Theo
If getting dragged into a candy store, over powered and tied up in the space of about thirty seconds isn’t one way to make you feel completely useless then I don’t know what is. Whilst Emma and Bailey were fighting a child eating monster lady, I was tied up in a wall not doing anything except wondering where the light was coming from.

As we walked along the road to find Bailey, Emma told me the whole story. Hearing it made me feel even worse. She had fought Lamia on her own and I did nothing to help.

She could tell I was feeling bad about it because she said, "Hey, don’t look so annoyed, you took the Minotaur down by yourself."

"No I didn’t," I replied, "if Bailey hadn’t done some weird mind thing there was no way I could have done it."

We stopped walking and Emma punched me hard on the arm. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We need you on this quest. So what if Lamia over powered you, it would’ve happened to me if I was the one she grabbed. Without you we would already be dead. So just suck it up and help me find Bailey."

After she said I felt better. I still felt embarrassed but not as useless. I smiled at her and we started down the road again. We walked for nearly thirty minutes before we came across Bailey leaning against a tree which was covered in fresh grape vines. When he saw us he walked away from the tree and all the grapes and vines started to wither and die, Bailey didn’t even seem to notice.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.

He nodded and said, "what about you?"

Before Emma could even answer I interrupted. "Wait a minute, your British."

"Yes," he replied looking down at the ground.

Emma wouldn’t let me ask any more questions. She assured Bailey that we were both alright and then told us that we needed to rest. She said we would have to put up with the forest because none of us really wanted to walk anymore. And we all had the fear that a monster could own the next place we stopped at. Without even discussing it the three of us headed into the forest again. I can’t say I was happy about it but I didn’t complain.

We didn’t walk for long before we stopped and set up camp. It wasn’t much, only a self assemble tent the Hephaestus cabin made and some sleeping bags. Emma said she would take the first watch and I didn’t argue, I was tired and wanted to sleep.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I started dreaming.

I was eight years old again and back home in the charity shop my mom owned. I was a hot summer’s day in Alabama and I was out the back of the store having a water fight with Ethan, my big brother. He was already sixteen at this time but he would always play with me. He would always make sure I was okay, that I had enough to eat and drink even though we were only just getting by with the money mom earned.

The sun was high in the sky when mom called us in for lunch. The two of ran in and sat with her at the table in the tiny kitchen. My mom did this every day when there wasn’t school; she would close the store for an hour at lunch and spend the time with her two sons. It didn't matter that some lunches we didn't even have food, it was just nice to spend the time together as a family.

We hadn’t been sat at the table long when there was a knock on the door. It wasn’t unusual, sometimes mom got customers who didn’t see the closed sign. Mom did what she would normally do, get up and kindly explain that they should come back in an hour. However this time, before my mom could say anything, the boy who was at the door stabbed her in the stomach.

Before I could even register what was going on Ethan grabbed my hand and we were running towards the door. Ethan opened it only to find another teenage boy and a girl standing there, blocking our escape. The girl lifted her hand and blew a green dust into my brother’s face. His hand went cold and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Overwhelmed by what had just happened to my mom and brother I ran at the girl and started to hit her with my little fists. It didn’t do anything but anger the boy stood with her. He grabbed me and held his sword to my throat. He was about to kill me as well when the boy who killed my mother came running into the room.

"Wait!" he yelled, "don’t kill him, he’s important, we need him." The boy who was yelling was no more than fourteen, and the boy holding me and the girl were only a few years older.

The older boy growled under his breath and pushed me towards the younger boy. "Who put you in charge Alex?" The older boy snapped.

"No one," the younger boy, Alex, replied grabbing my wrist. "But we need this kid, he’s powerful."

"I hope your right," the girl said as she walked out the back door. The older boy grunted and followed her.

"Come on kid," Alex said to me, "you’re coming with us." He started to pull me towards the door but I wasn’t going to go without a fight. I bit the boy on his hand and he yelled out in pain releasing me. As soon as he let go I ran, past my brother, past my mother and out the shop door. I heard the boy swear as I ran away.

I woke up to find my whole body coved in a cold sweat. I hated that dream but unfortunately I had it nearly every night. I hated the fact that I was reminded how my mom and brother died every time I went to sleep.

I sat up in the tent to find it empty. Where were Emma and Bailey? I looked at my watch; it said 9:34am. Had I really been asleep that long? Once again I had left Emma and Bailey to do everything without me.

I started to get ready slowly. It was only when I heard Bailey yell did I speed up. I quickly threw on my camp T-shirt, grabbed my bow and arrows and scrabbled out of the tent.

As soon as I was out I mounted my bow and aimed it in the direction of the yell. I was about to shoot when I saw the cause of Bailey’s distress. Emma had pinned him up against the tree and looked like she was about to beat him half to death, she was furious.

Bailey on the other hand looked terrified and flinched anytime Emma made a slight
movement. I felt sorry for him. He was obviously just starting to trust the two of us and now
Emma was going to beat him up.

I didn’t understand why.

"What’s going on?" I asked them as I lowered my bow.

Emma kept her gaze on Bailey. "He won’t tell me the prophecy he was given," she said in a tone so angry it made me a little scared.

Notes

I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment I would love to know what you think.