Gemini

Chapter 4* Death by Daisy

Chapter 4* Death by Daisy

For a split second, there is the sickening feeling of my stomach being pulled from my body, and then another split second when I’m dropping and my heart is flinging itself around in my chest, and then I land-

In a soft bed of flowers?

No kidding. My face is pressing into mushy dirt, while the rest of my body is being tickled by flowers swaying in the breeze. Groaning, I push myself off the ground, hiking my backpack over my shoulder.

“Sam?” I croak out.

“Right here,” a voice answers, equally hoarse. Turning in the direction of the voice, I see Sam lying on the ground face up, eyes shut.

“Sam!” I exclaim, racing over to him, my feet rustling through the tall grass and crushing some unfortunate daisies. “Are you hurt?”

“I feel like puking,” he complains, and I roll my eyes. What a baby.

“Stand up,” I order. “We’ve got to find a way out of here.” Running a hand through his tousled bronze hair, he stands up stretches his muscles.

My heart suddenly grows cold. “Sam, where is the teleporter?”

He freezes too. “Um…” Whipping around in unison, we start frantically searching. My eyes scan through the thick bed of flowers and grass, hoping desperately that it was in there, somewhere.

I knew it. I should never have trusted him. If the teleporter was gone, we’d have no way out of here, and we’d be stuck here forever until our supplies eventually ran out and we died. I wouldn’t even get to die in Nashville like I’d hoped.

I am just about to go hysterical when Sam speaks. “I’ve found it!”

Without hesitation I sprint over to him and snatch it from his dirt streaked hands. Turning the little black plastic device in my hands, I check that it is unscathed. Thankfully, it is.

“Relax, Kayla, it’s working,” Sam says gently, coming up behind me. I turn, pinching the bridge of my nose like I always do when I’m close to tears or really angry. Right now it’s the latter.

“Don’t you ever let go of it like that again!” I shout at him. Instead of backing off like I thought he would, he nods seriously.

“I’m sorry.”

The anger drains out of me all of a sudden, like I’m too weak to stay angry for long at anyone. Extracting a bottle of water from my backpack, I take a swig from it and toss it to Sam. He drinks deeply and hands it back to me.

“Where are we?” he voices out finally.

I take a proper look at my surroundings, at the same time brushing dirt off my face with my sleeve. We are in what seems like a clearing, of course laid thick with flowers, surrounded by pine trees that give off a nice, earthy smell. Inhaling deeply, I let the tension in my shoulders ease a bit.

“It smells nice,” comments Sam, sniffing the air.

“It does,” I agree. “Now we wait for the teleporter to recharge again?”

“Yes,” he says, taking it out of his pocket and showing me the blue strips lacing the sides. “Solar panels, extremely powerful. We’ll have it recharged in no time.”

Apparently a lot of things can happen in ‘no time’. Because as I speak, a figure is rising out of the flowers a few yards away in a whirlwind of wheat. It clicks in my mind a few seconds later.

We are facing Demeter, Goddess of Wheat or Plants or something like that. I’d never really considered her as a threat, but now I am seriously rethinking it. She looks a hell lot mean.