The Child of the Moon

13.

That means Jove is here. And if Jove is here, Astra and Halley may be, too.
"We need to get to them," Nestor states, pointing his dagger to the other cages, "This might be our only chance."
"I agree, but what about Jetaime?" I argue, my eyes peeking around the corner, then back, "He's done so much for us. It wouldn't be right to leave him here like this."
Then, the horror begins.
The shouts and pleas for help erupt from the room Jetaime is in. His voice is squeaking and begging for help. His body may be on this Earth, but it sounds like his consciousness has gone to the depths of Hell. His shrieks could pierce the eardrums of a god.
My eyes begin to water at the sound of Jetaime's screams. I can't bare to hear them. I force myself to cover my ears, but the soundwaves still enter into my brain.
I feel a tap on my shoulder. I glance up to see Nestor signaling me to keep going onwards, and to follow them.
Phoebus whispers to him, "Give her some time. She's suffering, and it's not right to make her keep going when she is processing things!" Phoebus stamps his staff on the ground, eyeing Nestor.
"This is our only chance to get them back!" Nestor whispers back, gripping his dagger even harder. He points to the cells, "This is our only chance to get our friends back. The only people who we've been accepted with our whole lives."
I take my hands off my ears, as the shouts smother into them. I know how important Jove is to Nestor. She's his best friend. Plus, we can't have Astra and Halley suffer any longer, as well.
"We need to keep going. Don't worry about me." I remark, gritting my teeth together from the cries.
"Are you sure-"
"Yes."
We stride along the cages, making sure to avoid the room of screams, until we stop at one.
There's a girl with galaxy eyes, and thick brown hair piled in her face. Her left leg is wounded, with a gunshot right through it, and blood piling under it. She doesn't even bother to push her hair out of her face when she glances up.
"Astra!" I mutter, loud enough for her to hear me. "You're alive." I grin, relieved at knowing that at least one of my friends trapped here is alive.
She takes a moment to process who we are. She glares back and forth and gasps, "Guys, you shouldn't have come for us," She sighs, attempting to get up, but tripping on her leg, she lets out a muffled scream, and luckily the guard doesn't hear us, "If they find you, they'll-"
"We know what they'll do," I argue back, "But we couldn't leave you guys here."
Nestor speaks up, "Do you know where Halley and Jove are?"
Astra stifles a nod. She points over to a cage across the hall, but we have to past the guard and Jetaime to get to it.
And right when I ponder that thought, another gasp of pain calls out for help.
I wince at the sound, but push myself forward. I stare at Phoebus and Nestor directly in the eye when I say, "You guys save Jetaime. I'm going to pick these locks and get them free."
"Do you know how to?" Astra asks, but this time when she picks herself up, she succeeds and leans on to a wall to keep her balance.
"Do you have a bobby pin?" I question her, gripping on the bars.
"Yes, but I could never reach the lock." She says sighing. She fiddles into her hair and pulls out a long tiny clip.
"Well, now you have people who can." I respond back, putting my hand as far into the cell as I can, so Astra doesn't have to move that much.
"Then let's do this." Phoebus says, with that sly smirk back on his face, and his weapon ready to wield.
And Astra plops the bobby pin down into my hand.
---
Phoebus and Nestor are against the walls, prepared to jump in at any moment, when another screech comes out. I try my best to ignore it and focus on the plan, but it hurts seeing someone in this much pain.
I begin to shuffle the bobby pin around in the lock to Astra's cell. I keep messing around and jagging it in random places until I hear a click. The metal bars swing wide open, and Astra trips again when she attempts to walk over to me.
I rush over to her, crouch down, and put her arm over my shoulder. She's really light for someone around my age. Plus, I'm surprised at myself that I can even carry her, since she's a few inches taller than me.
She hops along with my walking pace, as we make it to the other side of the hallway. The boys aren't behind the wall anymore and there's grunts coming from the room where Jetaime is so it's safe to assume that they're in that room.
On the way over to the cages, there are people that look gone. They are no longer them. It's like their souls have disappeared completely into another realm. Their faces have been drained like rotten milk tossed into a sink. My heart sinks knowing that I can do nothing to help them.
We make it over to the cages that Astra pointed to. In one of them is an asian teenage girl with orange hair, and hair in a low ponytail down her back. She sees us and smiles, "Took you guys long enough. I thought I heard voices."
Across from her, is Halley, with her galaxy eyes, and ruffled blonde hair. She looks like she's going to give this huge lecture on how we shouldn't have come, but all she says is, "Thank you."
I use the bobby pin to pick both of them out, and once they are, Jove takes Astra and lets her lean on her body, since they're about the same height, and Jove is much stronger than me.
More shouts and screams come from the torture room. It's not like pain, but more like victory cries, but then a loud yell comes from the room, that makes my guts turn inside out.
I turn around and glance at the girls, "We need to help them," I state firmly, not afraid of what consequences I'll have to face to save them.
"They tossed the weapons over here." Halley points a finger, to a cage further down, exactly the way her daughter did. She pushes her hair out of her face, and already begins to march towards the weapons. It seems that she wants to get out of here as quickly as possible, and I don't blame her.
The further down we go, the more lifeless people there are. It starts to stink like a sewer. It floats all the way up from my nostrils to my brain. I cover my nose, curious where the smell is coming from. I soon find out with a rotted body sitting in the corner of one cell with pale blue skin. I turn away from the horror, absolutely disgusted.
We make it to the cage and Jove and Astra's weapons lay right on the floor, beneath a glass vase, but what's in the glass vase is what's more shocking than seeing the weapons just placed on the floor.
In the vase, is a long item, that's about two feet tall. It has the handle of a sword, with the tip bulged out. If this were a sword, where the tip would be, is a flat circle, and a silver crescent moon. The whole item is a metallic purple, expect for the moon and a small marking on the handle, which is also silver:
                              ☾
"The Scepter of the Moon Child." I say, breathlessly. It's right in front of me. The weapon that I'm suppose to bare and save the planets with. This is the the item that will help me while I'm fighting. This is the item that I can become as powerful as a planet with, but I don't want to.
I feel as I'm not the correct person to be doing this. I can't be. I only draw. That's the only thing I'm good at. Why would some dumb prophecy choose me to defend the planets anyway? Why not someone that's stronger, physically and mentally, like Jove or Phoebus? Or someone who is older and has more experience, like Halley? I'm so young. I'm only fifteen going on sixteen in two days.
Speaking of age, this whole trip has made me forget all about my personal life. I miss my brother and Dad and John with all my heart, and I forgot that I was turning sixteen. The birthday I've been looking forward to my whole entire life, just forgotten by being too focused on this.
But this is far more important than my birthday. This is the world we're talking about. If I don't get this scepter, the world will fall and change completely and it will be all my fault. I'll be the one to cause it.
I lift my chin up, and twist the bobby pin into the lock. I swing the door open with a loud squeak. We glide into the room. Jove and Astra take back their weapons, and I can't stop staring into the glass.
Jove throws a sai into the air and catches it without a single scratch. "Time to give that man the same exact scars he gave me."
Astra slides her bow and quiver over her shoulder. Still leaning on Jove's shoulder she whispers, "Jove, I know it may hurt, but we can't do the same. It will make us just as horrid as them."
Halley stays silent. I may not know what torture she endured, but it sure seems like a bunch.
I place my hands on the glass, and lift it up to reveal the scepter alone, and so easy to grasp. I place my hands on the handle and it fits perfectly and comfortably. I pull it up from the place it was sitting and stare into the marking.
Halley tugs at the shirt on my shoulder. Jove and Astra are already heading out. They are turning the corner, but then Halley stops for a second to see what I'm holding.
"You have it." She mutters, glancing out the door to keep an eye on Astra and Jove, "Good. Now we have to go, before the guards come back, or else all of us might get captured."
We dash out of the door, feet pounding against the hard, stone floor, and catch up to Jove and Astra, who are already entering the room Phoebus and Nestor are in. Halley and I are beginning to turn the corner, but when we do, I gasp.
The body of Jetaime is placed in a chair, with the same weapon he used before lying on the floor, soaked in his own blood. His neck has a scarlet line going straight across, and a pools of deep red trails down his shirts, stained there. His eyes are lost in the everblazing universe. A place where he can never return from.
I can't even feel the tears from my eyes. They just pour. He helped us so much and his body is lying there, staying still. My gut wrenches at the sight of it.
The man on the other side of the room is knocked out. Phoebus and Nestor have done their job.
"How... how did this happen?" I gasp, standing up straight and wiping my tears. I can cry when I get out of this place. I need to stand tall and strong right now.
"He threatened to kill him, with a knife against his throat," Phoebus looks down, like he can't bare to see me like this. He's seen me with a death of a stranger. He must know how hard it is for me with someone that helped us. "We tried to save him. We put our weapons down, saying to let him go, but he still..."
I nod. Tear begin to form in my eyes again, but I push them back.
Phoebus glances down to my hand and sees the scepter. "You guys found it." He beams. He walks over, and out of the room. Nestor follows out behind him.
Nestor dashes up to Jove and hugs her. He sighs of relief. "I thought you were dead. You know I wouldn't  have survived in a world without my best friend."
Jove breaks apart the hug. She groans, "Geez, I know I just got back but you don't have to squeeze me to death. Then the fault would be at your hands and not the Children of Pluto, and we both know you wouldn't be able to live with that."
But right when things start to look up, an army of footsteps are heard right through the hole the guards exited through.