Nearly Witches

Chapter Twelve

Running through rows of wheat, fingers going through the plants as she looked at the sun, Helios pulling his chariot through the sky and she could tell that it was almost time for lunch and that soon her game would be put to an end.

“Arty, Arty,” Persephone screamed as she ran after her, making Alysanne drop her hands before bolting out of the wheat field with Persephone hot on her heels. The older girl was looking after her, since Apollon had sulked off to do something a few days ago.

“Kore,” Alysanne screamed back as she continued to be chased around the yard, nymphs looking at them with smiles on their face. “No fair.”

“I win.”

Alysanne only looked at her, before looking at the grass that had wrapped themselves around her ankles, small white flowers dotting near her skin. Giggling as she feel backwards and landed on her bottom.

“General down,” Persephone told her, before putting her hands on the grass and freeing her ankles before she could break anything. “Little sister, anything broken?”

“Don’t think so,” Alysanne told her.

“Artemis, Kore,” a woman yelled from the direction of a stone white temple, both looking in that direction with wide eyes. “Time for lunch and a bath, wash up and get something to eat.”

“Yes, Aunt Demeter,” Alysanne called back.

“Yes, Mum,” Persephone called, before looping Alysanne’s arm around her neck and picking her up without a word.

“Is something wrong Little Kore?” a water nymph asked, her hair was a dark brown and her eyes a dark blue.

“Arty’s ankle might be hurt,” she told her.

“I can look.”

Alysanne just looked at her, before nodding her head. A gently hand on her ankle, giggling as something cold went over her skin and removed the dirt. “Thank you Evadne,” Alysanne told her as she looked at her clean legs.

“Is she okay?” Persephone asked.  

“Lady Artemis’ ankle is just fine,” Evadne told her, before putting her finger on Persephone’s forehead and she was soon just as clean as Alysanne was. “But I’d carry her back just in case.”

“Thank you.”

Evadne smiled at them before she went back to her sister’s, while Persephone carried her to the temple as she leaned her head against her shoulder.

“Mum, I’ll set the table,” Persephone called out as she walked into the dinning room, letting Alysanne sit down.

“What’s wrong?” Demeter asked as she poked her head out from the kitchen.

“I tripped,” Alysanne told her.

“Evadne said her ankle is fine,” Persephone told her.

“But it’s better safe than sorry,” Demeter remarked. “Even Huntresses have bad days, Artemis dear, you’re Mum still hasn’t found your brother.”

Alysanne nodded her head, she knew where he was going, and she didn’t tell anyone since she also wanted that snake dead. He had tried to kill her mum before she had been born, and it wasn’t like either of them could do anything to Hera herself.  

“You don’t know anything, do you?” Demeter asked her.

“No, Aunt Demeter,” Alysanne told her.

“After lunch, we’ll continue our lessons.”

“Yes Mum,” Persephone told her.

“Yes, Aunt Demeter,” Alysanne echoed.

Demeter just looked at her, before going back into the kitchen with Persephone on her heel to get the plates. Alysanne sighed, she hadn’t been caught and soon, they would revenge on the thing that kept their Mum from her home, along with killed her brother.

--

“You look happier,” Tribe told Alysanne as she looked at the man who had tried to break into a child’s bedroom, his hands were tied behind his back and Captain Justice was standing next to him as they waited for the police to arrive.

Alysanne kept her bow in her just in case, since she had a feeling that if he had gotten into the little girl’s bedroom, it would have ended in her death. She and Tribe would leave once the police arrived, he had told her that his partner was the one who dealt with the public and the police.

Tribe was the one who dealt with technology and money, they weren’t her team and thus, she wouldn’t say anything about a system that works for them and they don’t find a issue with, it wasn’t her place.

“My aunt came to visit,” Alysanne told him. “Along with her husband.”

“And they don’t know about this?” Tribe asked her.

“They don’t.”

“Did something happen?”

“My father passed away last night.”

“I’m sorry.” Tribe his hand on her shoulder, before looking at the man in front of them as Alysanne picked up an arrow and fired it passed his head as he tried to attack Captain Justice as she looked down the street.

Captain Justice looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but she just gave her a flat look in return as Tribe glared at the criminal in Captain Justice’s hand as if he was planning the drown the man himself. Alysanne raised an eyebrow when Captain Justice did, almost daring her to deal them off for their actions.

“What’s wrong Tribe?” Captain Justice asked him.

“Would be child-killing d**k tried headbutting you in the side,” Alysanne told her.

“And Artemis shoot at him,” Tribe added.

“Police should be arriving soon,” Captain Justice told them.

‘And that’s our que to leave,’ Nymeria said as she stretched, wondering off with Ghost not far behind her.

Tribe nodded her head, while Alysanne made sure her hood was on her head before following her own partners away from the scene of the crime. They would leave her to deal with, while Alysanne kept an eye out for anything other crimes that might be committed in the meantime.

“What happened to him?” Tribe asked as they walked towards the park, Alysanne’s had a small headache and she knew it was in the direction of the park.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Alysanne told him.

“He wasn’t on the plane that went missing?”

“No, they don’t know if the plane is intact or if it did crash.”

“And if it did crash?”

“The odds aren’t in their favour, surviving would be slim depending on where they crashed.”

“Depending on if they crashed into the water or on land.”

“Or how high they were when it happened and the reason they crashed in the first place.”

‘It’s going to be hard for them to figure out who are,’ Nymeria told her.

‘That’s the point,’ Alysanne told her as she looked around. ‘Sephie might be my sister, but it’ll be hard to explain why she’s married to our uncle.’  

‘Lying isn’t nice,’ Ghost pointed out.

‘Neither is getting kidnapped, but that hasn’t stopped anyone.’

‘They might not be happy if they find out,’ Nymeria told her.

‘That’s a future me problem,’ Alysanne joked.

“No danger?” Tribe asked her.

“Other than the small problem at the park?” Alysanne asked him. “Nothing that I can sense at the moment.”

“That the reason the bakery is your go to stop?”

Alysanne grinned at him, there was a reason she picked that spot to begin her own routes and a reason she continued to use it. It wasn’t just a good hiding spot but allowed to keep the places she knew to be problems to be in her range. The park and nearby ally ways were usually used by those selling or buying drugs, along with those using drugs or drinking themselves into an early grave.

“Smart,” Tribe told her.

“I’ve been in this game as long as you have,” Alysanne told him. “Let’s go see our drug user, might want to 911 on dial.”

--

It turned out it was a drug addict, one that Alysanne knew well since she ran into him at least once a month. Thomas Johnson; he was on the drugs since his wife left him for his best friend and he hadn’t seen his twin daughters since they were two years old. After the third time she had called the ambulance for him, he had started talking to her while they waited, and she stopped him from injecting anything else into his blood stream.

Captain Justice hadn’t caught up with them, but she a feeling that she had ran into something and went to stop it before it could get worse. That would be the only reason she wouldn’t return to her partners said as soon as she could.

More than once, Alysanne had to send Nymeria and Ghost to stop something because she was in the middle of stopping something that was worse. They always returned to her as soon as they were done, just as she did.

“Mors is here,” Alysanne told Tribe as her headache got worse and her vision almost gave out on her, she could feel her heart speeding up in her chest. “And he’s bringing an army with him, a big one.”

“s**t,” Tribe said as water went around them and Alysanne shoot the first hellhound that jumped out of the woods at them. Nymeria and Ghost standing in front of his barrier, Alysanne shooting anything that shoot out of the woods, while Tribe prepared a water wall behind them as a safeguard.

‘We’ll help,’ Nymeria and Ghost told her.

‘I love you two, please be careful,’ Alysanne begged them.

“Cap should be here soon, the wall’s big enough that she’ll see it,” Tribe told her.

“And she’ll know something’s wrong,” Alysanne finished, she didn’t have a good feeling about this, and it showed as her fight or flight kicked in, something that rarely happened with her danger sense and it made her worry. Mors’ expression of rage clued her in on how right she was, and it looked like he wasn’t leaving until someone was dead.

Alysanne had to make sure it wasn’t him and not them.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she told him.

“And I hate it when you say that,” Tribe informed her, even as the hellhounds stared at them with crimson eyes.

“This is the first time.”

“One time too many.”

“Could be lying.”

“Doubt it.”

“Artemis, Artemis,” Mors told her as he placed his hands behind his back, scrawling at her like she was misbehaving child. “You did the wrong thing.”

Alysanne just looked at him, before shooting the nearest hellhound as they jumped at them before she could say anything. This was going to be a hard fight, but if she was going to die tonight, then she was taking Mors with her and he could talk to Hades about his behaviour and pretending to be someone he wasn’t.

She did notice that arrows were returning to her quiver on their own, without her needing to risk a bird’s life to collected them for her. With Mors in the area, she didn’t want to watch him snap another bird’s neck.

Now, all she could do was hope that Tribe didn’t notice that as well among the chaos. Not that she allowed her attention away from her targets, along with Mors narrowing eyes and she shoot one arrow at him and like before, it missed but this time, he couldn’t go behind her because Tribe had raised his barrier and slammed the water into his chin.

‘Be careful,” Alysanne told Ghost and Nymeria, but blinked when they didn’t reply to her and this was the first time she had a gap to talk to them and make sure they were okay, but they weren’t answering her and she could feel panic clawing at her throat.

“Artemis, she who runs with the wild,” Mors said as his hellhounds slowly backed away from and Alysanne tightened her grip on her bow. She didn’t know how long she and Tribe had been destroying shadow hellhound after shadow hellhound. “My debt has been paid, but I warn you, you won’t try me again.”

Persephone and Hades, Alysanne thought to herself. He was keeping an eye on her house and knew that she had two members of her old life’s family over and was making her pay, Cronus was behind this, if she doubted their words before, she knew they were true now.

‘Nymeria? Ghost?’ Alysanne asked as she looked for them, Mors laughing as he left and soon afterwards, his army was gone as well. There on the ground, was Nymeria and Ghost, lying on their sides.

A large pool of blood underneath their bodies.

“Oh, please Hades no,” Alysanne begged as she ran towards them the moment that Tribe dropped his shield, putting her hand on each of their throats, she didn’t care that her clothing was being covered in blood or that her hood had fallen off her head. “Please, please. Nymeria, Ghost? You can’t be dead, please. Please, come back, don’t leave me alone -”

“Artemis, they paid for your mistakes. You never should have spoken to them,” Mors yelled at her as he returned, standing away from her with a dead squirrel in his hands. Katniss, he had killed Katniss and was blaming her for it. “Remember this, you’re the reason they’re dead and if they never meet you, they would have lived.”

“You killed them, you’re the one who ended their lives,” Tribe hissed at him.

“She killed them, like she had killed her father and everyone that was him,” Mors screamed at him, a giant grin on his face. “Death will follow her, if she continues standing in the way for the true ruler of the universe.”

“You’re insane!”

“Nymeria? Ghost?” Alysanne asked as tears went down her face, they were dead. Dead, dead, dead and it was all her fault. “Please, no, I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming, this isn’t real, this isn’t happening, please, gods no.”

“Artemis?” Tribe asked before pulling her away from their bodies, not worrying about the blood on her hands staining his clothes, she pushed on his arms, trying to get to her partners, they couldn’t be dead.

Why did he have to kill them? Why couldn’t he had killed her instead? Alysanne was the one he had a problem with, not Ghost or Nymeria. Not Katniss, they were innocents that had been killed into the crossfire.

By her, she had killed them. She was the reason they were dead and all she could do was cry and scream. Alysanne hadn’t taken Hades and Persephone’s warnings seriously, they had warned they would be another Titan War and while they were preparing they would mortals out of it.

But once it got started, all bets were off.

“Please, no, no, this can’t be real,” Alysanne whispered digging her nails into Tribe’s skin as she looked at their bodies. This felt different to her father, it felt more real and it was right in front of her and she couldn’t deny they were dead.

She couldn’t hope that Hades was wrong, while waiting for a text about the location he was in and a good morning or good night text, at a random part of the day. She could have stopped this, could have been strong, faster.

She should have been better, and they paid the price. They could have been alive, she didn’t have to involve them, she didn’t have to adopt them and now, they were dead because of her. It was her fault; all her fault and it felt the world was gone beneath her feet. Like someone had tore her heart out of her chest, while tearing her world apart.

Now she was left to glue together the broken pieces, trying to make them fit in a way that they used to once upon a time. Her partners, her previous children were dead, and it was all her fault, she could of, should have done something.

Alysanne should have trained, should have done something to prevent this from happening.

“Artemis?” Trine asked her, putting her feet onto the ground before turning her around and pulling her into a tight hug. “It’s not your fault, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay, we’ll work it, but it’s going to be okay.”

“Tribe? Artemis?” Captain Justice asked.

“Down here,” Tribe answered.

“Tribe I saw the water wall, but shadow hounds attacked me on my way.”

“That explains why you weren’t here.”

“What happened?”

“Dead, dead, they’re dead,” Alysanne told her. “And it’s all my fault.”

“Oh sweetie, it’s not,” Tribe told her, putting his hand on her neck and pulling her into his neck and allowing her to cry. “It’s not your fault, Mors did it. It’s not your fault, I promise.”

“Alysanne?” Captain Justice asked her.

“You know her?”

“She’s in my English class, we’re doing a project, studying different myths.”

“That explains why Mors was in her yard.”

“You guessed it was her.”

“Ghost and Nymeria looked like Andromeda and Perseus.”

“They can’t be dead, they can’t be,” Alysanne whispered, putting her arms around Tribe and hugging him as he picked her up, her feet off the ground. “Dear gods, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.”

“I think she’s going into shock,” Tribe told Captain Justice, before loosening her arms and handing her over, putting his fingers on the plus of her neck. “It’s okay, it’s okay, we need to calm you down and put you to sleep before you give yourself a heart attack.”

“What are you going to do?” Captain Justice asked.

“Mors blamed her for their deaths, I’ve got an injection that’ll put her to sleep,” Tribe answered before Alysanne could say anything, something went into her arm and her eyes were closing on her, her thoughts were slowing down. “We need to keep her with one of us.”

“She can stay at mine, but I’ll need to grab things from her place,” Captain Justice said, before Alysanne closed her eyes and she went to sleep in Captain Justice’s arms.