The first thing that Jack did the next day was call a meeting; we needed to know exactly what position we were in. There was very little time left, to our deadline and an unmeasurable amount of work left to do, this meeting was going to be the catalyst to make us all work harder. I could tell Jack was gearing up for it as he was silent most of the day, musing.
Due to time constraints the meeting was held in the late afternoon in a meadow in the tree folk's wing. For me, the meeting couldn't come soon enough, the need to be productive itching inside me making antsy, but now that it was about to begin I was nervous. What if we couldn't get everything done in time? What if we had to leave people behind?
In all honesty, I didn't even want to think about it and thankfully I didn't have too, as Jack had stood in the centre as soon as everyone had entered.
"Thank you for coming at such short notice everyone. I know everyone's been working very hard lately and we're here today to discuss progress. There are only five days left, and we need to know exactly what needs to be done and do it. We need to work extra hard and hopefully our efforts will pay off. I have full faith in it. Techs you first."
"Well, studying the force fields we've found a few weak points where with enough pressure and gradual breakdown we can use them as exit routes. The three shuttles will have to take different routes and two will have significantly longer journeys."
"What will you need to make this gradual breakdown faster?" Jacks asked.
"I think that's where we come in," Warrens states standing up, "the barriers been weakening for a while now and we've noticed an increase of magic when it has come in from the pressure points mentioned. We can use our magic to help weaken them further in a manner that won't be a cause for suspicion and won't take that long either."
"Sounds good, anything else, Damon?"
"Yes and no, things haven't changed on the shuttle front it seems like they are still planning on taking less of us. We haven't found anything suggesting who will be left and who will be taken or what the criteria is. We've also been seeing an increase in the number of shuttles arriving from earth with nothing in them. Or maybe they get emptied before we see them. Not sure but the guards are up to something."
"I agree," Vlad nods starting to stand, "the guards have been very active at night lately, too active. But just as Damon states we can only follow them up to certain point and then they just disappear, out of our view. We did come up with the theory that maybe we lost them because they were human and they were using something so that anything supernatural wouldn't be able to see. Since usually, we're the ones with the better eyesight. Anna? Would you be okay to join us on night watch today?"
"Sure!" I say probably all too fast but I finally have a role now! One that hopefully won't lead to me getting paralysed or knocked out or in some weird dream with characters who want me to die.
I glance quickly at him, only to see him running his hand through his hair. It's more than obvious from his stiffened posture and locked jaw that's he was not liking this idea at all. And yet, despite his lack of delight at this he gave a quick nod, in consent. Even he couldn't deny the potential advantage we would have if this yielded fruit.
Next up was Thad, who stated that he was nearly close to securing all the provisions that we would need for the journey, as well as the basic medical supplies.
The meeting ended after Jack gave a few words of encouragement but while it did seem like things were working out I had a niggling feeling that we were missing something blatantly obvious. However, that was a feeling easily ignored especially as now I had a task that would enable me to be more actively involved.
Before leaving, I arranged to meet Vlad in his lounge at 7 so I could familiarise myself with the guards and learn about the mysterious goings on in the night time. I was positively buzzing, nightfall here I come.
But first, I had to talk to Jack about it all and while there would be no protest on his part, I would still have to listen to the be-careful lecture, don't take any risks blah-blah-blah.
Typical Jack.
We walked back to my room in silence and I flopped on to the bed wondering what we're missing. It was bugging me to the extent that my head was beginning to hurt. Ugh.
Moments later Jack joins me on the bed, almost squishing me if I hadn't moved. We lay there in silence for a while, lost in out thoughts. Or rather me trying to suppress the urge to bang my head into a wall.
"Jack, what are we missing?" I say in an attempt to figure this out.
"Nothing, you have look out for yourself tonight, okay?"
"Yeah, sure –"
"Promise me." He all but growls.
"Jack, okay fine. I promise."
We lay together in silence after that, I was trying not to think about what may be missing and Jack was probably imagining all the things that could go wrong tonight. I must have drifted off as the next thing I know I'm being shaken awake by Jack. It must be time to go.
Slowly, I sit up and gather my bearings. We stop by at the kitchen to grab some food after my stomach makes an annoyingly loud growl of protest at leaving the building empty. I guess I hadn't realised how hungry I am, as even though the food was piping hot I still found myself scarfing it down.
I am not at all surprised to see that Jack was coming with me to this meeting and would most likely spend the night in wait for me too. Overprotective and worry wort were his two middle names for a reason. We were lead into Vlad's lounge by someone who looked like she could break me in half just by looking at me.
Everyone else in the room looked the exact same, fierce. At this point it both comforted me and scared me, as well as making me glad that I was on the same side.
"Now, I know that these past few nights have been more than a little strange but Anna is here to help us with that. We do the exact same as we've been doing but tonight I want Anna to shadow Clark and Mick as they take the route that the guards will cross. If anything happens call for back up immediately. If Anna gets into wherever the guards go, wait there until she comes back. We'll have the fae with us tonight so back up will arrive a lot sooner. We need everyone to keep their ears peeled so we can all be on the same page. Any questions?"
Nobody had questions, this was it. Crunch time. Two bulky vampires make their way over to me, giving me small smiles and introducing themselves. Time really does seem to be flying today as we're only a few minutes away from lights out, then half an hour later we begin patrol. At the moment, I'm trying my best to listen to Clark's outline of our route through the prison.
He also gave brief vantage points of where everyone else would be, but ours was the most further ('farthest') out, on all the outskirts. Maybe that was it, something external was controlling the guards and could only reach the guards if they came to the outskirts of the prison. Or maybe the guards were planning something themselves and needed the outskirts for the utmost secrecy.
A few moments before we were about to go Mick told me that there was only one thing to do in case of emergency: scream.
I nodded in compliance, anxiously awaiting our turn to leave. And then all of a sudden it was our time, we walked across the prison like shadows clinging onto the walls. The prison was completely silent I have never seen it like this before. Astounding really, everything was dark. I have heard of the moon and know that it orbits the earth and so is a source of light on earth. I can tell that here there is no source of light maybe the guards use flashlights or maybe they used their memories just like we are doing.
Our route is the longest as it is the most farthest, I'm sandwiched between Clark and Mick who have devised a tapping system to help me gather my bearings a little. Mick lightly taps my shoulder each time we've passed a wing just so that I know how far out we're going. I felt it as soon as we passed the third wing, we had one more wing after this and then we would be skirting around the edges of the prison walls and going back to the vampire wing from the other side.
I felt a chill run through my bones, my hair standing up on its ends. Once we had reached the end of the fourth wing we waited. It was here that the guards were spotted walking into nothingness. Well, this was the first vantage point if not here then slightly further along until we did see the guards.
It didn't take as long as I had anticipated to find the them it started with a few light footsteps until we heard them mumbling about something. We stayed behind them, with me in the lead as then I would be able to follow them easily As the guards crept slowly forward, so did we. The mumbling was getting louder but I still couldn't make out what they were saying.
As much as I wanted to ask Clark and Mick if they were hearing this too, I was equally as scared of losing them. I kept my gaze ahead, transfixed. The mumbling got louder still, barely audible from where we were standing. I inch forward carefully trying to listen to what they're saying. No luck. Whatever they were saying sounded like an incantation, the intensity of which was getting stronger, the words faster.
Whatever was about to happen was about to happen soon. That much I could deduce and then it happened. In the blink of an eye so fast and ordinary you could miss it. A portal appeared out of the plain wall all of a sudden sucking all of the guards away. I too felt the pull and responded in kind even though I'm not sure how exactly.
It seemed like all I had to do was be open to the idea of going with the guards as the next minute I find myself being pulled towards them. More of an inner pull than anything, a bit like when I would dream and feel myself drift somewhere I was more than a bit apprehensive at this point, unsure of where this mysterious force would take me but I went with it nonetheless.
I felt the pull, still seeing nothing but darkness, following blindly. Even when we stopped moving it was still dark and then I could see a faint light. The scuffle of feet were the only sounds heard thus far, with the light emanating like the soft glow of a candle.
I look around at my surroundings, trying to gauge where the hell I was and if things got a little hairy how the hell I would escape. I saw nothing of importance any where, everything was a dull grey colour, which I could only tell due to the faint light. I heard more scuffling and decided to follow behind them. It was beyond weird, I couldn't see the guards but I heard them instead and then I heard the mumbling again, the same as it was before we entered here. As the mumbling of the incantation grew louder the light grew brighter. Suddenly the guards came to a stop and gathered around something, a table of some sort. I didn't know how we got there or how I was apparently there with them but it happened.
The chanting stopped while I found myself conveniently hidden behind a pillar, very little consolation as the pillar seemed translucent flickering as if it was a figment of my imagination and would loose its opaqueness any second now.
I felt the presence of something huge loom behind me wondering what the hell I had got myself into.