Disclaimer: These characters belong to a Miss Kelly Armstrong!

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"Are you sure about this Chloe?" Liz asked, looking nervous.

Once I had agreed to try, the underworld-ling had allowed Liz back into the room. Liz, who had looked upset about being thrown into the guards' observation room and was able to see everything, but not hear. After she had returned and caught her up, she paced around the room while I continued to sit on the mattress, my mind already made up.

"I-I think so… I don't like it, but I know that Mrs. Enright is back, and if Derek or I get hurt any further…"

"You both might not be able to make it out of here alive." Liz said, slumping in defeat. I looked away, ashamed that I was still living and breathing while Liz didn't even have a fighting chance.

"I have to do my part. I can't just sit back and wait for another of us to get seriously hurt…. Or worse." I said, shivering slightly. Liz just nodded, coming over to sit by me.

"Fine, but if she tries to pull anything…"

"I'll make sure to watch my back." The voice said, it ringing with slight humor. "I don't mean to rush you children, but time isn't exactly on your side."

I nodded. "O-Okay, but what do I do first? How do I even get you out?" That was the thing - if I couldn't get her out of her trap, then all of this debate would have been for nothing. Mrs. Enright would come in, haul me away to the torture room, and make sure Derek and I would never breathe a lie again.

I couldn't repress the shudder that passed through me at the thought.

"You are powerful, child, more powerful than any necromancer that I have come across. Only imagine my voice as a rope, and pull. Pull as if you are pulling a body out of the water."

I closed my eyes, ignoring the slightly dark comparison and focused on her voice, feeling around it and imagining a small light attached to the voice. I gave a slight tug, testing.

"Good." The voice congratulated, sounding more and more excited by the second. "Just like that, but until I'm fully into your dimension."

I nodded and continued, a little more hopeful now that I could do this. I reached for the voice again, and, gripping the imaginary rope in my mind, gave a longer and stronger pull. Through my eyelids, I could see the light in the room slowly become brighter, and I tried my best to put it out of my mind. Any distractions and I may slip up, and miss my chance completely.

"Almost there, child. So close…" The voice whispered. The voice was so clear that it took me a moment to realize that the voice wasn't sounding in the room around me, instead it was in my mind, working hard to help me drag it to shore.

I took a deep breath, and, with a last burst of strength, gave a final, strong pull.

I gasped and opened my eyes as I felt the connection snap, and heard a burst of shattering glass. Liz shrieked as the light in the room went out and we were covered in darkness.

Everything in the room was silent for a moment, the only sound I was able to make out was heavy breathing, and it took me a moment to realize that it was my own breathing that I was hearing. I tried to calm my breathing, and ran my hand across my forehead to find that sweat had pooled on my face and neck.

Apparently pulling creatures from where they were bound is hard work.

Suddenly, a small light filled the room, and it took me a second to realize that the emergency lights had been switched on. I looked over to Liz, my eyes still adjusting, and she looked back at me, confused and slightly scared.

"D-do you th-think it worked?" I asked quietly.

The response that I got wasn't from Liz, but was instead from the building itself, shaking and spewing out alarms like it was the end of the world. Liz and I jumped up off the bed, standing at ready. Suddenly, the door to my room slowly opened.

Liz and I waited for a moment, waiting for someone to come in, but instead, a small, Tawny Owl hopped out, ruffling out its copper feathers. It's dark eyes looked around until it spotted me, and oddly enough, turned to look straight at Liz for a second before bouncing closer.

"What…" I began quietly.

At the sound of my voice, it stopped.

"Don't be afraid, child." I jumped at the sound of the underworld-ling's voice in my head. "This, unfortunately, is the form that I must take for now. My power is not strong enough to take a human shape quite yet." At that, the owl flew up, forcing both Liz and I to flinch away slightly as it made its way toward us. After circling me for a second, the owl - or, underworld-ling- floated down onto my shoulder, slightly irritating my skin under my shirt with its nails. Slowly, I raised my hand to it, stopping part-way. The owl looked at my hand for a second, then back at me before slowly closing its black eyes and leaning into my hand. I couldn't help the small smile that formed.

"What's going on?" Liz asked, still looking a bit freaked out. She stared at the owl on perched on my shoulder, mystified, as I continued to stroke its feathers.

"Th-this is the underworld-ling, I g-guess." I said quietly. The owl slowly opened her eyes.

"This is the only way we can communicate, my child, since owls don't possess the same set of vocal chords. So tell your friend, that yes, I am the underworld-ling. Now that we have struck a deal, and you have fulfilled your side, you may call me Albia. Now, it is time for me to fulfill part of my promise, and help you and your friend escape."

Just then the room began to shake, and shouts through the hallways could be heard.

"Run, child, to Derek's room."

Not waiting a second longer, I told Liz quickly to follow before running out of the door and into the observation room, where no guard could be seen. Taking a quick breath of relief, I opened the second door and peeked through, still feeling the building shake and seeing pieces of rubble fall to the ground.

"What's going on?" Liz asked again, staying close. Seeing no one around, I quickly made my way out of the door and down the hallway to the corner.

"Albia is the owl - o-or the underworld-ling. S-she said we have to get out of here now." I peeked around the corner, but stopped to see that Liz had just walked right out, checking to make sure the coast was clear before motioning me to continue walking.

"Okay… well, I guess an owl is harmless enough. Is she the cause of this… earthquake?"

"This is the result of my release. The earthquake shouldn't be too strong, but it provides the perfect distraction."

I suddenly felt the owl leave my arm, flying down the hallway and turning down the next intersection toward where we were heading. I relayed the information back to Liz, who smiled.

"You know, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. She works fast."

As soon as we turned the hallway, we slid to a stop, our eyes widening in horror.

"I did not hurt them." The owl - Albia- stated calmly. "It's a simple trick from home. These humans are simply asleep, and will wake in a few minutes."

Along the hallway and right outside of Derek's door layed about seven guards, all strewn about on the floor. Although her words assured me a little, I still bent down to check to make sure the guards were still alive. I sighed in relief as I felt calm and steady breath against my hand from the guard I knelt by. I looked up and nodded to Liz.

"They're fine, just asleep." I said, smiling a bit. Liz shivered slightly before turning back to the owl.

Albia had started pecking at a guards belt, trying to get something from it. I quickly walked over to see that she had been pecking at the guard's I.D., and I quickly grabbed it while letting her jump back onto my arm and moving onto my shoulder.

"Come on, Derek's door is right over here." Liz said, already heading over. I followed her lead, noticing the building falling about even more now, even large pieces of rubble falling. Quickly sending a prayer that the guards would wake up before they were hurt, I quickly scanned the I.D and opened up Derek's door to find the guards absent, and Derek eyeing the walls around him wearily.

"Liz, can you look to see if any of the guards have the key to Derek's chains?" I asked quickly, scanning the I.D. again to open the door. Liz nodded and vanished, and I quickly pushed the door open to find Derek tensed up. Once he realized it was me, he relaxed a bit before making eye contact with the owl and tensing again. A slow growl escaped from him, I hesitated going further.

"What." He demanded, "Is that." His glare had gone ice cold, and I stood there shocked, before shaking my head and moving closer.

"N-Not a fan of owls?" I asked, shakily, the adrenaline from finally escaping continuing to rush through me. I wanted to continue running, but I had to wait for Liz to find that key before we did anything.

"That is not an owl." He snapped. "I don't know what it is, but it's not an animal."

"What a perceptive young child! It must be his instincts, or even his sense of smell… I'll have to keep that in mind." Albia said, sounding pleased that her little disguise was seen through.

I nodded, putting my hands up in the air, trying to calm him down.

"She's not, but she's a friend." I said quickly seeing a flash of something in the corner of my eye. I turned to see Liz holding up the key, and I quickly grabbed a hold of it before turning back to Derek and bending down, reaching the locks on his hands. He stiffened as I got near.

"I'll explain the rest later, but we have to leave...now. Mrs. Enright was already back before this started, and I have a feeling that she's going to be hunting us down the first chance she gets."

I struggled getting the key into the hole, my hands shaking like crazy from my frayed nerves. I didn't realize I was taking so long until I felt Derek's hand on top of mine, stopping me before taking the key himself and unlocking his first hand before moving on to the second on.

"Fine." He said. He stood then, slowly, and stopped right before he could completely straighten. His arms were still covered in cuts, and his left hand came across to clutch at his side. He eyed the owl wearily before looking back toward me.

"A-Are you okay to move? D-Do-" He held up his other hand to stop me.

"I'll be fine, just get us out of the building." He snapped. I nodded before turning toward Liz.

"Do you remember where the doors are? I know the shutes were an option, but it might not be safe to go that route right now." I said, gesturing toward the worsening condition of the building.

Liz nodded. "Yeah, follow me."

I repeated the message to Derek, who simply nodded before letting me lead the way out. I quickly kept in step with Liz, while Albia jumped off of my shoulder to fly ahead, keeping up more with Liz and leaving us two behind. I looked behind me to make sure Derek was keeping up to find that he was right by my side, slightly leading now that he could see where the owl was headed. At first it seemed that maybe his side was just fine, but after looking more closely to see the sweat on his forehead and the narrowing of his eyes at the pain, I knew that wasn't necessarily the case.

After a couple turns through the hallways, Albia circled back to land on my shoulder as Liz stepped to the side of one door. There was another scanner here, and I quickly took out the card to scan.

The scan, however, didn't let out any indication that it had worked, and when I had tried pushing on the door, the door still wouldn't open. I looked to Liz in panic.

"The scanner's down. It didn't work."

"Move." Derek stated, backing up a bit. I looked at him questioningly, but after a second I understood, and stood clear of the door.

I looked over to where he had backed up, concerned. "But aren't-" I didn't have the chance to finish before he was already running full speed toward the door, his shoulder already bracing for impact. It was only a split second later and Derek was full on crashing into the door, the frame in the middle bending and the glass parts shattering onto the floor. Although the door didn't completely break down, the broken glass left two rectangle-sized openings for us to crawl through before we were outside of the building.

Derek didn't even stop to assess the damage done to his arm or the scenery outside. Quickly grabbing my arm once I got through (and mistakenly shaking off Albia) and pulling me to the parking lot. Quickly removing his arm from his side, he fished into his pocket pulling out a set of keys and quickly pushing on the car alarm. I stood in shock as a car to our far right went off, leading us to a small, older car. Derek quickly unlocked the doors and pushed me to the passenger side before running around and getting into the driver's side.

I looked to see that Albia had somehow gotten in before Derek had shut my door, and was now sitting in the back seat with Liz, who looked absolutely giddy. I gave her a smile back and turned back to the front, seeing Derek pull out of the parking spot. I quickly put my seatbelt on, watching the road ahead of us as Derek sped through the lot, turning off onto the nearest exit and making his way through the area before finally finding an exit and turning off onto the highway.

It wasn't until a couple minutes later when my body finally decided to edge off of its adrenaline high, and I could feel myself sinking into the small seat, my body heavy and exhausted.

I turned slightly toward Derek. "Wh-where did you find the car keys?" I asked quietly. His eyes snapped to me real quick before snapping back to the road.

"One of the guards outside that were still asleep. He had it on his belt." He grumbled.

"Good thinking." I said with a small smile. "Faster to drive away than to run."

"For now. We'll have to ditch the car soon. They'll be able to trace the plates."

I nodded. "That's true…. We'll have to get to where we're going fast then….." I paused for a second. "Where are we going?"

"Back to the old factory. Simon's trail will be old, but I should still be able to find it. Once we find it, we'll ditch the car somewhere and take the nearest bus to get out where they won't be able to find us."

"Got it." I said quietly. I thought back for a moment before looking nervously back up at Derek.

"Hey… what they said at the hospital… about Simon being a diabetic… that's not true, right?"

"It's true."

I could feel my face draining. "S-so, th-that pouch…"

Derek waved his hand as if brushing a fly away. "The one they had was the extra. He has the other one with him at all times. It was a weak attempt at trying to get information out of you."

I sighed in relief, slouching back into the chair. "Oh. That's good then." I said. I smiled slightly and closed my eyes for a bit, resting and finally not worried about someone else dying on my account.

Rae and Aunt Lauren's faces appeared in my mind, but I wasn't worried too much about them. Aunt Lauren was actually working for them, and hadn't helped me escape. She probably didn't even know that I had escaped yet. And Rae… she seemed to be making a lot of progress with her powers, and although I had tried to convince her to leave, she was set on believing that she was better off there.

I wasn't planning on leaving them there, of course. Where they were was still dangerous. But Derek and I were in the most danger, and perhaps after we found their dad and Simon, we could find a way to prove to Rae and Aunt Lauren that the group the work for isn't as kind as they painted themselves to be.

That brought up another question. Just how many supernaturals did they trick? How many have they experimented on in the past? They seemed to be a pretty set up organization, so we couldn't have been the first group, could we? I checked in the rearview mirror, seeing Albia sleeping soundly, and Liz stroking her feathers absent-mindedly as she stared out the window.

Maybe Albia could answer my questions. She had been trapped there long enough to eavesdrop and see all that had happened. She had even known me from previous visits, had even known Derek…

We had sat in silence for about a half hour before Derek had taken an exit to the outskirts of Buffalo, where the factory near Lyle House was located. And, after another two minutes, Derek pulled up onto a dirt road, driving for a little bit before stopping completely. I followed his lead of unbuckling and getting out of the car, Albia flying out of my door and perching on top of my shoulder as I turned toward Derek.

"Are we close to the factory?" I asked, looking around a bit. I couldn't see the factory, but the trees surrounding us were blocking my view. The path ahead seemed to grow thinner and thinner before altogether disappearing.

Derek rolled his shoulder a bit, wincing at the pain of both his side and from where he rammed the door earlier. I couldn't see any of it because of his shirt, but I knew that his shoulder at least would be bruised for a while.

"A few miles. It would be too dangerous to park directly at the factory." He rumbled, before looking wearily to the bird on my shoulder and glaring. "What is it." He demanded suddenly. I could feel Albia's feathers ruffle, before she settled back down. I reached over and patted her head, and she closed her eyes and leaned into my hand.

It was still a little hard to process that this tiny bird was something that compared demons to bugs, of all things, but I guess being a necromancer with a ghost friend and a werewolf driver was pretty strange too.

"I-I'm not really sure." I said quietly, dropping my hand. I put my hands together and looked down at them, feeling more and more like a child who picked up a stray and was trying to defend keeping it.

"Sh-she spoke to me at the hospital, and said that she could help us escape. I free her from a trap and she helps us escape and promises not to hurt anyone. And she kept her promise."

I looked up to see Derek's eyes narrow dangerously as he leaned forward and placed his hands on top of the car.

"Don't you think it's a bit dangerous, going around freeing things that probably had a reason for being trapped?" His voice sharp, and I could hear the condescending tone hiding behind his anger. I glared back at him, refusing to let him make me feel stupid after all the risks I had just taken to get us free.

"I took a necessary risk after weighing the options, Derek." I grit out. "Mrs. Enright was on her way back, and I didn't necessarily feel like getting beat or shot up full of lightning again, or watching you go through the same."

He backed off a bit at that, his voice not as steely, and his arms sliding off of the top of the car.

"Fine. So this… thing…" He started, slightly unsure, but still plenty upset, "is it some demon?"

I shook my head, crossing my arms and holding his glare. "No. She said that she was some...underworld-ling. That she was invited here to teach and learn about humans and her kind, but ended up being tricked into a trap."

He thought for a moment, glaring at Albia before finally slamming his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't like it, but it's too late now. Are you sure the owl won't report back to the hospital?" He demanded again, pulling away from the car and heading off, leaving me to jog to catch up.

"Stubborn, I see, and very protective… must be the alpha of the pack. Betas and Omegas tend to put up less of a fight" Albia drawled, struggling to regain balance on my shoulder. She finally gave up, choosing instead to fly ahead of us and land on one of the low-hanging branches. I tried not to laugh at how wrong it was to think that Derek may be something other than bossy and direct. Protective didn't really match, though, except I guess when it came to Simon and his dad.

"No," Albia continued, "I will not report back to the Edison Group, thank you very much. They're my enemies just as much as they are yours."

"Albia.." I corrected Derek as I reached him, slightly out of breath and still just as angry, "says that she's not reporting back to the Edison group. They're her enemy too."

He kept his gaze forward, his pace still fast even though his arm still hovered by his side. "So she talks to you." He rumbled.

I nodded. "Yeah, but as usual I'm the only one that can hear her." I looked around as we continued not recognizing anything that I was seeing. "This doesn't look like the way to the factory." I said.

"It's because it's not. The factory is back that way." He pointed slightly behind him and to the left. "We're going this way because this was the direction Simon headed, and he isn't too far now. It seems he found somewhere to hide out a few miles away."

"Oh." I said simply, secretly happy that we would finally have someone slightly more cheerful to be around. I risked a peak over to Derek, and debated a second. He sounded fine, but his hand was still clutched to his bad side, and a bead of sweat had appeared already on his forehead. He was radiating heat again, and his eyes had a feverish look. Quickly connecting the symptoms to what happened before we made our escape, I decided finally to speak up.

"We need to stop." I said, stopping and crossing my arms, already getting ready for the argument that was headed my way. "You're hurt."

He paused in his stride, turning to look at me. "No. We have to find Simon before the group finds us."

I shook my head, refusing to back down. Albia flew down onto my shoulder, nestling into my neck, and Derek's glare turned even more icy at the sight of it.

"We're stopping. If you don't give your side a rest, you'll just be holding us back later." I looked up to the sky. "Besides, it's going to get dark soon, and I don't know about you and your… wolfy-senses…" I got a hard glare for that one, "But I can't run in the dark without seriously slowing us down." There was also the fact of his fever and his soon-to-be-coming change (if I was right about the fever correlating with it), but I felt that it didn't necessarily need to be mentioned yet.

He was silent for a moment, and I took a couple steps closer. "We're a good thirty minutes out from the car and any sort of trail. If they've already tracked the car, they'll assume that we're headed back toward the factory. They'll be heading in the opposite direction." Slowly, I put my hand on his arm, letting it rest there for a moment.

"Let me at least check your side, while there's still light out."

He looked down at my hand for a second, surprised, before looking at me. He searched my eyes for a second before his shoulders slouched, showing his defeat. I couldn't help the small victory smile that spread on my face.

"Fine." He grumbled, slowly pulling his arm away from my hand. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment, but quickly shook it off, too happy with my temporary victory.

"Alpha indeed, though interesting that he's submitting to you… very interesting." Albia said, a hint of amusement in her voice. I looked quickly over to her in question for a second before turning my eyes back to Derek, who went over to sit and lean against the nearest tree.

I made my way over to him and kneeled down, waiting for him to show me his side. He grumbled something under his breath before lifting his shirt up a little, only giving me a small glimpse. I rolled my eyes.

"Derek, I need to actually be able to see it."

Huffing, he quickly removed the t-shirt he was wearing, grumbling that I wouldn't be able to do much about it anyway. While he was right, it was still good to see what exactly the damage was, and whether we would be able to make it the rest of the way after this one break, or if more breaks were going to follow.

I held in my gasp as the rest of him came into view.

Cuts were littered everywhere on him, making his arms look like child's-play. I lost count at ten cuts, moving on instead to the bruises that made his skin look like a patchwork quilt. The biggest and ugliest one being on his side, and I could see why he had been holding it all day.

I looked back up at him, eyes wide, as he looked away.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked quietly. He just shrugged.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Give it a day or two and they'll be gone."

I just shook my head, choosing to direct my attention toward his side, where the worst of the injuries were.

"Besides," He rumbled, a bit quiet. "I wasn't the only one to take a few hits."

Shaking my head, I gently prodded at the bruise, seeing if any sort of ribs were out of place or broken. My Aunt Lauren had made sure to teach me basic first aid when I was younger, always afraid that something might happen to me and she wouldn't be there to help. I found myself more and more thankful that I payed attention to these lessons, and that there were times where I would watch my aunt as she worked.

"Not as badly." I said quietly, focusing. The bruise was already so dark and so large, but other than that, and probably the tenderness of the area, Derek was fine. There were no broken ribs, which meant not having to worry about any sort of punctures or hospitals.

After my inspection, I leaned back, sighing a breath of relief. "Nothing's broken, just very deep bruising. After we rest up tonight, we should be fine walking the rest of the way. It'll just be painful." I said, looking back toward his chest.

"As soon as we get there, though, we'll have to clean these up, unfortunately it's too late to ice the bruises."

Derek just waved me off. "I'm aware. I know basic first aid." He reached back for his shirt, quickly putting it back on and leaning back against the tree. Seeing him closing his eyes, I took the hint that the conversation was over, and moved to the next tree over, Albia flying off of my shoulder and going up instead to rest on a branch. Liz had disappeared a while ago, but I assumed that since she knew where we were, she went off ahead to go explore or to go visit her family again.

After shifting for a couple minutes, I was able to find a somewhat-decent position, curled up and laying my head against a thick, stray root.

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I promise to work harder on updating sooner! Hope you enjoyed these past few chapters!