Chapter 89:

Pythia POV:

When we got done talking to my dad Tye took me home to clean myself up. I still couldn't believe he did that, I understand the reasoning behind it but even so he should have talked to me first. "He is doing it because he loves you." Delilah said softly. "I know, I just wished he would have spoken to me first. Maybe we could have found another way." I replied. "There is no other way that I know of and truthfully what he did is incredibly risky." Delilah said. "I don't want him to die.." I whispered. "Then he won't, I will do anything and everything to keep you alive. We have others to fall back on if we need them, don't stress my queen, we just need to train." Delilah said gently. "Pythia!" Ambrosia roared as she slammed open my bathroom door. "Tye just told me to come here." Ambrosia said gently as he opened her arms. I ran straight to her and sobbed. "Hey now, don't start that. We need to get you cleaned up and then we need to go finish the trap." Ambrosia said softly. I couldn't find it in myself to step away from her. 

When I finally calmed down enough I looked up at her as she swiped her thumbs over my cheeks. "We would never let anything deathly happen to you. You must understand why your dad did that. I know it's hard to understand but don't be mad at him. We would do the same for our children." Ambrosia said with a soft smile. "I know, I just wasn't expecting it and the thought that he might actually die to save me bothers me. He just came back into my life. I'm not ready for him to be gone forever.." I whispered. "All will be well, you'll see in time. Now let's put a smile on and go back out there." Ambrosia said as she grabbed a wash cloth off the rack and ran it under water. I looked at my reflection and saw I was in fact a mess, I mean who wouldn't be? "I really like Ambrosia. She is a good person." Delilah said happily. "She is the closest thing I have to a sister, she's always been there for me through everything." I replied easily because that is the truth. Every step of the way she has been there. "Pythia I do have some questions though. Why didn't your dad get a wolf?" Ambrosia asked. 

"Because if something does happen to me it would not only kill him but the wolf that would have resided within him and he didn't want that to happen." I replied, remembering the conversation. Now it made sense why he didn't want a wolf, he didn't want anyone else to go with him. "But what happens if he dies in the fight? Does that mean you die? Or does that mean the spell simply wouldn't work." Ambrosia asked. ''He isn't going to be in the fight as of right now, he will be with Lucinda and Athea with the kids. In order for it to work he has to be in a safe place away from the fight, but if he does stay and something happens to him it would break the spell. No harm would come to me other than me feeling his death. I didn't cast the spell, he did." I replied. "Okay, I just needed to make sure that this would not backfire in any way." Ambrosia said relaxing a little. "I'll be fine either way it goes, the only thing is if he dies before me then I will feel it. I don't know what that feels like and I don't want to know what it feels like." I said. "Well either way you both will be fine, you won't lose him and we won't lose you." Ambrosia replied. 

"Thank you for checking on me." I said as I washed my face off. "I'll always check on you, sometimes all we need is a little girl time to make us feel better." Ambrosia replied with a smile. "That is true, speaking of girl time, how is my little niece?" I asked. "Ari is great, she is growing so fast. Although she could use another cousin to grow up with." Ambrosia replied, making me laugh. "Well after all of this we are going to have another one. Apollo needs a sibling or two." I giggled. "After all of this I want to take all the kids on a big play date, I think we all deserve some time away and to just relax." Ambrosia said. "Oh I will agree to that, maybe we could go back to that beach house. I miss that place." I said. "It was really pretty there. We will plan for that after everything. It'll give us something to look forward to." Ambrosia said. "How is Sage treating you?" I asked. I watched as Ambrosia rolled her eyes, "She is so much like me you know. I've heard your kids are supposed to be worse than you but I don't think they could top her stubbornness." Ambrosia replied, making me laugh. 

"Delilah really likes you, she said you're good people." I replied. "Ah well I like her too. She can protect you when you are alone." Ambrosia said. When I finished cleaning up and rebraided my hair I walked back down to the living room where Tye and Jackson were waiting. "Better?" Tye asked, smiling. "For now." I replied with a smile. "I knew she would get you to smile, now let's get this stuff done. Your dad should be back by now." Tye said, kissing the top of my head. As we walked back towards the maze I saw everyone else including my dad standing by a half way built trap. My dad was sitting on the ground with a large bowl sitting in front of him. "Hey! There you are, look this is what I've drawn up. The bottom half is the same so we started building that part of it already. Let me know what you think." Jasper said, handing me his sketchbook. I flipped through the few pages that had stuff drawn on them until my eyes set one one in particular. "Explain this one to me." I said looking at it. "Oh that one is my favorite, it would be rigged with thorns of course but every time he moved it closed on him a little more. For instant I can set a motion sensor on it for when he moves and have it set to move up to ten times closing in." Jasper said.

Now that is interesting. "It has the backside as a trap door so as soon as he steps on the sensor it slams shut. He will be able to see what is happening but he has the choice to sit still and watch or move around and be stabbed by wolfsbane laced thorns." Jasper finished. "You could really do all of that?" I asked. "Of course I can! I could probably have it done by the end of the day." Jasper said. "I like this one, I think it will be better in the long run especially if he moves enough." I said. "You got it, dad is working on the other stuff since we can't touch it. He is going to put it on tonight so that it has enough time to soak in really good." Jasper said. "Okay good, what do you need us to do?" I asked. "Well, can you fuse the knots together? We need them as tight as they can be so that it holds good enough." Jasper said. "Of course." I replied. "I'm going to go and check on the others and see how they are progressing. I'll be back in just a little bit for lunch." Tye said, smiling at me.

I walked up to the cage wondering how to even fuse this together. Maybe I could use the elements? I mean they all came together when we were moving the house so surely I could do it again right? "Is this bamboo?" I asked as I looked closer. "It is! We found some in the back of the property, not many people know we have it back there." Jenson replied. I ran my finger across it, bamboo is one of the strongest we have around here, the smoothness of it always amazes me because if it breaks the shards are sharper than a razor sometimes. Okay, I can do this. Just concentrate. I sat on the ground and wrapped my hands around the first knot. I rolled my shoulders a few times trying to clear out my own mind. "You need to focus on all the elements at once, wield them the way you want, you have to tell them what to do." Delilah said. "Well that seems easy, it's just doing it is the hard part." I replied. "You need to have more faith in yourself Pythia, it's already within you." Delilah stated. 

Okay maybe she is right about that. I took a deep breath and relaxed my body, I can do this, merge all the elements together. Make them bend and move how I need them too. I felt my hands heat up before it felt like I had dipped my hand in warm water. The smell of the earth engulfed my nose and the wind around me started to pick up slightly. My hands got too hot too quickly making me jerk them away, "Ow, shit." I grumbled. "Are you okay?" Alley asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, just used a little too much I guess." I said looking at my hands. They were red but nothing too serious. "The knot looks good though." Jasper said, trying to lighten the mood. "Okay so I need to practice a little more." I said mainly to myself.  "Take a second and listen to what your body is telling you. When you use too much you start feeling a slight pain." Delilah advised. 

I took a second to think about what she said and remember what I felt like in the moment, I did feel a slight pain in my arms, kind of like when you get a tattoo and those little needles are poking your skin. "When you feel that pain back off the elements just a little." Delilah reminded me as I readied myself for the next knot. I wrapped my hands around it and repeated the same motions, this time I took it a little slower than I did before. I don't have to rush this, I need to take my time and make sure it is done right or it won't hold. I started feeling little pricks across my skin so I took a deep breath and relaxed more until the pain subsided. "You are doing fantastic!" Delilah said happily. "This is so much easier to do knowing I have you in my head keeping an eye on it." I replied.  I started feeling a little more confident in what I was working on, having Delilah there was a huge help because she feels everything I feel and can remind me when I need it. I looked over to see Alley had started on the thorns and before I knew it the entire trap was finished. The only thing left to do was soak the thorns and have the sensor placed in it. "That looks great!" Tye said, walking up to us.

"It really does, how is everyones training going?" I asked. "Well it's going actually really well. I have a little more faith that we will be fully ready by the time the fight actually happens." Tye replied. "That actually makes me feel a lot better. We just need to keep training." I said. "Yes, after lunch it's me and you training. There is an open spot in the back that we can go to." Tye said, looking down at me. "Afraid everyone will see you get your butt kicked again?" I giggled. "Haha! Oh man she gave you a run for your money!" Jasper yelled. "Now she has a wolf. I'd be careful if I were you!" Jenson laughed. Tye looked at me and narrowed his eyes. "Oh would you look at the time, I'm hungry so I'm going to go and check on lunch." I said before turning on my heels and running like my life depended on it. "Oh no you don't!" Tye yelled. I could hear him closing in on me and I couldn't help the laughter that was belching out of me. I didn't have time to take a breath before my feet were off the ground and I was being slung over his shoulder making me squeal. ''Such a cave man!" I yelled. "Only for you baby." Tye growled out making me blush. 

Now that our plan is coming to life it's like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I can finally relax for a bit. So for this break even if it is just a small one for lunch I am going to make the best of it and have a little fun because honestly, we all deserve it at this point.