Kings Lioness: You already know that I take great pleasure in keeping you in suspense! It's one of my lots in life! Thanks for your praise!

Patricia L. Bryans: I'm glad you enjoyed the cliffhanger. I always hate those, but it leaves me craving more! And that song took me forever to write! I had to try to be creative, but I think it came out alright. I love your story! Captivating! Thanks for reviewing here!

chuckles1414: Thank you for putting my head straight. I was writing for the reviews, and that is not what I should be doing. I saw that a lot of people had over 100 reviews and I craved to be like that. But you turned me around. Thank you for speaking up. I will indeed continue this story until the end. In the meantime, keep reading it! Thank you for reviewing!

Oni-Gil: FINALLY getting started on an original! And, it wasn't a spell…it was a song describing the Magicked Ones…as you could see… But thanks for reviewing!

A/N: I think that this chapter coming up is one of, if not the best chapter I have written so far in The Choice of Eight. It makes me choke up every time I read it (pardon the pun…which you'll get later in the chapter!) and I really think it's my best writing…and I'm not trying to sound conceited. I'm really not…but, anyway! Enjoy!

-13-

Lynxe had been prowling around her cavern ever since the unregal departure of the Compassionate One, pacing back and forth so that there was a shallow rut in the dirt beneath her feet. She was irked that the two girls had not spoken about their sister, but deep inside, she knew that they wouldn't have anyway. They were too loyal, too attached. She had not expected them to tell her what she wanted. Reason didn't work well with the Quiet One. Physical pain had not succeeded with the Compassionate One. They were strong, that much was very clear. Obviously, they would not tell a demon where their family was, even if they were hurt very badly. They would wilt, however, in the face of a greater pain. Psychological pain. Emotional pain. The pain of a tortured sister would make them speak. The girl's screams would awaken the other to force her to tell. But she had to be able to keep at least one girl alive, so as to further torture her into revealing where the youngest was, should this plan not work. Bribery. Slowly, surely, Lynxe would get her answer. And this seemed the best time and place to do it.

She felt a tremor in the air net to her and turned slightly, enabling herself to see four demons shimmering into her presence, one pair supporting a struggling Heather, the other holding up a dazed and half-conscious Kate. Lynxe gave them enough of her attention to eye them for a brief minute, then she nodded towards the demons, looking away from the girls as if uninterested. "You two, take the Quiet One over there by the trough. You, take the eldest to that chair nearby and tie her up securely. We don't want her using her magic to help her sister. Not that she could." Lynxe watched as Heather was bound tightly to a hard-backed wood chair. The witch grunted slightly as the ropes were pulled tighter around her wrists and ankles, digging into her flesh. A small, thin rope was thrown across her neck and tied behind her so that if she tried to move forward, it would cut off her air, suffocating her, and inflict pain if it cut into her neck. Heather saw, through stinging eyes, her younger sister pulled to a deep basin filled with water and held in front of it. Kate seemed to be fighting to stay awake, struggling to become fully alert and focused, moaning at he pain in the back of her head. Dried blood matted her hair and caked on her face, a crimson stain on a pale, but otherwise tan face. Her left cheek was swollen and bruised, a result of the slap she had received earlier, but her eyes glinted faintly with anger.

Lynxe first approached the Quiet One, the cat advancing on her prey. She stood over the girl, staring loftily down her nose at the brown head of Kate, who did not look up. The demon nudged the woman with the toe of her boot, but still Kate did not raise her head. "Look upon my face, witch," Lynxe hissed. "For it could be the last you'll ever see. Actually," She paused, as if thinking, then corrected herself mockingly. "Silly me to make a mistake about something that crucial. Mine will not be the last you see. Instead, it will be your sister's: the expression she holds as she watches you slowly die. Unless," She let the last word hang in the air, quivering before bringing it down to earth to smash on the stone floor. "Unless your sister can be manipulated into revealing the whereabouts of the youngest Magicked One." Kate shot Heather a glance, her eyes pleading with her sister not to tell anything. Lynxe misinterpreted it. "Do not be afraid, girl. Your precious sisters will join you soon after you pass into the next life. You will not be alone for long."

At this, Kate raised her head and looked her foe squarely in the eye with a passionate, hated look that startled Lynxe. "I'm not afraid to die," Kate snapped. "You're wasting your time with us because you won't get anything out of either of us. I'll die before I tell you anything." Then, she spat on the floor between Lynxe's feet, spitefully.

This time, Lynxe controlled her temper, though a vein in her cheek pulled severely. "Fearlessness is a good quality, witch. But alas, it will not save your sister. It will not protect any of them. They will die because of you. If your sister there has the same attitude as you, you, too, will die. But I shall decide when. Obey me, and your miserable life will be spared. Silence, your death will be slow and oh so painful. It's your choice."

"Do you have too much wax in your ugly, overlarge ears, or did you just not hear me the first time?" Kate hissed, barely able to keep her voice from shaking with anger. "I'll say it slowly for your tiny, incompetent mind to be able to process. I'm-not-saying-anything! Not to a cold-hearted demon like you!"

A single glance from Lynxe, and the demons holding Kate dragged her across the cave floor, up three small steps that seemed to be made of rock, and up to the edge of the trough, thrust her to her knees, and waited. One of the clawed hands holding her arms released it, but snaked slowly and seductively up her neck to clutch her hair tightly, drawing a small gasp of pain from Kate.

"Your tongue will be subdued soon. You need a good cooling off!" Lynxe told her prisoner, before waving her hand in their direction. It happened before Kate had any time to react. She suddenly felt the hand in her hair push her head down. Her abdomen hit the edge of the basin, winding her sharply, and before she knew it, the demon had plunged her head beneath the surface of the icy water. Her eyes still open, Kate saw the hard, wooden side of the trough, the barrier between water and air, the escape rout of her suffocating prison. She was able to keep herself from shouting out, but it was a close thing. Barely any air filled her lungs, and it was quickly using itself up. As oxygen began to escape from her nose and then mouth, small round bubbles floated to the surface of the water, her last bits of air. As carbon dioxide built up in her lungs and began its way through her bloodstream, Kate began to thrash, fighting for air, fighting for freedom, but her arms were held fast behind her and her head was being pushed further in, savagely. Her lungs screamed for air. Her mouth was open and she let out a yell that affected nothing. Black was closing in on her vision from the corners of her eyes as water filled her mouth, her throat, her lungs...

Watching Kate until she began to thrash in the water, Lynxe turned to Heather, who was staring at her younger sister with terror-stricken eyes, her mouth open in a silent scream, after having just shouted Kate's name to the air. "This is punishment for silence. Your sister didn't answer me, so both of you are suffering; she physically, you emotionally. However, if you don't answer me she will suffer more, and perhaps she might even die. So, tell me. Where did your youngest sister disappear to? Where did she orb?"

Heather, who had been securely tied to her chair, watched as her sister fought to dislodge the hands holding her underwater, watched with fear and love. What could she do? Her sister was being deprived of oxygen for too long. She could die, soon. But she had been so strong, not revealing anything. What could she, Heather, do now that would save her sister from a watery grave? Heather felt ashamed of herself. She was the eldest, obligated to protect her sisters for eternity, and here she was, bound to a chair unable to help her sister, her best friend, from drowning. Heather had briefly heard Sam yell something to Lucy, but she thought she had been unconscious and was apparently being shimmered out of the manor at the time. How she even knew was beyond her imagination. A voice echoed in her mind. "Lucy! Go f-" Heather was brought back into reality as Lynxe cackled with cruel laughter. Kate was falling still, ceasing movement slowly.

"No!" Heather cried, unable to stifle her emotions as her sister had done. She tried in vain desperation to force herself from the chair, but the rope around her neck tightened as she leaned forward and she choked, still trying to yell, to plead for her sister's release. "No! Kate! Please, let her-" But her voice was cut off by a sharp tug on the rope from behind, and Kate choked on her own words. Immediately, Lynxe swooped down upon the demon responsible, flogging him with her claws, raking his face.

"Lay not a hand on that rope! Touch not the Magicked One or you will die like that one!" Lynxe's hand pointed at Kate, who had stopped moving at last. Then turning her head to the others, she snapped, "Lift her out!"

Kate was hauled out of the water, hair and torso soaking wet. Heather watched anxiously as the demons threw her sister to the ground, where Kate lay motionless. It was several seconds before Kate's body jolted and she spluttered. A gush of water spewed from her mouth and onto the dirt as she began gagging up the deadly liquid, expelling the suffocating element from her lungs and throat. Her stomach heaved as more water poured from her mouth. She gasped and coughed. When she had enough energy and movement back into her limbs and muscles, she looked up at Heather, her red eyes boring into Heather's tear-filled brown ones. Slowly, she shook her head, then coughed out, "Don't…tell…Lucy…no...please…"

Heather, her breath returning, replied, "No, Kate. I can't let them do this to you! They'll kill you!"

Kate was trembling, but Heather was not sure if it was from anger, cold, or even involuntary. "Then...let me...die. You...protect...Lucy." She dissolved into coughing again, gasping in oxygen as fast as her lungs would let her.

"I have to protect you, Kate! You are my sister too! I can't let you die! I can't let that happen!"

A look of intensity from Kate surprised Heather into silence. Her younger sister was staring straight into her eyes, not blinking. "She…is…the only…one…who can…help…"

Her face creased in an evil grin, Lynxe turned to Heather after watching what Kate had said. "So, what is your decision, Magicked One? Tell me where your sister is…" She waved a hand behind her, not even bothering to turn around. Kate was again pulled to the water and submerged with barely even a breath to sustain her before. "…Or watch your sister slowly drown."

Heather's forehead was furrowed after what her sister had said. Lucy was the only one who can help… help what? It made no sense. Her mind worked furiously. Her tearfilled, liquid, brown eyes never left her sister's thrashing body as she tried to gather her senses. She knew nothing more than what Sam had begun to yell. By saying that, Heather could save Kate's life and she, Kate, and Sam could maybe recover their strength enough to protect Lucy. As Kate's body movements slowed again, Heather panicked. Her sister would die! She couldn't let that happen! Nothing would be more heartbreaking than losing a sister. Who cares if Sam hadn't said anything? Or Kate? Kate!

Without warning, Heather was struck still, as if hit over the head with a bat, or as if she had suddenly been shocked with a jolt of electricity and the power was flowing through her veins. She let out a harsh breath and her body went taught as her eyes clamped shut.

She saw herself surrounded by her three sisters, all of whom were clasping the hand beside them, but there were white lights flowing from their bodies. The lights were not whitelighter lights. They were more important to them, connected. The four were being drained of their powers by Lynxe and another demon she recognized: The Source of All Evil. Noises in the very back of her head were screaming, pleading, praying. 'Don't! Don't do this to them! Take us! Take us instead!' That couldn't be themselves she heard. But there were only the four of them in the line of her vision. Only four, but it sounded like more. But her sisters...they were all together. And they were all alive.

Suddenly, Heather was pulled back into reality again, but not before an unrecognizable pair of light brown eyes looked straight into her own, sending a shiver through Heather's body, like she recognized the eyes. Then, as soon as they had come, they were gone. Heather gasped and opened her eyes as she came out of the premonition, and immediately looked for her sister. Kate was moving only slightly, her feet barely scraping the ground, then, all movements ceased and she went limp in the hands of the demons holding her down to her death.

"Wait!" Heather yelled, forgetting the noose about her neck. As she tried to spring up to run to Kate, the rope tightened mercilessly on her windpipe, but she ignored it, gasping out as much as she could. "You need all four of us! You can't kill...Kate! You need her! You need all of us! You...can't get to our powers...without the Power of Four...alive!"

Lynxe halted mid-prowl. She had been moving towards the Quiet One to check if she was truly dead, but the Responsible One's voice had slashed across her mind. Had this girl just been revealed to her plan? How? The witch's powers don't work in the Underworld, she had made sure of that. Was she so powerful that she had had an unexpected vision? This witch could not have had a premonition. It was not her power...

She turned to Heather, who struggled against her bonds, furiously shouting, "You need us!"

Lynxe swept over the distance between herself and Heather in almost a blink of an eye and caught Heather's throat in her hand, holding the girl, pressing her against the back of the chair. The demon's yellow eyes were swimming with loathing as she leaned closer, completely cutting off Heather's air supply. Ignoring the woman's frightened and harsh gasps and wide eyes, Lynxe leaned forward so their noses were almost touching, hissed into her face, "You know too much, witch! Though how I know not. True, I need all of you alive. You are smart to mention that before you die. Though it might not be enough to save your sister! As you can see, she is already dead. She drowned as you tried to figure out your petty thoughts! It's your fault that she is dead and that your other sister are in danger! However, I will see each one of you dead before long, even if I don't receive your powers! You will tell me where the youngest is, or die at my hand!"

Blackness swirled in on Heather as her oxygen was depleted, but she managed to gasp, "Need...alive..." With a howl of anger, the demon pressed harder on Heather's throat for several long seconds, watching the girl's eyes cloud over, then she stood up abruptly, releasing Heather and motioning the demons to pull Kate's form from the water. As they heaved the still, drowning girl out, Lynxe swirled on her heal and shimmered from the cave. Kate was dropped on the ground, where she lay, stretched out and unmoving. The demon behind Heather quickly cut her bonds, allowing her to collapse to the dusty floor, then he shimmered as well. The rest of the demons followed suit, leaving the eldest Millers together.

Heather lay on the floor, still for a few brief seconds, the she began choking and coughing, her swollen throat working for air. Her arms, sluggish and unresponsive after being bound for a long time, tried to move slowly to her neck in an effort to bring air into her lungs quicker, but they remained limp on the ground. Warm blood seeped from a thin wound that ran across her neck, which was now raw and painful. As her breath slowly returned, Heather remembered her sister. Heather's head raised slightly from the ground, and she saw Kate lying still and not breathing, her eyes closed and lips blue from lack of oxygen.

"No," choked Heather, and she dragged herself the ten yards to her sister's side. Weak but panicked into action, Heather turned Kate over onto her back. Kate's head rolled limply to the side as Heather pushed herself to her knees, trying to elevate herself. "Kate," She sobbed tears leaking from her eyes, her hands furiously fumbling to unbutton Kate's soaking top in order to take it off of her sister's cold body. Her hands clasped and were pushing on Kate's chest before she realized what she was doing, performing CPR unconsciously. "Come on, Kate! This is all my fault. I couldn't protect you. Don't be dead. Oh, please live, Kate! For me, for Sam. For Lucy. Katie, come on." She was distraught and anxious, almost unaware that she had used her mother's pet name for her younger sister.

After a few long minutes of pumping Kate's heart and breathing into her lungs, Kate jerked slightly underneath Heather. The older woman looked at her sister's pale face abruptly, not believing that her sister had made movement. Even she knew that Kate had to be dead. She was held underwater too long. She couldn't be alive. She couldn't...

A wave of water burst from Kate's mouth as Heather breathed for her, almost choking Heather. She sat up, spitting water from her mouth as Kate's body became conscious again, spasoming with impulses that were beyond her mind. Heather hurriedly turned Kate on her side so as to protect her sister from again swallowing the water she was coughing out, supporting her torso with her own body. Kate's chest jerked weakly, coughing out liquid that splashed on the floor. She gasped between coughs, as if trying to get air at the same time, then retched. Heather did not bother to get out of the way as Kate vomited up the contents of her stomach which, though was mostly water, contained bits of past meals, though when they had last eaten was beyond her. Heather supported Kate as she vomited up more water, patting her back to make sure Kate got it all up. "Come on, Katie, breathe! I need you! We all need you!" She pulled Kate into her lap, rocking her back and forth as Kate continued to dispel liquid.

Kate gasped and harshly drew in air, the color in her cheeks slowly beginning to return. She felt her sister's arms around her shoulders as she coughed up more streams of water. Weak and shaky, she relaxed into her sister's hold. Heather feared the worst when she felt her sister go limp again. Drawing her tighter against her body, Heather whispered into Kate's ear, "Kate, please, I'm alive because of you. I need you. Don't leave me now." Dissolving into tears, Heather buried her head into Kate's dark brown locks, her tears flowing freely down her cheeks to mingle with her sister's wet hair.

"Heather."

A whisper floated into Heather's ears like a cloud on which angels were suspended. "Kate!" Heather breathed, pulling Kate away from her and holding her at half-arms length so as to see her. Kate's eyes were open slightly, still gray and cloudy from lack of air, fighting to focus on her sister and her hands were weakly grasping Heather's shirt. "Oh, Kate!" Heather pulled Kate even closer to herself and rocked her back and forth, sobbing. "Kate! Thank God. I thought that I lost you!" Crying uncontrollably, Heather hugged her younger sister, not daring to let her go. "My little Katie. Please, don't leave me!"

Kate winced as her ribs, which were already bruised from the basin edge, pressed against Heather's shaking frame and she managed to whisper, "Heather, you saw...hurting me..." She moved slightly, trying to dislodge herself, but Heather held her fast.

"I'm never letting you go. I can't let you die. Oh, this is all my fault. I could have protected you. I'm supposed to protect you and watch out for you guys…and…and you almost died because I failed. This is all my fault. Lucy gone...Sam and you hurt...mom and dad..."

"Heather, listen to me," Kate interrupted her, as sharply as she could under the circumstances. She struggled to sit up, but Heather's arms were like a vice around her, so she gave up and spoke from where she was. "Heather, it's not your...none of this is your fault...You've done more...than you should...more than someone your age...should. We're

alive...together...because of you. I'm here because…because of you. No matter...what happens," She gasped, lifting her arm to put a hand to Heather's tear streaked cheek. "No matter what happens, I love you. I'll love you for eternity." Her hand fell back to her chest, and she went limp in Heather's arms again, her eyes fluttering shut...

"Oh, Kate," Heather choked, and embraced her sister again, holding the shaking girl tight, never letting her go.