The Queen's Red Lake

XVII

The others nod confirm my suspicion.

"Sasha and I climbed down the pyramid and we were then attacked by an Acid-Siren." I explain. The others look confused. "We defeated it and almost died. However, we woke up in a small basement hanging from the ceiling by metal chains." I pause. "It was Elijah. He kidnapped us and poisoned Eliza."

"What?" Sakiya speaks. "You should have started with that."

I ignore her.

"Why?" Iris questions her voice soft as usual. "What was the point of kidnapping you and not leaving you to your death."

Sasha presents herself back in the main hall. She looks well-rested. Her hair is fresh and pulled back into a sloppy kinky bun and her sides are freshly shaved. I'm envious and annoyed. "It's because she's a demonic." She says.

Now I'm angry.

Sakiya steps back in fear. I look at Sasha and roll my eyes. She stares back at me amused. "Elijah is going to use her blood and open a gateway to the underworld. Then, he will bring back the nine cult members who will summon Faye back from the underworld." She explains. "In exchange for her dark demonic blood."

Sakiya furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "My parents were murdered. They were not apart of a cult."

Sasha chuckles, "I'm just as surprised you but your parents were apart of a cult."

"I don't believe you." Sakiya spats.

Sasha shrugs her shoulders, "I'm not asking you too. I don't care what any of you think, honestly." She pauses and looks at me. "We need to leave. The plan is to stop Elijah not play the question game."

I inhale through my nose and release through my mouth. God, she is annoying. Sakiya look at me with fear and the others look confused. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just as confused as all of you."

"Dude." Sakiya says. "Fuck that. You're a monster—"

I squeeze my fist. "I don't have time for this." I turn to walk away and once I reach the bottom level Sasha is there waiting for me. Before we step out the door, Dimitri is jogging behind me. I smile and Sasha rolls her eyes, "Of course we get the weakest one."

Dimitri scowls and Sasha cocks her head to the side, curiously. "Do you have something you wish to say?" I nudge Sasha and she rolls her eyes toward me but leads the way. We begin to travel the back way toward Red Water lake. Moonlight pours from the sky like the milk of a god that requires no substance and instead is satisfied with only the beauty of the soft rays. As we sneak across the bridge I get lost in the sight.

"Hal." Dimitri calls while pulling onto my shoulder.

"I'm sorry." I apologize. "I can't help but take in this beautiful sight. It's been a hard last few days for me. I honestly can't believe I'm still alive." I turn toward him. "I know Faye is bad but she's the one who has been helping me through all of this. Somehow she has helped me transform into this demonic—but, I don't feel evil. I have so many questions. I think she has all the answers." I pause and look into Dimitri's brown eyes. His white hair is disheveled on the top of his head like he has had a hard few days also. "Am I evil?"

Dimitri grab my hand. "Hal. I should tell you something important—"

"Hal." Javier calls from afar which makes me turn. The others are jogging across the bridge and I can't help the smile on my face. Javier pulls me in a hug and Iris squeeze my shoulder before Zaria is jumping into the hug making it tight. I laugh and pull away. Sakiya folds her arms over her chest. "I will help for now but only to prove you wrong about my parents." She says toward Sasha who is standing behind us looking annoyed.