17. Pawn

The halls of Draylon materialized around Joe. He prayed that this memory would be better than the last few he had been forced to witness. He had seen a dark side of Sydney he didn't know she possessed. He knew she had experienced the occasional episode ever since she had been Shadowed, but he never realized how terrifying those moments had been.

Nearly every time the darkness in Sydney had been triggered, Nicole was the one responsible. Joe had no idea what game Nicole had been playing, but she had made Sydney her prime pawn to face the brunt force of every attack. It made Joe sick to his stomach.

The past version Sydney paced down the hallway a few feet in front of him, and as with every other memory, he was pulled along behind her by some unseen rope. Her walk didn't last long. She soon stopped in the middle of the hall and took a deep breath. Her fingers twitched and instinctively reached for her wrist. She managed to stop herself before her scratching could break skin. She crouched low to ground, a green glow coming to her palm, and placed her hand on the ground. The glow spread from her hand to the lines in the floor between the bricks. A small square was outlined in the floor and the area slowly slid away to reveal an uninviting dark hole.

Joe wondered what was in the hole that made the memory Sydney so nervous. There was a slight tickling in the back of his mind as a memory attempted to surface, and he had the smallest sense of deja vu. Had he been here before? He quickly looked around the hallway before Sydney jumped down the hole. It looked like any other hallway at Draylon. Joe honestly had no idea how anyone could tell them apart and not get lost in its vast corridors. Still, the hole in the ground was familiar to him. He knew this room, and yet he couldn't pinpoint its name or why he remembered it.

With one final intake of breath, Sydney slid into the hole, pulling Joe with her. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light. Just when he was beginning to see things, a bright light flickered on, burning his eyes and blinding him. He may not have been physically there, but it stung like he was. After his eyes adjusted for the second time, he was able to see that he was standing inside a black metal box. The room reeked of antiseptic and reminded Joe of a hospital. The room was empty except for Sydney, a chair with straps hanging from the armrests and front legs, and Nicole.

Nicole stood in front of the chair, experimentally flicking a glass vial with purple liquid sloshing around on the inside. A long needle stretched out from the tip of the vial. She absentmindedly glanced at Sydney as she entered the room. "Don't take all day. You know how this goes by now. Get in the chair, and I'll inject the Pluphoria. We have a trial in two hours." Nicole impatiently tapped her foot and waited for Sydney to sit in the metal chair.

The tension was visible on Sydney's face. She swallowed the large lump that had formed in her throat and positioned herself in the chair.

Joe was surprised by Sydney's behaviour. This was not the strong and fiery woman he loved. This was a young teenager he had never met. She was uncharacteristically quiet and fearful, not at all like the fighter he knew her to be. What was going on here?

The straps were quickly tightened around Sydney's wrists and ankles. Nicole pushed Sydney's hair away from the back of her head and injected the purple liquid directly into the base of her neck.

Joe felt the effects of the drug hit him almost immediately. It was like he had taken a handful of sleeping pills all at once. The room blurred and all the sounds were muffled like he was underwater.

"You remember your lessons about the Warp Wizards correct?" Nicole disposed of the needle and watched her daughter expectantly.

Joe tensed. He knew this was only a memory, but the image of Sydney's violent reaction to finding out he was a Warp Wizard still frightened him. But her reaction now was surprisingly calm.

Sydney had to focus extra hard to speak through the Pluphoria. Her voice was strained. "They... they're a group of mortals who wield time magic and worship Isis."

"Close." Nicole pursed her lips. "They are a race of despicable and cruel people. They wrongfully wield time magic purely for their own gain. Their type of magic is tainted and impure. We have been at war with them ever since they were created, and it is imperative that you remember that they are the enemy. The enemy must of course, be destroyed. Today's memory should reinforce that belief."

Before Joe could figure out what that meant, the drugs pulled Sydney under, taking Joe with her.


"What if I take Cade on a trip back to Australia? Do you think that would work?" Sam adjusted his glasses and looked at Kairi eagerly. "I'm out of ideas, Kairi."

"Sam," Kairi whispered through clenched teeth. "I told you, I can't give you any ideas." She tried to walk ahead of Sam and join her husband near the front of the group, but Sam pulled her back.

"You promised to help me get her back. I love her, Kairi. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Tell her that, not me!" Kairi sighed and shook her head. "Boys..."

"But what if I don't get her back soon enough and she starts dating Liam?"

Kairi smiled at that. "Trust me, that's not going to happen. Cade isn't exactly Liam's type. Look, this is me helping. Cade said she wants something that is entirely you. If I give you any ideas on how to get her back, it won't work. I'm sorry, Sam." She hurried away and fell into step with Fred, slipping her arm through his and kissing him on the cheek. Fred smiled down on her and kissed the top of her head in return.

Sam wanted to be angry at them and their happy relationship. Why had everyone else around him managed to end up with perfect lives in perfect marriages with perfect kids? Sam's eyes landed on the back of Cade's curly haired head. He knew exactly what had gotten him here. He had put his work first and wanted to make sure everything was in order before he and Cade moved their relationship any further. It was the logical thing to do. But love wasn't logical. In the process, he had ignored all her signs and signals that she wanted more, and he didn't appreciate her the way she deserved. How had they lasted as long as they did?

Sam shook his head to clear his thoughts and quickened his footsteps to catch up with the rest of the group. He caught the tail-end of Cade and Liam's conversation. He couldn't help the way his jaw tightened at the sight of them together. Just because he and Cade had broken up, and Sam was going to make sure that was only temporary, didn't mean Liam could waltz right on in and sweep Cade off her feet and away from Sam. So what if he was Australian, handsome, brave, and perfect for Cade in every way Sam wasn't?

"We need to make up for all the time we've lost. I know a short cut, but it's a little risky." Liam thoughtfully tapped his chin and skimmed the pages of his notebook. "But if we want to make it to purgatory on time, I'm afraid we have no other choice."

"It can't be that bad. What's the short cut?" Cade peered into Liam's journal and eyed his hand drawn maps.

Liam pointed to the path he was referring to. "It doesn't look dangerous on here, but it's bloody narrow. We'll be coming up on it soon."

"Narrow doesn't sound dangerous." Cade looked ahead to see if there was any sign of Liam's short cut. Sam loved the way her inquisitive eyes examined every detail. Cade believed there was something to be discovered round every corner, and if you weren't looking closely enough, you'd miss it. His heart panged from longing for Cade. How had he let her get away?

Cade's head turned over her shoulder, and she spotted Sam staring at her. His face immediately reddened. He offered a meek wave but all Cade did was shake her head and turn back around. "So what about this short cut makes it so risky?"

"It's ah... you'll see. It should be just around the corner."

They continued down the path and around the corner.

Liam gestured to a small crack in the wall. "Through here. Watch your step on the other side. I don't want anyone to fall."

"Fall?" The group grew nervous and eyed the crack with worry.

Liam slipped through first, followed by Cade, and then Fred and Kairi. Sam was the last to go. The crack was a tight fit for him. He had no idea how someone as big as Fred made it through. Sam's heart rate sped up as claustrophobia set in. He pushed himself the last few feet and breathed out a happy sigh of relief when he finally got out.

His relief vanished when he got a good look at his new surroundings. Everyone was crammed together on a small ledge. No one wanted to move and risk falling off the edge. The chasm that stretched out below appeared to be bottomless. After a few feet, the empty air below disappeared into the thick fog. The only way back to the main path was to carefully walk, pressed against the wall, along a skinny and crumbling ledge.

"This is your short cut?" Fred's eyes darted over to the edge to look at the trench below. Even he couldn't hide his fear. He tightened his grip on Kairi and took a step back.

"What happens if we fall?" Kairi asked reluctantly, already knowing the answer.

"Death?" Cade guessed.

"That's be right," Liam confirmed in a melancholy tone.

"What happens if we die in the Land of the Dead?"

"I'd rather not find out. Let's just get going."

One by one, everyone shuffled onto the strip of rock jutting out from the wall. Because of the size of the ledge they were currently on and how everyone was positioned, the order that they went was predetermined. Liam was first once again. Fred and Kairi went next, and Sam and Cade pulled up the rear.

Sam hesitated before stepping onto the narrow path. He wasn't the most coordinated person, and the chances of him falling were fairly high.

"Would you hurry up, Sam?" Cade impatiently tapped her foot behind him. "We don't have any time to waste. You'll be fine."

"You don't know that," the words slipped from Sam's lips.

"Sam..." Cade sighed. "You have to go sooner or later, and sooner is better than later."

Sam's fear of falling and his desire to make Cade like him again conflicted in his heart. In the end, he knew Cade was right, and he stepped out onto the ledge. He kept his back pressed to the wall, and his feet never left the ground. He shimmied along the wall at a slow and overly cautious pace. Cade moved in a similar fashion behind him.

"So, um... it must be nice to have a fellow Australian to talk to," Sam attempted to start a conversation. Talking helped him forget about his current predicament. As long as he didn't look down, he'd be all right. "I know how much you miss home sometimes. I was thinking that maybe when we get back home, you and I could take a trip to Australia."

Cade rolled her eyes. "Do you really think now is the time for this? If you want to talk about our issues, we can do it later when we're not walking over a bottomless trench. I meant what I said, Sam. We are not together anymore, and I'm not exactly in the mood to work on our relationship at the moment."

"But I want to be together again." Sam stopped and gazed at his ex-girlfriend with pleading eyes. "I miss you, Cade."

"If you want to be together, then you should have acted like it when we were together." Cade let out an angry huff. "And would you please hurry up? The longer we stand here, the more unstable it gets. I can practically hear it crumbling beneath our feet."

Sam wanted to argue, but he knew it was useless for now. He reluctantly picked up his pace. Everyone else had already made it to the other side safely.

"Look, I just want you to know that I do care about you, and I'm sorry I didn't show it more when we were dating." Referring to their relationship in the past tense hurt Sam more than he thought it would.

Cade didn't respond, not that Sam expected her to. He pushed himself the last few feet and nearly collapsed with relief when he got to the other side.

"Where's Cade?" Kairi asked concernedly.

"She's right behind..." Sam trailed off as he turned around and saw no sign of Cade. "What? She was just there. I swear!"

"Oh, no, no, no..." Kairi hurriedly shook her head back and forth. "We were so close. Maybe she had to turn around for some reason? She couldn't have fallen."

"I didn't hear her fall. We were just talking a second ago." Sam peered into the fog behind them. Cade wouldn't be gone. He had so much he wanted to tell her and do with her. Sam cupped his hands around his mouth. "Cade!"

"Easy there, mate." Liam glanced around nervously. "We don't want to attract any attention to ourselves."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sam glared at Liam. "Just keep going and pretend nothing happened? She could still be alive. We can't leave her. I won't leave her."

"Of course not, but we can't-" Liam cut himself off and looked away, a disgruntled expression coming to his face. "Five minutes. We'll wait and discuss our options for five minutes. Then we have no choice but to move on."


A/N - Sorry I'm late with this update. Life has been distracting lately. Thanks for reading! Please review!