The Curse of Betrayal (36 page)

“Stop what? I don’t know these men. I feel nothing. Why would we stop love anyway?” my dream self asks, her voice turning up in hysteria. I can tell she’s trying to understand the situation but failing miserably.

“You’re part of a curse—some sick twisted power gain. We need to end it. We’re going to try to help you break the curse. Now, please listen to Orpheus here. He’ll explain it all.” Athena steps back from in front of my dream self. She reaches for Ollie and pushes his back forward. He hesitantly takes a step towards my dream self and clears his throat.

“You’re going to do exactly as I say,” Ollie commands, his voice stern. My dream self starts crying. A steady stream of tears flow down her rosy cheeks to her neck and disappear into her shirt.
 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying, but it hurts so bad,” my dream self apologizes. My heart aches for her, and I fight back the need to wrap my arms around her and carry her out of this mess.
 

“Look at me,” Ollie commands, his voice breaking at the end. I can tell his emotions are getting in the way, but he pushes forward. “You will never think about me or Aristeus. You don’t love us, and you never will. Your soul belongs to someone else. Gods are not real. Live your life as you see fit. Never think of the curse. Never think of Orpheus or Aristeus. We are not real. We are not real. We are not real,” Ollie sings, his voice taking on the deep hypnotic tone he uses when he’s commanding.
 

My dream self falls to the ground right after he utters the last word, landing painfully on her knees. She starts shaking, and I rush to her side, not caring if I’m seen. It looks like she’s having a seizure as her body convulses uncontrollably.
 

I lift her off the floor, but I’m not able to do anything. She’s still below me, and I’m just staring down at her.

“You see what you did?” Ollie yells to Ari, slamming his fist against the wood panel in the middle of the barn. The beam shatters and part of the roof caves in, but he doesn’t budge.

“
I
did?” Ari yells back, turning to face Ollie from where he is in the doorway. “Blame her, if anyone.” He points to Athena. “I said to let it be. We need to find the loophole, not guess around. We don’t know the full curse yet. This was a joke! Who knows when she’ll be back now!”
 

“Enough. Both of you.” Athena’s voice rattles the entire building with dominance and hay particles trickle down to the floor. It’s so authoritative that even I stop what I’m doing and listen. “We have to try to break the curse before it gets worse. We don’t know the end game. All we know is we’re all involved. We’ll try again.” She’s optimistic, but even I don’t believe her words.
 

“You just killed her based off a theory!” Ari screams at Athena, his face reddening. “I would have rather had this life with her than chance her dying. I don’t want to be involved in your mess. I’m with Eurydice, not you two.” Tears fall down Ari’s face, but he doesn’t even pay attention to them. He glares at the two in front of him as if trying to break them with just a look.

“You’re going to give up on her?” Athena yells at him, taking a step towards the door to block him.
 

“I’m giving up on you. Whether you believe it or not, I love her. I’m not going to lose her.” He pulls his hand through his hair, trying to compose himself, but I know his expressions. He’s failing at trying to hold it in. “Look at her, you did this!” Ari turns his attention to Ollie.

“I was just doing what Athena said. I thought it would work and break the curse!” Ollie tries to defend himself.

“Either way, we’d lose her!” Ari retorts.
 

“The curse is more important. Hades can’t come to earth! Her life isn’t as important as vetoing the curses.”

“Don’t you dare say that to me.” Ari steps right up to Athena, closing the space between them in a daring move.

“You better realize that I can break you in a second. I am an original and you will not threaten me,” she commands. “Got it?”

“You just killed the only girl I love so count me out on the next life.” Ari sneers as he leaves. He pushes the door to the barn open, making it shatter under his touch. He sprints away so fast I can’t follow his movements.

“I can’t do it again, either.” Ollie turns to Athena, his own body defeated.

“She’ll be back. I know you’ve spoken with your father. This curse is important to our fate. You know the ramifications if Hades were to return to earth. Please tell me you’re not as one track minded as him,” Athena pleads.

“I get it…it’s just hard to see her like this. She’s dead. I missed an opportunity to know her.”
 

“You’ll have more. I promise.” Athena nods to him, and they both leave together.

My eyes turn overcast and my body sways involuntarily as I try to stand up and go to my past self’s dead body. I cradle her head in my hands; I try to explain what went wrong. But before I know it, I’m being torn away into my real life.
 

As the focus starts returning, I see the wood panels above me of Kara’s bunk bed, I hear the heavy snoring of Caroline, who’s sleeping in the bunk next to me and I dread remembering what I just saw.
 

Eleven thirty comes fast, but when I hear a faint knocking, I’m not ready. I switch into high gear. I throw all of my thoughts and doubts into the back of my mind and compartmentalize them for later. I reach beside my bed, grab my black sweat pants, long-sleeved turtle neck, and knee high socks, and change under the covers. I grab my hat from my bag, incase it’s really cold.
 

I look at the pill bottle on top of my bag and contemplate taking one. I should take one so I’m happy, but I don’t want to rely on them anymore. I’ve only been taking them for a day, but they make me feel fuzzy, different. Maybe I’m supposed to be feeling these things. Maybe it’s all happening for a reason.

I just don’t know. I forgo taking a pill and shove the bottle into my pocket as a crutch, in case I need one later. Knowing my mother and what she’s done in the past, I have a feeling the night will end poorly.

I grab my sneakers from under the bed but don’t put them on just yet. Instead, I grab the shoes and my phone from under the pillow and tiptoe to the front door. I don’t see anyone else in the entrance, so I quietly open the wood door and creep out.
 

I round the corner to stand away from the windows, so I’m out of sight and run into a small body. I yelp and jump back with my fists raised, not knowing who it is and the near pitch blackness outside doesn’t help my sight. “Who’s there?” I whisper, waving my shoes around, looking for something.

“Megan,” a small mouse calls.
 

“It’s me, Ryder.” I reassure her that I’m not a murderer in the woods, which is an entirely normal assumption. Plus, after her session with Ari, she could probably kick my ass. “Where are the others?” I ask her, looking around as my eyes begin to adjust for Lisa or Kara. I bend and put my shoes on, blind.

“No idea. I just left when I was ready. Don’t leave me,” she pleads, grasping onto my arm. I can hear in her voice that she’s nervous, and between the lack of light and the other two missing, so am I.

“Don’t worry. I’m fully freaked out.” I shiver at the honesty in my words. I remember that I have my cell phone on me so I whip it open, letting the light act as a flash light. When it’s open, I see a text from Ollie sent a few minutes ago.

What cabin are you in?
 

I reply and then wait for someone to show up. A few minutes later, I’m really starting to flip. No Kara. No Lisa. No Ollie. No boys either. It doesn’t make sense, where could they be?

“What the hell, Megan? Where are they? We were supposed to meet here.” I start to get worried. What if we were attacked? Or something else happened to them. “How did we get out but not them? Do you think they went to meet the boys?” More questions rattle off in my head, but I don’t ask them. Megan knows just as little as I do.

“I don’t know. They never tell me anything!” Megan shows a little fire in her words as they harden. Just then something rustles next to me, and I jump back panicked.

“Who’s there?” I whisper, wanting the intruder to identify themselves.
 

“It’s me,” a deep voice calls back.

“Who’s me?” I ask, wanting to know first name, last name, social security number—the whole nine.
 

“Ollie, you crazy girl.” My heart melts with relief. Thank the gods.

“Get over here,” I whisper, reaching my arms out blindly. He grabs my hands, and I wrap my arms around his waist, inhaling his outdoorsy scent. “Our friends never showed. We’re freaking dying out here.” I reach out my other hand to Megan so we’re all connected. She clutches me, and I can tell she doesn’t want to let go.

“This is Megan.” I introduce the two formally.

“I think we met at the bonfire, right? Nice to meet you again.” Ollie shakes her hand formally. I can’t tell what’s going on due to the darkness, but we should get moving and find our friends. “Wait, what are you guys doing?” He’s clearly puzzled as to why Megan is here to meet my mom.

“We were meeting up with the boys to play manhunt, but our friends never showed. So we’re kind of just stuck out here with them missing,” I explain.

“Did you want to find them?” Ollie’s hand rakes up my back, warming me up.

“What about my mom?”

“We’re not meeting her until the morning,” Ollie answers.
 

“What? Why did you need to see me at midnight?” I ask, confused by his actions.

“I just wanted to see you.” He pulls me into him, bending me backwards and planting a kiss on my forehead. “Make sure you’re okay,” he adds for just my ears.

“Trickster.” I glare at him, but I doubt he can see me. “Well, since you’re here, I guess you’re playing manhunt. Let’s go to the boys’ cabin.” I position myself in the middle of Megan and Ollie so if we did get attacked, I could protect them both.

I try to keep my steps quiet and close by so I don’t stumble and make a fool out of myself. But before we get there, a group of black clad individuals are huddled near a grouping of trees against the edge of the field. Immediately, I flash back to the attack on the school, where all of the bad guys were in black masks and black outfits. We stop in our tracks, ready to fight, when I hear Kara’s distinct voice mumble something in the distance.

“Where the hell were you?” I yell out to Kara. We walk towards the group, and when I find what looks like Kara’s silhouette, I tap her shoulder from behind.

“Oh my gods. We thought you two were kidnapped. We were supposed to meet by the door.” Kara reaches back and tugs me into her arms. She wraps me in one big hug as I try to hold onto Megan’s hand.
 

“We were there!” I scold her, frowning although I know she can’t see it.
 

“I’m so sorry. We were just going to go looking for you in groups.” She hugs me again and then lets me go. I see Lisa do the same thing with Megan who stays by Lisa’s side but still clutches onto my hand.
 

“Who are you with?” Shane tries to squint through the darkness to see who’s here, but it’s still too murky with clouds covering the full moon.

“Ollie. He came to visit so I invited him to play,” I explain to everyone. Mikey and Carter say hey and nod their heads to each other. Ollie politely says hey back since he’s met them before. “My friend, my team, right,” I joke with everyone.

“No way. It’s perfect he’s here since we’re down a guy. Trent refused to play so we need him on our team to make it even.” Mikey gestures for Ollie to go to his side. Ollie looks down at me, his eyes soft. He bends down and plants a kiss on my cheek. Then he goes right over to the guys’ side, getting more high fives from them in appreciation.
 

“Who’s hiding first?” The darkness surrounds me like a thick blanket.

“We are,” Kara demands. None of the guys object so Kara leads us a few feet away from the guys to strategize.

“The best bet is for us to have a call and split up. Can we all whistle?” Megan takes the lead, and we all nod in response. “Perfect, so we all split up and hide alone. One whistle means run. Two whistles means you’re caught. Any other whistle is just for distraction.”
 

“Got it.” I recite the whistle commands in my head so I don’t forget them. I really don’t want to screw this up—although her plan has one fault: We’re all going to be hiding alone and that notion scares the crap out of me.
 

We meet up with the boys near the edge of the woods and set a hiding time of five minutes before they come looking for us.
 

Once we’re dismissed and the time begins, I run in the direction of the thick woods, knowing it’s my best chance of being hidden. It’s terrifying being in there because the trees make the already black sky even more overcast since the stars and moon are hidden behind the canopy. I know I have to get as far away as possible from Ollie or else he’ll find me for sure just based on our connection.
 

I turn on my turbo speed and sprint through the woods, dodging trees whenever I can and trusting my instincts. When I think I’m far enough to be safe, yet close enough that I won’t get lost on my way out, I crouch down against a tree stump and wait. I try to slow my breathing as much as possible so that I’m silent to the male predators.
 

I definitely should have checked the time before I left because I have no idea how long it’s been. I could be gone two minutes or twenty minutes—I don’t know. As I’m about to lose control because it feels like hours have gone by, I hear a series of five whistles come from my left. I know it’s a distraction, so I’m guessing someone is nearing me, and they’re trying to divert it.
 

I get up from my stump and crawl around it so I’m on the other side, hopefully hidden. I close my eyes and bury my face in my knees and arms, bending over myself in the smallest ball ever. I start counting in my head until I hear two whistles seventy seconds later. Someone’s been caught—and they’re close to me.