Page 43 of Chaos Unleashed

I keep my senses on high alert. That itch that was urging me to end the princes has gone, and my intuition has calmed, which means I’m not supposed to kill Azreal; I have to admit that I’m kind of relieved about that. Poor guy has been through enough in his lifetime; of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t kill him if he attacks me. If it comes down to a case of his life or mine, then I will always choose mine, but the fact that my intuition is no longer screaming at me lets me know that he is not a threat to me or the Underworld and is not someone that needs to be taken out.

“Just as I suspected, I’ve found the map,” Xerxes states, “oh, that’s interesting. It needs you to say a trigger word.”

“Erm, okay, sure. What is it?” he tells me the word, and I somewhat cautiously repeat it, hoping that I’m not about to trigger something unwanted and dangerous.

I breathe a sigh of relief as a string of gold-coloured magic streams from Xerxes' pages.

“I’m guessing that’s what you have to follow, and it will lead you to Hades vault.” He explains.

“Sounds good to me,” I reply as I jog to follow it so that we don’t have to hang around here any longer than is truly necessary, “I don’t suppose you know if there are any spells or traps that are guarding the vault?”

Xerxes hums, and I’m guessing that he’s searching his pages to see if there’s any information within them that can help me.

After a moment of me silently following the magic that’s leading to Hades' vault, Xerxes says, “All I can find is that it has protection spells on it.”

I wait for a moment to see if he has any more information to give me, and when he doesn’t say anything, I ask, “Is that it?”

Xerxes’s voice is apologetic as he replies, “Yes, that’s all there is.”

Chapter Sixteen

Farren

“Wow, okay, well, that’s super fucking helpful,” I reply.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I saw how easily you pulled the spells apart that were locking your cell; you barely broke a sweat.”

I shrug, “While that’s true, I had just come out of the Void, so I actually have no idea if I still have enough power to pull apart any spells that are on Hades’s vault, especially since I’ve taken on four princes.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Xerxes replies, “let's get there and find out what we’re dealing with first; if you can’t get through the spells, then we’ll just come back again later. We’ll know exactly where we need to go, and when you get back to the guys, you can all make a plan on how to get in, or better yet, since you now know that Grey is Hades, you can just come back with him and get him to open it for you.”

“I keep forgetting that. It’s strange, and yet it also makes a lot of sense,” I muse.

“We should probably be careful what we say in these halls. We have no idea if anyone is listening; after all, you said there were five princes,” Xerxes reminds me.

“Yes, Azreal, isn’t an issue though, or he hasn’t been this far,” I reply, and then add in agreement, “but you are right, we should be more careful just in case.”

From that point on, we all move silently through the castle; I need to concentrate anyway, just in case something decides to come out of the woodwork and attack us.

“This has to be the most tedious walk through a castle I have ever taken,” I complain.

I’m starting to feel some of the wounds that have been inflicted on me while I’ve been fighting. None of them are bad enough that they’re going to slow me down, but they are irritating me. The castle décor suddenly changes from stone walls and the bare minimum in décor to plush carpeting and even more ornate and brightly coloured tapestries adorn the walls. There’s also a thick layer of dust that covers everything, and I mean thick. It’s weird; there’s almost a definite line where the castle is clean, and then boom, two-inch thick layers of dust cover everything.

A sound from my right has me tensing and my eyes darting to the edge of the hallway, and the floor-to-ceiling tapestry that moves just as my eyes land on it. I stay silent, not particularly sensing a threat but knowing that there is definitely someone behind the tapestry. Sure enough, after a minute of me and my creatures staying extremely still, a young face peers around the edge. She can't be older than fourteen, and she looks utterly terrified when she sees me, the varying shades of blue feathers on her head in replacement of hair ruffle in agitation.

She’s the first person I’ve seen that isn’t a Hellier, or prince and I can only assume that she works here in the castle, and I realise that I might be able to get some information from her.

“It’s okay. We aren’t going to hurt you,” I tell her in the softest voice I can manage. I’m trying to appear unthreatening and not scare her, but I am very aware that I’m covered in both fresh and dried blood, various wounds that I’m sure are visible, and I’ve received on my journey through the castle.

She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t retreat either, so I’m taking that as a good sign—unless she’s frozen in fear. I've heard that for some people, instead of having the fight-or-flight response in times of danger, they actually have the third option that not many people know about and they freeze instead.

“Are you the only one here?” I ask, grateful that my creatures are keeping themselves in the shadows and not moving. I have a feeling that they might freak her out. Especially since they aren’t native Underworld creatures. Of course, a talking book might freak her out too so I’m really glad that Xerxes decides to be quiet as well.

She steps out from behind the tapestry by the tiniest amount, and I notice her hands clench at her sides. I stay really still, not wanting to spook her.

She shakes her head, “No, there are more of us. Not many, not anymore. They’re hidden in the castle, the princes were on the warpath, and we have all learned to stay far out of the way.”

“Oh?” I reply curiously, hoping that it prompts her to explain some more.

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