Chapter 21

Anya rubbed her left upper arm as she walked down the now familiar corridors. It had been yet another long morning of injections and blood draws. Damian Krall had thrown himself into trying to correct her mother's failing experiment. The challenge and the potential to create his own army without having to raise it had been enough to grant them a lukewarm welcome to the castle.

She and Cedric had been relieved to learn that not everyone in the castle was Krall's child. Though they did make up a sizable amount of the population. Currently, Anya estimated at least forty of the inhabitant's were Cedric's half-siblings. The rest were either the few mothers who had survived the birth, aunts or uncles of the children who had been determined to stay with them, or other demons looking for someone to follow. They'd figured out within a day that they couldn't be open about their true mission here. Krall and most of the adults had no interest in stopping Voldemort. They were happy to see the wizarding world in chaos — not that anyone really knew what was going on at the moment — and they were convinced it didn't concern them. The others were either too scared of Krall or weren't interested in risking their lives. They realized they were going to have to come up with a more subtle approach of accruing allies before going to Krall with their request.

While the older adults had been standoffish, some of Cedric's siblings had been more welcoming. It turned out that most of them had never been outside of the castle and visitors were very rare, particularly younger visitors. They'd been fascinated to hear about Hogwarts and see their magic, giving them a way into their social circles. Some, particularly Cedric's brothers, had taken too much of interest in her at first, as she was the only girl in their age-range they weren't related to, which had upset Cedric greatly and made him more possessive than she thought was necessary. Thankfully, their interest had waned quickly and Cedric had relaxed.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you."

Anya paused, waiting as two girls bounded over to her. The younger of the two threw her arms around Anya's middle and hugged her tightly. Anya lost her balance for a minute, but Mei didn't notice. Instead, she looked up at Anya with excitement. Mei was eight years old, and was practically attached to Briar, who was more of mother than a sister to the young girl. Briar was the same age Cedric, having been apart of what Krall called the English Batch. She had dirty blonde hair and fair skin with freckles, and usually walked around with a contemplative look. They'd taken to Anya almost instantly once they learned she preferred to feed from nature as opposed to people. Krall viewed that dietary choice as a sign of weakness, and the girls were practically shunned because of it. He only tolerated it from Anya, and now showed tolerance to his daughters, because he wanted to study her and was willing to do almost anything to placate her and Cedric.

"Another morning in the lab?" Briar asked serenely.

Anya nodded. "Yes, I was on my way to find Cedric."

"He's training with Dmitri and Aston," Mei said eagerly.

"Great," she sighed, nudging Mei lightly so she would release her.

Krall had been more than willing to add Cedric to his collection, insisting he participate in the same activities as the rest of his children. Mainly, he wanted Cedric to train with his toughest offspring. This continued focus on building an army bothered Anya. Krall made no effort to conceal it and clearly wanted to conquer something. What he was after though, she couldn't even begin to guess. Some of his children and others in the castle were certainly more militant than others. And while Anya had seen Briar hold her own in a fight, confrontation wasn't natural for her — or for Mei.

"I thought you liked Dmitri and Aston," Briar said, lowering her voice as Mei happily skipped in front of them.

"I do," Anya confirmed. "It's just … he's training a lot."

"There's not much else to do," Briar pointed out. "Plus, it doesn't hurt his standing with Father."

Anya didn't react to Briar's comment, but it worried her. Perhaps they were being too transparent. "Why would that matter?"

"Trust me, it better to be on his good side," she said, her tone unusually hard as her eyes clouded over with a hint of distress. She shook her head, her calm demeanor returning. "His mood will balance out soon. The increased hostility is just a side effect of using his abilities in such an aggressive manner. It happens to all of us when we first start."

Anya mulled over this information, wondering what the training had done to Briar to make her react like that. If it was only temporary, she supposed she could tolerate Cedric's dramatic change in demeanor. However, part of her couldn't help but worry that this side effects would turn out to be more permanent than Briar claimed. It would certainly explaining the temperaments of some of the castle's residents.

Mei was waiting for them at the end of the hall, impatiently swinging from the door handle. When they finally reached her, she practically threw open the door — albeit with some help from Anya — and skipped off into the courtyard. Almost simultaneously, Anya and Briar lifted their hands to their eye to block the brightness of the sun. Once again, Anya found herself cursing the dimness of the castle, where it had a near-constant feeling of early evening or night on the inside. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to true daylight, and she lowered her hand.

It was an unusually warm day, given that it was either late-fall or early-winter by now, so there were quite a few more people than normal outside. There was a particularly large crowd around the training ring. The girls made their way toward it, Mei staying close as they pushed their way to the front of the cheering crowd.

It was two against one again, Anya saw as she reached the edge of the ring. Cedric was determined to prove he was just as strong and skilled as his half-brothers. He claimed it was all to get in Krall's good graces. However, Anya suspected it was also due to some need of Cedric's to prove himself mixed with his competitive nature. No matter what he said, he'd always been the best at Hogwarts, whether in class or on the quidditch pitch.

Dmitri and Aston had Cedric cornered at the far side of the ring and were slowly closing in on him. Anya watched as Cedric quickly strategized, his eyes darting between his opponents. Then, almost too fast, for her to see, Dmitri and Aston were flying backward across the ring before landing flat on their backs about ten feet from they'd been standing. Cedric stood in front of her, grinning proudly. Despite her concerns, she couldn't help but return the smile.

"Match!"

Anya's gaze drifted away from Cedric to a fourth boy: Alexi. Her smile faltered as she took in his disgruntled demeanor. He'd clearly been hoping for Cedric to lose the match. The twenty-year-old had been antagonistic to Cedric since they arrived. His hostility had been unnerving at first, often putting both Cedric and Anya on high alert whenever they crossed paths with him. They'd soon come to learn he was Krall's number one favorite — and was very territorial of that position. His attitude toward Cedric had only become more hostile as Cedric had proven to be just as skilled as him and worked his way up in Krall's standings.

There was no love lost on Cedric's part though. Alexi had been part of the group that had shown too much interest in Anya. Unfortunately, Cedric's possessive response hadn't deterred him. He'd backed off, but Anya could still see the calculating look in his eyes whenever he stared at her. It reminded her of how Ezra looked at her after their breakup. She didn't like it, but kept her concerns to herself. She feared Cedric would do something unnecessarily drastic and jeopardize their place here if she did mention it to him. If it came to it, Anya knew she could handle Alexi — just like how she'd handled Ezra.

The crowd was breaking up now that the excitement of the match was done. Dmitri and Aston were standing now, wiping the dirt off of their clothes and laughing good-naturedly. Aston stopped to talk to Alexi while Dmitri continued making his way toward Cedric.

"Impressive," he said, lightly punching Cedric's shoulder. "I swear we had you there that time. I don't think I've seen anyone move that fast."

"What can I say? I'm the best" Cedric joked.

"So when will we see what you can do?" Dmitri asked Anya. His smile indicated it was only a friendly challenge. However, Anya didn't miss how Cedric's smile faltered for a moment. Thankfully, Mei cut in before anything else was said.

"You know she can't, Dmitri," Mei reprimanded, going as far as to scowl at her big brother. Though the effect was more cute than anything. "Father said she is forbidden from training. She's too sick."

Dmitri held up his hands in mock-surrender, laughing. "I know, I know. I was just teasing her, Mei."

Mollified, Mei took his hand and began leading him back to the castle, claiming he owed five cookies for losing the match. Briar followed after them, always hesitant to be too far from Mei. Anya watched them all go, wondering about Mei's abilities. Sometimes, she thought the little girl might be an empath or maybe telepath with how she defused situations — or maybe she was just intuitive.

"How was the lab today?" Cedric asked, lowering his voice.

Anya shrugged. "No change." Noticing Alexi was eyeing them, she added, "But I'm feeling a little tired. I think I might take a nap before dinner."

Cedric furrowed his brow. It was barely after lunch and her mornings in the lab were anything but physically exhausted. He followed her gaze and glanced behind him. Spotting Alexi, his confused expression slid into glare.

"I think I'll go with you," he said, an unexpected edge to his voice. "I need to clean up anyway."

They turned back toward the castle, following the same path his siblings had taken. At least they'd be able to talk more freely in their room. It would not be good for them if Alexi found out about the experiments.

"So how was your morning? Any progress?" Cedric asked.

They were back in their room, well the attached bathroom, which they'd soundproofed with the Imperturbable Charm. They weren't sure anyone was trying to spy on them, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Cedric was washing away all the dirt and sweat from the morning's training sessions in the oversized tub while Anya sat crossed-legged on the marble counter. The castle, it turned out, wasn't as plain as it appeared. The rooms reserved for permanent residents were very luxurious, more so than any manor she'd ever seen. The floors, counter, and tub in their bathroom were of a marble that almost looked as if it had swirls of gold running through it. The tub was large enough to comfortably fit two more people of Cedric's size. Light poured in from the large, lightly frosted window that looked out onto the forest. Though it could be spooky in the middle of the night, Anya was glad it didn't face the courtyard or another part of the castle.

"I mean, we've been able to fill in some of the blanks from my mother's journals, but we're no closer to finding out why I'm getting weak so quickly," Anya said dejectedly. With not much hope she added, "However, Lavania thinks she's figured out the suppressant potion."

"Is that what you want?"

Anya sighed, repositioning herself so her chin rested on her knees. "I don't know. I wouldn't lose energy as long as I took it, which would be a nice change. I'm tired of the smallest magical act requiring me to take a three-hour nap. I'd still be able to use actual magic, just not my abilities. It's better than nothing."

"Who are trying to convince?" Cedric asked, smirking. "You or me?"

"Both. What about you? Anyone seem like a possible ally?"

Cedric grabbed a towel from the edge of the counter and wrapped it around his waist as he carefully climbed out of the tub. Anya tossed him a second one from beside her so he wouldn't drip all over the floor.

"Dmitri and Aston for sure, though they really just want to have an adventure outside of this place," he said, using the second towel to dry off his hair. "Maybe a few others, it's … I don't know. It's not what I expected."

"You mean you didn't expect to find a castle that's population skewed toward twenty and under?" Anya asked drily. "Yeah, me neither. I think we need to accept that the mission, in as far as getting help, is a failure. Maybe we help some of them out, if they want to leave. I don't care that Krall's training them to fight. I can't ask them to fight a war, especially kids."

"What's the difference between us and them?" Cedric asked. His tone wasn't harsh exactly, but it wasn't neutral either. "I'm eighteen. You're seventeen. Same age group as most of the kids here, and the ones who are already fighting back home."

Anya shrugged. "It feels wrong to ask them to do it, I guess. If we get them out and they want to come back and help us, that's one thing. It's their decision. I just … I can't."

Cedric was silent. As she waited for him to say something, she felt her pulse quicken slightly. She shook her head, mentally chiding herself. She shouldn't be worried about his response. Anya knew Cedric wouldn't ask it of his siblings either. He had a stake in the war; they didn't. Besides Krall, very few even knew who Voldemort was. Anya doubted he was much a threat to them anyway given how well they were hidden from the world.

"Yeah, you're right," Cedric finally said, a little begrudgingly. "I don't like failing."

Cedric left the bathroom to find clean clothes. Anya slid off the counter and followed after him, taking a seat at the foot of their bed. A wave of drowsiness hit her, and she realized she couldn't fight off her exhaustion any longer. She kicked off her shoes and moved to the top of the bed where she could take advantage of the many pillows.

Unfolding a throw blanket," she asked, "So, how long do we stay?"

"What do you mean?"

Anya rolled her eyes, though he didn't see as he pulling on a shirt over his head. He knew exactly what she meant. They didn't belong here.

"How long do we wait until we leave? I know you'd like me to be able to use my abilities again, but I can make do with the potion. Hell, I could probably help Lavania figure it out if we want to leave soon."

Cedric paused to look at her, which was rather comical as he was halfway through slipping on his pants.

"You haven't been helping?" he asked, almost sounding indignant.

"Of course not. I couldn't risk Krall knowing I'm not just your tag-a-long girlfriend," she said, half-teasing. "He was so suspicious of us. Still is, I think. It's better to keep him in the dark about some things. Like how smart I am."

Cedric shook his head, slipping on his second pant leg. "If that's going to be your attitude, are you sure we can trust anyone here at all? Might as well leave tomorrow."

Anya sat up slightly, taken aback by his suddenly defensive tone.

"Don't be like that," she said. Trying to calm him or make light of what she had said would only anger him further so she kept her voice void of emotion. "I do think there are people here we can trust, even if they don't want to come with us. But Krall's not one of them. He only cares about people — his children — because of what they can do for him. The second you're weak or go against him, he turns on you. Right now, you're one of the favorites because of how strong and intelligent you are, and I'm an interesting experiment. He's not going to let us leave."

Cedric turned away from her, glaring out the window. She could tell he wasn't ignoring her though, so she continued.

"We can't stay here forever. There are people back home who need us."

He let a long sigh and folded his arms. She hoped he'd actually listened. Anya knew what it was like, wanting your birth parent to accept you. And even though Cedric's father was clearly a dictatorial lunatic who had sired his own demon army, there was a part of him that craved Krall's acceptance. It much like how she'd always sought Lilith's approval. It was a feeling neither of them wanted, but couldn't stop.

"Ok," he muttered, turning back to face her. There was a tightness around his mouth and eyes that hinted at a restrained anger, but it was slowly fading to a look of resignation. "What do you have in mind?"

AN: Another week, another update! Let me know what you think!