Book 3: Chapter 55: Seth

Book 3: Chapter 55: Seth

Seth

The portal closed leaving me standing with Kris, Matt, Alex and Simon. I looked at everyone in surprise.

"What happened?" I demanded, looking around and panicking because Lexy was on the other side of that portal walking into god knows what.

"We are taking the long route." Alex answered as he looked around nervously. "Lexy was right, all of us travelling together is dangerous. But Annabeth and Matt would have fought me on splitting up. This way they get to safety, and we can make sure no one follows us."

I flinched. Lexy had had reason to worry. I didn't like that she was out of my sight. Not even a little bit. Not after what had happened that afternoon. Not after seeing how shaken and panicked she was. I also knew how good she was at hiding her feelings. I should be with her. She would never let Annabeth see what she considered her weakness. Not after everything that had happened between them.

"Do they have enough guards?" I asked nervously.

"Matt has Lexy, and Jake has Annabeth. Rae is paired with Calynn" Alex responded carefully. "They're all fully capable of protecting themselves. Lexy or Jake will be in contact if something goes wrong."

I didn't like that Matt had Lexy, and I didn't like that Lexy would contact Alex if something went wrong. Both thoughts made me squirm inside.

"I wish you would have let me go with them." Kris whined as she took my hand. "I don't want to be stuck in danger."

It took all I had not to roll my eyes and take my hand back. "Kris, this is what being a part of the council means."

"I'm not in the guard or a soldier for a reason," She mumbled grumpily. "I should have been allowed through."

A ruckus toward the camp entrance caused all of us to freeze for a moment.

"Okay, time to go," Alex commanded and Simon immediately started setting up on next portal.

Alex started giving a few last-minute commands to some officers who happened to be near us, and then we were off to wherever they had deemed safe.

As soon as we hit stable ground, I released Kris' hand. "Kris, I need you to give me space to sort out my feelings." I reminded her. I didn't think she had really got it from our last several conversations.

"If you expect me to sit around while you go after another girl, and not fight for you, you can think again." She hissed at me as the others came through.

I sighed and took a step away from her, not that it made a difference, she just took a step closer.

It wasn't until everyone had made it through the portal did I look around. Everything in the area seemed dead. The ground was black. The trees were dead. There were no birds. No sign of life anywhere.

"What the hell is this place?" I demanded.

"Jake and Matt found it. A while ago. I forgot it existed, honestly." Alex said as he looked around. "I came here once with Matt, so he could show me what they had discovered. You can portal in, but you can't portal out. It's like it stealing our Mydem."

"Are there others like this?" I asked looking at the others.

"Yes. Two spots that I know of. I think it has to do with the Allasigh stone." Alex answered, looking around.

"Why?"

"My guess or facts?"

"Your guess," I responded, realizing that everything that he was about to say was probably theory.

"My guess is that the Allasigh stone has 3 or more pieces that are no longer in the country, and since the stone is connected to the land, it's causing it to die." He paused for a moment. "There is another theory though. It could be that Vivian has a piece and is causing it."

"Let me guess, that's a Lexy theory."

Alex smirked and gave a single nod.

"Why would Vivian do that though?"

"Again, two main theories. It's draining life, maybe taking powers, so it could be going to someone, aka Vivian, making her stronger. Or it could be a powerplay. Draining our resources, forcing our hand in a game we don't want to play."

"That does make sense."

"It could be both." Simon piped up.

"It could be both." Alex agreed. "It's worse than I remember it, and growing, but there's nothing we can do for it."

"I don't want to be here anymore," Kris whined. "Please let's go. Seth, I'm scared."

I rolled my eyes. Of course she would play the 'I'm scared' card. She was the total opposite of Lexy in every way.

"Come on," Alex sighed. "This way."

We portaled three more times before officially landing on the border of Gala and Calina.

"What the hell?" Rae demanded when we finally showed up. "Where the hell have you all been?"

If looks could kill, hers would have murdered us ten times over. Her dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and her usual sweat jacket was hanging loosely off her shoulders.

"Did everything go okay?" Alex asked uncertainly.

"Did everything- Are you kidding me?! You disappeared for hours! We thought you were dead! Or something terrible happened! And you just show up and ask if things went okay here? Yes they fucking did because I know how to handle my shit Alexander."

I felt lowkey bad for Alex. I had seen Rae mad a lot of times, but I had never seen her quite like this.

"You could have told us your plan!"

"I needed Calynn and Lexy and Annabeth here." Alex retorted with no anger in his voice. No fight. He was such an odd prince. He should have cared that one of his subjects was talking to him so viciously, especially one with her ranking, but he wasn't even phased. "Where are they?"

"Jake is with Annabeth on the Calina side. Calynn and Lexy are in their tent on the Gala side. I'm not sure why, but Lexy insisted on being across the border."

"Calina makes her sick." Alex waved off any further questions that could be brought by saying such a statement. "Anything else I need to know? Did you warn King Glorian that I would be coming to talk to him when I arrived?"

Rae rolled her eyes. "Of course we did. That was the first thing Lexy made us do.” She sneered before adding, “And Seth, your mom is here. She is on the Galian side. She wanted to see you when you arrived."

And she said it like it didn't mean anything at all...