, Jesse, Becca and Gabi would go ahead and eat the bacon and cereal. This wasn’t the best meal for dinner, but it’s better then starving I guess. I got my knife ready to cut down the branch where it’s nest is a and start climbing the tree again, this time, eyes on my target.

“What are you doing?” I hear Charlie ask, watching from far below. I was already half way up the pine.

He repeats, “RAYAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” In a louder, more stern voice then before.

“I heard you, god, give me time to respond,” I mutter, “I’m trying to get us some dinner. Something you’ve been stalling ever since I’ve been out here hunting with you.”

Almost there…

“What? You think I’m stalling…?” He asks, stupidity in his voice.

“STALLING!” I chuckle.

“I was not stalling!” He argues.

I stop climbing and look down at him for a split second. “You just did. Twice.”

He shakes his head and watches, sighing. I start climbing again and make my way towards the nest. I finally get there and wipe the sweat off my forehead. I reach for the nest but then the bluebird snaps her beak at me.

“Feisty.” I muttered, reaching for it again. I see another one coming and I know who it is. Oh god. Here comes the daddy. I pick it up quickly and jump down, landing with a thump. Charlie looks at me weirdly. “

What’s wrong?” He asks, walking closer towards me.

“That!” I say pointing to the two angry bluebirds.

“What? Those things? There just birds!” He chuckles.

“Yeah well do you want to get pecked to death or do you want to eat? Because right now, they’re going to flu down at try to—,” I stop in the middle of the sentence as I already see them flying towards us. I grab Charlie’s arm and start running towards the cave again.

I trip over a couple tree vines but keep my feet steady, my aim on lock. Charlie’s running faster then me now, and he ducks right under as soon as he gets in. I slide under and he pushes a rock to cover the entrance JUST in time before the angry-looking birds come hitting themselves against the hard stone.

I smile, “Good running.”

He nods, “I’m on track. Same for you.”

I smile wider, “Told you I could get us something to eat.” I chuckled.

He just shakes his head and gets the fire ready. “Whatever,” He smiles back.