The man approached them flying and landed next to them. He stared at them for a while, glaring. Then he started talking, explaining his intentions.
"You may have gotten them back, but they were of no use to me anyway" he said, speaking in a monstrous, hoarse voice: the same voice they had heard earlier.
"Why did you want us?" Miley was the first to ask. She wasn't afraid of the man, she was asking him because she was curious.
"I didn't want you" the man said. "But now, you're not going anywhere."
"What do you mean?" Taylor L. asked him, angrily. "We're going back!"
"No, you're not. No one leaves once they get in here." the strange man continued. "Because now you've seen too much."
"If we swear not to tell anyone?" Taylor S. asked.
"That doesn't even happen in fairytales, little princess in pink." he said, and laughed. His scary laugh sent chills down her spine.
"And... who are you?" Taylor asked another question, taking a step back just in case.
"My name is Malzahar. I am the Prophet of the Void. And I'm looking for a woman to breed my offspring." he finally revealed his identity to them.
The girls looked at each other, confused. Breed his offspring?... That's why he's been kidnapping us?
Before they could say anything, an insect monster appeared from the sky. It was holding Anastasia in his arms, who was unconscious.
Taylor L.'s eyes widened at the sight of that. "Anastasia!" he screamed and ran to her. "What did you do to her?" he said, turning to look at Malzahar.
"Not another step!" Malzahar shouted at him. "She is the one through whom I will fulfill my plans."
"She'll never help you!" Fanie said.
"She won't have a choice" Malzahar said with a smirk on his face. Then he came up to the girl who was still asleep and said "Finally, she who counts as two has come."
"But she..." Taylor started saying and his voice weakened as he continued. "She lost it."
"She what?" Malzahar turned abruptly to look at Taylor. Oops. Looks like the prophet didn't foresee that.
"She lost it, bastard! Because of your cowardish bomb!" Fanie shouted, casting the blame on him.
"That... wasn't supposed to happen..." the prophet mumbled.
"Now you should let us go" Miley said, fearless. "If she's not the one you're looking for..."
"She is." Malzahar responded. "She was carrying the baby when she stepped into this tower."
"Wait... you wanted our baby?" Taylor L. said. His face was bright red now, looking at the man who destroyed his future.
"She has nothing to give. And she needs medical treatment or she'll die." Zac said, trying to reason with the prophet.
"Please, let us go!" Selena cried. She didn't enjoy this situation at all.
"Hmmm..." Malzahar closed his eyes for a while, thinking. He opened them again. "How about a deal?"
"A deal?" Zac asked.
"You'll have to figure out the riddles I'm going to give you. Every time you get one correct, one goes. But if you get one wrong, one will have to stay." Malzahar said.
They looked at each other in confusion once again. This deal was weird, indeed, but what other choice did they have?
"Deal" said Fanie, determined. "I count on our intelligence."
The prophet stopped to think for a while before he started with the riddles. "First one, sometimes it runs fast and others, it slows down. It can't go back and in that, one may come round. What is it?"
"It can't go back..." Zac said, thoughtfully. "It's time! Time can't come back and sometimes it feels like it flies, while others, it's slowing down. And in time, one may come round!"
"You're good." Malzahar said. "You got that one right, so you can go! Kha'zix, escort him" and with that, another insect monster (how many of those were there?) picked Zac up and put him in an enchanted cage, where he couldn't hear the others.
"You said you'd let us go" Demi reminded him.
"Well... I lied. But your luck may still change. If you figure out all my riddles." Malzahar replied, sarcastically.
Then he moved on to the next riddle.
"Second. Like a little waterfall they fall, quite a few may be the cause, and once they start they never stop."
"Is it tears?" Fanie said.
Malzahar turned to look at her. "You are smarter than you look." Another Kha'zix flew next to the girl, picked her up and put her in a cage next to Zac.
"Riddle number three..." he continued. "Feeling that is your choice, for you act on your own free will. Only ones who feel it are the weak."
Selena looked deep in thought, doing her best to solve the riddle. Taylor L., judging by Malzahar's movements and behavior, whispered to her something he had just found out.
"The last part is a lie. Trust me."
"It's guilt!" Selena said. "But it's not the weak who feel it. It takes courage to admit a mistake and then feel guilt."
"Oh, you young lady, you're right!" Malzahar grinned at her. "Take her!" he nodded to his beloved insects.
"You've got three out of three so far. I must say, you're doing pretty good. Next one now..." and he continued...