"What do you see, Sparky?" Derek asks as he walks around Mira.
The oppressive hallway is roughly cut into the bedrock and looks much the same as any other in the cellar under the palace. Between the stale air and wards, it leaves me unsettled. I've had no interest in coming back down here since seeing Tony.
"Must you call me that," she snaps, glaring at Derek.
"I dunno Sis, I kind of like it," Sasha digs, grinning.
"You would," Mira grumbles.
"His nicknames have an annoying habit of sticking," I admit with a sigh.
Derek grins, mischief dancing in his eyes. He's called me princess from the get-go but what was once sneered with disdain is now used with familiar sincerity bordering on reverence.
"Whatever," Mira grumbles. She walks up to the wall she's been staring at and touches some unremarkable spot to the untrained eye, bringing it to life.
Glowing scrollwork and runes light up across the surface of the jagged wall, brightening the hallway like sunlight filtering through a canopy. Sasha steps closer, reaching out to a line at chest height. Her contact makes it shimmer and rise from the wall slightly.
"This shit is straight out of the Lord of the Rings, I swear," I mutter under my breath, transfixed by this otherworldly display.
"Really?" Sasha chides. "It's just wards... old magic."
I roll my eyes at her simple explanation. "Sorry but there's nothing 'just' about any of this. I think I've done pretty good considering I've known werewolves exist for less than a year. Cut me some slack if I have no idea what all of that is."
"Oh no," Mack chimes in. "This is new."
"It's common enough knowledge that magic is woven through the palace," Derek counters.
Mack tilts her head at him and puts her hands on her hips. "Okay, Garrick. Don't even act like you've seen this shit before, no one has."
"Can y'all bicker later? Tryin' to focus here," Sasha snaps.
The two Guardians glare at each other for a moment longer before turning their attention back to the matter at hand. "So what do you see?" Mack asks.
"A lot," Mira huffs.
"Insightful," Derek grumbles.
"You rushing us isn't going to speed this up," Mira warns, touching a different line. "It's a mess and elegant at the same time..."
"Looks like doodling to me," I admit, leaning in closer. The swirling symbol in front of me looks to be alive the way it shimmers and moves.
"More like weaving," Mira mumbles, lost in thought. She reaches out for a band just below the one her sister touched and it lights up like a spiderweb, branching out in all directions.
"Bingo," Sasha chirps. "Complex spells like this always have a backbone...find that and everything else falls into place."
I study the new glowing line and see it glows a brighter shade of platinum than the others. When they touched the other lines some only lit up small patches or single lines, while this one forks and spreads off in all directions. Some branches even disappear into the floor while others go through the ceiling.
"Okay, but what is it and what's wrong?" Derek presses on.
"We already told you it's a ward and I don't know, maybe nothing," Mira dismisses.
"Or maybe something," Sasha counters, pursing her lips. "Mi, you always do this, doubt yourself-"
"I'm not, I thought I felt something... but now I can't find it?" She taps another line near the backbone lines heading down. The runes glow a dimmer shade of gold with a pulse heading down.
Sasha furrows her brows and touches the next closest line. It springs to life nearly identical to the one Mira has and is equally dimmed. "Hmm..."
"Like a good hmm or a bad hmm?" I ask. The tightening of my body tells me I already know the answer.
"Magic like this is alive in a way... over time or under attack it can break down, so it needs to be fixed or patched," Mira explains. She taps the lines on either side of the bright column and moves on to a third that barely glows at all.
"These are patches, I suspect there was another to mirror this one on the other side but it broke, this one isn't going to last long either... but why?"
Mira walks down the hallway, tapping random lines and starts to mutter to herself. She follows the spell line around the corner and down another hall like a bloodhound on a trail.
Seeing the concerned look on her face does nothing to erase the growing sense of unease in me. At the end of the hall, there's a bright glowing crescent moon surrounded by symbols.
"Mi, you should come look at this," Sasha calls from some distance behind us. I was so focused on Mira that I didn't realize our group had split in half, leaving Derek with us and Mack and Sasha somewhere behind.
I follow Mira as she easily retraces her steps back to the main corridor we started in and beyond. Hairs on the back of my neck stand on end leaving me unsure.
"You feel it too." Mira's statement wasn't a question, something's off. Derek palms a blade and stays close as she leads us through a maze that slowly darkens.
My heart is racing by the time we catch up to Sasha and Mack. They stand at the end of a small hallway in front of a moon centrepiece like the other hall.
A shiver runs down my spine as I take in the runes and symbols here. The moon is barely a sliver of a crescent but hangs low with identical surrounding symbols. Unlike the other hallway that was well lit with bright platinum light, the light here is contaminated with red, dimming it.
"It's sick," I breathe out, wide eyes locked on the swirling light in front of me. The tainted energy sets my teeth on edge as I shuffle, putting some distance between me and the magic.
"Something like that," Sasha mumbles, backing away from it. She watches it like a wary predator, expecting it to lash out at any moment.
"You good princess?" Derek asks, stepping closer.
"Yeah... it's just..." I struggle to form the sentence, tripping over the right words. "I don't understand it, but it's sick... All I can feel is the energy and this feels like it's sucking the life out of me."
"We're leaving," Mack announces, hooking her arm in mine to drag me off if need be.
Creepy laughter floats down the hallway, making me jump. Sasha squeaks, hiding behind her sister as both Guardians brandish blades at the unseen threat.
My heart hammers in my chest but I'm drawn towards the laughter, step by heavy step. Fear gives way to anger as I recognize the voice and pick up speed as I storm towards the source.
"There's my sugar-" Tony greets, his attention squarely on me. He doubles over from a swift punch that Shoen delivers to his gut.
"Fucking had enough of this one for the day," he growls, glaring at the gasping human. Shoen, much like Dex, is one of the more laid-back Guardians. To see him on edge like this does nothing to soothe my nerves.
"Get some fresh air, Sadie is on her way," Derek says, patting the frazzled Guardian on his back. Shoen doesn't even protest, he heads out without looking back.
"Find anything interesting, pet?" Tony goads, struggling back to his feet. Derek pulls back to sucker punch him but I wave him off.
"You know I did," I say, thankful that my voice is far more even than I feel. "For a man who hates supernatural, you sure have intimate knowledge of them." His smile falters as his gaze darkens.
Guess I hit a nerve...
Slowly a twisted smile tugs on his lips. "That's not the only thing I have intimate-" the air is driven from his lungs with such force he sounds like a deflating balloon as he sags against his bonds once more.
My skin crawls being this close to him again without Chris. I take a moment to look at the man and ground myself.
Tony's time with the Guardians has not been kind to him. His body is covered in a patchwork of bruises in various states of healing from yellow to dark purple and every shade in between. Dry blood flakes from his skin and numerous scratches and contusions dot his face.
"You look like shit," I finally say after taking in his battered form.
"Nothing you couldn't kiss better, sug-"
The sound of breaking bones makes me cringe and look away as Derek delivers another savage blow to his ribs. Tony gasps like a fish out of water on the verge of passing out when Sasha intervenes.
"Waste of air," she bitches as she heals his broken ribs. When she steps back she glares at her hand like it's covered in shit.
"I can do this over and over again," Sasha warns. "But I'd prefer never to touch you again, so try to behave hmm?" Tony glares at her but has no retort.
"For someone who was dead the minute I was caught, you are slow at carrying out your threats," Tony growls, glaring at Derek.
I make my way from just inside the doorway to the center of the room, forcing myself to stand tall when every fibre of my being screams to cower. Memories of begging and pleading come to mind, of seemingly endless nights praying to go unnoticed for once.
Yet here one of my former tormentors stands, chained and rendered harmless, or as close to without being muzzled. The Guardians have given me final call on his fate, but otherwise, he's been sentenced to death. Looking at him, I can't help but feel like that's what he wants, to die for his cause.
"Are you going to stand there looking at me forever or ask me what you really want to know?" Tony snaps, his composure cracking.
"And what is that?" I grit out.
Tony locks his gaze on me and a cruel smile slips on his lips. "Why." It's a statement, not a question that leaves my skin crawling and stomach twisting.
The 'why me?' question has kept me up through countless nights, eating away at my self-esteem. What about me has made me a target, and why leave me to suffer so much? I know now that hunters kill supernatural without discrimination, so why toy with me... what made me so special?
"That keeps you up at night, doesn't it?" he digs, straining as close to me as possible. His eyes light up, madness swirling in them as he hits the nail on the head.
"Not anymore," I mumble, struggling to calm my racing heart.
"You were always a clever bi-" he catches himself, side-eyeing Derek's fist. "But obedient."
"The only thing I wonder anymore is why didn't you just kill me? Why draw it out?" I ask, wrapping my arms around myself like a shield.
"Because we didn't know what you were... an abomination hiding among humans is a dangerous thing," he spits, glaring at me like we're the only people here.
"If it helps, I didn't know either," I say with a bitter laugh.
Tony's expression loses some of his hate and anger, taking on a guarded edge as he watches me. As the silence stretches on, he finally nods. "I believe you."
Sasha tilts her head and side-eyes Tony before shifting her attention to me. 'How fucking crazy is this guy?'
I ignore her question and focus my attention on him.
There's something important here that I'm missing. Something about the way he's looking at me is eerily familiar and equally unsettling...
Not wanting to hear any more from him, I turn to leave. Before this detour, I had already had enough, feeling this magic pressing in on me and draining my own energy.
"He's coming," Tony calls as I reach the doorway, freezing me in place.
"Who?" Derek asks, pushing him back against the wall.
Tony's expression hardens as he glares at the Guardian. "She knows."
A chill runs down my spine, knowing exactly who he means. Facing Tony was hard enough, he only became a problem near the end, but he didn't break me down... He just played with the pieces.
"He's coming and there's nothing you can do about it," Tony warns. "And when he comes, it's to burn everything you care about to the ground, but he'll leave you in the ashes... When you slipped away, he took a hit, one he's not forgotten about."
My resolve breaks the moment I'm out of the room and I run as fast as I can from the cells. My heart hammers as I bump off the walls at every turn racing to get out, feeling the craggy rocks pressing in on me and making it hard to breathe.
Voices are lost in the noise as I break through the doors, collapsing to the ground, gasping for air before I wretch. I feel the wind whip across my bare arms but I don't feel the cold, I'm numb. Even outside I struggle to catch my breath and get my bearings.
A hand lands on my back, flooding me with calming energy that helps to push the memories and unwelcomed energy away. "That's it princess. Deep breath in, and out," Derek coaches, kneeling in the snow next to me as he rubs soothing circles on my back.
After a couple of deep breaths, my racing heart starts to calm down and my senses begin to come back. I sit back on my heels, blinking the bright sunny landscape into focus.
"Jess, who's he talking about?" Derek asks, making me cringe. When I don't answer he presses on. "Who is coming?"
I swallow the bile threatening to come up once more and turn to him.
"Matt."