by G. K. DeRosa
“Well, there’s your answer,” replied Marco.
“So how come we can still see each other?” asked Brennan glancing over at Celeste, Marco and the brothers.
“It’s all part of the spell,” said Stellan hastily. “Come on now, we have no time for idle chit chat.” The blazing light from the spell had alerted one of the guards and he was already making his way toward them. At Stellan’s command, Brian took off running toward the colorful forest. The first guard raced after him and another one joined in the chase, leaving only four in front of the massive stone gate.
“Marie, now,” shouted Stellan. From behind the cover of the trees, she threw her hands up in the air and the wind began to swirl above her, sucking in everything in its path. The sky opened up above their heads and sheets of rain poured down. Before long the wind tunnel became an immense waterspout heading directly toward the remaining terrified sentries.
“Now,” shouted Stellan to Celeste and the guys as the guards darted out of the path of the whirling tornado and scrambled for cover.
Celeste, Roman, Nico, Marco and Brennan dashed across the few yards of uncovered ground, dodging the pelting rain as they ran. As soon as they crossed through the red glow of the barrier, the rain magically stopped and the air all around them was calm. Celeste hazarded a quick glance back to check on Brian and saw that Marie had already reached him and they were safely hidden from the pursuing guards.
“We have to keep moving,” said Roman, coming up next to her.
Celeste nodded determinedly and wrapping her hand around the vial, tried to get a read on Brazen’s location. Her guardian power began to hum, running through her body like electricity. “This way,” she said as she took off in a jog, leaving the bewildered sentries and stone gate far behind.
Xeria reminded Celeste of the pictures she had seen in geography class of the Sahara desert. It was the complete opposite of the lush green lands in the rest of Fae territory. The ground was dry and cracked and there wasn’t a tree in sight and certainly no bodies of water. The sky was gray, and with no sun or moon it was difficult to tell what time of day it was. A few fairies wandered about, but everyone’s expressions were grim and their eyes downcast. Tall, square cement buildings littered the dreary skyline, casting a gloomy shadow over the city.
“Geez, this place really is depressing,” said Celeste as a rather shabbily dressed older fairy limped by them leaning on his cane.
“What do you think these people did to get banished here?” asked Marco.
“Something pretty bad,” replied Brennan.
A chill ran through Celeste’s spine as she caught a glimpse of a young fairy about her age toting a small baby in her arms. They needed to find Brazen and get out of here quickly. She held up the glimmering vial, it’s steady pulsing acting as a beacon directing them toward his hideout. She focused all of her power on it and could feel a warming sensation on both sapphires of the Wilder key and Albsurori ring. “I think we’re getting close.”
As they walked through the barren streets, Celeste couldn’t help but notice that they hadn’t seen even one of the Queen’s guards since they had arrived. Either the Queen really was covering for her daughter or they had been incredibly lucky. She quickened her pace as the crimson liquid’s shimmer intensified. They had moved past the residential area and were now heading toward a compound filled with abandoned factories.
“Maybe this is where all the “Made in China” stuff really comes from,” said Nico with a wink as he ran up to Celeste’s side.
She couldn’t help but smile at his remark. Nico always had that effect on her no matter how dire the circumstances. “It looks like whatever they were making has long since been discontinued.”
“Seems like a perfect werewolf hideout to me,” said Marco, joining Celeste in the lead.
“Just because it’s dark and depressing?” asked Brennan with a twist of his lips.
Marco shrugged and put his hands up in the air in mock surrender. “Hey I’m not the one with the creepy secret underground lair for the home base of the Werewolf Alliance.”
Brennan grinned. “I’m not saying he’s definitely not here, just to take it easy with the stereotypes.”
Celeste suddenly came to a halt. She grabbed the sides of her head as she let out a horrific scream. Nico and Marco, who were fortunately already on either side of her, held her up as the vision tore through her mind. A series of pictures flashed through her subconscious – a dark factory with a red wall, Brazen sprawled on the floor with his throat slit open, and Astrid’s bright green irises aglow. Celeste’s eyes shot open as the ground whirled dizzily beneath her. She staggered, holding her hands out to the sides trying to stay on her feet.
“Are you okay?” asked Roman, whose face was now just inches from hers.
“Yes, I’m fine and I know where Brazen is.” She tried to take a step forward, but her legs gave out. Roman reached out and caught her just in time.
“You need to take a second,” he said, scooping her legs out from under her and cradling her in his arms. “You have to recover from the vision. You didn’t even pass out this time.”
“That’s because we don’t have a minute to waste, Roman. We have to find him right away. In my vision, we killed Brazen.” A wicked smile crossed her face at the recollection. Roman arched his dark brow at her. “Put me down, I’m fine,” she insisted.
Roman gently lowered her to the ground as the others all looked on expectantly. “Where to?” he asked.
Celeste took off in the direction of the gated compound, heading toward the dark factory furthest to the left. Roman shook his head and motioning to the others, raced to catch up with her.
Celeste ran all the way up to the old rusted out metal door with thick chains and a padlock across it. She jiggled at the lock but it wouldn’t budge. Just then Roman ran up beside her. “Please, allow me,” he said with a grin as he broke the lock open as easily as popping the lid off of a soda can.
Marco, Nico and Brennan arrived just in time to hear the door creak loudly in protest as Roman pried it open. He then held it open enough for Celeste to peek her head through. In the darkness, she could just make out a far wall covered in red paint, exactly like the one she had seen in her vision. “This is the place,” she said as she turned back to the others.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Marco.
“I don’t know exactly,” said Celeste. “My vision wasn’t super clear on all the details. Let’s just get in there, find him, and kill him.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Nico.
Roman started to take the lead, but Celeste pulled him back. “I should go first. Maybe I’ll recognize something from my vision as I go.” He frowned, but knew better than to argue and took a step back, motioning with his hand for her to go forward. She pocketed the vial with Brazen’s blood, which they had been using to track him, then checked for the potion Alek had given them. It was safely tucked away in her jacket. Pulling out her sword, she crept slowly through the abandoned factory with Roman by her side and the boys a few steps behind.
Celeste focused all her power on her hearing, but it was deathly silent. She made her way across the first room with the red wall and found an open door at the other end. She poked her head through the entryway and scanned the spacious area, but it too was completely empty. Slowly, the group made their way from room to room, finding only abandoned machinery, empty crates and boxes and the occasional scurrying rat.
“We have to be missing something,” whispered Celeste as they approached what looked like the end of the massive factory.
“Maybe your vision was wrong,” said Brennan.
“Her visions are never wrong,” replied Roman.
“Let’s double back and split up—maybe we missed a door or something,” said Celeste.
Brennan moved forward and sniffed the air suspiciously. “I’m going to wolf out. I thought I smelled something back there.” He turned his head back toward the room they had just left.
“I’ll be able to get a better scent that way.” And just like that, black fur sprouted all over his entire body as he dropped on all fours.
“You two go with him,” said Roman, pointing at Marco and Nico. “Celeste and I will head back this way.” He pointed in the direction opposite of where the wolf had trotted off. “We’ll meet you where we came in.”
Marco and Nico nodded and took off after Brennan with weapons in tow. Celeste turned around and headed back through the other door with Roman at her side. “I know he’s here,” she said. “I can feel it.”
Roman gave her a reassuring smile. “We’ll find him.”
They circled back, treading painfully slowly and surveying the area around them as they went. Celeste focused all her power on her evil radar and began to feel the faintest pulse. She followed the direction of the ominous feeling and found herself back in the first room, the one where they had first entered, right in front of the faded crimson wall. She ran her hand across the wall and a few flakes of red paint came off on her fingers.
“What is it?” asked Roman as he eyed her curiously.
“I’m not sure.” She kept walking the length of the wall, until she reached the dark corner where a tower of wooden crates stood. “Help me move some of these out of the way.”
Roman was beside her in a moment lifting and shoving the splintering wood to the side. Once the corner was cleared, Celeste’s eyes sparkled in excitement. On the floor was a metal latch and a hidden trap door about the size of a man-hole cover. “This has to be it!”
Roman bent down and examined the metal lid, then ever so carefully he pried it open. The clash of metal scraping against cement was like nails on a chalkboard, but finally he succeeded in getting it open. Celeste peered into the darkness and could only make out a steep staircase that disappeared into the pitch-black void.
Celeste took a step down and her evil radar began to pulsate, causing her stomach to roil. She grabbed hold of the rickety handrail to steady herself and felt the crunch of leaves under her fingertips. She plucked one off the rail and held it closer to her face to examine it in the slowly disappearing light from above.
“What is it?” asked Roman.
“It’s a plant of some sort,” she answered as she sniffed at it. “It’s running all along the railing and it looks familiar.”
Roman reached for it and cried out in pain as soon as his skin made contact with the poisonous green fronds.
“Are you okay?” asked Celeste, spinning toward him.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He waved his injured fingers in the air and blew at them. “It just burned like hell. It’s vervain.” He took a step closer to the rail and grimaced. “And wolfsbane and some other plant I don’t recognize.”
“I thought plants didn’t grow in Xeria,” said Celeste.
“They don’t—which means someone brought them here to keep vampires and werewolves out.” He plucked a small white flower from the railing and brought it up to his nose. “This one reminds me of something my mother used to use when we were little. She’d burn it to cast a screen over us when we would run from Fabian. It’s temporary and not very powerful, but I guess if you don’t have magic, it’s better than nothing.”
“So Astrid has to be down there somewhere with them. She’d be the only one able to use even a little bit of witch magic.”
Roman nodded and pulled out his phone to send a quick warning message to Nico and the others. They would be coming behind them soon, and he didn’t want them to get caught in the trap of vervain and wolfsbane.
“All right, let’s go,” said Celeste when Roman tucked his cell back into his pocket.
As they moved down the stairs and further away from the light of the trap door above, complete darkness enveloped them. “Let me go first,” said Roman. “I can see better.”
“No need,” said Celeste with a smirk as she raised her hand in the air and a blue light appeared from the Albsurori ring illuminating the way.
“When’d you learn to do that?” asked Roman as he cautiously walked down the stairs, keeping as far away from the vervain-covered handrail as possible.
“Just one of the handy tricks I picked up during evil rehab.” Celeste was trying to make light of the subject, but she couldn’t deny that every step she took further down, she felt the darkness closing in. But she couldn’t tell Roman that—he would force her to turn back, and they were much too close for that. She knew that once Brazen and the Black Devils were obliterated, she could finally move on—even though to what, she wasn’t exactly sure.
After descending for what seemed like forever, the stairs finally came to a dead end. Directly in front of them stood a wall, leaving only two options: a corridor to the left and one to the right. Celeste pulled the vial with Brazen’s blood out of her pocket, but it had stopped shimmering and she wasn’t able to get a read on his location. She closed her eyes to focus her power, but Roman grabbed her arm and put his finger to his lips. He made a move to the left and paused in the narrow corridor, his eyes staring intensely into the darkness.
“This way,” he whispered. “I think I hear them.” The pair crept silently through the long hallway until Celeste too could finally make out muffled voices ahead. The nauseas feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified as they inched closer to an archway concealed in a dark corner. They stopped just outside the entrance and crouched behind the wall. Roman pulled out his phone again to update Nico on their location, but he frowned when he discovered there was no signal this far underground.
Sneaking a peek around the wall, Celeste could see Brazen and Astrid surrounded by a few more werewolves. One she recognized right away as the scarred-faced guy who she had seen with the helvic demons in the gazebo at the Oak Bluffs town square. He was also the one who had knocked her off the bleachers at the basketball game and almost killed her. Celeste could feel the anger building up inside of her like a volcano ready to erupt.
“We should wait for the others to get here,” said Roman, seemingly sensing what was going on inside of her.
“No,” said Celeste, shaking her head. “We can take them, I know it.”
“It’s too risky,” he said holding her back.
Movement inside caught their attention and they turned to see Astrid leading the werewolves through a doorway that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. “We’re going to lose them!” hissed Celeste as she jumped to her feet with her sword in hand.
Before Roman could stop her, she darted into the room and began slicing her sword at the nearest werewolf she could find. Astrid and Brazen spun around in shock and a few of the other werewolves turned back to fight. Roman didn’t waste a second tearing into the nearest hairy beast as he flanked Celeste. She quickly dispatched the first werewolf to the Abyss and set her sights on Brazen. The husky man with the scar stood in front of him growling, his fangs bared and claws out.
“Declan!” yelled Brazen. “This is my fight. I want to end her.” The man backed away, his yellow eyes cast down at the word of his Alpha.
Brazen’s eyes smoldered a fiery gold as he approached Celeste. She easily met his glare, never backing down. She lunged at him with her sword, aiming for his weaker side – the arm with only a stump remaining.
“I see we’re fighting dirty then,” he growled as he dodged the arc of the Wilder sword.
“I’ve had to learn to keep up with my opponents,” retorted Celeste, thrusting again and landing a stab in his gut. He clutched at the wound but in just seconds it was already healed over.
“Don’t you see that this fight is futile?” he roared.
“You couldn’t be more wrong!” shouted Celeste as she slashed at his arm, drawing more blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Roman snap the neck of the latest werewolf he had been fighting. That left only a small werewolf, Declan and Astrid to contend with. Where is Astrid?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw Roman’s neck whip back unnaturally and his body slump to the floor. In the corner of t
he room, she saw Astrid murmuring and waving her hands in the air as she clutched an old book. “No!” cried Celeste as she ran to Roman. Dropping to her knees, she lowered her head to his chest and was relieved to hear his heart had started back up again. He would be out for a few minutes from the broken neck, but he would survive. Celeste leapt back up and charged at Brazen again but this time a small brown wolf stopped her. Snarling and growling with hackles raised, the wolf stalked toward her. “I don’t have time for you!” she yelled at it.
Behind the wolf she could see Brazen, Declan and Astrid were making their way through the magically appearing doorway. For a desperate moment, Celeste thought she was going to lose him again and the fury began boiling deep inside of her. The corners of her vision began to blacken when suddenly she heard the whir of an arrow whip past her head to land squarely in the chest of the small wolf. It teetered for an instant, let out a pathetic whine then crumpled to the ground. Turning, Celeste saw Marco, Nico and Brennan running toward her and a relieved smile spread across her face.
Brazen spun around to see the reinforcements arriving and barked a command at Declan. “Get her out of here!” The werewolf looked like he wanted to object, but gritting his teeth, he nodded and followed his Alpha’s orders. He threw Astrid over his shoulder and darted toward the door.
Brazen hurled himself at Celeste, swiping at her head with his massive clawed hand. Nico reached her just in time to yank her out of the way and miss the brunt of the attack. Celeste fell backwards, landing on her butt on the hard cement floor. The wind was knocked right out of her. She paused to recover for only a second and before she got up, she rummaged through her pockets and found the vial with the immortality-stripping potion. It was time to put an end to this once and for all.
As she stood up, Roman dashed to her side offering his hand. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said as he rolled his neck around a few times. “Astrid caught me by surprise.” He glanced up and saw Brazen surrounded by Nico, Marco and Brennan. “You ready to finish this?”