Unnatural Conduct

Chapter 17

Not giving myself time to think, I quickly whispered a few words that affected the energy of the air around us, effectively forming a shield that protected myself and my three companions from the falling debris.

I heard a shout over the loud sound of the still-ringing explosion. "Follow me!" the voice shouted, and I recognized it as Lillie's voice.

My sister began to make her way out of the room and through the dreary hallway, nimbly dodging the falling ceiling and bits of stone that fell towards her; not that she needed to. I was doing my best to keep the air shields covering us all as I weaved through after her, aware of the males behind me... and the pain in my leg as I ran, the dreadful wound that was still in the process of healing no doubt ripping open at the sudden effort. I grimaced, but held in a scream.

I didn't know where she was going, and after a few minutes of running, it dawned on me that we were going deeper into the dungeons, not up the steps the way we came. I would've protested, had it not been for the realization that she had likely grown up in the castle and knew the layout better than any one of us did. I just hoped she wasn't leading us to our dooms.

We rushed on, and I was vaguely aware of stairs under my feet as I stumbled along and rocks clanging off the shields of air as the fell from the ceiling, then landed on the floor harmlessly. The festering spell of piss and rats came back in full force as we moved down the floors, and I was grossly impressed and amazed at how big this dungeon was. How many prisoners did the Fae have, if they had so many cells? It seemed that there were floor after floor of cells, each with iron doors.

Finally, when the rows were beginning to seem never-ending, Lillie came to a halt and quickly spun toward one of the iron doors, a nondescript door on the right side of the hall that appeared to be like all the others. She placed a hand on the iron, and I shouted out a warning, but it was soon silenced as I watched in awe as she melted through the iron door effortlessly, her magic seemingly not affected by the iron. I wondered then what manner of Fae she was; if she could truly use her powers against iron... then she was far more powerful than I'd ever imagined. Though I somehow doubted she was a Sermoni like me.

She entered the room, and quickly ushered us all in, barely any part of her visible in the now-extinguished torchlight.

Once we were all safely in the room, I noticed that it was just like the other cells, except... except there was nothing falling on us in this room, nothing trying to harm us. It was like the explosion hadn't reached this room, though the halls rained down around us.

Quickly, I whispered the incantation to summon fire, and flickers of flame appeared at my fingertips, lighting the entire room. The doorway was still filled with that melted iron of what was left of the door, and bits and pieces of stone flew through the entrance, though the walls around it remained perfectly intact. I quickly whispered some more words, summoning a shield of air to block anything from coming through the door.

It was then that I finally looked around the illuminated room, taking in the peacefully calm face of Lillie--who seemed to be completely in control despite the event that had yet to be explained to me--the raging face of Xavier whose eyes were beginning to turn into those of his wolf's, and Ryker, who seemed to know exactly what was going on... and didn't like it one bit. He had fire beginning to flicker at his fingertips as well, and his tattoos glowed a bright red. He appeared as if he was struggling to control his power, to keep it from releasing and going ballistic.

Lillie was the first to speak, her voice calming and serene, instantly comforting me, strange as that may sound.

"Is anyone hurt?" she asked, running her bright eyes over every one of us, stopping last at me... and more specifically, at my injured leg, which I could tell was now losing blood once again from the sudden running. She strode over to me, her nimble steps so different from mine, despite how similar we looked.