Silver's mind had gone blank with shock. The three of them stood transfixed with horror. The very last rays of the setting sun were casting a bloody light over the long- shadowed grounds. Then, behind them, they heard a wild howling "Big" Silver muttered. Without thinking about what he was doing, he made to turn back, but both Razor and Coral seized his arms. They both looked very pale "We can't. He'll be in worse trouble if they know we've been to see him". Coral sobbed "How could they? How could they?". They eventually started walking again up to the castle when "OW! He bit me" "Razor, they're going to hear you!". Silver then saw why Wacky was panicking, Aquarius was watching them from a tree. Wacky finally got free of Razor's hands "Wacky!" "No, Aquarius, go away" Coral yelled as her pet chased after Wacky. Razor had let go of Silver and slowly became visible as he chased after the two Chao. Silver and Corla gave chase , eventually Razor caught up and leapt forward. He grabbed Wacky and pushed Aquarius away. Coral gasped "Silver", Silver saw it. It was dark but he could see the outline behind Razor was a rock formation, a very familiar one "Razor! Get out of there!". Razor however was frozen staring at something behind them. They turned around and standing in front of them was the massive red lizard. Silver raised is hand but it was too late, the creature charged forward knocking them both over and then it went straight for Razor. It clamped its jaw around one of Razor's arm and started dragging him towards the "Silver!" he yelled trying to fight against the creature but it was to strong. The creature pulled into a small opening between two of the rocks. They watched Razor disappear into the darkness as he screamed "RAZOR!".
They tried to pursue but a massive boulder fell in front of him. The Granifer began to form in front of them. Coral pulled him back "We have to get help!" "No, that thing's big enough to eat him! We have to hurry!". The Granifer began advancing on them. Silver was ready, the moment it brought it's arms down they would run around and get to the opening. Then something happened Silver wasn't expecting. Aquarius had landed on the Granifer's shoulder and poked the side of it's neck. The purple light around the body of the Granifer went dark and it froze. Coral stared open mouthed "Aquarius? How did she know" "She's friends with that thing". Aquarius then flew into the opening, Silver and Coral followed. Coral looked around the stone tunnel they were now in "Where does this go" "Don't know. It's on the map but goes past the edge. I think it goes somewhere in Spiral Hill". Eventually the two saw a patch of light. They moved through it "Lumos" and found themselves inside a room that was very disordered and dusty. Paper was peeling from the walls, there were stains all over the floor, every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up "I think we're in Terror Hall" Coral said. Silver saw claw marks over the walls and shredded pieces of wood "Ghosts didn't do this". Quietly as they could they crept up the crumbling staircase and saw one door open at the landing "Nox". The light went out and they approached the door. Silver kicked it open and found themselves in a large bedroom. Aquarius was resting on the four poster bed and on the floor by the fireplace was Razor clutching his leg with one hand and holding onto a struggling Wacky with the other. They ran over to him "Razor, are you okay?" "Where the Lizard?". Razor's teeth were clenched from pain "Get out of here! It's a trap! It's him!". There was a bang, Silver spun around and saw Elias Acorn standing at the now closed door. His fur was even longer and dishevelled. If it wasn't for his eyes they would have thought he was a corpse. He raised Razor's dagger "Expelliarmus".
Silver's gloves and Coral's flute shot off them and was caught by Elias. He took a step closer "I thought you'd come. Saving your friend. I'm glad you didn't get a teacher. It'll make things much easier". Silver wasn't afraid, he was filled with rage, he wanted his gloves back, not to defend, he wanted to kill Elias. He moved forward but Coral grabbed him "No, Silver". Then Razor moved, he pulled himself up and got in front of Silver "If you want to kill Silver, you'll have to kill us too!" he said fiercely despite the effort of standing on his broken foot was draining him of all his energy. Elias gave him a strange look "Lie down. You will damage that leg even more" "Did you hear me? You'll have to kill of us" "No, only one will die tonight". Silver tried to wrench himself free of Coral and Razor "Why's that? You didn't mind last time. Gone soft on Prison Island!?" "Silver, be quiet" "HE KILLED MY PARENTS!. Finally he managed to get free. He didn't care that he didn't have his main Talisman, he didn't care that he was thirteen and Elias was an adult man, he wanted to hurt him and he didn't care what happened to himself I the process. He managed to push Razor's dagger out of Elais' hands and tackle him to the ground "NO!" Elias yelled grabbing Silver by the throat with his free hand "I've waited too long!". Coral suddenly rushed forward and kicked Elais in the face. He let go of Silver and Razor jumped on his arm to stop him from doing anything else. Silver grabbed Razor's dagger "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he yelled at Coral and Razor who didn't need telling twice. Coral helped Razor onto the bed as he held his broken leg. Silver put the tip of the dagger to Elias' chest. Elias held one of his eyes as he watched him "Are you going to kill me, Silver" "You killed my Mum and Dad".
Elias put his hands out non threateningly "I don't deny it but you need to know the whole story" "The whole story? You sold them out! YOU KILLED THEM!" "No! Please, you have to listen to me!". Silver's heart was pounding, he didn't know, he didn't know what it was like to listen to his mother screaming. Then Aquarius suddenly leapt onto Elias chest below the dagger "Get off" she held onto Elias prison clothes refusing to move. Coral sobbed at seeing the look on Silver's face, so what if he killed the Chao too he was clearly thinking. This was it, he was going to avenge his mother and father, he was going to kill him, he had to kill him. But he didn't, he sat there frozen. Then a sound came from downstairs "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE. ELIAS ACORN! QUICK!". The door burst open "Expelriumus!" Razor's dagger flew out of Silver's hand and was caught by Knuckles. He looked around at the situation and then gestured of Silver to move. He backed away towards Coral and Razor. He had a feeling of emptiness, he couldn't do it, he didn't have the nerve and now Elias was going back to the Prelates. Knuckles stood over the criminal "Where is he, Elias?". He didn't say anything, he had a blank expression and pointed at Razor confusing the trio. Knuckles took one look at Razor and his mind raced "But… Why wouldn't he reveal himself before now… Unless… Unless he was the on. You switched and didn't tell me", Elias slowly nodded. Silver slowly stepped forward "Professor, what's going-". But he never finished his question because what he saw next made his voice die in his throat. Knuckles extended his hand and pulled Elias to his feet before hugging him like a brother. Elias sounded like he was both laughing and crying "I found him. I found him" "I know" "Let's kill him". Coral jumped to her feet "NO! I TRUSTED YOU!". Knuckles released Elias and turned to her "Coral, calm down" "I didn't tell anyone!" "Coral, please, let us explain". Silver was shaking, a new wave of fury passed over him "You're with him!? I trusted you!" "No, Silver, he's been acting alone until tonight. Let me explain".
Coral grabbed Silver's arm "Silver, don't trust him. He's been helping Elias get into the castle, he wants you dead too! He's a Zilla!". Knuckles reaction to this was unexpected. He looked pale but then smirked "One out of three Coral, that's not like you. I've not been helping Elias into the castle and I certainly don't want Silver dead". He frowned "I will admit to being a Zilla though". Razor tried to stand to get in front of Silver again but this time the pain was too much and he fell back. Knuckles made a move towards him looking concerned but Razor backed away "Get away from me!". Knuckles stopped dead and the with some effort turned to Coral "How long have you known?" "Since Infinite gave us the essay" "He'll be delighted. He assigned that essay in the hope someone would find out. What gave it away? Did you realise I was always ill around the full moon or did you notice my Mimic was the moon". Coral looked defiant "Both". Knuckles gave a short laugh "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Coral" "I'm not that clever. I should have told everyone what you are" "But they know. Well, the teachers do". Razor looked horrified "Locke hired you knowing you were a Zilla? Is he mad?" "Some of the staff thought so. He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy" "And he was wrong about that, wasn't he?" Silver spat. Knuckles stared at him for a moment before removing his shovel claw and placed them down on the floor along with Razor's dagger, Coral flute and Silver's gloves "There. You're armed. We're not. Will you listen now?".
Silver paused, was it a trick? He quickly grabbed the Talismans and handed them out before putting his gloves back on. He glanced at Elias who was now sitting on a chair glaring at Razor. Silver was tempted to fire a spell right now but he stopped himself "If you haven't been helping him, how did you know we were here?" "The Map. I was using it to watch you three". Silver was surprised "You know how to work it?" "Of course I do. I helped write it. I'm the Guardian" "You… You wrote it?" "Yes. Anyway, I knew you three would go to see Big when his Black Hawk was being executed. Even you father's emerald can't hide you from the map". Silver's eyes widened "You know about the emerald?" "I saw Shadow use it more times than I can count. Anyway, I watched you three leave to visit Big. And then twenty minutes later I watched you leave but now someone else was with you" "What? No we weren't". Knuckles now seemed to be talking to himself more than him "I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the map was malfunctioning. How could he be with you?" "No one with us!" "And then I saw Elias drag two of you into the Granifer". Razor was getting angry "One of us!" "No, two of you". Knuckles approached Razor again making him raise his dagger. Knuckles stopped where he was "Could I have a look at that Chao" "What? What does Wacky have to do with this?" "Everything. Can I see him?". Wacky was desperately fighting against Razor but he held him tight. Knuckles held his breath and stared at Wacky making Razor pull him back "Why?". Elias got to his feet "That's not a Chao" "What do you mean? Of course he is" "No, he's a wizard" Knuckles said. Elias gritted his teeth "A Shifter. A SNAKE by the name of Mordred!".