The Phoenix Stone

Chapter Twenty

Efia shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, now that you've got that out of your system, would you like to be rescued from your misery?"

"No. I'd like to stay here, thank you very much."

"Too bad. You're coming with me!" Efia unlocked my handcuffs, grabbed my arms, and pulled me to my feet. "I mean, you wouldn't want to stay down here so long that you get sick and die, would you?"

Reluctantly I shook my head.

"Well then, follow me," she said as she stepped carefully over the low bars and through the open gate.

Dragging my feet, I followed her from the cell, taking one last longing glance back at my grandmother's body. "Where are we going anyways?"

"You'll see," was her vague answer.

I followed her through the winding dungeon passages until she finally stopped at what I thought must be the very last side wall of Deepdark. In front of us was what looked like a very small, pitch black hole in the wall that led deep into the rock.

"This is where you took me?" I exclaimed, glaring at Efia. "At least it wasn't pitch black in the dungeons."

"Stop grousing and go in. Age before beauty!" Efia grinned at me, gesturing to the black chasm.

I stepped back, shaking my head. "Not a chance. Wait," I turned to her, "I'm older than you? I'm the older twin?"

She laughed. "No clue, you'll have to ask Father sometime. Now go!"

"No. If you want to leave so badly then you should go first."

"Hey, I'm not the one with a Phoenixmark. I've heard that Phoenixborn can sense everything around them, including inanimate objects such as, the tunnel suddenly narrowing, any rocks that you could potentially trip over, and sudden dips in the ground."

I rolled my eyes. "Where did you hear that?"

"She heard it from me," said a deep voice from behind us.

We both jumped, startled.

"Who's there," I called into the dark starless night. My eyes were darting all around the empty courtyard, creating shadows that seemed to jump out at me.

A very tall man stepped from the shadows. "You really shouldn't be out here this late, girls. You know, it's not safe in the tunnels at night."

"Ugh, this is your fault, Nyx," Efia said, turning on me. "You were the one who wouldn't go into the tunnels and now Father's caught us."

"Oh please! My fault? You were the one who wanted to go into the tunnels in the first place! You dragged me along with you, probably because you were scared." I folded my arms. "I had no part in this."

"Girls!" a female voice echoed from the shadows behind Havel. "Silence while your father is speaking please."

Havel turned slightly, a slight smile twitching at his lips, and a small Enchantiss woman appeared from the shadows. She was gorgeous, her eyes an unsettling shade of pale yellow and her midnight blue skin had a shiny gloss to it. Her short bright pink hair almost glowed in the inky night.

"Nice to see you again, Efia." She turned to me and examined me. "You too, Nyx."

"Who's she?" I whispered into Efia's ear. The strange woman's yellow eyes were resting on me and making me extremely uncomfortable.

She obviously heard me because she smiled coldly and answered, "I'm Nalrae. I shouldn't have assumed you'd know who I was." She examined her long nails. "Though to be fair, I did expect that Efia would've told you about me long ago."