Here I am, with a new chapter. I decided to post today because it's World Book day today :D I kow this isn't literally a book, but who really cares, so long as we read. So this chapter is quite long. I'd put it in two pieces but i just feel like it has to be in one. I hope it's not too long for anyone. That shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the lovely new reviews and the new follow! Please, keep going with that. Oh, in the time between this and the last chapter I posted a Sydrian oneshot called Me and You. It's my first onshot ever and I'd love you to check it out if you have a second. As always, I own nothing, Richelle Mead does, I'm sorry for mistakes, there are spoilers, and please review! I hope you enjoy!
Sydney was right, there wasn't much time. We quickly got everything we needed. That didn't include our phones. But I did leave Eddie a note. I couldn't be that heartless, because I knew too well that he cared. The note only said we left to save them. Nothing more because we didn't even know where we're going. The west part, of course. From then on, we were going to follow the bond and look for buildings that look like they're about to fall apart.
"Do you think anyone else can help us?" Angeline asked as we were heading down the stairs, as quietly as possible, because we were supposed to stay inside. I mentally went through the list of people we had left here. Four of them were guardians. One was an unoffficial guardian, but still in the team. One was our Queen. And one...
One was a reckless royal retard that could burn that building down with his left hand in a blink of an eye. Literally.
"I don't really think so," Sydney said. "We're on our own here." I shook my head.
"Think twice. I bet Christian would be all for it." Angeline's face lightened up, showing she agrees, but Sydney still looked skeptical.
"But he's in the same room with Lissa, and she'd never let him go!" she said dubiously.
"Yeah?" I asked. "Watch me convince her."
A minute later we were standing in front of their room. Luckily, it was Christian who opened up. He was easier to trick than Lissa.
"Yeah?" he yawned. It was pretty clear we didn't wake him up right now, because otherwise he wouldn't be at the door so quickly. He was just sleepy from staying up most of the night, like the rest of us. I don't think he was usually the kind of person who'd stay awake with worry, even though he cared, but I knew Lissa was, and she kept him with her as mental support.
"The guardians need your help with something," I said and pulled him out the door before he could resist. His eyes popped out, but he didn't say a thing. I guess he already got used to the weirdness of his life. Although, he did notice we're dragging him into the wrong direction.
"Hey, I thought the guardians are in the conference hall. Which is in that direction," he said, pointing towards it. I nodded and pulled him further away, out the back exit and to the parking lot.
"They are. But they don't need you, we do. You and your flames," I replied. He chuckled.
"I see how my flames could be useful, but I don't know why you need them right now, at 3 am the day before we leave," he said. I smirked and Sydney explained: "The Warriors of the Light have Adrian and Trey. They're violent to Trey and want to execute Adrian. We have to save them before it's too late, but the guardians aren't leaving before the morning, which could take about forever. So we have to get there and do something. The three of us are in this plan, and we could use you."
Christian frowned and took a few seconds to consider the idea.
"Well, it sounds like bullshit, I'm in," he smiled in the end.
"Wait, but that means no more girl power," Angeline commented.
"Why, we're all girls here," I smirked.
"Hey!" Christian exlaimed. Both of the girls laughed.
The parking lot was empty. Probably from the reason Christian had pointed out before, because it was 4 am. The empty places reminded me of a very important, crucial part of the plan we'd forgotten. I slapped my forehead.
"Wait, how are we getting there?" Sydney asked. It was exactly what I'd thought of a second ago. Though that didn't mean we were any closer to the solution.
"We could take one of the Guardians' cars," Angeline suggested. Sydney and Christian's face told me they agree, but spending so much time with Eddie learned me a few things. I shook my head: "No, they'll find us if that happens. I mean, we need them to come eventually, we can't defeat the Warriors alone, but they have every tittle planned. And they have GPS in their cars. They'll follow us and we'll be in trouble."
Angeline rolled her eyes to my words. "Aren't we already in trouble?"
"What if we tell the hotel's managment they sent us somewhere safe? Jill, you're the princess, they'll have to believe you," Christian said. No one had anything to say against that, so we did what he said. We had to wait at the counter for a while because, obviously, most of the staff were alseep, but we got the car in the end. It even had palm trees on it. Sydney drove it and I sat in the passenger seat, to give her directions if I got any by the way.
What was late afternoon sun in the human world was blinding me, so I pulled the shade on the window down. Unfortunately for me, it had a mirror on it. My hair was sticking in all directions like an overused broom and my eyes were bloodshot, both from the lack of sleep. It all made me want to lean my head on the window and take a nap on it's cold glass. But I was needed right now.
"Too bad I didn't take my sunglasses," Christian said. "I bought new ones in the giftshop. The frames look like they're carved out of a coconut." I didn't even bother responding, but Angeline did: "Yes, I see a billion ways to be longing for coconut shaped sunglasses while trying to save people from being executed by vampire hunting maniacs." Christian frowned and clenched his fists, but did a lousy job at pretending to be insulted. His lip corners twitched too much and a second later he bursted out laughing.
"Listen, girl, sarcasm is my thing."
Angeline raised her eyebrows.
"The last time I checked, you were a girl too." That kept him quiet and made me smile.
The car filled with silence that went on for at least an hour. All that time we were driving and I tried to reach out for Adrian. But I sensed nothing except for what I already knew. Nothing was going on with him and Trey anymore. No one came. He wasn't even nervous about the upcoming execution. I felt no hint of where they could be located, not even if we're getting closer. The bond unfortunately wasn't a searching device. Then we reached the coast and Sydney stopped. She looked around the, forming a question with her eyes. Her gaze stopped on me. As if I knew how to help her.
"This is as west as we can go," she said insecurely. "Did you, erm, sense anything?" Her expression told me she had no idea what to imagine when the bond stepped into the story. I shook my head sadly.
"You see, I thought this could be a problem," said Christian.
"Then why didn't you mention anything?" Angeline growled. Whoa, there was some weird tension between them. Not the sparkly kind. Which still wasn't good. The last time I saw that with Angeline was when she threw a textbook into Trey's head. A few weeks later she tried to sneak him into our room. We couldn't afford that now. Especially since she just might try something, when her relationship with Trey was on thin ice. Sydney's look told me she was thinking the same thing.
"Let's look around and see," I suggested. The three of them agreed relieved. No one seemed comfortable now. Maybe our rescue group wasn't desinged very well, it occured to me.
There was something like a rain forest around us. I didn't see the building, but it might as well be in the middle of it, because it looked abandoned enough to let the trees grown in the mean time. And if I were trying to hide people to execute them later, I wouldn't pick a very obvious place. So we made our way through the bushes and into the woods. At least the shadows of the trees protected us from the sun.
I was in the group's front. Not because I'd be leading it or anything, just because it seemed I was the only one aware we don't have forever to find them before their ridiculous rituals or whatever start. After half an hour, when all we had was scrathed elbows and knees, ripped clothes from the branches and some lost time, I was about to suggest we give up and go back to the car. There wouldn't be a house that deep in the woods, right?
Then a glimpse of something came into my sight.
"What's that over there?" Christian asked, pointing into the direction I noticed too.
"It looks like a cabin," I established. He nodded.
"Would a cabin be big enough to keep them there?" Angeline asked dubiously. Christian rolled his eyes and I shared his annoyance. When did Angeline get so precise?
"Depends on how big of a cabin," I said. Sydney gave me a distanced look, saying that she was calculating something too complicated for everyday mortals to understand.
"Actually, when it comes to the Warriors, they'll make it big enough if they have to. They might not be very mentally and morally developed, but they're organised. When they tried to kill Sonya, they made an arena in a week. They're stubborn enough to do this too," she said.
"Well, fine, let's go check," Angeline retorted.
We walked into the cabin. It was dark inside despite the sunlight and the scent of dust filled the air. The cabin must've been abandoned for a while. Any electricity was long gone. If it was ever there. Clearly, there was no sign of the Warriors. But there was a cracked door on the other other side of the room. We still had to check, even though the silence in the cabin wasn't very promising.
Christian lighted up a flame from his hand. The room lighted up a bit and I noticed a notebook or something like it open on the table. The paper was yellow and dusty, but the pen next to it looked like it was just dropped. I couldn't decide if the cabin had been empty for decades or if someone was just here. I could've sworn I saw footsteps in the dust. Maybe they were just ours.
However, I never got a chance to get a good look at them, because Christian's flame quenched. He squealed in a way that would give me a fair excuse to call him a girl again if I wasn't kind of scared myself too.
"I swear that wasn't me. It even burned me a bit. I'd never burn myself," he said with his voice shaking.
"Oh, come on, he's just messing with us," Angeline groaned. Sydney sighed and lighted up a fireball of her own. As our surroundings became visible again, the three of us crouded around Christian's hand to see if it was actually a prank or not.
It turned out it wasn't. His palm was actually red and hot, covered with small boils. There was normally no effect whatsoever with fire users. He could even attack people with fire without damaging them.
"Maybe it was just the wind...?" Sydney asked hesitantly.
Then the door slammed closed and Sydney's flame burned out too. Actually, it looked like it was blown away from her hand, out of her control. The fireball grew to the size of a football. We all cried in fear and stepped back, covering our faces. In a wooden building, what was going on didn't seem very promising. But only a few seconds later, the fire burned out completely.
For a moment we all stood there looking at each other, as much as we could see. Then, still with no clue what was going on, I moaned and raced towards the exit. The others were right behind me. I was already holding the door knob when I stopped jerkily. Sydney, whose vision wasn't as good as a Moroi's or a dhampir's, bumped into me. I ignored it completely because I found myself face to face with the ghost of Queen Tatiana again.
The last time I could kind of handle it at last, because I already got used to the weird situation. Now I was at the beginning again. This vacation was like a roller coaster, except every time I thought it stopped, it went for another lap the moment I caught my breath. I thought this ride was almost over, but now I was realizing it's barely begun. And I couldn't handle it anymore. I couldn't even scream. I could barely breathe. Wasn't it bad enough we were all trapped in this horror film? All it was missing was the ghost only I could see.
The pressure was too much for me. Yes, I was the princess, but I never had such responsibilities, I never had the weight of other people's lives on my shoulders! I wasn't good at this. No one even got me right now. The ones around me, yes, they'd help me, but they didn't get it. They were counting on me. I couldn't tell them.
I wanted Eddie.
I wanted the Eddie I had to get over. He got me and he could help me. He knew me. He could calm me down. But I even messed us with him. He was probably mad at me when he found out what I did. I messed this up too.
I thought I'm going to throw up with the pressure I suddenly felt.
No. I had to be strong, and I always was. I wasn't like Rose or Angeline, who'd never yield down, not even when they were probably supposed to. But I could take it. It was just a ghost. And a scary house. And two missing people. It wasn't as bad as royal event or something. I sobered up. "I. Can. Handle this," I mentally told myself.
"What is it?" I sighed, out loud this time.
"Huh?" the three of my companions asked.
"It's... The ghost," I explained, turning towards them, then back to the ghost. My friends tried to find out from ach other what I was saying, talking in a whisper. Neither of them knew exactly. I could basically feel Christian and Angeline exchange glares behind my back. But I ignored them. I couldn't lose much time, because it seemed the Queen's time with me was always short. Or maybe not, since we were out of the hotel wards' reach. Oh, who cares, they weren't working anyway. And I thought, hoped even, that she had something important to tell me. I could use some information, really. It was pretty obvious I've stopped catching up with my life.
Tatiana (I should really decide how to call her by now) pointed at the door behind me. At least so I asumed, since, even with my Moroi vision, I had a pretty lousy orientation in the pitch black room. Only the ghost, now that I looked closely, was shining lightly. She was still transparent, like the first time. Although, who would expect a ghost to be material?
It had no use resisting. Even if I panicked, like the last time, she'd calm me down and make me follow her... Signs. I was over the panic anyway. Since a minute away, when I almost cracked, I decided to follow. I felt like a shell, I didn't think, I tried not to not use reason more than I had to. Because if I actually tried to logically understand my situation, I'd crack for real. I've cried enough on this vacation. The roller coaster doesn't stop if you scream. It stops when you reach the end and walk out. But I had to reach that point first.
"We have to go into the other room," I ordered swiftly, like I just said an ordinary thing. So that they wouldn't notice. It sounded kind of crazy to do that, since there was probably a demon trying to chase us out, according to the quenching fire and the slamming door. Maybe I was over it, but I knew that they weren't.
"Why?" Angeline squealed. Yep, they weren't over it.
"There's already a ghost in here, what worse could happen?" I replied without a slight change to my expression. Of course Angeline couldn't see that. But I suppose she realized there was nothing to be afraid of, because I heard steps behind me.
After tripping a few times and feeling around the whole wall and door I finally found the door knob and opened the door up. The second I did that it fell off the hinges and fell apart into plain old wooden boards. Something like that probably already happened to the wall of the room we just walked in, because a pretty big gap was adorning it. The light coming through it blinded me, but I was glad to see it. No matter how much the sun sometimes worn me out, I still liked it better than the jet black surroundings I couldn't even see.
I looked around for the ghost. Funny, I could see her better in the dark.
"What now?" I asked her. She pointed towards the gap. I gave her a look from the side. I didn't know exactly what she wanted. To get through the gap? Where to? She pointed towards it again, getting unpatient.
"You want us to go out?" I asked dubiously. She nodded in the way that was letting me know I should already know that.
"Then why didn't you just point at the door I was already at?" I groaned. I was starting to see the family resemblance with Adrian. He could make you go around in circles too sometimes.
I crouched through the gap shaking my head in disbelief. The others followed me back into the woods. Well, we actually found ourselves on a small clearing. No matter how tough I was trying to play after my crack, I was relieved to be standing in the light again. The air had a soothing scent of soaked wood. The last remainings of my earlier sickness finally dissappeared in the freshness.
"What now?" Sydney asked. Angeline and Christian were both still a bit frickly. I shrugged.
"I think we should go back to the car. We've already lost enough time."
"Yeah, I agree, but do you know where the car is?" she sighed. I bent my head.
"We should've left a trail of crumbs," Christian said accusingly.
Queen Tatiana's ghost appeared in front of me again and pointed at me.
"Guys, let's follow the ghost," I said. "I hope we don't go to the north and the east before we get there."
After a bit of walking, actually way less than before we found the cabin, we reached the car. We all jumped in quickly and, logically, wanted to follow the ghost again. But she dissappeared in a blink of an eye again. We were on our own. I felt guilty that I can't help. Shadow-kissed for nothing. But no, I told myself immediately when that though hit me. I had nothing to complain about. I was shadow-kissed to stay alive.
We drove aimlessly for ten minutes or so. I was tourturing my brain with trying to come up with an idea. I had to. Time was running out, and if we didn't think of something, we did all this and got ourselves into danger for nothing.
"Luke," I realized.
"Luke? What about Luke?" Angeline asked suddenly cheerful. I was starting to see Trey's point. She was all eager about another guy while we were trying to save her boyfriend.
"Luke knows the island better. He lives here. He might know something about an abandoned building or two."
Sydney gave me a sad glance and focused back on the road immediately. "Jill, neither of us brought our phones. And unless he lives ten minutes away, we don't have time to go find him in person for a little to zero information that might as well be wrong."
"I brough my phone," Christian said.
"Finally, you're useful," Angeline muttered. He squinted at her with his eyes narrowed and then looked back at the phone.
"About ten thousand missed calls. Thank God I put it on silent."
"We still don't have Luke's number. I didn't memorize it," I sighed.
"I did!" Angeline shrieked. Christian passed her his phone. She held it with exaggerated disgust and typed the number in. Then she dialed and gave it to me. I decided to give her a bit of a lesson while waiting for him to answer. Her reaction was really a bit weird for a girl in a serious relationship. She had to hear this. And so what if the other two heard it. Sydney knew already, and Christian wasn't that annoyed by her to give her mean comments about that... Or so I hoped.
"Angeline, you still love Trey, right?" I asked her with a sad tone in my voice.
"Of course!" she exclaimed, looking a little upset that I could doubt. I didn't really. But she gave Trey some reasons to, even without realizing it. She was worried about him before we knew what actually happened, so I told her he'll appear again. Now we knew his dissappearance had nothing to do their relationship and her loyalty, but they probably would have some issues once we saved him.
"Then... Look, be sure that I don't doubt you do. But I promised you I'd help you whenever you're confused with our culture. Here, when you're in a serious relationship, you don't look at other guys or flirt with them or..."
Angeline's jaw dropped and she interrupted me: "But didn't you see those girls at Amberwood? They all had boyfriends and were obsessing over boybands and didn't have a single problem with that!"
"That's true, but... Did you memorize Trey's phone number?" Angeline's silence told more than a thousand words.
"You and Trey are different people," I continued, "And you'll both have some adjusting to do if you want to stay with each other. I just want to help you. It'd be the best if you leave other guys alone and focus on him if you want to." I really only wanted to help her, not get in the middle of them. Trey wouldn't talk to her about that alone. And even if they didn't work out, she needed to know that for future relationships.
"You're the one to talk! Don't you want to be with Eddie? Because you actually went out with Luke! Take your own advice!" she exclaimed. She looked really angry, but couldn't hide the tears glittering in her eyes. That was one more thing about Angeline. She got defensive when you hurt her. I didn't mean to do that, but now, when she brought Eddie up...
"That's different!" I cried with my voice unusually high. "Eddie..."
"Hello?" a sleepy, raw voice said through the phone. I winced startled. I already forgot it was by my ear.
"Luke," I slowly said, slightly confused.
"Princess...? I thought I saved your number... Sorry it took me so long, I just woke up and couldn't find my phone. Anyway, at your service at 5 am," he said. I already got myself together from the fight while he spoke. I wasn't even mad at Angeline. But Luke's words made me feel stings of guilt.
"Sorry for waking you up. It's important, if it makes you feel better." I paused to let my words get to him (I knew how hard that was when you're half asleep) and then continued: "Do you know about any old houses around? Really old, about to fall apart. And in the middle of nowhere. Like, where no one would notice you're holding someone for hostage and want to execute them." Luke laughed, his voice still hoarse from the sleep.
"Why, are you looking for a midnight tour or did Eddie do something again and it's guillotine time for him?" he asked.
"Neither," I replied and outlined the events of the past day in the shortest, fastest form possible. The other side went silent for a second after I finished.
"Yes, there is one old building. There are even signs towards it. It has the oldest inside stairs in the world or something. I'm willing to give you directions over the phone, but promise me to be careful. Those guys sound like maniacs. And I've been there once on a school trip. Something can literally fall on your head."
"I promise," I chuckled.
"Okay. First, where are you?" he asked. I leaned forward the window to look around, but found nothing. I've always had problems with geography.
"I wouldn't know. I'll put you on with my friend who's driving," I said and gave Sydney the phone after he agreed. I leaned back into my seat, knowing I did what I could, and closed my eyes. It wasn't long until I fell asleep. For the first time after too long.
My body jumped in my seat. The shake we woke me up. Our surrondings were no longer moving. Sydney wasn't on the phone anymore. She was taking the car keys out. It seemed that we were there. Except that once again, we only saw woods in front of us.
"There's a small path leading towards it," Christian told me, noticing my confused look. I followed his look and found a narrow lane of sandy brown dried dirt below my feet. It looped between the trees, towards a white outline of a house. That had to be it.
"Got it," I told him with a smile. We headed down the path. It was only wide enough for one at a time. Sydney leaded this time, seeing as she was the most updated one after talking to Luke. Christian was behind her, and I walked between him and Angeline. Safety first. Although I knew Angeline was no big fan of me right now either.
I needed to do something about that. I turned around towards her and walked backwards, decided to talk to her. I hoped it would be in a way that'd end better.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have gotten in between... I only wanted to help."
Angeline narrowed her eyes. I didn't know if it was because she didn't believe me or because the last glimpses of the sunlight were blinding her. The sun'd be gone the next time we'd get out of the woods. Which was a plus for us, because - except for Sydney, but I was sure she'd find someone to lead her after we were leaving - we could see better in the dark.
"Yes, you're right. I was just upset that I messed up with him... I really didn't know. Thanks. Maybe... Maybe it'll work out." Words seemed stuck in Angeline's throat and she looked crushed. I wasn't used to seeing her like that.
After five minutes or so we reached the building. It was actually more of a villa or something like that... I didn't intend to go into details, since I was no arhitect. Anyhow, now the building finally shone in all of its dumpness. It was falling apart from all sides.
We tried to walk in immediately, but it was locked.
"I should've seen this coming," I muttered reluctantly. Sydney groaned and started to pound her hands on the door.
"Come on!" she screamed and pushed the old-fashioned door knob. She kicked the door and, well, looked mad in all ways. It wasn't much like her. I guess she realized that too as she moved back and stared at the damage she's done. Well, she didn't really do anything. She took her bag - which I hadn't really realized she'd brought before - and took something out of it while the rest of us stared at her raptured. She sprinkled that something on the door knob and said something in Latin, or maybe Greek...? She's doing magic, I realized. The door knob melted in front of our eyes. Sydney pushed the door open, grimaced and then blew her breath into her hand. So this was probably the kind of reaction that heats up the metal much.
We walked in. Finally.
I coughed with the first breath I took inside the house. Even though there weren't many people to see right now - which scared me that there were preparations for an execution going on - a Warrior rushing up the stairs proved we were in the right place. But still, the air gave the effect that no one lived here for a long time. Also, it was a lot colder than outside.
"Where should we look?" Angeline asked. I was about to say I have no idea. Then I remembered the bond.
Now when I started to think about it, I did sense Adrian in this building. I just didn't know where to look. I focused on the bond so hard my head was pounding it. But it didn't help. Nothing turned up. My head was empty. My breathing became heavy and I was panicking again... Were we too late?
Then I snapped out of it. Of course we weren't too late. Adrian was here a minute ago. You just can't force the bond. You can only eventually learn to control it. Which I did, but right now I got nervous again.
I sighed and relaxed. Adrian was still in the room and... The room was upstairs. He didn't remember the way, it was just... Something was dragging me up, I got back in the rythem of the bond, and it was one of those things that just give you the intuition, you can't understand them, you only follow.
"Upstairs," I said decisivly. Angeline gave a short nod and followed my lead with the rest of the crew. I walked with fast steps, determined to do what it takes. The bond led me. But as the stairs were in front of me, I hesitated. They didn't look like they could hold four people. Like Luke told me, they were old. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
No, but that Warrior before made it all the way. And there was no sign saying that you can't walk on them. If a school trip had gone here, they sure would've put those up if neccessary, right? I really hoped so and stepped up. The stairs held. I heard a relieved exhalation behind me. It looked like I wasn't the only one worried.
The hall upstairs was dark and wide. The week light only came through the small windows and cracks next to them. It was twillight outside. It took us even longer than I thought. Warriors were rushing through the hall, all in hurry and busy with something. Luckily they didn't notice us, so I led the group on towards the door Trey and Adrian were behind. They were on the extreme right of the building. But I stopped in front of the room.
"The Warriors are in already," I muttered. Then the bond dragged me into the room, but not with my body and mind.
"Time to go," one of the Warriors told Adrian. He only raised an eyebrow.
"Unless you give me food, I don't think so," he replied. He was hungry. And thirsty. And tired. Who wouldn't be? The good thing was that he wasn't one bit afraid of them. But his resistance was no use. Two men leaned down and grabbed his arms to drag him away. It hurt, but he didn't react. I, however, grimaced without realizing it.
"Back, move from the door," I said and pushed them behind me, a bit dizzy from being in two heads at the same time. In that moment the Warriors holding Adrian came crashing through. His eyes widened in surprise. But otherwise, when our looks met, he was surprisingly calm, almost... Cheerful. Like our appearance was a sign, both of the Warriors collapsed in the floor because of the wave of spirit that knocked them down.
"If may I ask, why didn't he do that before?" Christian asked.
"Because they could execute him sooner for it," I muttered.
"Because he knows I'd rip his head off for it," said Sydney.
Adrian ran towards us. I was about to hug him, but his thoughts told me that was right now the last thing on his mind. He was right. First we had to save Trey, and then get out of here. There'll be time for emotinal embraces later.
The croud of Warriors came at us. I guess we should've realized before that we're a bit outnumnered. And unprepared. Our resistance probably looked ridiculous, since we all dealed with the attackers in our own way. Adrian and Angeline developed a sistem where he compelled them and she knocked them out. Christian and Sydney both used their fire-wielding skills. Me...
I decided to try out the trick Christian showed me a few days before. As the first Warrior came closer to me to attack, I moved my fingers and made a squirt of water splash from his mouth with an elegant move. I was proud that it worked so well. He froze in surprise, giving me the time to collect the small amout of water I had together, forming it into a stick so dense it was like ice. It took one well-aimed hit through the air to knock him down. Waterdrops splashed all over the floor, but I quickly gathered my weapon back together and joined the others in fight, adding a little water of every victim I fought. They were afraid of magic. It was good for me, because when we ran out of Warriors (or so we thought), I didn't have a scratch.
But of course we weren't done.
"The guard on the right has the keys," Adrian told us. The room they dragged him from was closed. Trey was still in it. Angeline was the one who crawled carefully towards the door and opened it. Of course, the guards tried to grab her, so she attacked one of them, slidding from the other's reach like an eel.
"Give us the keys," Adrian ordered to the remaining guard. But he used too little compulsion because he was used to weak humans, and this one was just a bit tougher. Maybe that was why he was the one who got the keys. Anyhow, the first try didn't work. The guard only took the keys into his hand, but didn't give them. Adrian would've surely made it in the second try, but before he could say the words, the guard came at him and tried to hit him. Luckily, Adrian was far and fast enough to jump back. The guard didn't give up. It was like a race - who will react faster, who will defeat the other first. Only their skills were different.
Then the guard burned it flames. He cried in shock and fear, dropping the keys. I dived towards them and picked them up. Glancing back for a second, I saw Christian already let go of the fire - the guard was undamaged, because they were far enough from him - and Angeline, who was already done with her first guard, now dealed with this one.
I rushed towards Trey and kneeled down to unlock the chains around his wrists. He looked at the first one as it was freed, finding bruises and scratches on it.
"Thank you," he said quietly. I only smiled. "Is Angeline going to kill me?" he asked then. I chuckled and unlocked the second chain. It clicked lightly.
"Well, you guys'll definetly have to talk," I said. "And it might be better if you talk armed." Trey grimaced and got up.
"That's probably a good idea."
We joined the others. Angeline dealed with the guards in a blink of an eye. Now we had to get out unnoticed. There were probably more Warriors outside, waiting for the exectution that wasn't likely to happen.
It wasn't until we reached the exit when we heard steps behind us. Well, more like a stampede. At least thirty Warriors raced down the stairs towards us.
"And we're screwed," Adrian said.
They still kept coming closer, and I opened the door to let all of us out. We'd have better chances to run outside. There was no time to be playing brave right now, all we had to do was get the heck out of this mess. I tried to get to the path that led to our car, but one of the Warriors grabbed me from behind before I could go far. I screamed in panic. It waslegitimate now.
With no idea what else to do, I recalled the little of the fight practise we had with Eddie back to my mind. I kicked back without a real aim. The first kick was a miss, but with the second one my assailant gasped in pain and let me go, falling on his back. Once again, I drained water out of him, but more this time. I went to the point where he was completely dehydrated because of me. He couldn't stand up anymore. Of course, he'd be fine if this fight ended in time. And if he wouldn't be, well, I couldn't risk right now.
Or maybe that was just a way to comfort myself.
I dealed with the others without letting them attack me first. Except that this time I was in the worse position and was more or less just wriggling out of danger. I was fighting for my own safety, from moment to moment. I couldn't even see my friends in the firce fight that had started. All I knew was that they don't have Adrian yet, but I had no time to dive into the bond.
"That's the Alchemist!" I heard in some direction. I was too caught up the realize which one it was. I wished more than anything that I could go help Sydney, but I couldn't even jelp myself enough. They were just trying to chase us like fish in a fishing net. We were outnumbered and escape seemed impossible.
I just dealed with one of the Warriors when other arms clenched around me and pulled me back. I was about to scream...
... When the arms started to feel familiar to me.
"Are you out of your mind? What on Earth were you thinking to do this? I was worried sick!" a familiar voice whispered into my ear. In the hopeless situation I found myself in, it was easy to overlook the stern tone of the voice and be happy to see its owner.
"Eddie!" I exclaimed and threw myself into him, surprised to realize my voice was more desperat that happy. "You have to help us! I thought it was over!"
Eddie, still surprised over my reaction, nodded towards the place where the fight was still going on. When I looked closely, I could see there were more people now. Most of them were dhampirs. We were winning again.
"You have to go help Sydney!" I exclaimed. "She's the reason they trapped Adrian, because he was a bait for her! The Alchemists still want her back. And I think I heard them catch her!"
"I'm on my way," Eddie said with the fierce guardian look I knew so well in him. But he didn't move. "First I have to get you safe," he told me. I groaned.
"I'll be just fine! Like I was before. I'm actually pretty good at this, you know. I could really use some lessons, because I obviously do get into these kind of things. But..."
"Okay, okay," Eddie chuckled. "We'll discuss that later. Now get the hell out of here."
I was about to argue again, when, just like Eddie before - man, guardians were good at that - Neil appeared out of nowhere and pulled me down that path I was already about to walk before.
"I saw the way you fought," he said completely casually, as if it was an everyday chore for him to pull a princess out of a fight scene with crazy vampire hunters. "Eddie probably won't be willing to train you after all of this lays down. Because of the..." he paused to choose his words carefully, "Unsolved issues between the two of you."
I was about to argue, but he continued: "I will be willing, however. The recent events made me realize you aren't the kind of charge that would sit down, waiting to be protected. Although that makes my work harder, I respect and admire that in you. And seeing as you are officially my charge too, it's my duty to keep you safe. Whatever that includes. So if you want, I will train you."
I cheered in joy and wrapped my hands around his neck. He smiled and hugged me back. He's gotten used to my emotional reactions and often hugging that went on with me. By that time we already got back to the road, where at least twenty guardian cars were now parked. He led me into one of them.
"Now please, wait here," he said and closed the door.
One by one, the rest of my friends joined me in the car. Trey and Angeline sat behind with me. Christian was in the passenger seat and one of the guardians I didn't know drove. There wasn't enough room for Sydney and Adrian. I could see through the bond that they were in the same car with Eddie, and that, after being reunited, he wasn't the one they payed much attention to. Their earlier fight was already forgotten, nad after apologizing to each other for putting the other in danger for about a thousand times, they let themselves to... Other activities.
Trey and Angeline were oppositly quite quiet. They didn't talk, except from making sure the other was okay. My guess was that they don't want to make a scene in front of us. Trey seemed to take my advice about weapons very seriously. I just hoped they'd work it out.
Christian and I were the only ones who stayed alone from our rescue team. I wouldn't rely on Eddie, as Neil said, we had some unsolved issues. I was alone, so I leaned towards Christian.
"Thanks for helping us, even if we made you," I said. He grinned at me.
"It was my pleasure. As I said, I love doing bullshit," he replied.
"Speaking of that. We have to do some magic again." Christian nodded eagerly.
"Yup, we do. But we have to call Mia in too now that we're going back to Court." I smiled excited. If Christian, a fire user, knew this much, what could Mia, a water-wielding pro, show me? And now that I was getting my training... Step by step, I was walking towards the independence I wanted so bad.
"So I guess it's just the two of us, huh?" I asked after a few seconds, seeing as everyone else was coupled up. Christian smiled.
"Yeah, I..."
Then his phone rang. He answered eagerly. His greet to the caller confirmed my suspision: it was Lissa. So much about the two of us staying alone.
"No, no, I didn't mean to scare you! They made me do it!" he exclaimed to something that sounded like hell on the other side of the line.
"Seriously? You said you loved it a minute ago!" I hissed. He only gave me a desperat look. I snorted and threw myself back into my seat. And once again, I slept through the rest of the ride.
We were supposed to leave in the morning, but after Lissa was the only one to actually stay in the hotel, our departure was moved. We only got back by noon and Lissa called us all into her room. It's been a while since the last time we were all together.
Adrian came talk to me soon after we both arrived and were waiting for the others. Well, he was going to. But something about my aura bothered him before.
"Hey, Jailbait, what are you so stressed about?" he asked. The question caught me unprepared. I mean, I knew there were a lot of things going on in my life, but since the big deal was over, I thought I was better now.
"Well, we have my horrible love life, the fact that I'm moving in two months, your execution, pick one," I said.
"Yeah, you do need a break. But look, you shouldn't worry so much. It all works out in the end. Like my execution. Did it happen? No. I wasn't stressing about it the whole time and now I'm just fine," he smirked. It didn't seem that simple to me.
"But it would have happened if we didn't come to save you," I pointed out. He shrugged.
"I knew you'd come. And if you didn't, there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't just leave them do that to Trey, you know."
Maybe he was right. Maybe life wasn't worth stressing so much about. But I was too deep now. Adrian probably saw that from my aura or simply my expression. He swept me into a hug.
"I haven't even thanked you for saving me yet," he said. I laughed bitterly.
"I told you, you don't need to help me. I owe you my life."
"And I told you, you owe me nothing," he said strictly. His face soothed when he saw my dubious expression. "I guess we own each other nothing and just help each other because... Well, because it's us," he added.
"Well, then don't thank me for my part," I retorted. He smiled gently.
"You know what I think you need, Jailbait? A break. A real one, away from all of us. Away from him, especially. You correctly pointwd out that he's a huge part of this. I mean, you're turning 16 in month, you need to be fresh for the party!" I nodded laughing.
"I think you're right."
I didn't even think of my birthday! It was on July 27th and I almost forgot how soon that'd be. The year just passed by me.
We both remained silent for a second, when I thought of what that break just might be.
"I'm going to Detroit! I already promised my mom and John that I'd visit them this summer. This is my perfect chance," I said. Adrian agreed. I decided I'd do that as soon as we get back to Court and I tell Lissa about the way I've decided about school.
Everyone got to the room soon and after Lissa yelled at Angeline, Christian, Sydney and me for running away to help, she asked Trey and Adrian to explain what actually happened. Most of the Warriors were knocked out, and even though the guardians took them for hostage, the ones that were still awake didn't give much hope they'd give us information about their organisation and whether it was a serious thread.
Trey was the one that took over the explaining. I already lmew the story, so I only listened to it with one ear. In the end, like Trey himself already did while they were trapped, Lissa asked how they even found them.
"Well," Trey said, looking ashamed. "They found us because of me and then sent members of the organisation working as guardians to destroy wards. We have to tell the hotel managment. It was, although, kind of my fault." He took a deep breath, like he was even more ashamed of being a persom and wanting to keep a memory about his family.
But before he could continue, Angeline jumped in: "So you betrayed us? I thought you said you were done with the Warriors and are with me now!" Trey gasped in shock.
"But I didn't really do anything! Just let me explain!" he begged. Angeline crossed her arms over her chest.
"Didn't you just say it was your fault?"
Trey rolled his eyes.
"I did and it was. But I couldn't do anything to prevent it. I had this leather bracelet my dad gave me. The one I was always wearing. It was my only memory of him. But it had a built-in and they found me by it," he said desperatly. Angeline raised both of her eyebrows.
"Oh, yeah, how believable. Blame the bracelet," she said sarcastically. Adrian and I were both about to jump in, confirming Trey story. Christian almost interrupted too, but I think he just wanted to demand copyrights for the sarcasm.
Neither of us got the chance though, because Trey wasn't exactly happy of what Angeline's words accused him of.
"Don't you believe me, Angeline? I have nothing to do with this! At least nothing that I'd want to!" Trey exclaimed.
"No, actually, I don't! You've always been thorn between me and them, and they obviously won, and now you're sorry! And you lie cause you know there's no apology for such a betrayal! You pushed Adrian and all of us into an ambush!" Angeline screamed her throat out. Trey trew his hands into the air. Everyone in the room looked like they were in the middle of a soap opera, not knowing what to do.
"Why don't you trust me? One bit, Angeline, why? What did I ever do?" he asked. Angeline sighed dramatically. This whole fight was way too dramatic for my taste.
"Because! I get why they'd want him, he's Sydney's husband and a perfect bait for her!"
"That's what I always wanted to be. A perfect bait," Adrian mind-messaged me.
Angeline continued: "And I don't understand why they'd want my human boyfriend, since you're not important in any way-" she bit her lip and everyone in the room caught their breath, including me.
"And I don't understand why your human boyfriend would want you, since all you ever do is look for a way to replace him!"
With those harsh words that seemed to break Angeline's heart, Trey slammed the door and left the room.
For a few seconds, Angeline only sat there, quiet and shocked. Then she got up. Looking at her, I saw the tears in her eyes, but she was more angry than sad. For now.
"Trey the traitor, sounds about right," she said bitterly and left the room.
Later that day, in the late afternoon, we finally set back to Court. This time, luckily no one forced me to sit next to Eddie. In my current shape, I don't think I could handle it. I got to sit with Adrian and Sydney. Which was more or less like sitting by myself, because they were constantly busy with each other.
God knows where Angeline was sitting now that Trey wasn't an option. I hoped not with Christian. For both of them's sake.
Soon after the plane took off and we got to untight our seatbelts, Neil came to my seat. At first I thought he was going to cancel our fighting lessons. Then I saw the smile on his face.
"Jill, I want to thank you so much for convincing me to go to this vacation. I found Olive again and I've never been this happy," he said all cheerful. He was right, I'd never seen him like that before. Sometimes I wondered if he had something scarring like Eddie behind him or if it was just him. It didn't matter, because that side of him was now only a distant memory.
"You're welcome. I told you you'd have fun," I said, happy it at least worked out well for one of us.
"I really did. It was great. An amazing week. I'm so glad we really all got that break we deserved," he said. I smiled, trying to ignore Adrian next to me who was doing a very lousy job at trying to hold laughter back.
Apparently Neil and I got a very different impression of this vacation.
As I already said, this chapter is REAL long. It would probably be better if I put some of it to the end of the previous chapter, but now it's done, who really cares, it's written anyway. Actually the 10th, 11th and 12th chapter were originally supposed to be one, but that would seriously be just. Too. Long.
One more thing: the deal with Aimee is still going on. If anyone has any ideas what Jill's best friend should be like, any idea at all, let me know, please! Character, looks, anything. You can write it in your reviews (right, please review ;)) or PM me or whatever. But before I get too annoying, it's not an obligation, only if you happen to… You know.
I'll probably post the next chapter soon, maybe even the next week, because I have school holidays (YAAAY), but I can't promise anything. That would be it.