Thank you so much to all of you who have been waiting for this next chapter – thank you to all those who have reviewed and favourited my stories.
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Zoey's Point of View
We all held our breath as Neferet walked towards us, twirling Darkness around in the air from her fingers. Mathew stood still, his ruby eyes glowing and his fists clenched.
"Such a shame", Neferet tutted, walking behind us. We sure as hell didn't trust Neferet, but none of us felt like provoking her anymore – not since all of the chaos erupted – so we didn't dare turn round to look her in the eye. "All of this could have been prevented, you know."
She walked up to Damien, menace in her eyes. I felt the need to protect him, but it was as if I was rooted to the spot – the obscene amount of Darkness radiating from Neferet was terrifying. The Twins stayed deathly still as well - their eyes wide.
Neferet spun a circle of Darkness in the air with her finger, and then gently blew it into Damien's face. He spluttered slightly, but then regained his posture.
"If only your little group wasn't so interfering", Neferet continued, walking past Damien to the Twins. She threaded a long wire of Darkness and flicked it at the Twins as she went past. Shaunee flinched as Darkness dissolved on her cheek, but Erin quietly took her hand in order to stop her sounding out her pain.
"But it seems to be that you" – she looked directly at me while addressing us all – "cannot mind your own business."
A black cloud of smoke began building up behind Neferet until it was twice her size – both in width and height.
"Alright guys" I whispered, barely moving my lips. "3 . ."
"And now. ." she continued . .
"2. ."
"You will get . ."
"1. ."
"WHAT YOU DESERVE!"
"GO!" I shouted, as Neferet took her great claws of Darkness and swiped at us.
Just in time, the Twins managed to split as we all dived away from each other – narrowly missing a fatal blow. Neferet stumbled as she missed, and in the time it took her to adjust, we has jumped up and were racing down the tunnel.
As we ran, we heard Neferet call from behind us – "Just you wait. This is far from over." I missed Aphrodite's after-comments, which would've been "Yeah, sure as hell isn't!"
Two hours later
We had managed to hide ourselves in a small corner of the tunnels – which was empty because none of the captured fledglings were being kept nearby. I could feel a terrible ache in my chest from the pain of losing Stevie Rae – and even Aphrodite – for good. Sure, Aphrodite was a bitch, but she knew how to perk things up when all seemed lost – helpfully or not.
For once, Damien was the one talking.
"Poor Stevie Rae", he said, his head bent in sadness. "She died in love – how cliché is that?"
No one responded verbally, but listened.
"That Mathew was kinda cute too", Damien confessed – causing us all to look up at him. "If Stevie Rae had lived, and he hadn't turned all evil – then they would've made quite a cute couple."
A tiny smile tempted the corners of my mouth. It was typical Damien.
"Hello..?" A voice coming from a side tunnel sounded, causing us all to stiffen and shrink into the shadows.
"Guys? Anyone?"
Oh my GOD . . .
Before anyone could stop me, I practically leaped out of my hiding place and jumped on her. "STEVIE RAE!"
Startled, she returned my embrace, and then looked over in the direction I'd come from and saw Damien and the Twins.
"Aw, you guys . ." she started, and was then cut off by a fierce group hug from all of them. As they all pulled away, I could've sworn Erin's eyes had watered.
"Stevie Rae, what happened?" Erin asked. Stevie Rae's eyes turned distant and she suddenly started shaking.
"I can't remember . . . I woke up alone, and I hurt all over . . . Aphrodite was there . . . no, Neferet took her away . . . with Mathew? . . . But where is she now? What happened?" And then her eyes grew wide as revelation dawned on her. "Oh God, MATHEW! His eyes! Oh God, WHAT HAPPENED?"
She started sobbing uncontrollably, rocking back and forth. I held her as tears flooded from her eyes.
"We have to save Aphrodite!" she sobbed.
"But she's dead, Aphrodite", Damien said softly.
"NO", Stevie Rae said stubbornly. "As I began to wake up, she was being taken away by Neferet, and she was tied up in Darkness."
We all stared at her in silence.
"IT'S TRUE!" she insisted.
Half of me was battling the rational thing to do, and the right thing to do. Rational – get out of here, somewhere safe, where we can think up a suitable plan. Right thing to do – find out where Neferet was and what she was planning to do with Aphrodite.
Ah, HELL.
After trying, and failing, to get the others to go back to school campus, we all crept through the tunnels – flinching at the slightest drip of water.
We walked past tunnels and tunnels of fledglings, asking if they had seen Neferet. Most were too scared to answer, but the girl with the coffee-coloured skin pointed us in the right direction.
We eventually arrived at the same place that we'd found Mathew in – and noticed that there was still dried blood on the floor from earlier. The room was deserted, apart from Aphrodite unconscious on the floor. We immediately rushed over to her.
There was a huge wound open at her chest, drenching her expensive top a dark red colour. "Aphrodite…"
"TRICKED YOU!"
A mean, menacing voice sounded behind us and we spun round.
Stevie Rae, who had been standing in the doorway, gave a smug smile as black mist poured out from her skin – enveloping her until it was impossible to see her face. When the mist subsided, it was not Stevie Rae that was standing before us.
It was Neferet.
"I told you this wasn't over", she said.
Sorry for the short chapter, but THANK YOU for reading – now please review! I write this story for those faithful ones who read it and let me know :)