The Unclaimed (University of the Gods Trilogy Book 1) (25 page)

The Darkness. It was coming and it was coming for Ben and even though she had threatened to hurt Ben with the knife, that had just been to prove a point; she would never be able to live with herself if something happened to him.

She caught up faster to him than she would have thought because he had stopped not soon after, waiting at the entrance to yet another cave and by the strong smell of beast, she knew they had arrived at the Minotaur’s lair.

Cassandra quickly reached for Ben’s arm to make sure he was ok but he misread her gesture as an invitation to go ahead and entered the cave without giving her any further indication of what he had been waiting for.

The Minotaur’s lair was situated in a spacious cavern and lit with myriad torches. After the half-dark of the past hour – or was it hours? Cassandra had lost all sense of time – the sudden bright lights hurt her eyes. When they had adjusted, she could see that the lair rose in three levels to the top. On the third level, the Minotaur had built its nest. The beast had retreated to the farthest corner of its lair and was constantly pacing back and forth. He was a massive creature, about twice as tall as a human and packed with muscle. His head was that of a bull and his small, black eyes were showing white. He kept sniffing the air and pawing restlessly, throwing his huge head from one side to the other as if listening for something. He roared and Cassandra thought she heard the sound of water from afar.

Cassandra tried to catch a better look at the nest but all she could see was some straw and a strange golden light that was shining from its center. Everything else was incredibly dirty, smeared with mud, blood and what Cassandra was pretty sure were feces.

“Why are we here?” Cassandra said but Ben only shrugged, looking confused.

“I don’t know”, he replied, reaching for his head as if it was hurting. “Sam, my brother, he should have long come back with my sword. I don’t know why I ran away, I am sorry.”

“We should go”, Cassandra said. “We need to tell the others about River and Tiresia.”

And my sister, she wanted to say but somehow couldn’t. Ben nodded and wanted to turn around but then something caught his attention and after a moment, Cassandra heard it too. It was the sound of water coming at them. And fast.

Cassandra remembered what Medusa had said about calling to Poseidon’s children to save them. And suddenly she knew why that had sounded so wrong. Poseidon’s children were creatures of the water but there was no water in here. Yet.

“We need to get out of here”, she cried but Ben snatched her arm and drew her into the cavern, just in time before the water came rushing in, pooling on the bottom and quickly filling it to the rim of the first level. The water was rising much too fast.

“We are going to drown”, Ben cried and they quickly made their way to the second level by jumping up the rocky surface. “We are in the center of the maze, probably at its deepest point. The water will fill this in no time.”

Up on the third level the Minotaur was beyond panic. His eyes were showing only white now and the beast was roaring and clawing at its chest, unsure what to do, where to go and then simply charged forward. Ben and Cassandra sprang to two different sides and the Minotaur roared angrily. Cassandra ran up to the third level towards the golden glow of magic that she had seen before. For a moment she was disappointed because she thought it was just a dirty old sheepskin but then she realized what it was. She grabbed it and then turned around to see whether there was anything she could do to help Ben.

The Minotaur was trying to pick up Ben with his horns but Ben managed to evade him several times. Cassandra threw a rock at the Minotaur but the creature only roared so loud that spittle flew from his mouth, and then rammed one of his horns into Ben’s chest who had slipped and fallen against some rocks.

Cassandra let go of the dirty sheepskin and took up a big stick that lay in the Minotaur’s nest. She swung it and used it to bring it down on the Minotaur’s skull. She heard the ugly cracking sound it made when it hit bone. Cassandra cried out for Ben but then the Minotaur turned around and was on her and together they fell into the water. Cassandra wasn’t a very good swimmer and grabbed on to the Minotaur’s horns in panic. The creature kept struggling and bucking. The water was impeding its movements but Cassandra knew it wouldn’t be long before it all wouldn’t matter anymore.

The water level was rising mercilessly and soon there would be nowhere to go. Struggling to hold on to the Minotaur’s horns, she wished she could be with Ben, hold him one last time and just when she was about to simply let go, Sam emerged from the water, dripping wet and quickly assessing the situation. When he saw his brother was alive but not moving any more, he threw a quick look at Cassandra and the Minotaur and then reached for his brother, sweeping him up into his arms and ready to jump into the water again. Cassandra screamed at Sam to grab the sheepskin, hoping against hope that he could hear her against the deafening sounds of the water rushing in and the Minotaur’s wild roar of panic. Sam actually hesitated and Cassandra repeated her words.

She saw Sam frown but at that moment the Minotaur chose to fight again. Cassandra, whose hands had gone numb in the cold water, was unable to hold on to his horns anymore. She felt them scratch open her cheek, felt his hooves kick in her elbow and ribs and frantically tried to get as much distance between her and the Minotaur. But she knew that in the end it would be no good. She resurfaced one last time saw that Sam and Ben were gone. The water had covered the nest by now and the rest would be filled up in no time.

Cassandra stopped struggling. The large beast fought the water until the end but Cassandra knew there was nothing she could do now. She closed her eyes and felt her body go numb.

She saw an image of Sam swimming through the water with Ben in his arms, dragging him to safety and knew they would be all right. And then she was standing in a field of flowers with Hector and Pandora waving at her, Alexander telling her to fight but from a distance and finally there was Ben, holding her in his arms, telling her that everything would be all right. She begged him to hold her closer, to make the cold go away. But when he bent down to kiss her, when their lips were finally touching, that very first kiss wasn’t liberating. It was dark and deadly.

Cassandra ripped her eyes open, her lungs screaming for air, her mind frantically fighting the urge to breathe in, knowing full-well that this would be her last breath on earth. But finally there was nothing else for her to do. Her body jerked when she opened her mouth to suck in the much needed air. Water filled her lungs. Her body. Her mind.

Darkness. Cold. And all that was left was… Death.

“Is she dead?” Jim inquired nervously. “She looks blue. She shouldn’t be blue. She has been in the water for too long, I am sure that was too long. And breathing would help.”

Cassandra heard Jim’s voice as though coming through a thick, padded wall. He sounded agitated, like he was on the verge of crying.

“Please help her”, he murmured and she could feel his restless pacing beside her.

Cassandra knew she wasn’t dead. Not yet anyway. She had somehow managed to hide somewhere at the back of her mind so that she wouldn’t feel the pain, the panic anymore. When her lungs had filled with water, every pore of her body had fought it. She had been struggling, slashing and finally convulsing in frantic spasms until she had given up and the faint spark that remained alive had retreated into the farthest corner of her being. That’s where she tried to stay, hidden, holed up in a place where she didn’t have to feel anything. But someone was pounding on her chest and breathing into her mouth and Cassandra felt that her body wanted to get back to life.

“Come on”, she heard Hippolyta say. “I know you are still in there. Start fighting, Cassandra, don’t give up on us.”

Cassandra felt like her head, her whole body was about to explode. Her back arched; her lungs, her stomach were ready to get rid of the water. Finally, Cassandra bolted upright and threw up the salty water until there was nothing left of it inside her. And still she couldn’t stop retching.

“There you are”, Hippolyta said, holding her and patting her back until the coughing finally subsided.

“That was disgusting”, Jim said, relief audible in his voice.

Cassandra sank back onto the rocky underground, shaking, feeling frozen to the core. And then Ben was beside her and took her hand. Cassandra felt his warmth, felt him stroke the back of her hand and wearily opened one eye.

“Your brother saved you”, she said almost inaudibly, her throat raw and aching.

Ben had to bend down to understand her. He was wearing clothes that were much too big for him but otherwise he seemed fine. There was a rosy glow in his face and the wounds on his head and chest weren’t bleeding anymore. All in all, he looked much healthier than he should. She wanted to say something to the point but couldn’t because her teeth were chattering so much.

“We need to get her to the infirmary”, Hippolyta said but Cassandra grabbed Ben’s arm and looked at him imploringly and Ben seemed to understand what she needed.

“They are alive”, he said, his eyes a storm of emotions. “Hector and the others got out before the water even came in. Tiresia was brought out by the Nereids and so was River. And your sister.”

He said it with the slightest bit of hesitation and Cassandra knew that there was something wrong. She grabbed his arm even harder but he didn’t say anything after that.

“You need to drink this”, Hippolyta said, bending down from the other side and holding a bottle to her mouth. “It will help you get warmed for a little while but we need to remove your clothes and fast. You could still die from hypothermia.”

The drink tasted like liquid fire and Cassandra knew it was Ambrosia. Finally Cassandra’s teeth stopped chattering, long enough to ask what was going on with her sister but neither Ben nor Hippolyta replied to that. Cassandra tried to sit up but a sharp pain in her sides made her rethink that option. She suddenly remembered something wrapping itself around her body, drawing her along and a sharp knife stabbing her just below her ribcage. Cassandra gasped and almost blacked out from the pain.

“If she warms up any more, she’ll bleed out”, Ben said and Cassandra felt her life flow out of her, warm and icky, from the wounds at her side. “We need to do something. Now.”

Cassandra heard Ben’s voice through that thick, padded wall again, heard the worry in it but she didn’t care anymore. She felt herself drift away to a place where nothing mattered any more.

Cassandra saw herself from the outside, floating through the water, arms raised, a look of surprised shock on her face. Suddenly the tail of a snake wrapped itself around her body. She was gripped by strong arms with metal claws that pierced into her side and then pulled her along a maze of tunnels until it finally reached the surface again. Cassandra was thrown on some rocks near the shore where she lay lifeless.

A voice resounded in Cassandra’s head. It was sharp, metallic and suddenly, the old woman stood beside her, touching her face.

“My child loves you very much”, Medusa said and there was tenderness and warmth in her voice, but not for Cassandra.

“Is that why you rescued me?” Cassandra asked, also in her head because her body was just a heap of flesh lying on a shore looking like dead driftwood.

Medusa looked like she already regretted her decision to rescue Cassandra. Then her eyes softened.

“You are not your mother”, she said. “It’s not your fault. And even though I want to punish her, I realize it shouldn’t be done through you. One innocent already died today, I won’t let there be a second.”

“Thank you for saving my life”, Cassandra said.

“Don’t thank me, child of Athena”, the old woman said with a terrible reptile smile. “Next time I might not feel so generous.”

Cassandra thought of River turned into stone, thought of her sister, changed forever.

“Neither will I”, she replied and Medusa, her hands already turning into those awful claws again, smiled and nodded.

“Tell her, I love her”, she said and turned away her head that was starting to sprout snakes. “And now try not to die.”

With one last flap of her long tail she disappeared into the water again.

“We are losing her”, Hippolyta exclaimed, pressing something to Cassandra’s side that looked like her black coat. “I can’t stop the bleeding.”

Cassandra tried to say something but couldn’t. She was feeling cold again but it was a different kind of cold, one that seemed to drain her of all hope.

“Sam”, Ben cried, desperation in his voice. “Take her to the infirmary.”

His brother was beside him in an instant.

“If she dies, I will hold you responsible”, Ben said and made way for his brother.

Sam picked Cassandra up in his arms like she weighed nothing and Ben stepped very close to him whispering in his ear so that no one else would hear. “You didn’t save her down there. Now make up for it, do you understand?”

Sam showed sharp, grey metal teeth and Cassandra didn’t feel like she would be very safe bleeding so close to a vampire but there was not much she could do at that point.

“I am not afraid of you”, Ben said and for a moment managed to look quite as menacing as his dead brother. “We don’t have time for this now. Get her to the infirmary. Now.”

Sam, though clearly unwilling, nodded and then started moving so fast, everything was a blur. Cassandra, back in a very painful reality, found it in her to wonder why someone as strong and other as Sam would have to obey his younger brother. She felt the blood dripping to the floor and Sam, flaring his nostrils, picked up his pace. His fangs extended so far they almost reached his chin and before Cassandra could wonder whether she would ever arrive at the infirmary like that, she fainted.

When they finally arrived, Sam threw her on a gurney, cried for help and then ran away as fast as he could from the overwhelming smell of blood and agony that would have been the end of Cassandra, had he been a couple of centuries younger. But his self-control only went so far. He snatched one of the servants close to the palace and almost drained her. He left her lying on the floor, barely alive but still breathing and went to look for someone else. He wasn’t done for the day. Not by a long shot.

Ms. Nightingale and her team did their best to save Cassandra’s life. With swift movements that came from years of training, they cut off her clothes, all the while pressing bandages and pads against the deep cuts on her body and rushed her into the OR. She was given blood and an anesthetic and then Ms. Nightingale stitched her up, layer after layer. After several hours she finally looked up, tired and strained, and told her assistant to wrap it up.

Cassandra, still unconscious from the drugs in her system, was brought into a room with a view of the Colosseum. She slept for almost a day and a half and woke up in the early hours of the morning. She was disoriented at first, the unfamiliar smells and sounds making it hard for her to know where she was.

She panicked when she saw that she had been restrained to a bed and managed to rip out one of the wrist cuffs and the IV drip before Ben was beside her telling her to stop. But Cassandra wouldn’t stop thrashing, afraid and confused because she had no idea what was happening to her. A sudden pain in her midsection threatened to tear her apart and she screamed and fought until Ben finally drew her to the floor with him where he held her in an iron grip, telling her to stop struggling.

“You are in the infirmary”, he told her over and over again. “Everything is going to be ok. You were hurt, but you are better now. Please stop hurting yourself.”

She felt the strength of his embrace, his arms around her body, felt the solid ground below her and finally her mind and body realized that there was no water and enough air to breathe. She let herself sink against Ben. The sobs eventually subsided and Ben gently moved her away from him to have a look at her wound. He told Ms. Nightingale’s assistants, who hadn’t dared interfere, to come in and have a look at Cassandra now that she had calmed down again.

Cassandra, white as a sheet, sweating and bleeding, agreed to be hooked up to an IV but when they wanted to restrain her again, Ben told them in no uncertain terms that that was not an option.

“What’s wrong?” she asked because he was so pale and looked drained but he only shook his head.

“You have been here the whole time”, she said.

It was not a question, she was certain of it. His eyes, dark as night, sparked silver and Cassandra was overwhelmed by grief.

“I am so sorry”, she whispered and suddenly all memories came rushing back, suffocating her.

River was dead. She had almost drowned. And her sister, her little, innocent baby sister, had turned into a monster. She reached for Ben just when Ms. Nightingale came rushing in, telling Ben what she thought about him interfering with decisions that weren’t his to make. She saw the state Cassandra was in and gave her something that would help her sleep.

When Cassandra woke up next, another full day had passed. Ben was still in the room with her. When he saw her move, he immediately lay the book he had been reading aside.

“How are you feeling?” he said, looking even more tired than the last time they had talked.

“Don’t you have to be in class?” Cassandra asked and winced when she made an involuntary move. Her sides still hurt like crazy.

“Are you ok?” Ben asked and Cassandra nodded, trying to breathe the pain away as best as she could. “Shall I call someone for help?”

Cassandra started fidgeting. She needed to do something. Urgently.

“What? What is it?”

Ben, who seemed to have picked up on her rising agitation, was beside her in a second.

“Could you please get me a nurse in here?” Cassandra said, more than slightly embarrassed. “And could you please leave?”

Ben carefully hid his feelings behind a neutral face.

“Of course”, he said. “I need to go change anyway.”

“No, that’s not what I meant”, she said. “I just need a little time for myself.”

She sighed and drew in her breath.

“We need to talk about what happened. You were there. You heard things. We… just get me that nurse and don’t go too far.”

Her eyes were getting watery from suppressing the urge she was trying to hide from him. Finally he seemed to realize what it was she didn’t want to tell him.

“You are cute when you are in distress”, he said and then made haste to retreat because Cassandra picked up a glass that was standing next to her bed and threw it at him. Her aim was bad and lacked strength and so the glass simply landed on the floor beside him. Ben raised an eyebrow.

“Nice. Very mature”, he said. “See you in a minute.”

With that he was gone.

Cassandra growled in frustration, ignored the rising level of pain and was already halfway to the bathroom when the nurse finally came in. She helped her into the bathroom and out again and brought her a toothbrush as well as something to wash her face with. Then she checked the wounds, gave her some Ambrosia and told her to rest.

“Ms. Nightingale is going to come take a look at you soon.”

The Ambrosia helped with the pain but it didn’t make it go away. She wondered why her body didn’t heal faster but when she took a look at the damage Medusa had done to her side she guessed that it was more difficult to heal from that than from a wound by a simple knife.

“You only survived this because you are a half-blood”, Ben said, suddenly beside her again.

Cassandra nodded and felt the pain with every movement. She closed her eyes and tried to go through everything that had happened without panicking. She found it was easier now in broad daylight and with the knowledge that there was no water close by and Ben right by her side.