The Shadows

8

**Warning: This chapter may be a bit bloody, so if you're squeamish, you have been warned.**

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"How much farther?!" Rose yelled over the whistling wind. They were now hundreds of feet in the air, soaring over the landscape on the backs of the Draco. Scar, who flew in the front, turned her head to answer.

"It shouldn't be far now!" She yelled, turning back to look at the rapidly growing body of water that spread out before them. Thalia sat right behind Scar, holding on to her for dear life. Apparently she didn't like heights very much.

Suddenly, screams broke out underneath them. Rose looked down to see a girl being pinned against the tapering mountainside by a group of two much larger teens. There was one boy and one girl, and they didn't look like they were about to show mercy to the girl. Scar had obviously seen the fight because they had slowed down drastically.

"Sam, come on." She said kicking Blu into a descent. Sam nodded and kicked his Draco, and blood red stallion named Eclipse, into a descent as well, not even arguing with Scar.just before he was about to leave he turned to the rest of us.

"Stay here." He said solemnly. "We can handle this." Then he was gone, quickly descending to where Scar was already dismounting Blu. She stopped Thalia, and shook her head signaling her to stay on the Draco. The girl and boy had seen Scar and Sam dismount and now stood facing them.

Rose could hear the two groups shouting at each other but couldn't distinguish the words. Suddenly, the boy leaped forward, sword outstretched, but only to meet Scar's axe with a ring of metal against metal. Soon Sam and the girl had engaged each other, and Sam and Scar were fighting side-by-side, matching each other's blows perfectly. A sudden screech of pain from Scar grabbed Rose's attention. A short knife stuck from her right shoulder, blood spreading across her chest. But this didn't stop her, instead a new fire seemed to emerge in her.

All of a sudden, Scar disappeared, leaving the boy and girl stunned and vulnerable. As soon as they realized their mistake, the two were thrown on the ground, an axe sticking from the boy's chest. The girl had been thrown against the rock face, and lay, unmoving in the grass. Scar appeared over the boy's body, grabbing her axe, which the boy had discarded from his chest. The knife from her shoulder lay in grass a few feet away, probably pulled out in a hurry. Wiping off her axe and sheathing it, Scar walked over to the smaller girl who sat huddled against the rocky cliff face.

Scar walked up to her, picked her up, and talked to her for a bit. The girl seemed to recover pretty quickly, and as soon as Scar handed her the discarded sword and knives of the fallen, ran off, back into the woods. Scar quickly ran over to a patch of exotic wild flowers that grew at the edge of the forest and picked a few. Walking back over to Sam and the fallen, she lay half of the flowers on the boy's bloody chest, stopping for a moment to kneel and whisper something. She repeated the same thing with the girl before walking over to Sam, who helped wrap up her shoulder. They mounted again, ascending and flying on like nothing had happened.

"Why did she do that?" Rose asked Jack, who rode next to her astride Leaf, his deep green mare. "And what's with the flowers and kneeling?"

"Ok, first of all, you should know that Scar hates killing people. She would injure you on a dime, but she only kills when necessary. I guess she felt that since they wouldn't give up that it was the best thing." Jack explained, staring ahead at Scar. "And as for the flowers and stuff, that's what she does to respect those that she has killed. She honors them and gives them a moment of final silence." Rose nodded, but she was still confused. Why honor someone that had just tried to kill you?
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"Hey! Let's go down!" Jerome yelled to Scar. "We're really close now!" They were, in fact, close. The small compass thing had been glowing a bright blue, which meant they were close.

Minutes later, they had all landed and dismounted, setting foot on a long stretch of beach. Leaving the Draco to graze on the thinned grass at the edge of the beach, the Shadows walked towards the water. The sand underneath them was a reddish-black color, but slowly lightened as it sloped into the clear water.

"The arrow still points to the South!" Jerome exclaimed as they reached the water's edge. "I have a bad feeling about this. I think we have to go in." Immediately, Rose felt compelled to volunteer. She hadn't really had any good experience with water, but she felt like this was something that she could do.

"I'll go." She said, taking off her boots and rolling up her trousers. "Anyone else?" Jerome nodded and agreed to go since he had the compass. Seconds later, they were wading through the shallows and into the deep water. At first it seemed to Rose that the shallows didn't end, but suddenly the floor dropped, and neither of them could touch. The compass went under, but still shone, which was a good sign.

"Oh great! It's times like these that I wish Percy wasn't such a jerk." Jerome muttered, treading water beside Rose. Seeing her confused look, he started to explain. "Percy can breath underwater, and by the looks of it, that's what we need." He motioned for her to go underwater, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw what he meant. In front of them was a cliff, the drop off, and about ten feet below them, a shining bluish light shone from a submerged sea cave.

"I can do it." Rose said as they emerged at the surface. Jerome shook his head, but Rose stopped him. "I can do this! I'll be fine!"

"You'll ki-" Jerome didn't have time to finish before Rose sucked in a deep breath and dove. She stroked towards the cave, strong but slow. Reaching the cave, she could tell that she was already starting to drown. Speeding towards the back of the cave, she grabbed a shining blue crystal, and smuggled to swim out. Black edged her vision, taking over more every second. Her chest felt like it was being constructed by a snake. She reached the entrance of the cave, but she knew she couldn't make it. The last thing she saw was Jerome's panicked face and strong arms pulling her towards him, then her vision went black, and she felt no more.
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Hey guys!! Sorry about the short chapter and cliff hanger, but I needed to leave off here. What happened to Rose, you say? Well, you'll have to stay tuned for chapter 9.
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-Foxstorm