A/N

Apologies, I know this was later than usual (though with my current track record, it isn't saying much) but I suppose it can't be helped. Funny how things just hit you like a ten thousand pound barbell when you hit senior year. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.


The caves were uncomfortable. Though, not in the way Kitty was expressing with her shivers, but the fact that there was almost nothing living here. Even the bugs were few and far between.

The cave was dark, and I had begun to trip over things I couldn't really see, but wasn't sure I wanted to. When I blinked, I swore I could see energy that only came from the dead. The others couldn't see them, so I decided to keep going until we found a place to stop to investigate.

The journey here had been easy, especially with the fear of being found to move us. Everything seemed to be focused around the Soul King's hideout, as if they were preparing.

Most likely an invasion.

The descent into the cave had been a little more difficult, as the mouth was covered in a nasty looking purple moss that we did our best not to touch, ad once we got to clearer ground, we avoided the plant life like it was the plague.

We'd been walking for a few hours and had only gotten halfway through the first cave system. There were three combined one after the other, and only by checking and double checking myself could I find the right passages.

"Let's rest here for a moment." Mr. McCoy rumbled, "We'll have some water."

I'd advised against drinking water from the pools in the cave- they were clear and welcoming, but I distrust water that doesn't seem to have plant or fish life in it at all.

While everyone uttered muted groans and set their bags down, I slipped away into the caves to investigate.

I closed my eyes for a minute and allowed them to readjust(something I have worked on for awhile) and opened my eyes.

The sheer number of them surprised me. Beasts that I couldn't name were scattered everywhere.

With my eyes open to them, I could sense their thoughts too, something that stayed dormant when I looked around with my blue eyes. All of them seemed bitter, angry, and afraid, their thoughts were so jumbled I could only pick out one or two images, one of the armed soldiers and the Demights, the other of a hideous looking snake dog that was sent down here to kill anything living.

"What did they expect to accomplish by this?" I asked aloud.

"Fear, of course."

I jerked around to see Dex, his nose centimeters from mine.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed, my contact with the dead animal spirits severed.

"Where my heart is, I follow." he said comfortably. "Come with me." He added, "I want to show you something."

"I don't want too."

"Have it your way." He shrugged. "But you might not feel that way when it decides to eat your friends."

"It? There's nothing in this cave-I've looked."

"You'll retract that statement soon enough." He laced his fingers through mine and began pulling me away gently. After a moment I sighed and followed.

"This had better not be one of your dirty stunts."

"If it was, I would have ambushed you back there." He said humorously. "It was secluded enough."

I could feel myself turning bright red. I couldn't believe he was making jokes about that.

We winded down the tunnels in silence, but after about ten minutes, I was getting annoyed. The others were probably wondering where I was, and the grown ups probably would stat talking amongst themselves of buying a leash to keep me in line.

"Where are we going?!" I allowed aggravation to creep into my voice. "Just tell me what it is a-"

Dex's hand clamped over my mouth. "This is a bad place to start yelling, my love. You'll wake him up." He whispered. He leaned in close. "Trust me. Have I ever led you wrong before? Trust me."

I nodded slowly, his face to close for comfort. He let go of me and bought his finger up to his lips in a quieting gesture.

Another five minutes of following Dex got us to a large cavern, one the others and I would have to go through in the shortest route to the castle.

The cavern was illuminated in an unearthly glow, and I could see dozen of passages spreading off, In the middle of the cavern was a pool of the same clear, beautiful water, fed by a constant drip from the ceiling.

I looked at Dex questioningly. There was no indication of danger here.

"You were smart to tell them not to drink the water. It wouldn't have agreed with them." He said, his voice barely above a whisper. Then he pointed to the top of the cavern.

The glow originated from there, and at first, all I saw was a mass of blue, glowing stuff. But then my eyes adjusted…to pick out legs, pincers, body…

I looked back at him in shock. I was speechless. He took the opportunity to drag me back through the passages fast.

We stopped a good ways away in a side passage and I caught my breath. "What was that?"

"His name is Encroth. The pools around here are his blood. When the monster Alistair sent down here met him, they got into a fight. Alistair didn't get his puppy back. Encroth didn't get out all that well either."

"What is he?" I forced my voice to stay level.

"He's a bug. Looks like lots of bugs. Probably wouldn't be a good idea for you and your friends to wake him up."

"He glows."

"He lived in the darkest depths before wandering back up here for food."

"Why'd you show me?" I said, straightening.

"I told you-I like you. And it's in my job description. I certainly hope you have a way around."

"Of course I do, barring another of those things. I can always check the layout of the cave."

"Can you?" Dex asked curiously. He seemed to be studying me. "That's quite a useful gift. I just can't wait to see what you do next. You're quite full of surprises."

I was taken aback. "Umm….Thanks?"

He shook his head exasperatedly. He grabbed my hand again and led me back through the caves.

When we were back in the cave where I had been contacting the dead, he turned to me. "Pretty soon you're going to be in something that you can't get out of so easily. You may have to sacrifice yourself to help your friends. Are you willing to do that?"

"Of course." I said without hesitation.

"Loyalty without hesitation is a powerful thing, but make sure you aren't being dragged into something you can't get out of. Your loyalty makes you dangerous, but can also make you foolish. You can close your eyes and open them to see other parts of your reality. You might want to do that for other things too."

"Are you sick? Has the robed man addled your brain?"

He grinned but didn't back down. "Just remember what I said. Until later." He darted in and gave me a kiss on the lips and was gone before I could react.

I froze up for a moment and then shook my head hard. I had work to do, and just because he was being an outrageous flirt meant nothing. I trotted back to the others.

When I got back, they leapt on me.

"Where were you?"

"Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"-expressly told you-"

"Going off alone!"

"Quiet!" I hissed. "I'll explain everything if you shut up!"

They all looked at me with varying degrees of shock. I took the opportunity to stress their need to make as little noise as possible.

"You all need to be extremely quiet. Remember when I told you there was almost nothing living in this cave? I was wrong. Do not drink from the pools around here, and do not yell. The thing is huge." My hushed whisper they heard without having to strain. "And it would not be a good idea to wake it up. I don't think we'll put it in a good mood. We're going to take a detour. It'll take a bit longer but it will be safer in the long run."

"We can't afford to lose time, though! How long will it take?" Jean asked.

"Doesn't matter." I gritted. "Jean. We. Don't. Want. It. Awake. Understand? Judging by the size and how it looked, it eats groups like us for appetizers. And it came from the depths of the caves!"

"So?"

"So? That means it's a predator. That means it will eat until it can't fit anything into its body without busting a seam. It has too, or it won't survive. That also means that it is aggressive to anything smaller than it. And we are smaller."

"Are you sure?" She asked in token resistance.

"Yes."

"Alright." She sighed. "I follow. So shall we go, since we need to take the long way?"

Everyone pulled their bags up and I led them deeper into the caves.


Herman shall take the reviews!

Raliena: Kinda hard not to make distinctions after awhile, I suppose. Glad you liked the last chapter.

PrincessofWildfire: Thank you, I was trying to give a little more insight into her, as she does seem to constantly change, however slightly.

Asteria: Hope you liked the caves! I know I didn't go too indepth, but I'll try to later. They're just in the first cave system, after all.

AnonGirl88: Glad you understand. I hope you enjoyed the chapter for all the time it took!

Chrissy: Thank you! I was just doing an experiment, but it appeared to work quite well.

I hope you all enjoy the chapter!