Macie~

I was stuck, in an endless, dangerous, pitch black cavern, with a zombie and an arrogant Viviblix who's head is stuck in his arse.

To make it twenty times worse, I'd lost Jean and Max, my real friends, at the bottom of a chasm with no promise for a way out.

I blamed Terrence. I mean, yeah he had nothing to do with it, but I still blamed him.

He played it cool, but I still didn't trust Terrence, and now that I had been left alone, I kept waiting for him to whip out a sword, or send Todd after me and tell me he'd give Jean and Max my regards, then give that stupid cocky smirk.

I mean sure his uncle had been cool, and Shadow the puppy was adorable, that didn't mean Terrence had revealed his true intentions.

To say I was on high alert was an understatement.

Todd lead the way through a tunnel we had found, flashlights in our hands, it was quiet save the sound of our boots on the cave floor as we walked.

The only thing that made me more nervous then the way ahead...was the tunnel behind.

It felt empty, creepily empty, leaving a chill behind my back.

I walked next to Terrence for I don't know how long, the tunnel went up, down, side to side, but nowhere useful, the only thing that changed? The creepy feeling growing.

I hadn't spoken to Terrence, I figured that would just give him a chance to be sarcastic, so I stayed quiet...until I heard something.

I couldn't describe what it was, there was nothing earthly to compare it to, maybe a growl?

It rumbled more and more, as if the air itself was shaking. "You hear that, right?" I whispered.

Terrence nodded. "Probably better than you do."

I shot him a glare. Why did he ALWAYS have to act like he was superior to all of us??

I released a breath rolling my eyes. I didn't have time to be pissed at him if we were in danger. "Do you know what it is?" I demanded.

Terrence shook his head. "Not a clue."

"Comforting." I replied dryly. Terrence shrugged.

A squeaking noice came from up ahead, and I ducked just in time for three bats to flap over our heads and into the darkness.

~ chink chink chink!~

The second sound was unfamiliar. I rose and turned nose scrunched. "What was that one?"

Terrence shone his flashlight into the tunnel we came from, on the cave floor were three piles of bones, bat bones.

"RUN!" Terrence roared, and for once I didn't argue, both of us took off down the tunnel, fear and adrenaline pounding in my ears and through my heart.

The tunnel finally opened up to a large cavern, but this one had several tunnels on every side.

"Which one?" I screamed aloud trying to figure out.

Terrence scanned the tunnels then pointed. "This one."

He pulled my wrist and I resisted, uncertainty filling me.

Confusion flickered across Terrence's features "What's wrong-" his face fell.

"You don't trust me." He realized.

I swallowed, but didn't correct him. Would he hurt me?

"Fine." He snapped, throwing off my wrist. "You pick, cause they're coming!"

I picked a tunnel at random and ran, Terrence and Todd at my heels.

The sounds of growls or whatever was behind us got fainter, and I prayed what ever it was, didn't know which of the many tunnels we had gone down.

I turned my head to Terrence and held a finger to my mouth, urging him to be quiet, I did NOT want to give away our position.

He just turned his head away from me as we sprinted.

I shook my head when the loose dirt beneath me made me slip, a squeak escaped me as I slid down an unseen dip then fell, hitting a dirt floor.

"Ow!" I held a hand to my head, only to have Terrence land next to me.

Terrence groaned as I shakily rose to my hands and knees.

Where?

I picked up the flashlight that fell with me. It was a hole, seven feet in diameter, ten feet deep. The walls were flat, not climbable.

"You have got to be kidding me." I muttered, as Terrence shifted to a sitting position and coughed. When he saw what I did he shook his head. "Where the heck did this come from Team Rocket?!" He demanded.

I smirked at the reference, then groaned realizing we were stuck. "Any ideas?" I attempted.

"Like if I did you would listen." Terence shot at me.

I turned to look at him. "Really?" I demanded.

Terrence didn't respond, just slid off his backpack and pulled out some rope.

I released a breath, at least he was still trying to get us out of here. "Okay rope, now how do we anchor it to the top, unless you can lasso like a real cow boy." I raised an eyebrow.

"Don't need to." Terrence responded tying knots in the rope for hand holds. "We got you Legolas."

I realized my bow was still on my back, gratitude it didn't break swelled inside me.

"Hang on bud we're comin." Terrence called up to Todd, who watched us overhead.

We tied the rope to one of my arrows, I pulled back and shot, the arrow hit a nearby wall with a crack, wedging into the rock.

I walked over to the rope and pulled, it popped out instantly.

My face fell, as the rope pooled at our feet.

"If we toss it to Todd, can he tie it to a rock or something?" I asked.

Terrence shook his head still looking grumpy. "He doesn't have that kind of hand-eye coordination."

Terrence picked up the arrow and shoved it into the wall, it was imbedded. My eyes widened, that, was some serious strength.

Thinking back to earlier that day I furrowed my brow. "How on earth did Jean beat you at arm wrestling?"

Terrence turned away from me and didn't say anything, but that was all the answer I needed.

"You let her win." I released, shock rippling through me. That went against everything I knew about the egotistic wise cracking Terrence. "Why?"

Terrence kept silent.

I folded my arms. "I'm serious, why did you bother to let her win??"

Terrence sighed. "Cause she was embarrassed okay?" He finally responded. "She risked her life to save my zombie. She needed a confidence boost."

My heart stopped, and I studied Terrence with new eyes. A villain wouldn't bother with making sure someone wasn't embarrassed, though I supposed there was the small possibility he did it simply because he didn't want any of us aware of how strong he actually was.

But then, he could've just said no.

"Jean." Terrence spoke looking up, not at me to Todd. "Todd! Go try and find Max and Jean."

My eyes widened. "Your kidding right."

"It's the best chance we've got smart aleck." Terrence shot back.

Todd wandered off, and it wasn't long before I slid to my butt, sitting with my back against the wall facing Terrence.

At least the creature hadn't come back, if it even was a creature.

I pulled out a packet of fruit snacks from my bag and began munching.

Terrence paced for several minutes, and I didn't stop him.

I sighed, trying not to feel as defeated as I wanted to.

I was left with too much time to think, and unfortunately, my thoughts kept circulating to the boy in front of me. He was being snappy and irritable, and the more I thought about it the more it made, well, sense.

If I was a bad guy posing as a good one, and someone in the group didn't trust me, I'd probably act as politely and cordially as possible in response, but he wasn't, Terrence was behaving like...like I hurt his feelings.

"Look-" I started then regretted it immediately. Well, I couldn't stop now. "Don't take it too personal, we've been betrayed already and- I haven't even known you a week." I defended.

Terrence stopped pacing his demeanor softening, or maybe just deflating.

"Do you trust Max and Jean?" He asked.

"Absolutely." I answered immediately. I had no doubts in my mind about the intentions of their hearts.

"How long have you known them?" He asked softly.

I thought back on it, my cheeks reddening. "About four days." I murmured.

"That's not a week," Terrence pointed out. "So why am I different Macie?"

"They're not-" I defended then froze.

Oh, oh.

Terrence's shoulders fell slightly and he turned away. "Exactly."

I was silent, realizing I had judged Terrence based mostly on the fact that he was a blix, but, why shouldn't I have?

You never EVER hear stories about good blixes, they're magical, like demons, and if you trust a demon to be anything but selfish, you're an idiot who's in for it.

Blixes were mortal though, and didn't mortals have the chance to chose good from bad? Was it possible, this one did?

My eyes flickered up to Terrence.

If he really was a good guy, and I say IF, I imagine trying to prove that was the case to others, would be like running up a glass slope in roller skates.

I rose to my feet and folded my arms.

"Alright, I'm not ruling out the possibility that you're a traitor, but, I also won't be completely closed to the chance your a good guy." I told him.

"Oh how generous of you." Terrence rolled his eyes at me.

I shrugged. "Hey, that's the best you're gonna get pretty boy."

Terrence raised an eyebrow. "Pretty boy?" He questioned turning around.

I went to respond when Terrence rushed forward covering my mouth, anger rose up- when I heard it. The growling. It was back.

My heart rate picked up with fear as we stood there, completely frozen, and Terrence WAY too close to me. He smelled good, like cologne, but subtle.

We listened together, till the sound of the of the growling wind stopped.

Terrence released his hand from my mouth, but then held a warning finger to his lips, he must believe it was still there.

We waited, and waited, then the growling returned, and went off down a tunnel.

"Varsda." Terrence spoke.

"What?" I whispered.

"It's like a living shadow, and like you noticed with the bats, it's fast, and hungry."

I nodded, waiting for my thundering heart to calm down but it hadn't. My skin tingled with cold now that his warmth had stepped back.

I ran a finger through my hair.

With something like that wandering around these tunnels, what were the chances Max and Jean were okay?

"It's not gonna eat Todd is it?" I worried.

Terrence shook his head.

"Zombie meat tastes terrible, Im sure the creature will go the other way."

"So we sit here and wait?" I asked.

Terrence nodded. "So we sit here and wait."

And that's exactly what we did, we picked opposite sides of the pit and sat with our backs against the wall. I wasn't ready to be close to him again after the hand covering incident.

We were in silence for who knows how long before I heard.

"Favorite color?"

I snorted. "You're kidding right?"

"Come on, it's not like I'm pressing for secrets or personal information."

I thought about it a moment, suddenly feeling shy. "Cream."

Terrence looked slightly surprised. "Why on earth is one of the most boring colors your favorite?" He sounded amused.

"It's not boring," I defended. "Cream makes me think of cinnamon and vanilla candles, whipped cream and chai tea, honey butter, fuzzy sweaters, even old paper."

Terrence looked thoughtful. "Fair enough."

"What about you, Mr Blix?" I questioned.

"Oh that makes me sound like a fancy chap in a top hat." Terrence smirked. "Tootle pip then."

I snorted, then quickly covered it. "You still didn't answer the question." I pointed out.

"Bluish green then." He answered.

That one surprised me. "Like teal? Or turquoise?"

He shook his head. "No, paler than that."

I couldn't picture such a color in my head, but I just went with it.

"Okay then, what's next? Favorite food?"

Terrence shook his head. "Nah I know that one."

I folded my arms. "I ~highly~ doubt that."

"It's muffins." He responded easily.

I felt like a bucket of water had been dumped on me. "H-How on earth did you know that?" I stammered.

Terrence shrugged. "I've been chasing Jordan for months, when I found you guys with him I did surveillance for a day or two to make sure I knew what I was getting into. You had like three muffins in two days. It was the first item you went for not matter the options."

My cheeks heated.

Muffins, muffins reminded me of my mom, but he didn't need to know that.

"Well what's yours?" I inquired.

"Coffee Flavored Jelly Beans." He responded immediately.

I fought a smirk. "I don't think that counts as food, candy maybe."

"Fight me." Terrence responded.

I snickered. "Okay okay."

"Favorite movie." Terrence prompted.

That one only took a moments thought. "Tangled. Yours?"

Terrence chuckled and shook his head. "Tangled."

I blinked.

"You're pulling my leg." I accused. There was no way.

Terrence nodded. "Flynn Rider is my role model couldn't you tell?" He joked.

"Eugene Fitzhebert." I corrected.

"Oh forgive me." Terrence rolled his eyes.

"I'll think about it." I responded. "Tell me something I don't know."

Terrence thought a moment.

"One time when I was six, I was playing in the yard and I saw a snake eat a toad and I was traumatized." He informed. "I was scared of snakes till age 13."

I blinked. I was not expecting a story so...human. This guy could raise the dead and he was scared of snakes?? Then again he probably didn't know that when he was six.

"Not anymore though?" I questioned.

Terrence chuckled and shook his head. "Not anymore."

"Darn." I pouted. "That would've been an excellent revenge."

Confusion flickered across Terrence's features a moment. "Revenge for what?" He raised a suspicious eyebrow.

I shot him a look then pointed to my wrist, where a Skelton had grabbed me earlier that day due to his prank.

Terrence grinned. "Your scream was cute." He noted.

My cheeks heated. "Jerk." I told him.

Terrence shrugged. "At least now I know to be on the look out for your revenge."

I folded my arms. "Oh it's coming." I warned.

Terrence's grin broadened. "I look forward to it."

Well Macie and Terrence haven't killed each other...yet. Here's to hopin' guys.

*dramatic narrator voice* And thus concludes our story for today. Will the spider lady kill Max? Why did she want the sword? Are Macie and Terrence doomed to be skeletons at the bottom of a hole? Join us next time to find out!!

I hope you enjoyed! Ya'll are some of my favorite people and I love making you happy with my stories.

Comment your favorite part, or thoughts, and have a Happy Halloweennnnn!