CHAPTER XCV:Death in The Snow

I raised my rifle and watched the figures move quickly. Solid figures became blurred dashes, and moved with lethal speed. I heard screams from the left and turned quickly. A large grey figure wearing a deer skull and wolf pelts ran towards Penny. Behind the improvised mask were black eyes that carried bloodlust. I fired twice at the monster, it then turned to face me. The bullets hardly scratched the fucking thing.

The large beast charged me and I fired more bullets to keep it at bay. I cracked the mask and it snapped in half. Beneath lied a familiar face from demigod missing posters. The monster charged me and smacked the gun from my hands, he picked me up by my throat. I took my dagger and tried stabbing it to no avail.

It got hard to breathe, I could feel the monsters grip tighten around my throat. In my desperation I hit the monster with my daggers handle and it dropped me and let out a blood chilling , inhuman, screech. The pitch hurt my ears beyond belief. A dark red ooze covered the snow and turned jet black. I breathed in quickly, cold air ripped my throat apart but I didn't care, I was just happy to breathe again.

The monster turned to me again and hate burned In its eyes. It went to charge at me but an arrow flew from my brothers direction, the arrow was lined with obsidian and the feathers were laced with bronze. It had cleared the monsters skull and dropped it. Seth stood a mere 3 meters away from me, crossbow in hand, ready for the monster to move again. I grabbed the arrow and watched as the crimson liquid turned into a black sludge.

"Is it dead?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, and there are more to deal with," I answered pointing to more, deer skulled, figures that were dashing in the wind.

I gripped my dagger and Seth's retrieved arrow, I hated weapon improvising lessons but I was glad to have taken them all things considered. Everyone gathered in a circle, backs to each other. Lethal dashes encircled us and got closer and closer as footprints appeared in the snow, then vanished twice as fast. A warm light came from behind me, the energy felt extremely familiar. I turned around to see Adam's hair glowing.

Adam notched an arrow with two crystals tied to it, he aimed at the sky and smiled, "Shock and awe!" Adam fired the arrow up in the sky as he finished his sentence.

Both crystals burst mid air and let out a flash of blinding light. All of the Wendigos covered their eyes and let out ungodly screeches, I dashed forward and slashed one of their throats. Blood the color of pen ink splashed across the snow, a monster got its bearings and went to swipe at me. I dodged the claws and shadow hopped behind it, in the chaos I could see Seth firing Obsidian tipped arrows every time a Wendigo got to close. Other demigods were retrieving arrows for the fight, while Pamela had summoned an obsidian sword.

Obsidian was not a known Wendigo weakness, but it made sense since Obsidian weapons were sharper and stronger than most. A Wendigo charged at me but paused briefly, behind me I felt a cold and heartless energy. The sun had hidden behind the clouds because it to feared this energy. I turned to see a bright white light coming from the tree line, before I could process what I was seeing an arrow flew from the tree line and placed itself right where the Wendigo's heart was.

I stood still as the Wendigo fell dead on the spot. That shot was a hunter's shot, especially from that distance. Was that? No, it can't be, I thought to myself. Of course, I've been proven wrong before cause it was exactly who I thought it was. Luna, daughter of Artemis, charged through the snow. She took out a few arrows and fired off all of them, she nocked them in her bow, and three silver glints flew through the air. The three arrows flew in different directions and each and placed themselves in three more Wendigo's hearts.

In that second I realized, Adam's arrows were piercing Wendigos as well. Sunlight and Moonlight arrows also killed Wendigos, I would have to remember that if I ever survived this. Luna fired another arrow that almost grazed Adam and went through a Wendigo's throat. The last monster fell and the storm died down.

"That arrow wasn't meant for me, right?" Adam asked, I couldn't tell if he was joking or if he was actually concerned.

Luna glared at him before retrieving her arrows, "Of course it wasn't, I never miss."

Before my head could wrap around the monsters being dead and Luna joining us, the area around us grew silent. I looked around and Pamela and the other demigods were gone. It was just my original group and Luna.

"I'm not going crazy right? Cause everyone with us just disappeared," Mino said, clutching his sword so tight that his knuckles were white.

A part of me screamed to say yes he was, but I thought better of it. I looked around, and the footprints were still fresh in the snow. However, there were no footprints leading away. The abandoned group of demigods vanished, like they were plucked from the sky by the gods. That was something I was familiar with, but I would've expected screaming at the least.

"Your friends are safe," a voice echoed out, it came from the tree line that was nearby, "come to me."

Something about that voice was familiar, I couldn't place the voice to a name though. While I was lost in thought Seth moved towards the tree line, along with Mino and Adam, their eyes were glossed over like black beads.

"Mary, come to me," The voice called again.

Within the moment my actions weren't my own, my legs started marching me forward. I fought and fought but no amount of fighting would stop me. Seth suddenly dropped beneath the earth, and snow followed him. I fought more and more, I had to get to Seth.

Adam and Mino fell down the hole second afterwards, I fell as well and tumbled down a snow hill. The freezing cold cut through my jacket, cuts and scrapes covered my hands and wrists. My face and neck burned from below freezing temperatures, when I got on the ground I was shaking. I needed to start layering up more. Penny and Olivia fell down soon after me, Luna stood up top watching all of this unfold.

"Are you guys okay?!" Luna yelled down.

"Don't worry about that, Daughter of Artemis," A woman's voice replied before the hole we fell through froze over.

I looked towards the origin of the voice and saw Khione standing there. Her snowflake dress hiding her movements, making it look like she was sliding on the ice. I went to stand up, but I stumbled falling on the ground once more.

"Save your strength, Daughter of Hades," Khione smiled, taking a piece of ice from her hair. "You'll need it to scream," She said, as the ice in her hand morphed into a dagger.