Kristen Day - Chosen

I watched with surprise, as she was able to summon the dagger to her somehow. It slid across the sand and into her outstretched hand. A putrid mixture of hatred and rage hardened her golden eyes as she climbed to her feet and ran towards me. Gray fingers of evil smoke flew out from her outstretched hands, but I dispelled them with a puff of energy and they faded into thin air before reaching me. I watched as a slow fear crept into those calculating evil eyes.

“What do you think you’re going to do?” she fumed at me. The unsteadiness in her voice gave her away, as did the quick worrisome glimpses directed at the dagger I now held in my hand.

The only thing that could kill her. “You’re just the bastard child of Thetis. You’re nothing!”

I smiled casually when she stopped within inches of me, and inspected her with obvious amusement. My electing not to speak only made her more furious, and her face contorted with indignation.

“When I speak to you, you answer me!” she growled at me. She lunged at me with the dagger, but I was easily able to pick her up and throw her onto the sand beneath me; locking the hand that held her dagger on the sand with my knee. Dark smoke blasted out of her body and wrapped around us, but I swiftly forced it back with my own energy.

Somehow she was able to get a leg free, and she gave me a nasty kick in the side. I cringed just enough so that her arms loosened beneath me. She swung the dagger towards my stomach, but I held fast to both of her arms with an iron grip and shoved them down; practically sitting on top of her and staring her in the face.

“You’ve ruined everything!” she screeched at me. “I’ll be Queen of the Underworld soon and I can promise you I will come after you! I will make sure you rot in Tartarus for all of eternity!”

“No, Nadia.” A velvety, familiar voice answered for me; the excited anticipation swirling in the air around her. Mere feet away were three pairs of flashing yellow eyes, all staring at Nadia. “That will be your fate, child.”

I allowed Nadia to incline her head to see our newest visitors. Her eyes narrowed and she yelled at them, “You weren’t summoned here! Leave or I’ll ensure my mother knows of your…”

“Your mother was the one who summoned us,” one of the Erinyes inserted with disdain; breaking one of their own rules by revealing who had commanded them. Nadia was silenced by her words, and another of the Erinyes nodded to me in approval before they promptly disappeared. I shifted my eyes back to Nadia, who spit in my face and began to writhe beneath my ironclad hold.

I was suddenly knocked off of her by a ball of green energy from behind, and I rolled several times before coming to a stop. I jumped to my feet in time to see Finn and Natasha subdue Keto, as the fighting broke out once again within the circle of Sons.

Nadia barreled into me, and we slid up the beach several feet from the force. With my dagger still in my hand, it was difficult to get a hold of her thrashing limbs. My left hand found her wrist, and I squeezed until I heard the breaking of bones. She cried out in pain and dropped the dagger she was holding. I jumped back on top of her and held her down once more; frowning down at her as she yelled at me.

“You will pay for this! I’m the Princess of the Underworld! You can’t do this!” She yelled and spit in my face again for good measure. I glared sternly into her eyes, and something she saw in them silenced her again.

“You have earned your punishment, Nadia.” I spoke loud and clear to make that sure she heard every word I said. “And you were right, Karma is a bitch…and I’m her best friend.” With that, I plunged my dagger into her evil heart and held it there, until the last flicker of light had been drained from her eyes.

I closed her vacant eyes with my hand and pulled the dagger from her body. She slumped back to the sand, and a sadness washed over me. The fact that I had never killed anyone before was overridden by the fact that I couldn’t allow for Nadia to stay in this world. She was too dangerous and destructive to all the Orders, as well as to the Nereids. I remained on my knees with my head bowed over her body. I lifted my head when I sensed a dark presence in the distance. A woman was standing on top of the sand dunes about fifty yards away. Her golden hair blew in the wind, along with the long white dress wrapped around her tall frame. Her golden eyes glistened in the moonlight, as tears ran down her cheek. Persephone. My respect for her tripled at the knowledge that she had summoned the Erinyes to decide her own daughter’s fate; knowing how harsh the punishment would be. I bowed to her slowly, keeping eye contact. She put her hands together and bowed respectfully toward me, and then she disappeared.

“Stasia, turn around!” I heard Zara shout at me, but I had already sensed Keto’s arrival. A cool breeze, smelling of ocean brine and kelp, washed over me as I twisted around and stood with confidence.

“Congratulations, Anastasia,” she hissed with a smirk. “I see that your destiny has come to fruition earlier than expected. Unfortunately for you, the time you will have to enjoy your completed essence is dwindling by the minute.”

“Why do this, Keto? Is the power of greed more potent than your respect for life?” I pressed.

“How many more lives must be taken to satisfy your unattainable need for power?”

“I will require but one more.” Her gaze pierced me, and for the first time I was able to see the woman behind the frigid exterior she had so expertly projected. I could see the pain of rejection in her; the fear of losing control. But most prominently, I could see the hollow grip of loneliness that crushed her soul. I couldn’t help but wonder who Keto used to be, before the pain and betrayal had twisted her heart. She had been a Nereid. She couldn’t be all bad.

“What happened to you, Keto?” I asked her genuinely. “What drives you to these extremes?”

Her defenses slammed shut and a coldness took over her features. She narrowed her eyes at me.

“You’re just like your worthless mother.” She narrowed her eyes at me, “Always trying to pick me apart. As if I were some fractured soul she could piece back together and make whole.”

“She cared about you,” I insisted, remembering the sadness mom had felt in my antiquity experience.

“Don’t patronize me, girl,” she growled at me. “You know nothing of my past. You know nothing of the sisterhood you want so badly to belong to. You are a fool! Only the weak need others to thrive. The strong thrive on their own.”

“Strength founded on vengeance and fear is just an illusion,” I frowned at her.

“An illusion?!” she cackled at me with a shocked expression. “Does this look like an illusion?“ She whirled around and blasted an eight foot hole in the sand with one finger. With a fierce satisfaction she crossed her arms; threatening me to disagree. I shook my head. I pulled energy from the sand and matched her hole with a flick of my own finger.

“Power isn’t strength. True strength is allowing others to see who you really are,” I retorted.

My heart softened as I saw my own fears of abandonment swirling within her.

“You truly are a fool,” she sighed as if highly disappointed in me. “I suppose it doesn’t surprise me, however. With no mother-figure present in your life.” A sly grin appeared on her face, along with a threatening dark eyebrow as she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s such a shame I killed her.”

I knew that she said it simply to get under my skin. Unfortunately it worked like a charm, because I knew it was the truth. She had taken the life of my mother; ripping her from life too early, and sentencing her to an eternity in the Underworld. Rage churned through my veins and I fought to hold back the urge to rip her apart, limb from limb. Her sly grin widened to a full blown smile, and my restraint unraveled; twisting into something ferocious. I stepped closer and narrowed my eyes.