Can I just say that going down is a lot more fun than going up?

I felt like my skin was being ripped off my face. My cheeks hurt. I straightened myself and closed my eyes. What happened with Ben was weird and seemed irrelevant, but I felt like it was necessary and that I would need this information later. Soon I felt a dramatic change in temperature, and I vowed to never complain about cold weather again. Cool, early fall air rushed into my lungs and I felt like it was finally breathing again. I was still extremely tired, but the cool air made me less drowsy. A few seconds later the feeling of confinement left me and I shot into the air. My eyes snapped open to see that I was about 10 above the ground. Not too high, but still terrifying.

All I saw was concrete and bricks, so there was nothing soft to land on. I leaned forwards and tucked myself into a roll. I shot my hands out in front of me and prayed to Artemis that I wouldn't die. When I was 4 feet away from the ground, I started to move forward.  Just as I hoped, when I hit the ground, my hands took some of the shock but I used momentum to roll and I felt nothing except for a few scrapes and bruises. I don't even think that my wrists were that injured.

   I quickly stood up and took in my surroundings. I was still in the 'ghost town'. My friends were probably still asleep. In the distance I saw the slim Ichthyocentaur circling around my friends, trying to decide who to eat first. I broke out into a sprint. Even though I was dead tired, the thought of my friends gave me an extra boost of energy. In a few minuets I was out of breath, and in front of my friends. I looked upwards and I saw that stupid Ichthyocentaur.

"I hate you" I muttered under my breath.

"And I, you" he said, now directly next to me, "Now I don't care where you went or how you came back, but I'm gonna kill you, so hold still"

"Not today, sucker" I said. I'm not sure what changed in me, but I knew what I had to do. In less than 20 seconds I had a plan. His weak spot had to be on his right because he was facing me on his left, and I saw nothing. My hands slowly slipped towards my dagger so it wasn't noticeable. Then, as fast as lightning, in one swift movement I stepped to his side and spun around. I took my dagger and sliced blindly at where I thought his weak spot was. Luck guess.

"No one has ever defeated us before. You will pa-" then he exploded into dust.

I heard a mix of gasps and confused noises coming from behind me. I turned around to see all my friends sitting up, confused.

"Oh my gods, you guys are okay!" I screamed. I tackled James, Madi, and MK in a bear hug.

"What happened?" Megan asked.

I explained the whole story to them including Agartha. But I left out Ben, that seemed like a story for later.

"Wow. You can shadow travel like that? Awesome!" Dan said.

"Yeah" I replied coyly. I glanced over at Eric, who was looking rather pleased with himself.

"And you defeated two powerful monsters without an injury!"Madi said in awe.

"Okay, okay. She defeated a monster. Big deal. Now can we get going?" Gabriella pleaded, bored.

"Not just any monster. Her first monster!" Sadie said mockingly.

My face began to turn red. I made fists, and my nails dug into my palms so hard they went numb. James saw my anger and made a suggestion.

"Hey, let's get going before anything else happens"

"Yes, let's" Madi said, catching on too,"Come on, we gotta get back to business"