Nearly Witches

Chapter Seventeen

“I hate sport,” Alysanne whispered to herself as she made her way to the nurse’s office, Dylan had managed to have a basketball hit her in the back of the head. She only knew it was coming at the last second, it wasn’t like he had planned on hitting her and her senses didn’t pick up on accidents until after they happened. “Don’t hate sport, I hate P.E.”

Alysanne blinked as she paused in the hallway, turning around her pulled on a door and groaned when it was locked. There was something that sounded like someone was hitting a textbook on a locker and she bolted to the nearest bathroom as her headache started.

Shooter, there was an active shooter in the school, and she was in the hallway. Teachers wouldn’t see her, they had covered up the glass on the door and she wouldn’t put twenty other lives in danger by banging on the door, they wouldn’t open it anyway.

No one would be that stupid.

She didn’t care if she had ducked into the male’s or female’s, she quickly locked herself into a stall and prayed to Hades that they didn’t enter the bathroom.

‘Dear God,’ she thought to herself.

‘Dear rat,’ a voice said back, Alysanne looking down at the small creature and glaring at it as she listened for any doors opening. ‘Lady there’s a man with a gun.’

‘Which is why I’m making sure I can’t be seen,’ Alysanne told it. ‘I don’t want to die and why are you in the bathroom.’

‘I don’t want to be shoot either.’

‘Then hit in a hole, the nutjob isn’t going to be looking for rats to kill.’

‘What a day not to be human.’

‘Laugh all you want, but I’m not going to cry if you chew through a live wire and die.’

Taking the phone that Dominic had given her, she pressed down on the distress button and she was thankful that she had habit of keeping her normal phone on silent. Something her father had told her to do after learning about Sandy Hook and the other school shootings that had happened during her childhood.

Putting the phone into a secret pocket sown into the inside of her skirt, she made sure her head or feet were showing as she did so. All she could do was hope that Rosalie had done the same, it would show Dominic that the problem was serious and that they hadn’t accidentally pressed it.

“Artemis, dear great-niece,” a voice said and Alysanne felt the blood in her veins freeze at his voice and her eyes widening as she looked at her bracelet. Iapetus, it was Iapetus and she could hear him opening the door. “The male’s bathroom? Now what kind of virgin hides in the male bathroom.”

One that doesn’t want to get shoot, Alysanne thought to herself.

She could still hear the gun shooting in the distance, maybe he’ll shoot Iapetus and he’ll end up in Hades lap. One less person to worry about, in the end, and one less person for Kronos army, one less general.

“Come on Artemis, you don’t any to be shoot, now do you?” Iapetus asked her, he sounded smug and she wanted to kick in his teeth.

‘Damn him,’ Alysanne thought to herself.

‘Damn him indeed,’ the rat told her as it hide behind the toilet.

‘What, you going to stay?’

‘I’ll tell the others; one might not want to live enough to tell the birds.’

‘Charming.’

“Come out, Artemis, and now will get shoot,” Iapetus told her.

‘I hate him,’ Alysanne hissed, slowly she made her off the toilet and unlocked the door stepping into the room and glaring at Iapetus as she did so. Iapetus was grinning at her like she was a puppy that had sat when told to and stopped peeing on the carpet.

“We meet again Artemis, Moon Goddess,” Iapetus told her, Alysanne flinched as she heard another bullet go off. “Protector of Innocents.”

“Iapetus, the Titan of assholes and of some direction that I don’t care to remember,” Alysanne mocked as she kept an eye on the door. Her hand was tightening on her skirt, just under where she kept her camera-less phone.

“You think you’re so smart -”

“That would be Athena.”

“That must have hurt your pride.”

“Still smarter than you.”

Iapetus just looked at her, Alysanne quickly catching his fist before dodging his high kick and she quickly went backwards as he glared at her.

“Iapetus, if you needed a hand you could have just said,” a voice said behind her as a hand went over her mouth, Alysanne quickly bit the hand but she couldn’t stop Iapetus’ fist from connecting to her stomach nor could she stop the hit to her head that came a second later.

“The shooter will kill themselves once we leave,” Iapetus told her as he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her onto her knees, a dagger was being held to her throat. Air felt like it was trapped in her lungs and tears went down her cheeks. “You wouldn’t be here if Hades wasn’t such a pain, but our dear nephew never learns.”

“Lies,” Alysanne told him, she didn’t need to be Apollo to know that he was lying to her, the only difference was that she knew the reason this was happening. “I’m not an idiot.”

“You’ll still pay for their mistakes,” Iapetus told her. “But your friends will live, and we won’t touch them.”

“Yet,” the other male told her.

‘I chew their toes,’ the rat told her.

‘Stay, you’re the only one who knows what happened,’ Alysanne told it. ‘Someone has to tell Hades.’

‘Brave words.’

“Come on Coeus, let’s go,” Iapetus told him. “Brother will want to see her.”  

Alysanne almost felt like vomiting when she felt her body fade on her, like she wasn’t solid anymore and then she was. Coeus and Iapetus let her go, allowing her to land on her hands as she looked at the ground and then through her hair at a man sitting on a throne.

She could see giants walking through holes in the ground and then she spotted a scythe leaning against the wall behind said throne. Kronos, she thought to herself as she looked around for any animals she could talk to.

“Brothers, you’ve found Artemis, my dearest granddaughter,” Kronos said as her eyes looked at dark blue iris, the same colour as Zeus’ eyes and they were just as cruel and paranoid as he was. A hand shoved her head down onto the ground and a foot stood on the back of her right knee.

Was she going to die here? Was her body to be left in the forest for some poor soul to find? Would Dominic and Rosalie find her dead? Or would her body forever remain in Kronos care as some sick trophy.

“We’re still looking for the others,” Iapetus told him. “We barely found this one.”

“We grew wary of waiting for her to drop her guard,” Coeus added.

“The rest most likely haven’t been born yet,” Kronos told them.

“Yes, Lord Kronos,” Coeus and Iapetus told him.

Bastard, Alysanne thought to herself, before the foot and hand was removed, two hands yanking her up and a hand going under her chin, so she was forced to look into dark blue eyes, raven black hair barely covering one of them.

“We’ll put this one in a bronze jar,” Kronos told them as he removed his hand, Alysanne clenched her teeth together. “This one might be stubborn enough to live.”

Alysanne couldn’t say anything as Kronos returned with a small golden ball of light in his hands, one that he shoved just under the middle of her collarbone, Alysanne couched blood as it reached her lungs. Now she could understand the fear those had when they were dying of TB, coughing up blood wasn’t a pleasant feeling nor was the feeling of blood going into her lungs.

She wasn’t crying, but something was coming her eyes none-the-less. It didn’t feel like tears and she didn’t know what was happening to her. All she knew that she didn’t like it and she wanted it to stop and she wanted to put an arrow through Kronos smirking face.

“To cry a river of blood, red will be replaced with amber,” Kronos said as she was pulled onto her feet, glaring at Kronos as he wiped her cheek with his thumb, showing her blood on it as soon as it left her skin. “We’ll copy mother dearest; she could never make up her mind. Not even in the end of her life.”

“At least this one didn’t die,” Iapetus muttered.

“Artemis has always been a stubborn one, her and her brother,” Coeus told him. “This one’s stubborn enough to live. The other two didn’t have anyone to live for and thus chose to die instead of help.”

“Or we were obviously pushing their bodies to hard,” another voice muttered and Alysanne turned her head towards the voice. “We might have had Ares and Hermes on our side, if we didn’t push their bodies too fast.”

Fat chance, Alysanne thought to herself. Ares would never have helped you, if you put him into a bronze jar like the giants had done.

“Any last words niece?” Kronos asked her.

“Screw… you…” Alysanne hissed at her, coughing up blood as she had done so. “Bunny… you’ll… be.. a.. bunny.”

“Put her in the jar and slowly feel it up with liquid. She’ll live or she’ll die in it.”

--

“Alysanne,” Hecate greeted Hypnos behind her as Alysanne laid on the ground, she didn’t feel like moving but she pushed herself into a sitting position and look at them. “You’re strong, I know you are.”

“They tried killing students,” Alysanne told them. She could still taste iron and salt in her mouth and her lungs still made her feel like she was drowning in thick liquid. “They brought a mass shooter into my school, he killed himself and innocents.”

“I know sweetie.”

“Couldn’t sense it, he found a way around my abilities.”

“Once, he did it once.”

“Rosalie? Dominic?”

“They have you,” Hecate told her, Alysanne looking at her as she wondered if they were dead and if it was her fault a family lost their child. A pain that she didn’t wish on anyone, she was an orphan and thus didn’t have parents to go through that pain. “This part is never pleasant, but the rest of us were older when it happened. We got to live among mortals and understand them.”

“Rosalie? Dominic? Ares? Hermes?” Alysanne asked them.

“We didn’t find them in time,” Hecate told her. “And we regret it, but we’ll find them next time and they won’t touch them.”

“They were killed, too much stress.”

“Rosalie and Dominic are fine,” Hypnos told her. “They’re looking for you and you’ve been reported missing by her parents.”

“Don’t worry Alysanne, we’ll find you and we’ll find them,” Hecate promised as she put her hand over hers. “I can’t say they won’t touch you again, but you’ll be able to get your revenge and make them pay.”

“Turn them into bunnies,” Alysanne said, before she looked Hecate in the eye. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and you can’t keep this one.”

“Thanatos is looking for you,” Hypnos told her.

“We got Ares from Gaia and the giants. We can get you from Kronos,” Hecate informed her. “You still have your bracelet and that phone your friend gave you. Kronos never understood magic, never cared to try. Even if he did, Circe and I would have stopped him.”

Alysanne looked at her, but it felt like her ribs were pressing on her lungs and she wasn’t getting enough air into her body. Her skin was paling at an alarming rate, one that would make Sakura put her on bed rest before calling an ambulance.

It just made the golden light that were following her veins stand out more, she just looked at Hecate before looking back at her arm. It felt like someone was pouring something hot into her veins, like someone was taking out her blood and replacing it with someone foreign. She wanted it out of her body and would have removed it herself if she could feel her arms.

She couldn’t lift them anymore.

“The next few days will be painful, I won’t lie,” Hecate told her putting her hand on her shoulder before pinching her, the slight pain bringing her back to the moment. “It’s going to feel like hell on earth, but it’ll stop, and I don’t know what they’ll do to you afterwards.”

“Goldfish, I’ll turn them into goldfish,” Alysanne told them. “And put them into the River Lethe, make them forget who they are.”

“I find it’s better when they can remember,” Hecate admitted. “The Rivers Archeron, Phlegethon or Cocytus would have been better.”

“Payback, this is payback,” Alysanne coughed.

“I’ll you in here as often as it is safe to so,” Hypnos told her. “It’ll give you and your body some break from the pain.”

“Thank you.” Alysanne looked at them, but soon enough, they started to fade from her sight, and she knew she would have to deal with being trapped in a bronze jar of all things, but at least they could give her a break. That was more than she could have hoped for.

--

When Alysanne opened her eyes, she noticed that her legs were crossed and there was a thick clear liquid up to her hips. She was also made into a glowing nightlight and her pale skin made the golden lights show up more.

“Gods f**k it,” Alysanne swore as she put her hand on the bronze behind her, she couldn’t see out of it but looking up, she could see that there was no lid, yet. She knew one would be added as soon as the jar was full. She couldn’t lose consciousness again, even if it felt like there wasn’t enough air going to her brain and black spots danced in her vision as she looked at the gab.

“It’s up,” a voice hissed and Alysanne pushed herself up against the wall of the jar she was in, before looking up and spotting a creature with snake’s for hair. “The Huntress is up and has become to the sitting duck.”

“Quack,” Alysanne muttered under her breath.

Medusa’s sisters, they were Medusa’s sisters. But neither Alysanne nor Artemis had anything to do with her death nor did she have anything with her condition. Nor did she kill Medusa’s sisters, if she could even remember their names.

Thankfully, she knew better than to say that out loud or else they might try for her head and become trapped with her. And Alysanne already knew that, her misery didn’t like company and was happy to be by itself.

It didn’t help that they weren’t nice to look at, they had grey snake-like skin and giant bruises and bags under their eyes. It was like they didn’t get any sleep and forgot that being too long out in the sun damaged the skin.

“She can’t do anything down there,” the other hissed at her sister. “She doesn’t even have her bow and arrows, moron.”

She did have those, but she wasn’t going to shoot at them while they were looking. It would be a surprise once someone broke her out of this damn jar. And she wasn’t going to stay there long, she hoped.

Her skin was becoming whiter, she was almost the same shade as Hades. Bleached bones, and she knew it didn’t look nice on her with her dark eye and dark hair colour. It didn’t help that her arm was also glowing a golden colour and she would glare at anyone who’d look at her.

Or rather stare at her for her nightlight qualities.

“For a moon goddess, you’re quite bright,” a man said to her, when she looked up he had golden hair and blue eyes. “Selene would be disappointed in her replacement; Helios might prefer you over Apollon.”

She just looked at him without saying a word. But she was pissed that he was trying about her twin brother like he was a piece of dirt and she wished she could sock him in the nose and break it, before twisting his spine until it broke.

“Quiet? I’m sure I can make you talk,” he told her. “Set was a tricky creature to handle, slimy bastard got away in the end, even that sun, bird, thing got away from me.”

Horus, Alysanne thought.

“Horrid things Egyptian Gods are, the Celtic Gods are just as bad, they’re always fighting amongst themselves and if they’re not fighting each other, their fighting giants,” he continued as he glared at her, looking more and more annoyed as Alysanne kept her mouth shut. “Kronos is the best leader this world has known, and nothing will stop us from reaching our end goal.”

Alysanne just looked at him, she knew that would never happen. The Celtic Gods would be used to warfare, more so than they were and she didn’t see them breaking under their entitled rule or their entitled words.

That was what the Titans before her were, entitled and it would bite them in the ass.

“Hyperion,” Iapetus said as she spotted him leaning over the edge of the jar, before thick liquid being added, stopping at the middle of her torso and all she could do was lean against the edge or the jar as she continued to feel like a flower being prepared for display. “Keeping an eye on the prisoner.”

“You said she was chatty,” Hyperion told him.

“Blood filling your lungs will shut anyone up.”

“Not Hermes.”

“Hermes coughed himself to death and Ares drowned himself in the liquid,” Iapetus informed him as he looked at her, Alysanne glaring at him before she closed her eyes and huffed. “This one will be different, and she won’t get away as easily as they did.”

Hecate, Alysanne thought to herself as she felt herself drift off. Please hurry.