Chapter 90:

Pythia POV:

We have been training day in and day out, all of us together as a team.  At first it was just Tye and I, he was training me on where to protect myself best and how to aid another. We have been practicing how we would do things within the maze so that no one gets hurt in the process. This weekend we will be testing those who have volunteered to be hidden throughout the maze. We have four sections which means we need a total of sixteen hidden. Everyone has picked their battle buddy so that they would not be alone. We were preparing ourselves for the worst but secretly hoped for the best. We had gotten in to a good pace with everyone and I had enough time to sit and talk to my dad about what he did. While I understand why he did it I just wished he would have spoken to me first, we had to explain to everyone that was close to us what was happening and for a little while everyone walked around as if death was going to come knocking sooner than it was supposed to.

I had a little time to myself to just sit and think about it all. All of this was chaotic on levels I didn't think were possible but someone each day amazes me more than the last. I felt like I was spreading myself thin at times worrying about everyone else that I forgot to take some time for myself and consider all possibilities of everything. My main focus lately has been the twins, we all learned that we were family not too long ago and now all of this craziness has happened and the thought that we might lose each other was a tough pill to swallow. The last thing I wanted anyone to do was worry about me but that would be impossible, but now they have more to worry about then just me. Our dad may not have been in our life all that long but he has done more for us in this short amount of time to make up for the time that he missed with us as kids and now there is a chance that we might lose him. I had to explain to them that our dad will be with Athea and Lucinda so the only way something would happen to him is if something happened to me and that alone made everything more tense. 

Jasper and Jenson took it really hard at first and felt like they had to choose who they wanted to live more, even though we were all very confident that nothing would happen to me. It just made everyone stay much closer and work that much harder. Ever since then my dad has spent so much time with us, especially Apollo. He comes over every night for dinner and he has been helping Beth watch over all the children while we all train. I try not to think about it too much so that I can stay focused on what we all need to do. "Okay so today we are doing much like we have been except in our areas of the maze. We need to learn how much room we have so that way we don't get hurt." I announced. "Get in your teams, your alphas will know what to do. Half of you will be portraying us as against us while the other fights. Then we will switch." Tye added. I watched as everyone broke off into their groups and started to walk off. 

"We also need to figure out who will be standing where when we lock up Bartholomew." Tye whispered in my ear. "It's hard to plan for his, we don't know if the cage will actually hold long enough for us to do what we need to do." I replied. "I think it will, we just need it to hold long enough to take the rest out." Jasper said. "We will stay closer to this side just in case he does break through we will be close to him." Jenson added. "Alright so let's have a test run on this and then we can go from there.'' I said walking forward. "We will be stationed in the back in case anyone gets through, we need to keep count of those who do so we can see where we need to tighten everyone." Tye said as we stopped at the back end of the maze. Stephen sounded off in the link for the first round to be let out. "Remember to let your wolf do what they want!" Stephen yelled out. I could hear growls and shouting from within the maze. The sound of fire sizzling through the air and yelps from wolves, it didn't take long before growls erupted from each area. I could hear their jaws snapping back and forth. I was readying myself for anyone to leap over but nothing came. "Very good everyone!" Alley yelled out proudly. 

We had been doing this same routine for a few days now and it seems like everyone is starting to understand where they are supposed to be. "We need to practice my beauty." Tye said with a growl. I turned my head and narrowed my eyes. "Did you just growl at me?" I asked. "I did. What are you going to do about it?" Tye challenged. I slowly turned my body towards him and planted my feet, "Come on wolf man if you think you can." I replied, readying myself. Tye lunged at me and I dove to the right swinging my leg around kicking him in the side. I felt someone grab me from behind, taking me by surprise. My head tilted just enough to see Jason behind me. I raised my elbow and swung it backwards into his gut making him release his hold on me and stumble backwards. "Oh so y'all are ganging up on me?" I asked. "You need to be prepared for anything." Tye replied just as I was tackled to the side. I looked up to see nothing there but Jasper was standing not far from me and his eyes were white as snow. Cheater. "Focus Pythia, use your elements too." Delilah whispered.  

It's going to be a battle of our elements right now and Delilah was right, I needed to focus. "Watch his eyes, it'll tell you what element he is going to use next." Delilah said. I watched carefully to see what he was going to do, my eyes shifted to Jenson I could see the red glow to them. He pulled his hands back but not before I did. "Seraphim!" I shouted, throwing up my own shield just as fire came rushing towards me. I looked at Jasper who narrowed his eyes. I raised my hand pulling the ground up from under him and throwing him to the side. I caught Jason running towards me out of the corner of my eyes, I didn't even look over "Insignia" I whispered surrounding him with fire. "Hey! That's cheating!" Jason yelled. My eyes locked on Tye and we stared at each other before he ran straight towards me. "My turn." Delilah said just before I felt her push her way out. When I opened my eyes I was on all fours running straight at Rex. They both collided in the middle. Snapping at each other but not biting or causing any damage.

They were more so head butting and pushing each other around. Delilah growled deadly and finally the two were trying to pin each other down without hurting the other. Delilah kicked her leg up, knocking out Rexs back legs. She jumped on top of him and lowered her head by his neck and growled so hard it shook his body. Rex lowered his head and shifted back which shocked me. "Good job Delilah." Tye said with a smile. I started pushing my way back out and shifted easily. "We didn't hurt you two did we?" I asked, looking down at Tye. "Not at all, Delilah did really well. I'm proud of her. I don't have to worry about you not being protected when I am not there." Tye replied. "Can you drop the fire?! It's getting hot!" Jason shouted, making me laugh. I focused on the wind and gently pushed it out until the fire was completely gone. I went to stand up when Tye grabbed me by the waist and flipped me on the ground. "Never think your opponent is down fully." Tye said, smiling at me. I smiled sweetly at him before I swung my legs up and wrapped them around his neck before I slammed him backwards. 

"I never do." I smirked before standing up. "Your reflexes are getting faster." Jasper said, walking up to us. "And your shifting has gotten faster." Jenson added. "It's getting easier to shift, Delilah just does her thing and I don't fight her on it." I replied. "That's good. You never know when someone is going to shift and you just gotta hope that you're faster than they are. Luckily for us we train for that just in case." Tye said. "I am proud of how far everyone has come in just a short amount of time." I replied. "I think we are ready. We just need to have the competition this weekend and go from there." Jason said. "After we establish that then we can practice with the right people being where they are supposed the be." Tye replied. I liked that we were finally getting this all together. Everyone seemed to be in really good spirits about it, like they had a new hope. Everyone started breaking off into their groups to go and practice a bit more before we called it a day.  We have placed extra border patrols around at night in case any of those mongrels got brave enough to come back and try anything.

Nothing has happened since I got that note and I kept wondering what game he was trying to play. I didn't want to spend too much time worrying about it because we had other things we needed to get done. "Pythia, can we have a word?" Olivia asked, walking up to us. "Of course, what is going on?" I asked. "I have a list ready of those who don't want to fight. It isn't much but I know you wanted it." Olivia said, handing me a piece of paper. I scanned over it to see that there were only five of them that did not want a part in what was going to happen. Not that I minded. I told them it was their choice and no one would make them feel bad about it. My witches that have now recovered are absolutely angry and have been channeling that into their fighting skills. They had every right to be angry after what happened to them, they stuck closer together as they recovered and some of them have found their mates. Even though they weren't fully ready for it I have watched them all progress really well. No matter what happens I will always look at everyone with a sense of pride. 

Beth and a few other omegas have been staying busy making sure all the kids had stuff packed and ready to go when Athea came to get them. Now that Beth has come into my life I honestly don't know what I would do without her, she has been the best at managing everything we simply don't have the time to do and I couldn't have imagined a better mate for Jasper. At times I admired how she could manage a bunch of different things at once but then again I was also amazed at how well level headed she is with everyone. The fight was getting closer and closer and I wanted to make sure we covered absolutely everything because when the day actually comes we won't have the time to turn around and finish what we needed to do, the others won't even be in this realm so It is incredibly important that everything gets done the right way the first time around to ensure the safety of our children and those who did not want to fight.