“And that was one way to do it.” Hunter grinned.

I stared at my hands, once again struggling to process what was happening. Normally I bounced back, taking everything in stride. Not now. I was turning into a crumbling mess.

“So I think it’s safe to say you got Jesalyn’s powers.” Cade grinned.

“We already knew she did. The new thing we learned is she might actually be able to use them.” Troy sure had a way with words.

“I may have used the ability, but that doesn’t mean I know how I did it.” I examined my arms. They were glowing too. As was my torso and the whole rest of my body. I was a human glow worm.

“Let’s focus on the fact that you did it. This is huge.” Eloise beamed. “Not only are you glowing, but you cut a hole in the wall.”

Cade carefully broke off more of the glass, until there was enough space for us to step through. “I assume we want to go toward Hunter, not have him come this way?”

“The crack in the floor is over on his side.” I stepped through the opening, careful of the edge of glass, even though it wasn’t even jagged. I had no idea whether that was because of the type of glass or because of me, but if we could avoid injury I was on board.

I crouched down where I saw a small crack in the stone. “Is that what you were talking about?”

“I think so.” Hunter knelt beside me.

“Uh someone get him some clothes.” I’d already gotten an eyeful, and that was enough for me.

Troy pulled off his shirt and tossed it to him. “Make something work out of this.”

Hunter took the fabric, ripped it, and turned into a loincloth.

“Very Tarzan.” I laughed. It felt good to laugh after all the seriousness.

Hunter shrugged. “I have to work with what I have.”

“Speaking of working with what you have, who’s going to find out what’s under that?” I pointed to the crack.

“You.” Troy stepped through the glass.

I ran a finger over the cracked stone. “I already did my part.”

“Practice could be good for you.” Troy made no move to help beyond giving up his shirt.

“And what about all that girl power stuff?” Cade stepped through after letting Eloise go first.

“Don’t you dare start in on that.” He wasn’t using that against me.

“I don’t mind trying, but first we have to find Anastasia.” Hunter returned to standing.

“Where is she?” I saw nothing for as far as I could see.

“Through another of those walls.” He pointed to what remained of the wall behind us.

“Another?” I hoped I wasn’t going to have to figure out how to cut holes in more of them. I still had no idea how I’d pulled it off the first time.

“Might be good practice.” Cade offered his hand to help me up.

I refused and stood up myself. “Would you stop with the practice talk?”

“I’m only looking out for your welfare.” Cade winked.

“Then stop. Practice your own skills.”

“Shut up about the practice.” Troy’s expression hardened. “We can’t seriously be considering looking for the Mer. We leave her here and send help back.”

“Are you kidding?” I coughed. “Please tell me you are kidding.”

“Wyatt. Focus on Wyatt.” Troy wrapped his hand around my bicep. “Don’t be stupid, Hailey.”

“We aren’t leaving her. End of story.” I met Troy’s gaze. “You can either come with us, or find your own way out.”

“And leave you?” He released my arm. “You’re destined to be Wyatt’s mate. That means I have to protect you.”

“But you don’t even have your fire.” I put a hand on my hip.

“What does that have to do with this?”

“You use that as an excuse for everything else, why not use it now?”

He scowled.

“Ok. Let’s calm this down.” Eloise stepped between us. “Hailey is absolutely right. We need to find the Mer. We can’t leave without her.”

“Of course not.” Hunter adjusted his makeshift loincloth. “I promised her I’d find us a way out.”

“Then keep your promise and keep the rest of us out of it.” Troy’s eyes darkened. “Hailey is our best shot of getting out of here and helping with whatever is going on up there.” He gestured to the ceiling. “I vote we split up. Hailey, the pixie, and I get ourselves out of here. Cade and Hunter find the Mer.”

“Not a chance.” Cade shook his head. “I’m not leaving Hailey. I’m the one who got her into this.”

“No one is leaving anyone. We’re in this together.” Eloise sighed. “There’s a reason you are all down here together.”

“You are all?” Hunter narrowed his eyes. “You don’t include yourself?”

“I’m not supposed to be here. I slipped through with Hailey.”

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck. “But if you believe in fate then yes, you are supposed to be here.”

“Fate my ass.” Troy groaned.

Eloise stared at Troy with her mouth hanging open. “I didn’t think Dragos cursed.”

“I didn’t think Guardian Pixies existed. I guess we both have plenty to learn.” There was a faint smile on his lips if you looked close enough.

“We all have a lot to learn.” I was ready for the arguing to stop. There was too much at stake. “Can we all agree to get along for the time being?”

“We are making a mistake.” Troy swung his arms. “But if the rest of you want to risk the lives of millions to save one Mer, who am I to stop you?”

“We can do both.” We weren’t leaving without the Mer. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her.

“Do we think she’s Emerald Flame?” Cade asked.

“Obviously. Otherwise why would she be here?” Troy was so snarky I wanted to slap him. “Let’s find the girl and get out of here.”

“Great. Now that we are all in agreement, let’s go.” Eloise smiled.

“Where are we going?” I hoped Hunter knew.

“Somewhere in that direction.” Hunter pointed down a narrow corridor. “I hit glass a half mile down, so I say we start there.”

“Glass… ugh.” I wasn’t looking forward to having to break through that again.

“We can still turn back…” Troy trailed off.

“No. We can’t.” I started down the corridor, assuming the others would want me to go first since I was our light source.

“How’s Allie doing?” Hunter walked beside me.

“She’s fine. I hope.” Thinking about Allie still hurt a little. I hoped we’d eventually be able to repair things between us.

“Did I say the wrong thing? I figured she was a safe topic with you. You’re so close.”

“We are.” Or we were. No. We were still close. She wasn’t angry with me. She’d told me herself.

“Hailey’s only in this mess because she cares so much about Allie,” Cade spoke from right behind us.

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that. We all do things for our own motivations.”

“Then what’s your motivation, wolf?” Troy was bringing up the rear as we continued down the corridor.

Hunter bristled, but then his shoulders relaxed. “For what? Wanting to get out of here?”

“No, for caring about this Mer. I didn’t think a Dire would waste his time.”

“I’m not going to leave an innocent down here. And you shouldn’t want to either.” Hunter stopped walking and spun around. “Maybe in your world innocents aren’t worthy of protection, but they are here.”

“But if she’s Emerald Flame, you really think she’s any more innocent than the rest of us?” Troy challenged.

“We are all innocent in this. I’d hope you wouldn’t leave me down here either.” I glared at Troy.

“You know I wouldn’t have left you, Hailey. I already explained I have to protect you.”

“And if I weren’t Wyatt’s intended mate?” I pressed.

“Then I don’t know.” His expression remained emotionless.

“Fantastic. You really are a joy to be around.” I turned and started again.

“Most Mers I know are selfish creatures. She’s probably found water and swam to safety by now.” Troy wouldn’t drop it.

“Selfish? You mean like you?”

“If she has already left, then we are wasting our time.”

“She didn’t leave.” Hunter stopped short as we reached another glass wall.

“How do you know?” Troy pressed his hand against the glass.

“I know. I’m a good judge of character.”

“Oh yes. I’m sure you are.” Troy laughed dryly.

“Ok, go ahead, Hailey.” Cade gestured to the glass wall.

“Go ahead and what?” I turned to Cade.

“Break through this wall. We can’t find her if you don’t do it.”

“I need time. I don’t understand how I did it before.” I was used to knowing exactly what to do. I’d trained twice as hard as everyone else to prove I was just as strong. But these Lightness skills had nothing to do with physical strength. They involved harnessing a power I didn’t even understand.

Cade gently patted my back. “You’ve got this.”

“You sure no one else wants to try?” I looked at the assembled faces. “Maybe there’s another way. We discussed burrowing.”

“That was when we didn’t think we could get through the glass. This is a much better option. We know you can do it.” He smiled.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, but now that there’s light to see by maybe someone else can break this glass faster than I can.”

“No way. You can do this.” Eloise gave me an encouraging smile. “Plus, it’s good practice.”

“Oh no.” I shook my head. “Not you too.”

“Me too?” Her brow furrowed.

“You’re siding with them? Telling me things are practice.” I was growing weary of hearing those words.

“Of course I’m not siding with them. I’ll always be on your side.”

“Now you’re sucking up.” Cade laughed.

“I’m her Guardian Pixie. It’s my job to always be on her side.”

“No, it’s your job to protect her. You don’t seem to be doing a very good job with that.” Troy just wouldn’t stop.

“I thought you didn’t even know what a Guardian Pixie was?” I wasn’t going to stand back and let him attack Eloise. Even if I’d been slow to warm up to her, she’d been nothing but nice, and she’d been trying her best to be helpful.

I put my hand on the glass and closed my eyes. This time I felt the heat immediately. It burned again before turning numb, and then it returned to normal. I opened my eyes to see a gaping hole in the glass. I turned to find everyone staring at me.

“What? I was already glowing, is there something else weird about me?”

“You did that so quickly.” Eloise grinned. “That was amazing.”

“That was pretty amazing.” I’d take credit where it was due. “But I’ll be honest and tell you I’m tired now.” I was suddenly beyond tired. Exhausted. The process might have been faster this time, but I felt like it had zapped all the energy out of me.

“I’ll carry you.” Hunter removed more of the glass. “I really don’t mind.”

“I’ll be fine.” I stepped through the glass and sat down on the other side. “Just give me a minute.” My light seemed to have stayed on through everything. Not that I had any clue how to turn it off. Hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue later.

Sitting was the right idea. I felt my strength slowly returning.

Troy was the last to step through the opening in the glass. “Why did Anastasia walk off anyway?”

Hunter watched me with a worried expression. I wondered if my exhaustion was showing on my face. “She thought she heard water.”

“Oh yeah… wait. Doesn’t she have to be near water?” Mers were one of the many creatures I knew very little about.

“Ideally, but she can survive without it. She just loses strength over time.” Hunter sat down beside me. “Not unlike you right there, but the difference is she needs water to strengthen. It seems that sitting for a few minutes has already done you good.”

“I already feel better. I’ll be ready to move soon. But tell me. What happens if we can’t get her to water in time?”

“She’ll die.” Troy let the words hang in the air.

“Ugh. We have to find her.”

“We will.” Eloise sent a wave of calmness through me.

“You’re getting really good at that reassurance thing.” I took in a slow deep breath.

She smiled ever so slightly. “I’m glad I’m good at something.”

“You’re good at plenty of things.” I didn’t know much about my Guardian Pixie, but I didn’t think her being down was good for anyone.

“Thanks.” She smiled.

“Do you think Levi has any clue what’s going on?” I had to ask it. Did the king know there were such powerful creatures after The Society? “And do you think there are more of us down here?”

“More descendants of the Emerald Flame?” Cade asked. “And as to Levi, I would assume he would have warned you if he had any clue what kind of threat The Society faced.”

“Ok, that’s what I thought too about Levi. And yeah. More descendants. I’m guessing we can’t be the only ones.”

“I would assume there are more descendants, but that doesn’t mean they are all prisoners here. Maybe she has some of the others working for her. Who knows what else she has up her sleeves.” Troy grimaced. “Or who she’s working for. We know she isn’t the top of the food chain here if the Elders are involved.”

I shuddered. “I’m sure you are right about who’s really in charge, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to work with her if they knew what she really is.”

“She’s very good at hiding it.” Cade looked down.

“I didn’t trust her anyway.” From the start I knew something was off about her. I hadn’t even wanted to shake her hand.

“No, you didn’t.” Cade met my eyes.

“Then why are you here?” Troy asked with some actual interest. “Is this really about the human queen?”

“Not only her, but of course she plays into this.” I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. How could Allie not figure into this?

Troy shook his head. “It’s strange how you can be so close to a human that is not your mate.”

“Why is it strange? Why would her being human have any bearing on our friendship?”

“You are far too young to understand. You’ll get it later.”

“Not all of us live hundreds of years,” I mumbled under my breath.

Troy could of course still hear. “You will. You’ll probably outlive us all now.”

“No. Pterons live normal lifetimes. You know that.” I wasn’t ready to think of myself as anything but a Pteron yet.

“But you’re not only a Pteron now. You are part Lightness. You got Jesalyn’s light powers, what makes you think you don’t have her longevity? Plus Wyatt. He told you, right? What happens if you really are his mate?” Troy watched me carefully.

“I know... although I hadn’t really let that part sink in yet.” My jaw tightened, and I tensed.

“What’s wrong?” Eloise flinched.

“I’m going to live that long?” I looked at Troy for confirmation. “I mean I knew, but just to really think about it…”

“You think that’s a bad thing?” Cade’s brow furrowed.

“Ugh. Wait until I tell my brother.”

Cade laughed. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to have his sister around for a couple lifetimes with him.”

“Yeah, well when he turned into a Drago I kind of gave him a hard time about it—how he was going to have to watch the rest of us grow old. I was a bit overdramatic. I’m sure he’s going to do the same to me. Depressing.”

“You are a weird family.” Cade laughed.

“And yours isn’t?”

“You got me there.”

“Should we call the Mer’s name?” Eloise caught my eye. “Or are we still worried about attracting the wrong kind of attention?”

“We already have attention. We’re practically yelling.” Cade made a good point. “No harm in doing more. What’s her name again?”

“Anastasia. Anastasia! Where are you?” Hunter yelled.

No one answered, which wasn’t all that surprising considering we had no idea how large the basement really was.

“Anastasia!” I added into the mix. Projection was one of my talents.

“Anastasia!” Cade yelled. “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

“Stop sounding like a creeper.” I snapped.

“I don’t sound like a creeper.”

“Come out, come out, where ever you are? That’s creepy. It sounds like some horror movie thing, like you’re playing some awful game of hide and seek.”

“Hide and seek is creepy now?” He narrowed his eyes.

“It is in horror movies.”

“And in dungeons. This place is awful,” Eloise added. “Sorry. I know as your Guardian Pixie I should be more positive, but I can’t help it. Even with your light this place is too depressing.”

“It’s not as though any of us really know what a Guardian Pixie is supposed to do.” Cade shot her a dazzling smile. “You’re fine.”

Eloise smiled. “Thank you.”

“You are actually being nice to someone.” I nudged him with my shoulder.

“I’m nice to plenty of people.”

“Ok, nice to someone when it’s not for personal gain.” I continued walking, waiting for us to run into yet another glass wall.

Cade kept pace. “You think all my altruistic actions are for personal gain?”

“Yes.” I wasn’t going to beat around the bush.

“Then why bother being friends with me?” There was a note of seriousness in his voice.

“Are we friends?” I teased.

“Yes. You can’t pretend otherwise.”

Something about the seriousness of his voice hit me. “‘I know you’re not a complete jerk. I’m only kidding.”

“I know. Unlike you I don’t take everything said about me personally.”

“You called me a pervert. That was different.” And it had felt worse considering I had no idea where Wyatt was.

“Who used the word pervert?” He raised an eyebrow. “You did. I only made a joke that you made worse yourself.”

“Hello?” A female voice asked from somewhere far off. “Is there someone there?”

“Anastasia?” Hunter called. “It’s Hunter.”

“Where are you?” Her voice was louder this time.

“We’ll find you.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to reassure her when I had no idea how I was going to pull it off, but I felt as if I had no choice.

“Who is that?” Anastasia called back.

“I found some friends along the way. Don’t worry.” Hunter grinned.

“You sure you can trust them?” Her voice wavered.

“We kind of have no choice.” Hunter spoke the truth. None of us had a choice if we wanted to get out of there.

“My mother taught me to only trust those who deserve trusting.” Anastasia’s voice lilted.

“Yeah well, right now you have no choice.” Troy managed to vent his frustration while calling out to her.

“Unfortunately.” Cade looked down at the ground.

She didn’t reply, so I decided I needed to add something. “I don’t know if you can trust these clowns, but you can trust me.”

“Who are you?” There was a hint of amusement in her voice.

“Hailey Kaye.” I wasn’t sure if my name would mean anything to her, but maybe it would help if I was forthcoming.

“Wait. We have a mutual friend. Vera. I guess she’s Vera Florence now.”

“You know Vera?” I looked at Cade to gage his reaction. Vera was the wife of another Pteron we both knew very well.

“Ok, enough of this catch up. Are you going to show yourself?” Troy snapped.

“I would if I could. Trust me. I’d rather not be alone.” Her voice was filled with worry and sadness.

“We will look for you, but for now, follow the light.” Hunter spoke gently.

“I can’t see light.”

“Really?” Hunter asked with surprise. “This light is really bright.”

“I can’t see anything.”

“Can you normally see?” We needed to know if this was a new issue or not. That would make a really big difference in terms of how to proceed.

“Yes. That thing did this to me. I don’t know how.” She made a strange sound, which I thought might be stifling a sob.

“The Scarber?” Troy clarified.

“I have no clue what it was. A monster with talons and fangs. Awful looking.”

“We’ll find you.” I still had no idea how, but we would.

“I guess I should keep talking then, right? You can follow my voice.”

“That would be great.” I tried to make my voice sound remotely positive and enthusiastic. Even with light I had no idea where we were going. The walls all looked the same. Grey stone. The floor and ceiling too. I was sure we’d run into more glass walls, and I didn’t even want to know what else lurked down there.

“Do you guys know why we are here?” she asked. “Hunter and I talked about it when I first found him, but we couldn’t figure it out.”

“Not exactly,” Cade replied. “Probably something our ancestors did.”

“Why are we held responsible for their mistakes?” she asked a very legit question. It was one of many I had absolutely no answer to.

“Who knows if they are mistakes. But they did something to make someone angry. Either that or we are somehow useful to these people.”

“You are all so young and naive.” Troy groaned. “I can’t believe you are the ones I’m stuck with.”

“Oh, please enlighten us,” I used mock formality.

“They want us for our blood and our power.”

“What power?” There was such sadness in Anastasia’s voice.

We had to speed up. I hurried down the corridor and ran into a metal wall this time.

“What is this, a maze?”

“Probably.” Troy leaned up against the wall. “Seems like something a Scarber would do.”

“Have you met one before?” I turned around. “Keep talking, Anastasia.” Wall or not, we had to find her.

“I’ll try singing instead.” She broke into a beautiful and haunting song.

Chills ran up and down my spine, and I realized we didn’t need to move through the metal wall. Her voice was coming from another direction. I backtracked, turning right after I passed the others. I focused on the beautiful sound, turning right, then left. I hit another metal wall before realizing I was in the wrong direction and heading left again.

“Hailey?”

I glanced over my shoulder when I heard Troy say my name. “Sorry, yes?”

“You asked if I’ve met a Scarber before this one.”

That got my attention, and I stopped in my tracks.

“Yes. Have you?”

“None of the times were pretty. The trouble is they blend in so well. I’m surprised Veronica didn’t massacre thousands before she took us. Scarbers are resurrected by Demons. They hold some demonic properties. Their power is nearly insurmountable.”

“Maybe she’s going to do the massacre now.” Cade shrugged.

I glared at him.

“Just saying. We really don’t know for sure.”

“Let’s not go down that line of thought.” We had to stay positive, or we had no chance of defeating her—or getting out of the basement. “What helpful information about Scarbers can you share, Troy?”

Anastasia switched to another song— this one was in a minor key and felt full of anguish and sadness. It had something to do with a sailor lost at sea.

“Nothing that won’t make you so fearful you can’t help us.” There was nothing mean in Troy’s voice this time. It was honest.

“Troy, please know I mean this with the deepest respect, but why did you even bring it up?” Eloise put a hand on her hip.

He appeared nonplused. “I was asked a question. I answered.”

“Next time maybe don’t answer.” Eloise clasped her hands together. “Please.”

“Let the record reflect this fairy is asking me to lie.” Troy raised his chin.

“I’m a Pixie. Not a fairy.”

“My mistake.” He smirked.

“Guys?” Anastasia stopped singing. “Have you forgotten about me?”

“No, of course not.” I followed her voice again, but I once again hit a metal wall. What was I doing wrong?

“Can you tell us anything about where you are?” Cade leaned back against the latest wall we’d found.

“I already told you I can’t.”

He dug the toe of his shoe into the ground. “I know, but what about your other senses?”

“I can’t hear anything but you guys.”

“What about smells? And feel the ground, anything different?”

“I don’t smell anything. I’m sitting on the ground, and it’s just rough stone. There are small spaces between them, but it feels like stones or rock to me.”

I heard what I was sure this time was a sob. “Is it cold?” It felt cooler now than where we started.

Eloise took my hand again. “Not sure how much that will help.”

“I’m cold, but I’m also weak. I need the water.” Anastasia sounded even further away now. What was going on?

“We’ll get you to water soon.” I mustered as much confidence as I could in my voice. Maybe being a Lightness could help us, except I barely knew what a Lightness was. Too bad Jesalyn couldn’t have stayed around longer to help.

“Every maze is solvable.” Cade straightened up. “We need to determine the pattern.”

Troy sighed. “Ok. Figure it out.”

“You make that sound easy. It’s not.” Cade sounded just like I had when they told me to just make my light work. Nothing about our current situation was easy.

“Anastasia?” I spoke quietly, but sure my worry was in my voice. She didn’t answer, and my concern spiked. “Anastasia?”

“Maybe we’re walking further away,” Eloise suggested. “Should we turn around?”

“Or she’s too weak to answer.” Troy spoke out loud what I already feared.

Eloise groaned. “Troy, you are starting to grate on my nerves.”

“Only starting to?” I’d grown tired of his negativity ages before. “The reasons don’t matter. We have to find her.” I wasn’t going to have blood on my hands because we couldn’t figure out a maze. We were Pterons, a Dire Wolf, and a Drago. We were impressive and powerful creatures on our own. Together we should have been unstoppable. “Cade, get working on that pattern thing. For all we know we are moving in circles.”

“That’s possible.” Cade examined the wall. “That’s very possible.”

“Well, get us out of the circles. Ok?” Then I heard something. I strained my ears. It was slow but distinguishable. “Do you guys hear that?”

“What do you hear?” Hunter asked. The poor guy was still stuck in his loincloth. I’d nearly forgotten about that.

“I can hear something dripping. Like a leaky faucet.”

“You hear water dripping?” Eloise asked for clarification.

“I can’t tell if it’s water, but I don’t really want to think of the other possibilities.”

“Like lighter fluid or something?” Troy spoke another of my fears out loud.

“Troy!” Eloise suddenly screamed. Her voice echoed off the walls and then everything started to crumble.