Holy War: Two Worlds and an In- Between

Chapter 50: You Won

"How do we even find her?" Whisper asked.

"Well, the journals say that she was last spotted on Benjamin Island. I suggest we start there," Allioni said pointing his long finger into the air.

"Great, let's leave tomorrow," Jack suggested.

"No, we have to wait until you're healed. Otherwise, you're just dead weight," Allioni explained then sipped his tea.

"Ouch," Jack murmured and adjusted himself in the bed.

Allioni pulled the map I stole seemingly out of thin air and showed it to us. He made the tea disappear and used his free hand to point at the 'x' marked on the paper.

"This is where they think Calypso is. If we leave in a few days, we can make it there before their scheduled trip even begins," Allioni explained.

"What's that other red 'x'?" I asked pointing at the small red ex near the first.

"That's where we're gonna find Gollum," he explained.

"I thought that you said Gollum was in the chambers of purgatory," I followed up.

"Indeed he is," Allioni confirmed, "we're going to have to get him out of there.

"How do you suggest we do that?" Jack asked as he once again tried to sit up.I gently guided him to lay back down much to his dismay.

"Listen, I don't want to come if I'll only keep you guys back," I explained to the group.

The three boys stared at me with several different emotions displayed on their faces. Allioni, looked at me with his usual indifference seeming to actually be looking through me as apposed to at me. Jack had a small smile on his face that was a little unusual for the situation. Whisper seemed the strangest of all giving me a look of approval.

Jack chuckled a little, "What, you chickening out on us, D?"

I shook my head a little and tapped him on his wounded shoulder, "No, it's just that..." I began.

"What is it?" Allioni rushed.

"You guys saw what happened out there," I explained, "we came here to find the protectors and I lead us on a suicide mission, and I still couldn't do what I was supposed to do."

"What's your point, Diana?" Jack asked a bit less happily than before.

"My point is that if I couldn't even do this easy job, how do you expect me not to blow it in hell?"

"Diana, you didn't blow it," Jack assured me, "there was no way that we could have known it was a set up, and we couldn't have made it away from the castle without you."

"You wouldn't have been captured if I wasn't there," I argued.

"It makes no difference," Allioni interjected, "the first test is to use human blood to open the gates. Diana is the only human."

"Cant we just find another human?" asked Whisper chiming in for the first time.

"The human whose blood we use must also go into purgatory with us," Allioni responded, "Diana, if you do not wish to go or are too scared to join us, we wont force you."

The boys continued to stare at me. There was no question in my mind of whether or not I was scared. There wasn't a single bone in my body that didn't tremble at the thought of a trip to hell, but I couldn't let that stop me. I made a promise to myself to always protect them even if they didn't need it.

"No, I'll be here as long as I can help," I complied.

"Okay, that's awesome, but how are we getting there?" He asked again getting impatient.