Huntress *finished*

Maturity: Some blood and a few deaths
Fantasy: A bit of Greek mythology, spirits, evil iron trees, etc.

[Just so you know, I originally wrote this to be two separate things. So... yeah.]



Prologue
I’m fighting against death.
A tiny fraction of my mind thinks it would be better to give up, but the rest of me will fight till my last breath.
Sometimes I hear my friends talking about me, but nothing they say makes sense.
Other times, strange whispers wreath around me. I know the voices belong to someone more than human, and they don’t make sense either.
But most of the time, there is nothing.

Chapter 1
“Can anyone tell me what Julius Caesar said when he-”
My hand shot up in the air.
“Crossed the Rubicon River,” Mr. Lehrer finished with a sigh. “Yes, Peppi?”
“When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BCE, he said ‘Alia iacta est,’ which is Latin for ‘The die is cast.’” I recited rapidly. “He wasn’t supposed to bring his soldiers into the city of Rome, but he thought someone wanted to assassinate him, so he did anyway.”
I noticed the popular kids rolling their eyes at each other. The girl sitting behind me even had the nerve to whisper to her friend, “What a nerd.”
“That’s correct,” Mr. Lehrer said without even a hint of surprise that I had known all that already. We had only just started the unit and he hadn’t taught us that yet. But all my teachers had long gotten past their surprise when I came up with random facts like that.
My name is Peppianna, and yes, you could say I’m a nerd.
The bell rang and everyone jumped out of their seats.
“Read chapters three and four by tomorrow!” Mr. Lehrer shouted over the noise. I was probably the only one listening, and almost certainly the only one who heard.
I grabbed my text book and stuffed it into my backpack, dropping my binder off in my locker on the way out. I sprinted to the bus, wanting to get a good seat. I quickly claimed my favorite one and whipped out my homework, zipping through it. By the time I got to my stop, I was done.

Chapter 2
I slammed the door behind me. “Mom, I’m home!” I called, dropping my backpack on the floor and sprinting up the stairs.
“Got any homework?” she called from the kitchen.
“Done!” I announced as I closed the door to my room. I plucked my old Greek mythology picture book off the shelf I had reserved for books about the subject. I jumped onto the bed and set the book gently on my lap, riffling through the stained and torn pages. I quickly found the page I was looking for, the one with the corner creased so deeply that it would never stay straight.
I smiled fondly at the faded picture on the page and scanned the paragraph underneath that I’d read so many times I had it memorized. But it was still better to read it from the book.
“Hello, Artemis,” I whispered.
“Hello,” someone said back.

Chapter 3
I spun around and stared at the girl who had appeared in the middle of the mess on my floor.
“H - how d - did you-” I stammered.
“The how does not concern you,” she said regally in a voice that seemed to old to be coming from a girl my age, younger, even. “The who, however, concerns you deeply.”
“Who are you, then?” I asked, confused.
“I am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt.”
I gaped. “Like... from mythology?”
“In your world, yes, I am from the belief system of an ancient culture, now mythology. But in another world, one hidden from most mortals, I am reality. And it will become your world, if you so choose. If you refuse, I’m afraid I’ll have to erase your memory of this encounter.”
“Refuse... what?”
“To become one of my Huntresses.”
“Me?” I squeaked. “One of your Huntresses?”
“Yes. You possess true spirit, and I believe you would do well, with the proper training.”
“Will my parents-”
“They will not remember you,” she answered, anticipating my question.
“I will join your Hunt,” I said quietly.
“Are you sure? Once you join, you can never go back. This is not a decision to be taken lightly.”
My mind raced through my life. I’d miss my parents, of course, but this was an opportunity of a lifetime. If they knew, they’d understand... I think. And as for my friends... What friends? Everyone at school thought I was a nerd (which I was), and I didn’t really go anywhere else.
“I’m sure.”
“Then repeat this oath. ‘I promise to faithfully serve the goddess Artemis.’”
“I promise to faithfully serve the goddess Artemis,” I echoed.
“‘I promise to turn my back on the company of men.’”
“I promise to turn my back on the company of men.”
“‘And I pledge my life to the Hunt, now and forever.’”
“And I pledge my life to the Hunt, now and forever,” I whispered.
There was a flash of silvery light, and then my bedroom was no longer there.

Chapter 4
I was in the middle of a circle of slivery tents, my mythology book still clutched in my hands. All around me, dozens of girls were talking and laughing together.
“Go join them,” Artemis told me before entering the biggest tent, which I assumed was hers.
I stood awkwardly in the middle of the camp, expecting to feel like an outsider. But then one of the girls got up and came over to me, a warm smile on her face. She looked about twelve years old, but I knew that she could be thirty or a hundred or a thousand or more. Huntresses never change.
“Hi,” she said cheerfully, tossing her long, reddish-brown braid over her shoulder. “I’m Phoenix.”
“I’m Peppi,” I said shyly.
“You’re going to need a bow,” she said matter-of-factly. “Come on, I’ll take you to Theron.”
“Who’s Theron?” I asked as she towed me along with her to a clump of girls just outside a tent.
“She’s our best bow-maker,” Phoenix told me. “Except for Lady Artemis, of course. Hey, Theron!” she called.
One of the girls looked up. “Yeah?”
“We’ve got a new Huntress.” She pushed me forward. “This is Peppi.”
The girl smiled up at me. “Hi,” she said, getting up. “Come on, I’ll show you how I make bows.”
“Um... okay,” I said uncertainly, following her into the forest that surrounded the camp.
After a while of what seemed like aimless wandering, I asked, “What are we looking for?”
“That.” Theron pointed to a thin branch. “Yew,” she told me, taking out a gleaming hunting knife and beginning to saw the bough off the tree.
“Me... what?” I asked, confused.
She laughed. “Yew. Y-E-W. It’s a kind of tree.”
I blushed. “Oh. Right.”
She put away her hunting knife and pulled out a tiny dagger, better for carving. She shaved off the bark before looking me up and down to judge my size and cutting away a few inches of the branch. She cut a piece off of a small roll of faintly glowing silver thread and tried it onto one end of the bow, then deftly bent the wood and tied the other end together. She carved a tiny T at the top of the bow and handed it to me.
“The string is enchanted so it will never break,” she told me.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
She smiled at me. “Don’t mention it. Let’s get back to camp and get you some arrows.”

Chapter 5
The intelligent-looking, yellow eyed wolves that guarded the camp were howling. Next to me I could see the dim shapes of Phoenix and her twin sister, Pyralis, crawling out of their sleeping bags. We all scrambled through the flap of the tent we shared, our bows and quivers appearing on our backs at the signal of danger.
A young man was standing in the middle of our camp with a worried look on his face.
I reached for my bow. How had he gotten in here? The wolves were trained to attack any intruders, especially males.
Phoenix gently pulled my arm away from my quiver. “That’s Lord Apollo,” she whispered in my ear.
“I wonder what’s going on?” another girl, Lux, wondered in hushed tones from my other side.
“I’ve never seen him look so upset,” Theron agreed, her dark green eyes troubled.
“Artemis!” Apollo called.
Artemis strode out of her tent in her usual form, the thirteen-year-old girl I had first met her as. The moonlight seemed to make her glow, beaming down straight on her.
“Brother,” she said curtly. “What brings you to my camp in the middle of the night?”
“I’ve had a prophecy,” he said, staring down at her. “About you and your Huntresses.” Then he began to recite a poem in an ominous, blood-chilling voice.
The future of maidens eternal at stake,
Do not delay; haste they must make.
To seek the tree of black wild rose.
Decipher the poetry, remember the prose.
Find the dwelling of spirits old,
’Ere the last Huntress is still and cold.

Chapter 6
Artemis stared up at her brother in horror, shock stamped all over her features.
“’Ere the last Huntress is still and cold?” Phoenix repeated in a whisper. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
I shivered. “What are we going to do?”
Artemis seemed to snap out of her disbelieving state. “The only thing we can do,” she said. I could tell she was struggling to keep her voice strong and confident. “We will do as the prophecy says.”
“I’ll go tell Father Zeus,” Apollo said.
“No,” Artemis said sharply. “We will do this ourselves. We do not need help.”
Apollo sighed. “As you wish. But he’ll find out. He always does.” And with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.
Artemis turned back to us and held up a hand for silence. Immediately all the whispering stopped. “Theron,” she called commandingly.
Theron stepped forward. “Yes, my Lady?”
“Pick five Huntresses to go with you. The rest will stay here with me until you return.”
“Yes, my Lady,” she repeated, scanning the tight-knit huddle in front of her. “Lux,” she said hesitantly. “Indigo. Phoenix. Rhodes. And... Peppi.”
Me? Why would she choose me, of all people? I had only joined three days earlier!
Artemis nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Good. Leave as soon as you are ready.” Then she disappeared inside her tent again.
The other Huntresses filtered back inside their tents, until soon only Theron and the five of us she had picked were left.
“Get some sleep,” she told us. “We’ll leave at dawn.”

Chapter 7
“Hey, Peppi. Peppi, wake up.”
“Huh?” I sat up groggily, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
“The others are already out there,” Phoenix hissed. “We’re the last ones.”
“Oh, right, the prophecy. Sorry, tell them I’ll be right there.”
I jumped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my backpack. I started for the tent flap, then hesitated, glancing back at my pillow. Pyralis was still asleep and Phoenix had already left the tent. I could risk it.
I knelt beside my bed and opened up my pillowcase, taking out my old mythology book from where I had hidden it. I slid it into my backpack and left the tent.
The others were waiting for me outside, looking slightly irritated.
“Sorry,” I muttered, self-consciously tucking a lock of hair behind my hear.
“Sorry catches no game,” Rhodes, one of the chosen Huntresses, said imperiously.
“We’re not trying to catch game,” I snapped, my temper flaring. Rhodes opened her mouth for an angry retort, but Theron intervened.
“We’re all here now, so let’s get moving!” she said with false cheerfulness. I could tell she was eager to start before a fight broke out.
Rhodes gave me a dirty look as she swept by, following Theron closely. Lux and Indigo were right behind. I trailed at the back with Phoenix.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have been chosen to go,” I muttered glumly.
“You’re just letting Rhodes get to you,” Phoenix whispered back. “Ignore her! She’ll warm up eventually, once she sees how useful you are.”
“But I won’t be useful. I’m just going to slow you down. Nobody needs the nerdy new girl.”
She snorted. “That’s not true! You-”
“Are you two going to stand there talking all day?” Rhodes called back irritably.
I looked up and realized we had already fallen behind the rest of the group. Phoenix and I hurried up to join them. “See what I mean?” I murmured.

Chapter 8
I huddled up by the fire, trying to be as small as possible. Maybe Rhodes would forget about me.
“How are you doing?” I jumped; I hadn’t noticed Theron sit beside me.
“F - fine, I guess,” I lied, staring hard at the fire as if the meaning of the prophecy would suddenly jump out at me in a blaze of light.
“I hope it’s not much farther,” Theron murmured after a moment of silence, staring back the way we had come.
I glanced at her. “You know where we’re going?”
She sighed. “You could say that. I know what we’re looking for, I know the general area where it could be, but exactly where? That’s the difficult part.”
“What are we looking for?”
“The iron hawthorn.”
“What’s that?”
Her face was grim. “You’ll find out.”

That night, I was on guard duty from eleven to one. I stifled a yawn as I waited for Indigo, the girl who was on duty before me, to fall asleep. Then I pulled my mythology book out of my backpack. It felt heavier and thicker, as if somehow new pages had been added.
Suddenly, as a thin ray of moonlight shone through the clouds and onto the faded cover, the book opened itself and flipped to the back. There were new pages, lots of them, making the book nearly twice as thick. They were gleaming white and brand new, although they seemed to have a faint silver glow about them. They were blank, but attached to the book with such care and skill that they looked like they had always been a part of it. As I watched, ink began to slowly spread itself along the first empty page.
It gradually blossomed across the silvery surface, forming words and pictures. My brow furrowed as I tried to read the words before they were finished being written.
Finally the top line was finished. I read the glistening ink silently to myself by the light of the dying fire, mouthing the words.
“The iron hawthorn.”
I impatiently waited for the picture and description to finish, but before it could, I heard one of the other girls stir and sit up groggily. I quickly snapped the book shut, wincing at the sharp sound, and stuffed it into my backpack just in time.
“Peppi?” Phoenix yawned. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said innocently. “I’m just on guard duty.”
“Oh. Mind if I stay with you? I’m next, anyway. There’s no point in going back to sleep now.”
“No, it’s fine.” Inwardly I grimaced. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want anyone to know about my book, especially now that it was changing. So I couldn’t exactly take it back out.
We sat in silence for a while. I pressed the button on my watch that made it light up. “Okay,” I yawned, suddenly exhausted. “Your turn.”
“’Night.”
“’Night.” I crawled into my lightweight travel sleeping bag and was instantly asleep.

Chapter 9
We crouched on the edge of a cliff in the dark.
“Why are we at Niagara Falls?” I yelled over the roar of water.
“It’s behind the waterfall somewhere!” Theron yelled back.
“Did you say behind the waterfall?”
But she had already turned to Indigo. “Are you ready?”
Indigo nodded, her face illuminated by the pale moonlight.
“Everyone hold hands, and whatever you do, don’t let go!” Theron instructed. I felt her clasp my hand on one side and Phoenix doing the same on the other.
“What-” I started to ask.
But Indigo had already leapt off the cliff, pulling the rest of us with her.
I screamed as we hurtled towards the ground below, but before we came even close to hitting it we had somehow swerved, and now we were hurtling towards the water.
Oh, great.
By the time I had this thought we had stopped falling and were shooting towards the now-horrifying curtain of roaring water.
Just before we pushed through it, it parted in front of us. We shot through the opening, which closed behind us, and landed gently on the dry ground.
The first thing I noticed was the silence. I looked back at the curtain of water. It was still there, but it made no noise. Then I looked around. We should have been inside the cliff, but instead we were in a moonlit meadow. The waterfall simply started from thin air.
I looked up and saw Indigo twirling in midair, her long blonde hair shining silver in the moonlight as it spun with her, always just behind.
“How does she do that?” I asked breathlessly. “I... don’t understand what’s going on.”
Indigo drifted gracefully down and landed lightly beside me. “My father was Zephyr, the West Wind,” she said by way of explanation.
“Um... okay. And... what is this place?”
Phoenix smiled delightedly. “The original Garden of the Gods. I’ve always wanted to come here.”
“The... original one? Isn’t that that place in the Rockies?”
“That’s what the mortals think,” Rhodes said smugly, then walked away.
“Rhodes, come back,” Theron ordered. “The tree could be anywhere. We have to stay together.”
“The... tree? I... I don’t understand.”
Then Rhodes came racing back, her icy blue eyes huge. A long gash, dripping blood, extended from her left ear, along her cheek, across her chin, and down to her right shoulder. “It’s the tree!” she gasped. “It’s heading this way!”

Chapter 10
The other girls shrugged off their packs and threw them to the side. I copied them as my bow and quiver appeared on my back, but Theron shook her head. “No,” she murmured. “It’s an iron tree. The arrows won’t hurt it. It’ll only slow you down.”
I took into account how reasonable this was and felt my bow melt away again.
“Hunting knives,” Theron instructed. “Try to cut off a few flowers. And remember, don’t kill.”
“Kill?” I asked, feeling giddy with fright. “How do you kill a tree?”
“It’s not really a tree,” she told me, her eyes fixed on where we expected it to come from. “If you stab it through the middle, it dies. So don’t aim for the trunk. And try not to cut off the branches, just the flowers.”
“And whatever you do, don’t let the little thorns touch you,” Phoenix added grimly. “You’ll be sorry later.”
“Why?” I wondered.
“Poison.”
My voice was shrill with fright. “Oh.”
A faint scream sounded from behind us. We spun around just in time to see Lux crumple to the ground, dark blood glittering in her black hair. Above her stood the iron hawthorn.
It was black as night, with whipping branches covered in thorns. Some of the thorns were long and curved, like claws reaching out to impale us. Between the spikes were much smaller thorns. Their finely sharpened tips glistened with venom.
In the parts of the branches that didn’t have thorns, there were roses made of iron. It looked like, long ago, someone had painted the flowers pink and white, but the weather had done its work, and the paint was faded and chipped away in some places so the black petals showed through.
I stared at it with my mouth open. “We have to fight that thing?”
“Not fight,” Theron corrected, although she looked just about as scared as I was. “Just dodge until someone gets a flower.”
“And then what?”
“I haven’t gotten to that part yet,” she said grimly.
“Great,” I muttered. “What’s next, killer grass?”
Just then, a thorny branch whipped towards my head at top speed.

Chapter 11
I ducked just in time, although the wind from the branch nearly bowled me over. I stood up again and jumped out of the way as a branch as big as me thwacked down where I had been standing a moment before. I looked around to see Theron, Phoenix, and Rhodes in the same situation as me. Indigo was above the branches, swooping down to try to get close enough to chop off a flower stem without getting spiked. Lux was still on the ground, unconscious and bleeding. I dragged her out of the reach of the tree’s branches, just in case. She moaned softly, but I had no choice but to leave her. Hopefully there weren’t any other angry metal trees around.
We dodged the branches for a while, swiping at the roses with our knives. The sun was just appearing over the horizon when I found myself side-by-side with Theron.
“I don’t think I can keep this up much longer,” I gasped. I’d never been very athletic.
“Just keep going,” she panted. “We’ll get lucky soon.”
But that’s the thing with luck. You never know when it’s going to come. And just then, I had some. But we really didn’t need the kind of luck I got.
I turned to see a branch whipping towards me. I ducked, waiting for it to pass over my head, and noticed another branch flying near the ground coming at me from the other direction. No way to dodge. No way to stop them.
My minimal good luck had just run out.

Chapter 12
I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact. That still didn’t prepare me for it.
I felt one of the longer thorns stab deep into my arm as the branch caught me in the stomach, winding me and throwing me backward a good twenty feet. As I landed, I felt my head crack against something hard that had been hidden in the grass. A rock, maybe? I lay there, stunned and half-conscious, struggling for breath. My arm and head ached like mad, but that wasn’t the worst part. I watched with horrified eyes as the shallow cuts where the smaller thorns had cut me bubbled and frothed. It was pain beyond belief.
My strength was ebbing away with the blood gushing from the hole in my arm, not to mention the venom. I struggled against the blackness, but my eyelids closed of their own free will.
The last thing I heard was someone shouting, “I got one!” And then I was gone.

Chapter 13
Voices echoed through my mind.
Not her destiny to die here...
She has more to do in her world...
We must ensure she survives.

I sucked in air through my mouth desperately. It felt like I hadn’t breathed in a week.
As my breathing became more even I was suddenly very aware of acute pain.
“Ah!” I gasped. My stomach, lungs, back, and head all throbbed mercilessly. I couldn’t feel my right arm at all.
I opened my eyes to see a very tired-looking Phoenix leaning over me, a myriad of scratches and bruises all over her face.
“Finally,” she murmured.
“What?” I moaned. I bit my lip to keep from crying out; the vibrations from my voice sent my head reeling with pain.
“How do you feel?”
I stared at her.
“Okay, sorry, that was a stupid question. Can you walk? Theron wants to talk to all of us together.”
“Um... no,” I muttered, then winced.
She frowned. “That could be a problem.”
“I could try,” I murmured reluctantly, half-hoping she wouldn’t hear.
“I’ll help you,” she offered, crouching down beside me.
I slowly, painfully, edged my upper body into a sitting position. I could feel Phoenix’s hands supporting me.
It took all my control to not yell. My head pounded like it was going to burst and every single one of my muscles ached. I used my good arm to carefully push myself to my feet and swayed dizzily. My right arm was a dead weight at my side. I was scared to look, but at the same time couldn’t stop myself from taking a swift peek.
The skin looked as if it was dyed black, and the place where the large thorn had punctured it was wrapped tightly in bloodstained cloth. I felt like I was about to throw up and nearly fell over, looking away quickly.
Phoenix put her hands on my shoulders to steady me. Every step was a huge effort, and I felt like I was going to faint any second, but I slowly made it over to the circle of logs where the other girls were gathered.
Lux had a bandage wrapped loosely around her head. She was sitting on the ground and leaning against a log, and looked like she was about to collapse any second as well. Rhodes had a vivid red line where the tree had cut her. The other girls looked like Phoenix: tired, irritable, and covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises.
I slumped down beside Lux, leaning my head back on the log and closing my eyes.
“We all know we need to get back to Lady Artemis and the rest of the Huntresses as soon as possible,” Theron began, “but none of us are in any state to travel. Does anyone have any ideas?” Her voice sounded fuzzy and off, like I was hearing it through a bad radio signal.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Phoenix piped up. Her voice was even more distant than Theron’s. “We have to stay until we’re all fit to travel again.”
“But that could take weeks!” Rhodes exclaimed. By now I could barely understand what she was saying. “We’ve got to go now.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Phoenix snapped. “Look at Lux and Peppi! Do they look like they could make it five steps before conking out?”
The meeting erupted into yelling, but I was too far gone to care. Arguing echoed around the little clearing as I slipped easily into the mercifully painless blackness.

Chapter 14
Have we made a mistake?
Should we let her come?
No, she must stay. She has work to do still.

Distant voices brought me back to Earth.
“Theron, she’ll die.”
“I know, Phoenix. But we have to save the rose. We’ve already used up two petals of it. We need to have the rest when we get back. We don’t know what we’ll find.”
I heard Phoenix sigh. “She had the potential to fulfill the old prophecy, you know.”
There was a pause. Then: “What?” Theron snapped.
“She might have done it. She would have been perfect for it. Look at her hand.” Somebody very, very carefully flipped my right hand over so it was palm up. “And her hair,” Phoenix continued, brushing her hand lightly over my head.
“We... we don’t know-”
“There’s no use fighting the prophecy, Theron. You know that better than I.”
Another pause, longer this time. “One more petal,” Theron said in a very small voice.
“Oh, thank you, Theron!” Phoenix breathed. I heard Theron walk away. The pain seemed to have sharpened my senses. I felt something rub my wounds and gasped in pain, but then, suddenly, there was no pain, but there was also no me. I was just a mind, floating in... what? There was no color at all here. No anything. It felt like nothing had ever existed.
Not even me.

Chapter 15
It was a week and a half after I had fainted. I was feeling mostly better, and was nearly ready to travel again. Phoenix explained what had happened.
“Just after you were... hit, Indigo managed to clip off one of the stems. The sun came up, and the tree had to go back to the forest. It can’t come out of the forest in the daytime. So we took you and Lux and the rose, and got out. We had to use one of the petals to heal you, or the venom would have killed you for sure. We hid in the forests near Niagara for a while, and then you woke up. When you fainted again, you went into a fever. We had to move deeper into the forest, but it was hard when we had to carry you and help Lux. Finally Theron let me use another petal, and here we are.”
Later that night I finally got a chance to open my mythology book again. Here’s what the paragraph said:
The iron hawthorn is a tree made solely for the protection of the Garden of the Gods (see page 30). It can only come out at night, and the smaller thorns on its branches are extremely venomous. If you can clip off one of the roses, however, the flower will heal any illness or injury, except those that were inflicted by the tree itself and blue mist (see page 31), although it will help somewhat.
I flipped to the next page to read what it said about the Garden of the Gods.
The Garden of the Gods is a place untouched by mortal hands, it said. It has a thriving population of every plant, animal, fungus, and bacteria species ever to exist on Earth somewhere in its vast natural habitats. It is a place created by the gods, in case mortals wipe out all other life on the rest of the planet. It is guarded fiercely by the iron hawthorn (see page 29).
I flipped to the next page, curious to see what blue mist was, but it was still blank.
Then I carefully closed the book, crawled into my sleeping bag, and fell asleep.

Chapter 16
It took us another three days to get back to where we had left the other Huntresses. We had just entered the general area when something occurred to me.
“Hey, Theron,” I called, hurrying up to the front of the group. “Didn’t the prophecy say something about poetry and prose? And spirits?”
She didn’t say anything for a few moments, just pulled on her hood, which shadowed her face.
“Theron?” I repeated, confused.
“Yes, it did,” she said quietly. Maybe I was imagining things, but it sounded a little like she was choking on something. She didn’t say anything more, so I sighed and dropped back to the rear of the group.

We were about five feet away from camp when Pyralis came out to greet us. She looked about ready to collapse from exhaustion as she staggered out of camp. Phoenix stared in horror.
“Pyralis!” she cried, looking as if she was about to burst into tears. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing happened to me, yet,” she said wearily. “I’m one of the lucky ones.”
“If this is lucky, I hate to see what the others look like,” Rhodes muttered.
“What’s going on?” Theron asked.
Pyralis stared at her desperately. “The others have blue mist!”
I heard shocked gasps from the Huntresses around me. Apparently it was something really bad.
“Lady Artemis is doing all she can to keep them alive, but not even she can help once it’s taken hold of their bodies,” Pyralis went on. “Kyrie is already dead, and Chris is almost there.”
Theron stared at her in horror, transfixed to the ground. “No,” she whispered. “Dying already? No, no, this is bad.”
“You know the rose won’t be enough,” Pyralis whispered, her eyes locked on Theron. “You know it’s not enough. You have to do it. Theron, you have to go to the Dwelling. You have to.”
“No,” Theron repeated hoarsely. “I’m not strong enough. I can never go there again.”

Epilogue
I opened my eyes to see four giant cats looming over me, staring at me hungrily. I fervently hoped I was dreaming.
One cat was snowy white, with cold blue eyes. One was a tortoiseshell, with light green eyes. The third was a light tabby, with slightly darker green eyes, and the fourth was dark gray, with glowing amber pupils.
Then I realized the cats weren’t big: I was small.
A voice boomed out of the darkness. “Seasons will come and go, but you will not enjoy them.”
And then, as one, the cats pounced with claws and teeth bared, and my world exploded in pain.

Prologue
I know I made the wrong choice. Even as I was making it, I knew.
But I did it anyway. And for a time, everything was good. Sort of.
And then he came, and everyone knew the wrong choice had been made, knew I was the one who made it. No longer the hero, but the enemy.
The prophecy was right.
I was wrong.
I know they meant well, keeping me alive. But they should have let me die. I would gladly take death now, just to get away from what I’ve done.
But I no longer have that option.
So here I lie, frozen in time, watching the world whither and die around me.

Chapter 1
I woke in a cold sweat. I hugged my knees to my chest, shivering.
“Peppi?” someone whispered sleepily. I turned my head slightly to see the silhouette of my friend Phoenix sit up halfway in her sleeping bag. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” I lied in hushed tones. “Go back to sleep.” She lay back down and her breathing slowed as she slipped back to sleep.
I rocked back and forth, trying to get the image of giant eyes staring at me from all directions out of my head.
I grabbed my mythology book out from under my pillow and crawled outside the makeshift tent. Maybe the moonlight and some reading would help.
I found a clearing far away from the big camp, which had a cloud of eerie blue mist around it. A shaft of moonlight pierced the thin cloud cover, shining straight down to a shaft of grass in the center of the clearing.
I lay down in the moonbeam and opened my book. I flipped past the old, stained pages to the newer ones. Most of them were blank, but three had writing. The first one, the iron hawthorn, and the second one, the Garden of the Gods, brought back bad memories. The third one I’d never read. Here’s what it said:
Blue mist is a disease caused by the offspring of a rare combining between a bacteria and a virus. It is highly contagious and nearly always results in death. The only known cure is the flowers of the iron hawthorn (see page 29). Symptoms include high fever, dizziness, exhaustion, and the exhalation of blue fog.
I closed the book quickly. Well, I’d never get back to sleep now. I sighed and went back to the tent, stowing the book in my backpack, then went back to the clearing. A cloud had covered the moon, but I lay back down in the spot where it had been shining just moments before. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to think of pleasant thoughts. There hadn’t been many since I’d joined the Huntresses, so I tried to think of my life before then. Strange, but it was only a few weeks ago. It seemed like another time. Another world. Another me.

Chapter 2
I jumped up as the sun appeared over the mountains to the west. I trudged back to the tents, my body exhausted but my mind still racing, trying to make sense of the dream.
Phoenix crawled out of our tent just as I walked up.
“Where’s Pyralis?” I wondered sleepily. Pyralis is Phoenix’s identical twin.
“Still asleep. She had a hard couple of weeks. Peppi, you look terrible! What happened?”
I sat down by the campfire and pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. “Nightmare,” I said quietly, staring at the ashes.
I heard her sit down beside me and rested my cheek on my knees so I was facing away from her.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly.
I didn’t answer.
After a second, she stood up. “Well, if you ever do want to talk about it, I’m always here.” I heard her walk away.
After a minute, I got to my feet. My bow and quiver appeared, slung over my back. I left the camp quietly. Nobody was really supposed to go out alone.
I climbed up a tree to the very highest branch, completely hidden from the ground. My leafy green surroundings were the perfect camouflage to curl up and cry.

Chapter 3
After a while my tears ran dry. I felt hollow, as if my purpose had been stripped away from me by the nightmare. I didn’t understand how one simple dream could do that, but it had.
I wiped my face, took a deep breath, and climbed slowly back down to the ground.
My bow dissolved into air as I stumbled back into camp. All the girls who weren’t sick were sitting in a circle around the ashes of last night’s fire. All but one jumped up as I approached.
Two girls started yelling. Two others folded their arms across their chests and glared at me. Another two watched, frowning slightly. The last one, the girl who hadn’t gotten up, stared silently at the ashes.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on staying upright while waiting for them to finish scolding, and...
The next thing I knew, I was on the ground. My head pounded and I could hear hushed voices around me.
I sat up slowly, confused. “What happened?” I murmured.
“You fainted,” one of the girls said coldly. I blinked to try to bring her face into focus. Rhodes, of course.
Suddenly, I leaned over, away from the other girls, and threw up.
I sobbed once through clenched teeth, shivering, my eyes shut tight.
Somebody pulled me gently to my feet and helped me in the direction of the tent. Every fiber of my body was screaming at me to fall to the ground and curl up in a ball, but I resisted.
Even though my eyes were closed, I could feel when we were out of the hot sun and in the cool shadiness of the tent. Whoever was helping me led my to my sleeping bag and I collapsed on it, trembling.
How could one dream have changed me so drastically?

Chapter 4
The next time I had a conscious thought, the tent was empty except for me. I blocked the dream from my mind, determined to act normally today.
I crawled out of the tent, blinking in the sudden light. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it looked like I had slept for a full day.
Everybody looked up as I emerged from the tent, then quickly looked away. I frowned slightly, but went over to sit with them anyway.
We were all waiting for Theron to speak, to tell us what to do, but she stayed silent.
Finally Pyralis jumped up. “I don’t care what you guys think, but I’m going to the Dwelling,” she said. Her voice wasn’t loud, but in the silence it made us all jump. “It may not work, but we have to try.” Her voice trembled at the end.
Phoenix got up instantly and went to join her sister. The sun shining on their identical reddish-brown hair turned it to flames, matching the determined fire in their eyes, and I understood where their names had come from. “I’m going too,” Phoenix announced.
I got up quietly and went to stand slightly behind them. Lux, and then Indigo and Tess, came to stand with us. Finally, Rhodes got up and joined the group, and there was only one girl left.
Theron.
“Theron, please...” Phoenix’s voice was strained.
Theron shook her head minutely.
This time Pyralis spoke. “Theron, we need your help.”
She shook her head again. “I can’t,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
“Yes you can,” Indigo said firmly. “Theron, you’ll have to face your fear sometime.”
Theron suddenly stood up, her back still to us. Hope flared in everyone’s eyes.
She spoke again, this time her voice loud. “I can’t,” she repeated flatly, then turned away and sprinted into the forest.

Chapter 5
I started after her automatically, but Phoenix held me back gently. “Let her go. She’ll come back.” But the look in her eyes told me she didn’t believe it herself.
The other girls were watching the forest, shocked. I knew how they felt.
Theron had been the strong one, the leader, when Lady Artemis wasn’t around. And now...
I felt sick to my stomach. Nobody needed to be worrying about me, too. Stupid dream. Theron’s fear was clearly more important. It was real, for one.
Everyone turned to Pyralis. She’d been the one to get up first, so it seemed natural that she’d take charge, but she looked as confused and shocked as any of us. After a few moments Indigo spoke.
“We’ll wait until tomorrow afternoon for Theron,” she said quietly, her voice rough. “Then we’ll have to go without her.”
Nobody moved.
Suddenly a low wail from the big camp broke the silence. Still, nobody moved, except one or two startled jerks.
Tess, the only girl besides Pyralis who had stayed behind and not gotten sick, scampered off towards the noise. The rest of us stayed behind, still frozen in shock.
After a few minutes, Tess came back, her face even more horrified than before. We broke out of our statue-like formation, crowding around her.
“C - Chris... Chris...” she stammered. A low murmur of shock ran around our circle. We didn’t need to hear the rest of her sentence to know what had happened, but she choked it out anyway. “Chris is... Chris is dead.”

Chapter 6
We scattered, some to our tents, some to the old camp, and I, despite the “rule,” went to the forest, but we all had a common goal: to be alone with our thoughts.
I’d only known Chris for a few days before we left on the quest, but being Huntresses together formed sister-like bonds between me and all the others, no matter how short a time I’d known them.
I found a tree with low, leafy branches and climbed up to be alone again. It wasn’t until I heard voices below me that I realized Phoenix and Pyralis had settled just below me, not knowing I was there. They seemed to be arguing.
I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, really I didn’t. I just… did.
“The mark of the raven upon her hand, Phoenix. Who else could it be but Theron?”
“I don’t know,” Phoenix answered bleakly. “But it can’t be her. You know how she feels about that place.”
There was silence for a moment. Then... “I never thought I’d see the day you lied to me, sister,” Pyralis said harshly.
Phoenix froze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered.
Pyralis got up slowly, looking down at her sister in silence, then turned and stumbled away.
Phoenix stared after her for a second, then buried her face in her hands. I began climbing down the tree, planning to comfort her. I was about to drop from the lowest branch when I heard her mumble something.
“... The Fates chose the one with the dark hair and / The mark of the raven upon her hand...” Her voice grew too quiet to hear for a moment, then... “That will plunge the world into eternal night... Oh, Peppi, why does it have to be you?”
I slowly brought my hand up to my face. There, on my right palm, was a bird-shaped mark.

Chapter 7
My one-handed grip on the tree went slack and I dropped to the ground, making a loud crunching sound as I landed heavily on the dead leaves. I stumbled and regained my balance as Phoenix’s head snapped up.
“H - how long have you-” she stammered. I didn’t answer, just held out my right hand, palm up.
“So I’ll plunge the world into eternal night?” I demanded bitterly.
She looked stricken. “It - it might not be you. Theron-”
“How long have you known?” I interrupted.
“Years,” she whispered. “But I didn’t know it was about you until - until the Garden of the Gods.”
In a flash, some dreamlike memories from my subconscious state after battling the iron hawthorn made sense.
I heard Phoenix sigh. “She had the potential to fulfill the old prophecy, you know.”
There was a pause. Then: “What?” Theron snapped.
“She might have done it. She would have been perfect for it. Look at her hand.” Somebody very, very carefully flipped my right hand over so it was palm up. “And her hair,” Phoenix continued, brushing her hand lightly over my head.
“We... we don’t know-”
“There’s no use fighting the prophecy, Theron. You know that better than I.”
I sank to the ground beside her, my hands trembling. “So... so I’m destined to destroy the world,” I breathed.
She looked like she was about to cry. “It... it could be about someone else...”
I closed my eyes, feeling like the world was resting on my shoulders. “You’re just grasping at straws, Phoenix. I know you know it’s about me.”
There was no answer, just a light rustling of leaves. By the time I’d opened my eyes, Phoenix was gone.

Chapter 8
Tragedy after tragedy, sorrow after sorrow. That’s what kept echoing through my mind as I lay on top of my sleeping bag, staring intently at the blank tent canvas above me as if I could see right through it and up to the stars.
A whimper sounded on one side of me, then a quiet sob on the other. I made no sound as I lay there, wide awake and brooding.
I’d sat there under the tree for a long, long time. By the time I got back to camp, only Rhodes was still awake, on guard duty. I couldn’t see her face in the darkness, but I could feel her glare prickle down my spine as I walked by. I’d crawled into the tent to find that someone, probably Pyralis, had rearranged the sleeping bags so that instead of being on the edge, I was in between the two sisters, who weren’t speaking to each other. That was just another worry to add to my list.

I don’t think I got a wink of sleep that night. I slept fitfully through the morning, more fitfulness than sleeping. By the time afternoon came around, and Theron still hadn’t come back, I’d probably slept about an hour total, with that stupid nightmare the night before.
I stumbled around the tent, grabbing everything that was mine and stuffing it randomly into my pack. I zipped it up and crawled out of the tent, dragging it behind me.
I blinked blearily at the other girls, who were already ready to go.
Rhodes rolled her eyes. “Here we go again.”
The anger I felt helped to clear my head a little. I knew exactly what she was referring to.
“Let’s just go already,” I mumbled, going over to join them.

Chapter 9
We hiked in a two-by-two column. Indigo led, with Pyralis marching resolutely by her side. Phoenix dragged slightly behind Tess, and Lux and Rhodes were just behind them. I trailed along at the back, stumbling along sleepily.
We reached a good spot to camp just before nightfall. I immediately dropped to the ground, too tired to even get my sleeping bag out. Indigo began assigning guard times for the night. “Lux, you’ll take first, Peppi-” She broke off, looking at me, and hurriedly changed her mind. “I mean, Tess, has second, Phoenix has third, and I’ll take dawn.”
I dropped off to sleep instantly.

It was much the same as the journey to the Garden of the Gods, except there was less talking, no laughing. Theron was gone, and Phoenix and I avoided each other at all costs.
The third night, while I was on watch, I took out my mythology book again. I avoided the page on blue mist, skipping straight to the blank page behind it. The one that was no longer blank.
The Spirit Dwelling is located deep in a dark forest, it said. It’s difficult to find, and if you manage to make your way through the dark without going mad, you will find it fiercely guarded by the dark spirits that call it home. Inside, if you can get past the spirits and successfully navigate the shifting maze, is the Last Crystaline, which has healing powers beyond even those of the flowers of the iron hawthorn (see page 29).
Then Lux came to take her turn on watch, so I climbed back into my sleeping bag and fell asleep.
It only took us four days to get to what Indigo said was the right forest, but I didn’t see how that was possible.
“We’re Huntresses,” she said by way of explanation when I asked. “We can jump from one forest to another in just a few days.”
I hadn’t known that, although it had only taken us three days to reach Niagara Falls.
The memory started the half-healed scar on my arm throbbing. Wincing, I’d thanked Indigo and gone to bed early.

Chapter 10
The forest was indeed dark, the only light an eerie green glow that filtered through the leaves high overhead. The light breeze, barely audible, that managed to find its way through the closely packed trees, caught our hair and clothing, seeming to whisper, Go back, go back... But, of course, we didn’t.
As we drew closer to the Dwelling, the air got stuffier, until it was like trying to breathe with a blanket over my nose and mouth.
We trudged forward miserably in silence. Suddenly Phoenix jumped. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Indigo asked, instantly on red alert.
“A... a voice,” Phoenix stammered. “It... it said... ‘Leave our Dwelling, before you break your own spirit.’” She looked terrified.
“Now... now I hear something,” Pyralis called. “It’s saying-” She broke off as all the color drained from her face.
“What did it say?” someone asked after a moment of silence. I didn’t turn to see who.
“N-n-nothing,” Pyralis stuttered. “M-maybe it was j-just the w-wind...”
There was no wind here.
Then, suddenly, a voice swirled through my head, slow and quiet, but menacing. Dangerous. Very, very dangerous.
The Huntresses to the Dwelling shall go...
These brave ones face many a woe...
The Fates chose the one with the dark hair and...
The mark of the raven upon her hand...
To make the choice, wrong or right...
That will plunge the world into eternal night.
I crumpled to the ground.

Chapter 11
I woke with a start, instantly alert, skipping the usual, groggy part of waking up. I realized that I was curled into a ball on my side, my arms wrapped around my legs and hugging my knees to my chest. My face was buried in the tangle. I uncurled slowly, until I was lying flat on the sleeping bag that I’d somehow gotten on top of. I heard a rustle from above me and my eyes snapped open.
Indigo and Lux were squatting on either side of me. Phoenix was standing several feet behind the latter, while Pyralis sat by the fire with her head in her hands. Tess and Rhodes were nowhere to be seen.
“What happened?” Indigo asked urgently.
I sat up slowly. “What?”
“You were just standing there, and then your eyes got really big and you fainted,” Lux answered bluntly.
“I-” I broke off and glanced at Phoenix, who was half turned away. “The spirits... they- they told me the prophecy. The whole prophecy.”
Phoenix jumped. Lux and Indigo exchanged a glance.
“I wonder why...” Indigo murmured. I realized then that they had no idea I was the one.
No idea what I was destined to do...

Chapter 12
“I don’t see how it can affect anything now, when Theron’s not here,” Lux said slowly. “We know she-” She broke off.
“Why does everybody keep doing that?” I blurted, frustrated.
“Doing what?”
“Starting to talk about what happened to Theron and then stopping!”
Indigo had her eyes closed, an unreadable expression on her face. “Do you really want to know?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yes!”
After a long period of silence, she spoke.
“The prophecy was given five hundred years ago, at the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Theron was an escaped slave girl, recruited into the Huntresses around the same time I was. When the prophecy was given, she naturally assumed it was about her.” Indigo’s voice turned bitter. “She was afraid of what we would do if we found out. She kept it hidden from the rest of us.
“I don’t know why we came here. It was so long ago... Theron was worried, of course, but she hid it well. No one suspected a thing.
“When we got here, Theron and I were chosen to remain outside, probably because we were the newest. Theron begged to go in. I still don’t understand why. Asale, the second-in-command at the time, finally agreed. A girl named Jette stayed with me instead.”
Her eyes were far away, as if replaying the memory in her head. When she took a deep, shaky breath, she seemed to be trying to find the courage to go on.
“We didn’t know what was happening... There were noises from inside... screaming, and worse. Jette told me to stay. She went in too.
“Only Theron came out.”
My voice sounded weak. “They all... died?”
She looked away a little, then turned back. “All fifty-seven of them. Theron and I were the only ones left.”
I stared at her, imagining how horrible that must have been. And even worse for Theron, because she’d actually seen it all... “Now I see why Theron wouldn’t come,” I mumbled.
Indigo nodded slowly. “She never was able to talk about what happened. This must have seemed like a replay of the worst time of her life.”
We were both silent, and suddenly I realized that Lux was still crouched on my other side, and that Phoenix, along with Rhodes, who’d come back during the tale, had drifted over to listen. Pyralis was still by the fire, talking quietly with Tess, who must have come back with Rhodes.
“We have to go in,” Lux said slowly. “Theron’s not here, so we have to risk it. The blue mist could rage out of control if we don’t have the Last Crystaline.”
Indigo nodded. She stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. “Let’s go.”

I did my best to be like Theron and hide how nervous I was. I must have done a good job, because nobody seemed to notice. Or maybe they were all just too scared. Indigo was giving last-minute instructions.
“Remember, the spirits are just trying to scare you. They themselves can’t physically hurt you. Just dodge what they throw at you and you’ll be fine. And once we’re inside the maze, stick together. We don’t know what we’ll find in there and we want to be prepared. Got it?”
There were hushed murmurs of agreement.
She turned around slowly and the entire group looked up at once at the battered old shack. I shivered as we took the first slow step towards nearly certain doom.

Chapter 13
Suddenly a whispering started in front of us. The air shimmered and shook, hissing unintelligibly at us. We continued marching resolutely on.
I heard a faint noise to our right and turned just in time to see a large, shapeless object hurtling at me. I ducked and it sailed harmlessly overhead.
I came out of my crouch to realize the objects were flying everywhere. The other girls were dodging them, sometimes easily, and sometimes with narrow misses.
And when tragedy struck, there were no screams, no yells, not even a crash. Just sudden silence. The spirits and their objects simply disappeared and we turned slowly to look at the body lying face down on the floor.
Indigo dropped to her knees beside the girl and grabbed her wrist. She held it for a second, then dropped it and stood up. We looked at her expectantly.
She shook her head.
We had no choice but to continue. And Lux was dead.

Chapter 14
All of us were clumped together as we stood watching the walls of the maze move, disappear, and reappear at dizzying speeds. Finally, we moved forward.
The instant we were all inside, a rumbling began beneath our feet. With startling speed, circular walls burst from the ground, separating us. I heard faint, startled yells from the other side of the stone, but soon they faded away, and I realized I was alone. I spun around, searching for a way out of my tiny stone prison.
I’d turned in a full circle before a faint noise sounded behind me and I turned back just in time to see the wall sliding open on an invisible seam. I hurried through the opening, more terrified than I’d ever been in my life.
I lost track of time completely as I wandered through the shifting maze, lit only by flickering torches spaced far apart on the walls.
Though the Dwelling had looked small from the outside, I never once saw any sign of the other girls. It was all getting to be too much. I wanted to sink to the ground and cry like a baby, but I didn’t.
I spotted a gleam of yellowish-white down the corridor. As I neared it, it showed itself to be a girl’s skeleton. I whimpered, averting my eyes, and stumbled on.

Chapter 15
A flash of movement in a side passage caught my eye. I nearly yelled in relief. It was Phoenix!
But something seemed wrong...
She had a sword clutched tightly in her hand. The blade glowed with a dim black aura that just screamed evil. I caught a glimpse of her eyes and bit back a scream.
Her normally amber eyes were filled with black fire.
She was being controlled by spirits!
Then I tore my gaze away from her and wanted to faint.
Pyralis was considering two passages, deciding which way to go next. She was completely oblivious to her sister, slowly inching towards her with a sword in her hand.
I tensed my muscles, ready to rush in and stop them, but suddenly I realized there was another opening, just a few feet beyond the corridor the twins were in. It had a straight path down to a glittering pedestal at the end.
The Last Crystaline!
And the passage was slowly closing.
Had to get the Crystaline.
Had to help Pyralis.
No time to do both.
An impossible choice: save the Huntresses from the blue mist, or stop my best friend from doing something she’d regret in agony for the rest of her life?
With a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, I made my decision.

Chapter 16
Pulse pounding, legs reaching, arms pumping, I sprinted down the corridor.
Had to reach it... had to get it...
The walls were inching forward, moving ever closer as I strove to reach the tauntingly glimmering jewel at the end of the hall.
Almost... almost there... reached for it... missed! I wasn’t close enough yet. Keep running. Keep going.
Finally, finally, my hand closed around it. As I touched it, energy flowed through me.
But then, at the same time...
I flinched as a scream rent the air, all the more horrible because it was two voices melded into one.
The first was an agonized shriek, the final, desperate plea of a girl who knows she’s doomed, but can’t stop from crying out anyway.
The second, even more horrible than the first, was beyond agony. It was the voice of someone who, even if the whole world forgives her, even if the spirits themselves rise from the Underworld, and all the gods descend from Olympus, knows that she’ll never, ever, ever, not if she lives a million years, be able to forgive herself.
And I couldn’t stop a small cry of my own, because I knew, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all this pain, all this searing agony and terrible misery, all of it, every little bit, was all my fault.

Chapter 17
I wandered the maze until I found my way back to where the tragedy had taken place. The other girls had found it too, and were gathered in a tight circle around them. I reluctantly worked my way into the group, unable to look away from the scene in the middle.
Pyralis was already dead, the blood flowing from a long slash down her back. Phoenix was sobbing on the floor next to her.
“Pyralis told me what the spirits said to her,” Tess said quietly, her voice cracking. “They told her, ‘Leave our halls, before you join our ranks forever.’”
I gulped back a sob.
That’s when I noticed something else, and everything suddenly fell into place. The prophecy, the choice, what was going to happen, everything made sense. Suddenly I knew it all, because I could see the dark trickle of evil spirits floating away from the blood. It was so faint that I didn’t think anyone else saw it.
If I’d chosen to save Pyralis, the blue mist would have spread, dominating the world.
And since I didn’t, it would be the spirits instead.

Chapter 18
There was no celebration of me finding the Last Crystaline. There was just the slightest sigh of relief, and then everyone went back to standing around in stunned silence.
Me, Phoenix, Indigo, Rhodes, and Tess. That was all that was left.
We hadn’t been able to find Lux’s body, and we’d all been too shocked to take Pyralis’s with us. It was all we could do to stumble out ourselves. Luckily the spirits hadn’t tried to stop us.
We were all exhausted, but we pushed on through the night, in unanimous agreement to put as much distance between us and that evil place as possible.
Slowly, as that longest of nights wore on, I began to realize that none of them knew.
Nobody knew I’d watched the scene unfold, nobody knew I’d had the power to stop it. Nobody blamed me in the slightest.
And I hated it. I wanted them to scream at me, or even just to look at me like I’d let them down in the biggest way possible. Which, in a way, I had.
But they didn’t, and when morning came around and we were all too tired to walk another step, I threw myself to the ground miserably and fell instantly asleep.

Chapter 19
Three more girls had died in our absence. I went around to each surviving girl in turn and touched the Crystaline to their hand, healing them instantly.
Time wore on and things slid back to normal. None of us were ever quite the same, though.
Theron still hadn’t come back. Phoenix kept to herself, almost never speaking, and sometimes I still heard her crying at night. The girls who’d had the sickness were still weak, or at least weaker than they’d been before. Indigo, Tess, and Rhodes were quieter. I was like a zombie, simply moving around and doing my duties automatically. I kept waiting for the prophecy to fulfill itself.
Almost nobody laughed.
A while after we’d come back, I had the dream again. The dream.
I opened my eyes to see four giant cats looming over me, staring at me hungrily. I fervently hoped I was dreaming.
One cat was snowy white, with cold blue eyes. One was a tortoiseshell, with light green eyes. The third was a light tabby, with slightly darker green eyes, and the fourth was dark gray, with glowing amber pupils.
Then I realized the cats weren’t big: I was small.
A voice boomed out of the darkness. “Seasons will come and go, but you will not enjoy them.”
And then, as one, the cats pounced with claws and teeth bared, and my world exploded in pain.
“No!” I screamed. I sat bolt upright and realized I was drenched in a cold sweat. Again.
A few girls stirred, but nobody woke.
This time, instead of running away, even for a little while, I just sat, my mind blank with exhaustion. But all the while, a cold dread was building inside me.
Somehow, in the back of my subconscious, I knew this was the day.

Chapter 20
Around noon, a stranger simply appeared in the middle of the camp.
Within ten seconds, every Huntress currently in camp was on their feet with their bows strung and notched, surrounding the boy in a close circle.
His pale skin was in startling contrast to his dark, cold eyes and deepest black hair. He was tall, and his thin lips were turned up in just the slightest hint of a cruel smile as he picked me easily out of the crowd.
“Peppianna Shayla Finne.” His voice was as dark and cold as his eyes as my name rolled strangely off his tongue.
I gave a small, involuntary shiver but managed to keep my voice strong and steady as I demanded, “Who are you?”
“Nezo.”
His eyes glimmered, and then suddenly, somehow, I understood. He was one of the spirits that had been released when Pyralis had been killed.
He smiled cruelly, then held out an empty hand, face up. From the center of his palm rose a projection of a girl crouched outside a corridor, watching two other girls, one oblivious to the other, who had a raised sword. The first one turned and ran.
Of course.
Of course.
He had to make my suffering as great as possible.
I heard a strangled sob and the pounding of shoes on the forest floor, and without turning I knew Phoenix had run away. Then the crunching of leaves told me that the other girls turned and left, one by one, until I was alone with Nezo. My eyes were still fixed on the projection as it vanished back into his palm.
I slowly raised my gaze to meet his eyes. As I did, a horrible pain shot through me, and I slumped to the ground as the world went black.

Chapter 21
I woke on a cold, hard surface.
When I sat up, the top of my head brushed the roof of my cell.
It was tiny, with just enough room for me to sit up straight, or stretch out to lie down. The material that it was made out of was clear, and as hard and cold as glass, but something told me it would be a lot harder to break.
I looked around, realizing I was in a clearing in a forest. Beside my little prison was a bush of black roses.
I gulped, beginning to realize what was going on.
I don’t know how long I sat there. Time had no meaning where I was.
Gradually, the sky darkened, till it was always night. The plants around me withered and died, the roses wilted.
I had too much time to think, reflect on all of my mistakes. In my head, I ran through the prophecies.
The future of maidens eternal at stake.
The Huntresses had indeed been in danger.
Do not delay; haste they must make.
We had to go quickly, or the blue mist would have spread.
To seek the tree of black wild rose.
The iron hawthorn, of course.
Decipher the poetry, remember the prose.
I was deciphering the poetry now, and I’d remembered what my mythology book had said.
Find the dwelling of spirits old.
Check one Dwelling.
’Ere the last Huntress is still and cold.
Before we all died.
And then the second prophecy...
The Huntresses to the Dwelling shall go.
Done and done.
These brave ones face many a woe.
We sure had.
The Fates chose the one with the dark hair and
The mark of the raven upon her hand.
Me. Of course.
To make the choice, wrong or right
That will plunge the world into eternal night.
No matter what choice I’d made, everything would have been destroyed.
Then another line popped into my head.
Seasons will come and go, but you will not enjoy them...
At that moment, I couldn’t take it anymore. I began beating at the walls with my hands and feet. “Let me out!” I screamed. “Let me out, let me go!”
But nobody answered.
And suddenly, everything went black.

Epilogue
I woke on a bed.
My bed.
My mythology book had slipped off my lap and onto the floor. I checked my glow-in-the-dark digital alarm clock. 1:07 AM.
I snatched the book off the floor and flipped to the back. No iron hawthorn, no blue mist, no Dwelling.
My right arm was perfectly smooth. No half-healed scabs, no thick knot of scar tissue.
I nearly laughed out loud in relief.
A dream. It was all a dream.
I got up and padded, barefoot, to the bathroom. My mouth was dry and I wanted to wash the cold sweat off of my face.
But when I flicked on the light switch, what I saw on the floor nearly made my heart stop.
Lying on the blue-and-white patterned linoleum was a wilted black rose.

This was like amazing! I looooooved it!

xD I read the first two chapters, but I have to get off, so I'll read the rest later.

IT WAS AWESOMETASTIC!!!!!

I know! And I love how it ends on a cliff-hanger. Like did she dream it?

Thanks, guys.

IDK if it was a dream or not. XD It's sort of an ambiguous ending... so, like, if I wanted to maybe eventually I could write a sequel. XD

So far I've read the first book and it's really great, Ratty! You're a very talented writer.

Aw, thanks, Mo.

Haha ya. I like the ending. I wrote a book kinda like that and it got 2nd in Young Authors! Well not the story, but the ending. At the end of the book she falls asleep in the same position as before the whole thing started! xD

That's awesome! Maybe you should post that one here! *hint*

Nah. It was horrible. I was in like what? First or Second grade. You know what sucked though? I got 2nd place every year. Never first, never third, never honorable mention. Urhg!

Well isn't second better than third or honorable mentions?

Haha. Ya I guess!

Another amazing story, Ratty. I really liked the writing style, the suspense and the plot and EVERYTHING about it. It was really quite good. =]

Aw, thanks, Night.

You is welcome. =]