Chapter 6: I get thrown into prison

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Oh my gods, is Rose dead?" or "Is she alive?" Well I can assure you that I am still in one piece, but as for the alive part...Well, I came pretty close to dying, not gonna lie. (Sounds like a doozy, I know.)

Thanks to my instincts, I didn't get eaten, though I almost did. I was able to pull out my knives just in time and stabbed the front hound in the snout. In front of me, there were about three empousa and four hellhounds. Lovely.

I conjured up a couple of clouds of mist on the hellhounds, which blinded them and caused them to run into each other, but the empousa had one thought in mind: kill.

Yeah, I could see why they might want to do that considering I killed their friend, but honestly, that dude was a stalker. He kind of deserved it.

The trio of empousa flew at me, thrashing their weird donkey legs at me. I stabbed my two knives outward, killing two of the empousa before stabbing them forward to slay the third.

I sighed a gasp of relief. All I needed to do now was kill the hellhounds and I was home free. (Not really home free, but you get the gist.)

The hounds seemed to have gotten past their clumsy phase and were now baring their teeth at me. Meanwhile, my knife trick had drained me a little bit and I think I had just pulled my gut.

Not wanting to die of my own powers, I decided I would have to kill them with Merlin and Marianne. The first one dashed at me, a foolish miscalculation. I stabbed my two knives up its stomach, turning it to dust.

The other two were more passive, not making a move and seemingly waiting for mine. I threw my two knives at each of them, Merlin plunging into the head of Doggo #1. However, Doggo #2 easily dodged Marianne, which instead plunged into the bark of a nearby tree.

I tried pulling my knives back with my magic, but I only succeeded in damaging my gut more. Great, now I was unarmed and magic-less against a hellhound capable of biting my face off.

I couldn't run and retrieve my knives, since the hound was definitely faster and would eat my face off (again, I cannot emphasize how many times it would eat my face). Around me, the scene reverted back to the original forest I was in before. It was still beautiful, sure, but not an illusion thankfully.

As the hellhound approached me, baring its teeth at me, I began scrambling for ideas in my head. Maybe I could throw something at it but my gut felt so bad that I was afraid that I might pull it even harder trying to do anything physical. I could've used a shower of rocks, but once again, my gut denied me and anyways, throwing rocks wouldn't do me any good.

This was bad. The hellhound was getting closer and closer and I had no ideas left. I looked around me, desperate for something. There was the waterfall and the river but...bingo! I could use the water to my advantage. I didn't know how to swim but at the same time, there was no guarantee that the dog knew how to swim either. The idea may have been risky but I had no other choice at this point.

I ran toward the river, hoping that the hound was chasing after me. I jumped into the river, the hellhound jumping with me, except instead of actually going into the river, I jumped over it and landed on the other side. I heard a splash behind me into the river. My plan had worked, although Doggo #2 wasn't so lucky. He burned up inside the hot, boiling water before disappearing in dust.

I was okay, thank the gods. I retrieved my knives and began looking for an exit. As if Kai had read my mind, a stray fireball blasted through the sky and burned down two trees, giving me an exit out of Doggo Land.

When I made it out of the strange forest and into the battle, I noticed that things seemed the same as they were before I almost had my face eaten. Kai had defeated the Athena Cabin, but with a little help from some of our right flank members. But other than that, the battle wasn't going too well. Our forces were weakening and the Hebe and Aphrodite cabins were almost close to the flag.

"Where did you go, Rose?" Kai asked.

Everybody from the right flank was staring at me, some accusingly and others curious.

"I just soloed Athena Cabin all by myself. It was pretty suave, if you ask me," Kai gloated.

"All right, calm down, Hot Wheels. Let's go," Sherman said.

As we headed forward, I told Kai my story of the hounds, the illusions, everything, with him just smiling at me with his stupid smirk.

"What?" I asked, almost smiling. I don't know why, but his smirk was super derpy.

"It looks like you've seen the Forest of Illusions. You should definitely ask Amethyst about it after the game," he said. "For now, let's capture a flag!"

Our group advanced forward, as we took down some stray Demeter and Athena members. The flag was in sight, but we had a long stretch of grass and trees and a large grass wall to burn through set up by Demeter before we could capture it. Suddenly, the rest of the Hermes and Athena cabin jumped on us, some from behind and others from a tree on the other side.

The next thing I knew, we were clashing once again. But this time, there was no escape. I was instantly surrounded by at least three Hermes members, all of them looking viciously at me. Given my throbbing gut, I didn't stand much of a chance. I was able to knock one down but the other two were able to pick me up and drag me to prison. I had no energy to try kicking my way out, and they just threw me along the floor and walked out.

The prison looked pretty pathetic compared to an actual prison. I was inside a small prison cell inside a dark shed that smelled faintly of cow manure. The floor of the cell was covered in dirt and dust and I could barely see anything.

At first, I thought that I was the only one inside the large cell but as it would turn out, there were a lot more than I thought.

"Hey, you're stepping on my hand!" yelled a voice to the next of me. I got so freaked out by the sound that I jumped backwards and bumped into what was an actual human being.

"Ugh, you just made me hit my head on the wall," complained the high pitched voice behind me.

"Sorry," I muttered.

I had no plans of staying in this prison cell, so I began trying to formulate a plan to get out. I examined the bars to see if there was any way I could get through or bend them with my magic, but the bars were as hard as a rock.

Eventually, after trying to find ways to get out, I found a soft point in the wall. The entire wall of the prison cell seemed to be made of a very hard material that suppressed our abilities, but there was one chunk of the wall that seemed to be made of clay. I conjured up a fire spell I had learned from Oliver and blasted it at the wall, opening up a very small bit. The other prisoners seemed to get my idea and came over, trying to pry the hole bigger, until eventually we could slide through it.

"Nice one, Hecate girl," said one of the campers. We all jumped into the hole and began navigating through it, making sure that we didn't encounter a monster or something.

As we continued down the path, we all made a silent agreement of sorts and split up, some going to help Kai and the Ares campers Capture the opposition flag while the rest of us (me included), would head back to our side and help defend the camp, because we seemed to be having a pretty horrid time defending our flag.

As soon as we made it over the river, we saw the Hebe and Aphrodite Cabin march towards our base and take on Alexander and Nexus. We sprinted over there, where Nexus had been knocked down. I jumped on top of an Aphrodite member, kicking them back and slashing them with my knives. The rest of the prisoners, including Nico di Angelo, joined Alexander, Nico's dark abilities making campers fall in and out of a system of underground holes and his two undead servants knocking everybody down. With the help of Alexander and the prisoners, we were able to take down the entire right flank and stop Drew Tanaka from sneaking away with the flag.

I sighed with relief. The blue team now had no chance of winning at all. We began eagerly looking to the opposition's side, where Kai had burned down the grass wall and took on both of the Gardner sisters while the Ares campers started beating down the rest of the enemy team. After about thirty seconds, Kai scooped up the flag and turned towards the river. With no opposition left, he strolled over the river with ease, giving us the victory.

"Great job, man!" an Ares member complimented.

Kai was showered with cheers and whoops as we carried him up in the air to the campfire.

As we approached the campfire, Kai and Amethyst congratulated me on freeing the prisoners, Kai even saying that I was the true MVP, which may or may not have made me blush.

When we got to the campfire, Chiron congratulated us individually, rewarding us with praise and compliments.

"Rose, well done. You've only been here two days, yet you've really shown yourself to be a strong fighter. Keep up the good work!" Chiron congratulated, applauding.

The rest of the team applauded and cheered for me, but I swear I heard Lou Ellen groaning in despair somewhere behind me.

Gods, everybody talked about how nice she was but from what I knew, she had some grudge on me for no good reason. Maybe I was overreacting, but I just didn't see her as friendly or nice like everyone always talked about.

I could've continued ranting in my head about Lou Ellen, but I decided that I was just going to ignore her and enjoy this victory. We sang some show songs with the Apollo cabin, shared some s'mores, and made some jokes. I felt really comfortable at the campfire, with people clapping me on the back and genuinely wanting to be my friend. Maybe this place could be the home I'd always wanted.

Ever since my father passed away, I hadn't really had anyone to turn to or just care for me. Marianne never really liked me and would always do her best to ignore me, acting like I didn't exist.

But that amazing night was quickly interrupted when I heard a large bellow behind me. The man from earlier with the leopard-print clothes and bloodshot eyes barged into the campfire, earning the attention of all the campers.

"Guys, I need you to shut your holes-"

"That's actually pretty good advice. Why don't you do it yourself, Mr. D?" Kai interrupted.

Mr. D glowered at him. "I don't need your snark, Key Benwoods. There's a problem with the Mist-"

"Did you fart in it again? Maybe that's what happened, Mr. D?" Kai shot back. This got a laugh from a couple of the campers, but that probably meant they were going to get choked by a grapevine later.

"This isn't a joke, Keiser. An entire group of mortals were able to look through it and see the satyrs," Mr. D said.

Chiron looked at Mr. D with a concerned expression. "Let's talk in the Big House, Dionysus. Rose, would you come with us? Kai and Amethyst can accompany you if you want."

Alexander stood up. "Can I join too, sir? I think maybe I could help."

Chiron nodded his head briskly. "Yes, you may. Now come on, let's go."

Great, I thought nervously. Another interview with Chiron but with Kai and Mr. D bickering, Alexander giggling at some joke, and Amethyst ranting on about something and making conspiracies. Yay.