Cured (24 page)

“
If you hate
me so much, p
rincess,” he began, “Then
why was your expression so terrified when you thought you’d drowned
me?”

I shoved some water at him and swam away
leaving him coughing and choking behind me. I paddled over to the
riverbank where Felix and Ellina were wringing out their
clothes.

“
Lover’s
tiff?” a
sked Felix.

I grunted as I launched myself out of the
river and onto the bank, “Don’t wanna talk about it. And we are
CERTAINLY not lovers.”

Ellina patted
my shoulder sympathetically. “Boys are dumb,” she whispered. “Lets
ditch them while we can.” I smiled, thankful for having a girl
around who could empathize, and squeezed her hand. Then I gathered
up all my clothing and started to wash them thoroughly in the
water, wringing them out and hanging them on a tree nearby to dry
out. Ellina started a fire and we all sat around it in our
underwear, thawing and drying out.

“
Couldn’t
you
get used to this?” Felix whispered to
Theo.

“You mean get used to having water to bathe
in? Me too!” I agreed.

Theo snorted, “That’s not what Felix
meant.”

“
I wasn’t
speaking to you, Theodore,
” I said
coldly, not having forgiven him after the fake drowning
incident.

“
I was
referring to your new choice of attire, my ladies,” said Felix in a
ridiculous English accent.

“
You
pig,
” Ellina said, pulling a hair tie
from her wrist and flinging it at him. It was an excellent shot,
and hit him straight in the eye. He cursed and squeezed his eye
shut.

“
You kinda
deserved that, man, you’ve got to start treating them with the
respect they deserve.” Theo patted Felix’s shoulder.

“
You’re just
sucking up to Avery so she forgives you,” said Ellina, and I
smirked, laying my head on her shoulder.

“
I might’ve
been,” w
inked Theo, “Did it
work?”

His tone
irked me, so I stood abruptly and stalked over to Meatloaf, who was
tied to the same tree our clothes hung from. I untied him and led
him to the stream, where he started lapping up water eagerly. After
he had finished drinking, I pushed on his behind lightly, letting
him know that he could wade in. He took a small step into the icy
river and let out a snort. I laughed, “I know how you feel,
Meatloaf! It’s freezing in there.”

He refused to move any further, so I scooped
some water into my palms and began to scrub away at his bristly
fur. I worked my way from his neck, to his thick torso and around
his legs. Then I started on his face more gently, even polishing
his horns and tusks. “Well, you clean up very nicely, Meatloaf,” I
whispered to him, “You’re going to have all the girl beasts
flocking to you.”

I heard a
sharp laugh behind me and spun around to find Theo standing a few
meters away. The hand covering his mouth did nothing to hide his
chuckling. I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to Meatloaf.
“You can feel free to attack that one at any time,” I said into the
animal’s ear and pointed at Theo.

“
Hey,” said
Theo, “I am sorry for laughing. And I am sorry for fake drowning
and scaring you, but did you seriously think you could drown me?
I’m a Prime remember. I could have flicked you off me like an ant.
Plus, we can hold our breath for ages.”

He held out a
hot smoked fish as a peace offering. He must have speared it in the
stream and then grilled it over Ellina’s flame. I wanted to decline
the offer. I definitely did not forgive him, but I knew Meatloaf
would need some sustenance, so I stomped over to him and snatched
the fish, before returning to Meatloaf’s side. I separated the fish
into segments and fed Meatloaf bit by bit, his gentle tongue,
lapping at the palm of my hand. By the time he had finished the
whole fish, Theo was standing right beside me. He had another fish
in his hand, which he held out.

“This one is for you, not the beast.”

“
Meatloaf,
” I corrected
him.

“Right. Meatloaf.”

I took the fish from him and sat on the
grass. Meatloaf lowered his massive body to the ground next to me,
rolling on his side and allowing me to lean against his torso.

Theo sat too, “I think someone is getting
attached.”

“I am not! He is just here to protect us.” I
argued, absent-mindedly scratching Meatloaf’s ear.

“
I wasn’t
talking about you,” s
aid Theo, “I meant
that Meatloaf is getting attached to you. I think I might have some
competition.”

“What do you mean?” I was confused.

He dropped his voice to a whisper, “I think
Meatloaf has a crush on you.”

Before I could help myself I burst out
laughing.

“
Aha!”
e
xclaimed Theo with a grin, “She is
back!”

I ignored him
and dug into the fish. It was good, and I was hungry. I finished my
meal quickly and held the scraps out to Meatloaf. Theo sat
patiently, a worried look in his eye. I decided to cut him some
slack. After all, he had brought me dinner.

“So what’s the next task?” I asked Theo.

“
The
Stymphalian birds,” h
e replied. “A bunch
of angry and lethal birds that terrorized an entire city until
Hercules shot them out of the sky.”

“Sounds like fun.” I grimaced.

“
We’
ll be okay.” Theo rested an
arm around my shoulders. “You know, we are halfway through after
this one.”

I groaned. “That means after this one we
still have six more to go!”

We lay in
silence as the sky darkened, the sunset being replaced by a black
sheet, dotted with a scattering of stars.

“You know the Greeks used to be big on
astronomy?” Theo asked.

I nodded. That was the one class I had
listened in. Space fascinated me, and I knew most of the main
constellations by heart. The thought that there were no rules or
limitations up there excited me. I shivered, but less from cold
than from the amazement that often overcame me when I considered
space, and its endlessness.

Theo tensed his bicep, squeezing my shoulders
tight, “You all right, Princess?” he asked.

I looked up
at him. “Theodore.” I put on my business voice. “I have knocked out
a lion, survived fatal poison, captured a hind, navigated a
labyrinth, befriended a beast and cleaned out the most disgustingly
dirty stables that ever existed with my bare hands; I hardly think
your silly nickname for me is justified any longer.”

He chuckled. “I guess you are right. You’re
not such a princess anymore. But old habits die hard.”

I scoffed, “Hardly an old habit, Theo. We
hadn’t talked in years until a few days ago.”

He shook his
head, smiling sadly. “Actually, when my father and I were banished
from Olympia all those years ago, I was really upset,” he started.
“I used to try and sneak out at night, to come back up the mountain
and find you, but my house only had one bedroom, and four of us
living in it, including my parents and my younger sister. I must’ve
tried about ten times before Dad started telling me stories about
you. He called you a snobby princess, and went on about how you
would never like me because you didn’t care about Norms, only other
Primes. He said you probably had a boyfriend, and when I saw you on
the Wallscreen news with Felix, I guessed that you two were
together.”

I laughed at that.

“
It wasn’t
just me who thought that!” he continued. “All the Norms think you
two are a couple. You’re always together on the news. Anyway I
listened to Dad’s stories and started to hate you. I don’t think I
ever really believed that you were as horrid as he made you out to
be. I remembered how gentle you had been with the bird, and how you
were so kind to my father and I. I guess it was easier to hate you
than to keep pining for you…” His voice trailed off and I sat. Gob
smacked. For once in my life I had nothing to say.

“Did I just ruin my bad boy street cred?”
Theo asked after a minute of silence. I laughed.

“
No.” I said
quietly. “I think I needed to hear that. I wasn’t sure why you
hated me so much. I get it now. And Theo, I really am so sorry for
everything that happened.”

“
I know,”
h
e whispered.

Chapter 25

Theo and I
jerked awake at the same time. It was early in the morning. Much
earlier than I usually woke. I blinked rapidly. Something heavy had
landed on my chest and woken me. I sat up, and Theo did the same,
stretching out his neck. The object was a small box, wrapped in
brown paper, and there was a small white envelope attached. I
noticed Theo handling an identical package that had landed on his
lap.

“
What on
earth..?” I asked.

He tore open
the envelope and unfolded a white square of paper. The words
‘
Stop me before I reach my
destination’
were printed on his note. I
ripped open my own to find an identical message. We tore open the
boxes at the same time. I recognized the device inside
immediately.

“Why would they give us a watch?” Theo
asked.

“
It isn’t a
watch,
” I said. “It’s a GPS. My Dad uses
one to navigate the Fields.” I pressed the ‘on’ button and the
screen lit up, projecting a hologram of a map into the
air.

A woman’s
voice spoke out, “Rotate 90 degrees and proceed for 3000 meters,
then rotate 300 degrees. Proceed for a further 900 meters and you
will have reached your destination,” she said in a robotic
voice.

Theo started his device too. “Rotate 120
degrees and proceed for 1000 meters, then 40 degrees and proceed
for 2000 meters. Rotate 50 degrees and proceed for 500 meters and
you will have reached your destination.”

My stomach sunk. They were forcing us to
split up. They knew that Felix and I would never be able to survive
alone, and they had found a way to ensure we could no longer rely
on Theo and Ellina’s powers.

Ellina and
Felix ran over to us, Felix arrived after Ellina, gasping for
breath, “Got… to…. Split… up,” he panted.

“
What is the
note talking about?” I wondered aloud.

“
I don’t
know,” said Ellina, “But my guess is that we’d better hurry. It
says, ‘Before we reach our destination,’ Which makes me think that
they’ve already sent whatever it is meaning by ‘we’, and that it is
on some track to a target. We have to stop them before they hit
their target.”

“I though the task was birds?” I asked
Theo.

“It is meant to be,” he looked confused. “But
no point dwelling on it. We have to go. Ellina and I will sprint to
our destinations now, return to the stream, and then meet you guys
at your destinations to help you out. I’ve got Avery’s directions
memorized, so Ell you listen to Felix’s and we will get going.”

Felix and I nodded. “What if you don’t get to
us in time?” I asked.

Theo tried to look confident. “We will. I
promise.”

“
Ave and I
are never going to get there in the allotted time. They expect
super speed,” said Felix.

“I think Avery should take Meatloaf to her
destination, and Felix, I think you’d should take one of the
horses.”

At that, Theo
turned and sprinted back to the stables. Whilst he was gone I tried
to mount Meatloaf. It was no good; I kept sliding off his curved
back.

“Have you still got your lion mane?” Felix
asked, and I nodded, removing my pack and pulling out the mane to
show him.

“It could be a saddle?” He suggested.

I spent a few minutes refashioning the vines
that I had used to make Meatloaf’s reigns, to incorporate the mane
as a saddle. I climbed onto his back again. It wasn’t perfect, but
it would do. Theo returned moments later with a chestnut steed. He
had saddled it up in worn leather and handed the reigns to
Felix.

“
We had
better get going,” s
aid Ellina. She gave
me a quick hug and shot Felix a little smile, “Good
luck.”

We all echoed her, wishing each other luck in
unconfident whispers, and I mounted Meatloaf. Theo and Ellina shot
off in opposite directions. Felix settled himself in the saddle and
reached for my hand, squeezing it tight.

“
You be
bloody careful, Avery Rose,” he said, and I nodded.

“
You too,
Fe.” I blinked back tears, and kicked Meatloaf’s sides. The animal
sprung into action, running in my assigned direction at an
impressive gallop. It didn’t take long before my GPS signaled that
it was time to turn. I leaned to the right, causing Meatloaf to
alter his course, swerving right until the GPS showed that I was
heading in the right direction. A minute later I spied a bundle on
the ground and the device on my wrist started beeping. I slowed
Meatloaf, and we came to a stop. I dismounted and ran to the bundle
which lay quivering on the grass. I gasped as I reached the
destination. It was a human. A tiny body curled up in a fetal
position and shaking with fear. The light blonder hair that covered
the child’s face looked familiar. I gasped as the kid sat up,
noticing my presence. Eva.

I crouched
down and wrapped her in my arms. “Eva,” I said softly, “Don’t worry
honey, I am here, it is all going to be okay.”

She burst into tears, sobbing and gasping for
breath.