I don't own TUC only my OC's.

Chapter 10

Silvia

I gasped as I entered the city. It was absolutely gorgeous! You could even see the sun at the very top of the cavern. The city itself was beautiful as well, but my eyes were captivated by the patch of blue. Suddenly I felt a pair of eyes on me and I turned quickly to see Demetrius watching me. He shook his head ever so slightly and glanced at my brother. I glared at him and turned back around to face the city.

We landed near a cluster of buildings that looked similar to the ones back home. I felt a wave of sadness and longing wash over me as I was suddenly reminded of Cannon, then guilt. I had only dreamed or thought about him a very few times during my journey, my thoughts had been occupied by Demetrius. I narrowed my eyes as I got off Apollo. I vowed not to think of him unless he was talking to me or I was trying to ignore him trying to get my attention.

I walked away from the buildings Peter was examining. "Why do you not go and look with your brother and sister?" I asked.

"Are you sure you want to be alone in this city?" he replied.

"I am sure. I need a bit of time to myself, and it is hard to get it when you are being smothered by the 'guard' your parents sent along." I said growing even more irritated with the stupid boy.

"Very well, call if you need me and we will fly somewhere else."

"Thank you." I whispered as he flew off. I turned to run off to a section of the city but was stopped by the most annoying excuse for a man in the last century. "Move." I said glaring at him.

"Sorry Silver, but wherever you go, I go." He said with his arms crossed and a stupid smirk on him face. I turned quickly to walk in a different part of the city. I heard a rustle of wings and I was soon lifted off the ground and set down on Hestia. "Don't make this so hard on yourself." He said lightly. I just crossed my arms and looked in a different direction. Demetrius chuckled, "Land here Hestia, and we'll have a look."

Hestia landed lightly in an area with slightly higher buildings than the human section of the city. I entered one of the homes and began to have a look around. Demetrius stayed guard outside. It looked very similar the homes of the prickers that Aunt Sydney used to visit regularly. The last trip she took was near there she was supposed to visit the prickers and try to make contact with the stabbers. Next thing we knew there was letter that said she had gone missing. Not signed, written by a human, and not telling where she could be. A year later she was pronounced dead, and that was when my parents pretty much replaced Howard as Peter's parents.

The first few houses I went in I found nothing unusual. In the next I found the bones of an entire family, slaughtered. I stifled a scream, but Demetrius heard me anyway. It was hard not to, everything was eerily silent.

"Silvia! Are you hurt? What has happened?" he asked quickly, his voice dripping with concern. I couldn't speak. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes and I rubbed them away quickly so as not to cause him to comfort me. "Oh," he said quietly. I clenched my eyes shut and my brain began to imagine the screams of the mother and children. The father shouting something in their own tongue and defending his family against the attackers, then the screams stopped as the last one fell dead. A tear dripped down my cheek and I felt warm arms pull me close.

I turned my face into his chest and cried quietly. "They never had a chance." I whispered, "Those poor children."

"Something evil has happened here." Demetrius whispered in my hair. I nodded and pulled away from him.

I should thank him, I thought, but my pride got the better of my and I left the home silently, and went into the next. Two out of every five houses we checked had at least one skeleton. We finished looking in each house and moved on to the next section. The houses were almost exactly like the others we had just looked in, the only difference being the homes were built for lager animals of almost the same species.

"Absolutely nothing." I said puzzled as we left the last house and began to walk back to the place we had landed.

"Maybe they all got our in time?" Demetrius suggested.

I shook my head, "No, not after all bodies we have seen. I am almost positive that is where most of the deaths occurred." I was angry. I saw more bodies of children than any adult or teen. How could anyone be so heartless?

"Maybe." He said and we walked silently. Hestia had flown to join Apollo and Artemis. I assumed Aren had gone with Peter since I could no longer see him flying with the others.

We were the last to reach the meeting spot, and after everyone else had shared their findings we did shared ours. While I listened I compared their findings to ours. Besides the section we had found the only other place without bodies was the alcoves where the flying creatures lived. Everywhere else there were at least ten bodies.

"This is quiet disturbing." Hestia said, speaking almost for the first time on this trip. We all nodded our agreement.

"We should search the castle-like building in the middle. Stick together in pairs of two or three. Peter I want you with me." Peter nodded, and we split up into our groups, Aren and Peter with Little Ripred, Hestia, Demetrius, Apollo, and I in one, and Simon with Artemis.

The castle was even more extravagant on the inside. Not a single inch was decorated dully. I walked to the edge of one of the rivers and gasped. It was absolutely beautiful. Peter came up beside me and looked as well. Then he moved to the center of the room and looked up at the patch of blue sky.

I was amazed at how the water was so still. It probably hadn't moved in decades. The palace was just as silent as the rest of the city. Except it was a different silence. It was a light silence, but as I moved around the entrance hall it became a silence of dread.

Demetrius tugged on my arm and led me and our bonds down a hallway the other groups hadn't decided to go down. We walked and explored every little room we passed. There was nothing to incredibly interesting until we entered the room at the end of the hall.

Our group came to a stop at the end of the long corridor. Apollo noticed a piece of the wall was ajar and as Demetrius and I pulled at it we discovered a door. There was a small tunnel leading deeper into the earth than any of us had ever been. I gulped and followed behind Demetrius as we descended.

There was no light down here so both of us began softly clicking every now and then to make the tunnel brighter. My breathing soon became enough as I became more nervous to what would await us at the end of the chamber.

The tunnel continued down until it reached a large river. It was going faster than any other I had ever seen. It reminded me of what Mother had told me the river leading from the palace to the Waterway used to be like.

I no longer relied on my breathing for sight the river was enough, and I wished I could stop it up then and there. Hundreds of skeletons lay on the banks of the river. The people who had had to wait to cross were massacred.

I froze. I couldn't move because I could see it all happening in my head. I could hear the screams, the evil laughter, the sobbing, and the desperate pleading. I could see blood splattering everywhere and dead bodies falling into the rushing river. I could see the scared faces of the children, and of the families who had already crossed as the watched helplessly.

I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I screamed then began to sob uncontrollably. I hadn't wanted to see that. I didn't need to see those images. It was like I had been there. I was one of them. Warm arms wrapped around me again and I felt Demetrius stoking my hair speaking to me softly. Once I was able to gain control I realized I had fallen and Demetrius was also. Apollo fluttered distress that there wasn't anything he could do to help and Hestia was also very concerned.

Demetrius helped me stand and we made our way back to the entrance hall where all the others were waiting. Simon and Artemis were discussing something in quiet whispers, and Little Ripred was pacing back and forth muttering to himself.

Demetrius helped me sit down and Apollo came over and wrapped his golden wings around me. I buried my face in his fur and let the rest of my tears run dry.

Little Ripred suddenly turned, "Oh good, we're all here now." Aren landed and Peter slid off his back. We gathered in a tight circle and Simon began with his findings.

"We saw no more dead bodies. All the rooms were void of anything intelligible, all in all nothing of any significance." Little Ripred nodded and then looked at us.

I didn't think I could handle giving the story so Demetrius began, "We saw pretty much the same thing except when we reached the end of our hall way we discovered a secret door. We went down the long tunnel deeper into the earth and stopped at a large river. There were hundreds of skeletons on the bank we were standing on." I silently thanked him for leaving out my mental breakdown. I couldn't have my brother worrying about me.

After he finished Peter gave the account of what his group saw. We grew silent while trying to figure out what the person meant by 'you will know where to find us. Just follow the path of the Sun.'

"How was Sun spelled?" Simon asked suddenly. Peter spelled it for him and Simon's gaze turned to the patch of blue that was beginning to turn orange. We followed his gaze, "Follow the path of the Sun. When the sun rises it will start I'm assuming from where we entered, and as the day goes by all we have to do is follow the beam. We know that at noon the Sun will be exactly over head and centered directly inside here. If I'm right there are mirrors hidden all over the city. Artemis and I found a few, the Sun will hit the one in the center here and the light would normally go straight up, but if you've noticed that mirror is tilted just a bit. All we have to do is follow where the mirrors lead, but we'll have to move quickly."

We sat there for a moment in silence. "That makes since." Little Ripred said slowly. Simon nodded modestly. "We will camp in here tonight, and I will wake you at the first rays of dawn." I froze and glanced at Demetrius, he looked uneasy as well, but what could we do? I wasn't sleeping away from the group.

I laid out my pallet close to Demetrius'. For some reason I had begun to feel safer with him around. As the others began to slowly fall asleep I looked over to Demetrius. I couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep, "Thank you." I whispered to him. I saw a small smile form on him face before I turned over and fell asleep.

What do you guys think? Hey guess what! It's been less than a week since I last updated! Gasp! I figured you guys deserved it plus it's a longer chapter! Have you ever noticed that when you write it on Microsoft Word that it looks longer? Thanks for reading!

~chocoyum4~