Title: Snake Singer

Authors Notes: Thank you so much to TallemeraRane who helped with the editing of this chapter.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, but the plot belongs to me.

My room was much the same way that I remembered it. The same deep satin blanket hung over the bed making the lightwood of the bed frame sparkle. The same cedar chest rested near by, and lying against it was the same soft pillow that my father had given me as a child so many years ago with tiny red dragons embroidered against the material.

I stopped myself from lighting a candle; the room looked more natural and seemed more appealing to me in the darkness. I couldn't seem to look at it; the room itself was so strange and foreign from the life that I now led that it didn't seem real. It was all a strange fantasy that a little girl would have, dreaming that they could be the daughter of the Tuuli Thea and live in such a way. I shrank from it, just as I had shrunk form Vasili's embrace. What had I done? I continually asked myself. I had given up all of my free will; everything that I valued in my personality had just been locked away in the cedar chest at the foot of my old bed and Vasili alone kept the keys.

I hovered in the doorway, unable to take another step in and unable to take a step back. I swallowed hard, trying to sort everything out in my head but all that I could see were Vasili and Zane. What would Zane think of all of this? Would he approve because I'm doing it to save his family? Is he even alive now? A lone tear fell from my eye, and I hadn't realized that I was crying until I felt the bead of pain slide down my cheek and tumble from my face to the floor. And Vasili, even though I wanted him dead and would jump at the opportunity to do such an act, I did not hate him. I still saw the same boy that I had grown up with, he was kind and strong, and would never hurt anything, let alone me. I loved him once as I love Zane now. Would those feelings return in time? Could they? Or would I forever value the man that I once knew and turn my back on the horrendous deeds of the man now? I sighed, my now flowing tears caused my lips to form and I wanted to scream out but...

Someone grabbed me, forceful dark hands from the shadows clutching tightly at my mouth, but lose enough that I could breath. "Don't say a word!" I heard, the voice lower then a whisper and spoken so fast that I couldn't tell if the voice were male or female. I felt hot breath against my ear lobe as I nodded my head, acknowledging that I would obey the stranger's orders. I felt his warm hands release me from the tight grip and quickly after he spun me around on my heels to face him. I let out a slight whimper as I saw who it was that was facing me. "Rei!" I whispered my voice so joyful that I had to embrace him. I thought back in my memory and realized that I had not seen Rei sense Zane and I had reached the Mistari Palace, and I had not thought of him at all since then. "What happened to you, where have you been?" I asked immediately.

He took hold of my arm and led me into the room, gesturing for me to sit down on the bed. "When Adalina took Zane away I followed her." My hopes immediately sprang up and my voice caught in my throat; he knew that I would die if he did not give me the information. "I followed them through the Mistari borders and on to Serpiente lands. At first Adalina took him into the Keep, treated him well, as if he would relent his feelings for you and rule with her." Rei stopped and I was left breathless.

"Then what?"

"He didn't relent; he even went as far enough to say that she could have the thrown, that it no longer mattered and he would chose death over rulings with her." Rei took a breath, a long breath, agony to me. "Adalina was so infuriated that she led him away that night to the Underground Municipality."

"And then?"

"That's all that I could see, there is no safe way of breaking into the Underground Municipality and then getting back out; there would be chaos and the most vial prisoners would be once again in the world."

I knew that Rei was right, but I couldn't stand the thought of Zane being alone in that place, and on the surface of this problem their was no way of saving him without disrupting the flow of order that cursed place had. I knew the risk of releasing those prisoners in the world and it would be chaos. I bit my lip, I didn't mean to, but I bit it so hard that it drew blood. I could taste the sour liquid between my lips and I quickly opened my mouth to speak: "Is their nothing that we can do?"

Rei looked at me, deep within my eyes as though he was trying to measure the degree of my pain. "For now, there is nothing more to do then wait. I will find a way Danica, I promise." Rei got up, leaving me crookedly placed on the bed and alone with my thoughts. I could tell by the sound of his movements that he was by the window. I turned, wondering why he stood so close and my curiosity was further peaked when he pulled aside the thin white curtain and looked out, his eyebrows furrowing with the intensity of his gaze.

"What is it?"

He turned back to me. "Don't try to escape tonight, promise me."

"Why?" I asked standing up and approaching him until I stood behind him and I too was watching through the glass.

"Look," he said, pointing his finger toward the tree that grew several feet away from my balcony. I saw nothing, but I continued to watch, hoping to see something.

I continued to watch through the window, but still I saw nothing. My gaze passing from branch to branch of the tree but still nothing was revealed to me. I looked back, toward Rei, my eyes questioning. "Look again!" he said to me and once more I studied the atmosphere outside until I began to see movement within the long hanging leaves of the tree. I invoked my hawk's perfect vision as I narrowed in on the movement and saw that concealed on a perched branch sat a tall and lean crow, its eyes tapering on the balcony beneath the window but not on Rei and I. "That is why!" He reassured me; knowing that I had seen what I was meant to.

"No doubt Vasili had guards watching me from every corner of this place!"

"It is a burden," he pressed through an understanding tone, "but you must abide your time." Rei hesitated, his body erect and alert as though he had heard a crack in the floor from down the hall. He watched the door, which he had closed when he came in. He looked as though he expected it to open at any moment. I looked toward the door also, but like before I could not see what he was seeing. "I should go," he said finally, his eyes wide and tightly clasped to the doorknob.

"What do you hear?" I asked, knowing that his senses were far more attuned then mine.

"He is coming!"

Rei disappeared soon after, vanishing as quick and as easily as he had appeared to me. I found myself alone in the room again, only this time it didn't seem so frightening to me. I found my way around perfectly in the darkness and it made no difference as I lit a few candles around the room.

I undressed quickly; glad to be free of the black velvet gown that over the course of the day had become tight and uncomfortable. I took Rei's word for it and I knew indeed that Vasili was coming so I wasted no time as I prepared, not wanting Vasili to come in and see me undressing myself. My gaze passed several times to the window and the guard that Vasili had placed there. I had closed the curtain for privacy but he was still out there, watching me, anticipating my escape and ready to prevent me if I tried. I swallowed hard; I was a prisoner in my own home.

Once my old nightgown was fastened and buttoned on completely, I blew out the remaining candles with the exception of one that sat on the table by the other side of the bed. I didn't know if Vasili would come to me again like last night, or expect any duties that he wished for me to perform. I crawled into bed and across from the side where the lit candle was. I pulled the covers over me completely, not wanting any kind of exposure of my skin, afraid that it would cause reaction from Vasili.

Soon after I had gotten under the covers I heard the doorknob turn and the old floorboards crack as someone approached me. I knew that without a doubt it was Vasili and I pretended to be asleep. However, I knew that he knew that I was truly awake, and when he spoke to me I was reassured of it: "Get your rest Danica," he said to me. "Tomorrow at our commencement ceremony that snake monster will be gone from you forever."

Forever...