Destiny (1)
Chapter 21

“Dean?” I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

“Hello, Fay,” he smiled.

“What is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Dean, if you don’t give me a good reason to interrupt my sleep, I swear I will get you,”

Holding his hands up, he gave me his big, fat, stupid grin. “Okay, okay. I do have a reason. I came to cheer you up, and pass on information,”

“Stop grinning. How do you have a reason to smile? Sasha’s dead. Mya never existed. Ash is dead,”

“All I’m saying is, maybe it’s not as bad as you think,”

“How is it not that bad?”

“I don't know, but there’s also important information that I need to give you,”

“What?”

“Look, there are other people out there. You’re not the last member of the Guard. It was prophesied, thousands of years ago, that nine people would come together, and stop the twin who had turned. The Greeks had the right idea about their gods. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Hera, Apollo, Demeter, Hestia, and Hermes. Their powers are all included in the nine. When I met you, I knew the time had come. I gifted them with the abilities. You must track them down, and bring them to me. You have the summer,”

“Okay…”

“And, Fay-”

“Yes?”

“It will get better. I promise,”

“Wait!”

“What is it?”

“I never asked - how did Sasha-” I choked on the words. “Clone-Sasha, how did they get hold of the Sceptre?”

Dean sighed. “One of the Destins gets custody of it. I don’t know who. She must have convince them to give her it,”

“But who?”

“Like I said, I don’t know,”

“For once,”

“Hey!”

“You know everything. This is the first time I've asked you something and you haven’t had the answer,” I paused. “Well, not including when I first met you, and you wouldn’t answer anything. Why was that, by the way?”

Dean smiled again. “A Destin can’t be giving away all his secrets, after all, Fay. Then there would be no secrets to keep! And that’s basically the point of my whole existence, so…”

“Please, though, before I go, can you promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“Please, just, take care of Josie. And Samuel, and his father, and every person I ever-”

“Okay, Fay, I promise.”

The world began to fade around me.

“Bye, Dean. And thanks.”

I lay down in what used to be the field, though after I’d let go of my powers it had transformed to a jungle. Vines twisted around my legs and pulled me down. The leaf tattoo on my arm burned brightly, but I couldn’t look. I was too indulged in my own depression. Ash and Sasha were dead. A growing certainty twisted around inside me, like someone had pushed a dagger pointxfirst into my stomach and was turning it, as slowly as they dared. The pain was still ringing in my ears, his last strangled cry playing through my head. It was my fault. Wilted next to me, the rose Thalia had picked for me sat in my hand softly. I wondered what she would say. She was blissfully somewhere else now. Dean had made sure of that. No memory of any of it.

Aargh! Screw my destiny! Screw the Guard! Screw the nine of us! I was so much happier before… before… with Mya…

I swallowed, but to no avail. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. She was never really there. An illusion, cast by my real mother. The more I thought, the faster and thicker the tears fell. The vines around my legs and ankles loosened, and I pulled my knees up to my chest. I sobbed into them uncontrollably.

Where would I go now? Would I go to an orphanage? No one would believe me. The thought of having to hide my powers forever sickened me half to death. And the police would charge me with the murder of Ash.

What could I do?

Another wave of despair washed over me.

I imagined the other nine, unfortunate enough to be involved with this. Where were they now? Tucked up in bed, peacefully oblivious to the world around them, unaware what the future would hold for them? I envied them so. A few must already know, if they were old enough to have discovered what they were capable of. No human deserved that.

Just then, a rustle came from the bushes. I sniffed, but didn’t get up. There was no point in investigating. I wasn’t curious, and if it was dangerous then it might as well kill me now.

Another rustle.

Probably just a rabbit, I thought.

Then a foot appeared. A head popped through a gap, along with that blonde hair and those piercing green eyes which I knew all too well.

“Ash!?”