The Masked Stranger

Chapter 5

Jade's P.O.V

After driving for what felt like forever James and I finally stopped at a gas station. He got out and pumped gas and I got out and stretched my legs. He had a hat in the glove box which I put on in order to hide my face. There were so many thoughts racing through my head that it felt so overwhelming. Why should I only trust this Apollo person, why should I trust anyone? Why were people trying to kill me? Other than the fact that I secretly fight thugs and stuff I was a normal seventeen year old girl. I shouldn't have to think about why someone's trying to kill me. I should think about what I'm going to wear to senior prom or who I’d be going to go to prom with or something like that honestly I don't get life sometimes you think you're one thing and the next thing you know you're not. Twenty-four hours ago I had Parents now I don't, I wonder what else will happen.

“Jade, are you hungry?” James asked me and I hadn’t even realized because my mind kept racing.

“Actually now that you mention it I am.” I said as my stomach growled.

“Come on, let's go in and get some stuff to eat and drink.” James offered me his hand and for some reason I took it. We walked inside the gas station while holding hands and I picked out a burrito and some chips and realized I had absolutely zero money on me. Almost as if he knew what I was thinking James spoke up. “Is that all you're getting, it's a long drive, get some more and don’t worry about how much it all is I got it covered.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” I told him then I grabbed a drink and a package of cookies for the trip. “Hey James, how long will it take us to get to where we are going?”

“Um about thirty hours, probably more. So we’ll need to stop at a hotel so I don’t, you know, crash. We've only been driving for an hour so it will likely take us a long time especially with traffic.”

“Thirty hours, what, are we going to the otherside of the country?” My jaw dropped as I questioned the driving time.

“That’s exactly what we are doing. We are going from New York to Montana so yeah that’s exactly what we are doing.” He said. I grabbed some more food and drinks and then we headed to the checkout counter and James paid. We both grabbed the bags our stuff was in. Then I intertwined my right hand with his left and we walked back out to the SUV and got in.

***

After two hours of driving I had started to feel my eyes get heavy. I tried to keep them open but eventually my exhaustion caught up with me and I couldn’t resist sleep anymore.

***

“Violet, Violet, Violet you need to hurry they’re coming.” A feminine voice called out in hushed tones.

“Huh what was that? Who are you? I think you have the wrong person. My name is Jade.” I replied to the woman’s voice.

“Hurry before it’s too late. You are our only chance.” The voice went silent then I heard screaming in the distance. I ran towards it but I couldn’t find anything. I kept running. My body came to a halt when I heard the sound of thunder clapping. There was an abrupt flash of lighting not even twenty feet in front of me. When the lightning dissipated standing in its place was a brown dog, no it was a wolf. It ran towards me at full speed. I ducked, the wolf jumped over the top of me and started attacking something behind me. I looked up to see the brown wolf attacking a man holding a weapon of some kind. It had a blade sharp enough to easily slice the wolf in half if it weren’t for how quickly it moved. It had a long wooden handle and the blade was at the end, it was similar to that of an ancient battle axe except bigger and it looked to be lighter judging from the way the man was swinging it around so effortlessly. He lifted the weapon ubove his head and made an attempt to slamm the blade down onto me. Then the wolf attacked him from the side and I stood up and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. It began pouring rain and I kept running. I ran until I tripped over a rock. I rolled down a hill covering my face to minimize the damage to it. When I reached the bottom of the hillI was covered in leaves and mud I sat up and tried to get up and run only to immediately fall back down then I saw green eyes glowing in the distance and heard something glide through the air and before I knew what it was there was and arrow stuck in the tree mere inches from my face. Right as the glowing green eyes grew closer I felt a jolt.

“Ah” I woke up still in the car and James looked at me concerned.

“Hey you okay.”

“Yeah um jus..just a bad dream.”I rubbed my eyes and stared out the window for a bit.