Page 25 of Legendary

That didn’t make me a hero.

I had opted to change clothes once we came back from the tour that Beetee was so fucking eager to lead. She was cute when she bounced on her toes and pointed towards one area and then glided over to another. I had taken the stairs to the bottom floor two at a time, halting when I saw Elise and Beetee whispering near the front desk. Elise had a look of pure exhaustion and annoyance written on her face, while Beetee pointed her index finger at her as she spoke. It looked like Beetee was letting her have it, like she was scolding her.

Elise had rolled her eyes and then stiffened as she caught my eye as I made it to the bottom step. We broke eye contact as I looked to my right and noticed the boys were already seated on the large L-shaped couch, weapons in tow as per usual. Beetee had put on an enthusiastic face when she waved them over and started explaining each room more in depth and continuously telling us how safe this place was. I got the sense that the reassurance was more for our angelic companions. We had made it past the kitchen, which was always stocked with food, the pantry, a room she called the recovery room—due to the fact that many demons came to this place not always in the best shape, and the few extra bathrooms she had down here when she had us circling back to the front door.

“I can show you some of the grounds if you’d like?” Beetee offered, placing her hand delicately on the doorknob.

I caught the look that Nicholas and Reese gave each other as they silently had a conversation amongst the two of them. Nicholas nodded. “It would probably be good to see the surroundings.”

“And what are you gonna do, pretty boy? Fly up with your big white angel wings and get a bird’s eye view of the place?” Elise taunted, shoving past all of us.

“Ellie, stop being a heathen alright.” Beetee shook her head and opened the door, leading us outside and into the warm air. It wasn’t humid, but there was no breeze. There were no changing seasons here, there was no need to worry about descending temperatures at some point or sweltering heat. It was always this. I would never admit it out loud, but my bones seemed torelax as I took a true deep breath, right into my lungs as I closed my eyes.

“Are you good?” I heard a familiar deep voice ask. I peeked to see Nicholas looking down at me, placing his hands in his pockets. His forehead crinkled with a look of concern.

I shrugged and started walking past him. “I’m perfectly fine.” He worried too much. Especially about me.

“…and you remember you came from the Abyss Bridge, that bridge is the number one landmark of knowing you are close to my hostel. Lilith’s very large, very ominous castle looms over us as you can see, but I’m sure you’ve seen that already. There is forest all around us, but I wouldn’t go deep into it on foot, not that I think you will, but just be cautious. Umm, the surrounding buildings are people’s homes, demons and Enchanters alike. They start right at the bridge and end right towards there.” She pointed to where the gravelly trail went around a corner that seemed to be shrouded in darkness. “That’s the trail you would follow if you wanted to get to other parts of this area, there are a bit of woods, but it’s honestly not as bad as—”

“Why would we want to go through some dark ass woods? To leisurely explore, yeah no thank you.” Reese said, looking up and around as if at any moment something would come from the sky and grab him.

“We can’t stay in the hostel forever. I meanyoucan, but I have a feeling you would feel left out.” I taunted, pushing out my bottom lip.

Reese narrowed his eyes at me, but looked away, not wanting to admit how right I was. “How would we even see if wedidplan to head that way? It’s dark as fuck.”

Beetee motioned for us to follow her as I checked out the houses that we passed. There were lights on here and there and I caught a few glances out of the windows, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I would have loved living in this area, I would have loved not having a manipulating queen breathing down my back and lying to me either, but the past was the past.

The moment we got to the last houses where the trail led into a row of trees and a stone pathway, we discovered that Reese was correct. It was dark, but once Beetee stepped on one of the stones a red light illuminated from one of the trees. It was dim and not so vibrant, but it was something. She continued to step even further as more red lights from the various trees lit up. Each light was singular, but with each one the path got easier and easier to see. I followed behind her as I watched Nicholas look pretty amazed at the sight in front of him.

“You could have just said this would happen,” Reese grumbled. If I knew anything about him, he was just trying to play off how cool he found this. As we all followed behind our host, I started to get a sense of déjà vuas we got further away from the hostel. I could hardly make out the area we were headed to, but I could see the smallest hues of pulsing lights or hear the whispers of drunken laughter. Wherever we were headed, I had been there before and then something in me clicked. I stopped walking just to feel Elise run into my back.

“Fuck, warn someone when you want to just be in their way.”

I ignored her as Beetee stopped as well, turning to face me. She tilted her head in confusion as she waited for me to collect myself. I nodded over to the area behind her. “Is that where—” I was cut off by a branch breaking. Then another.

And another.

The laughter I heard before was gone. I zeroed in on whatever had caught my attention. The tiny light from the trees didn’t help much in the extensive forest area. No more breaking branches, just the sound of breathing was all my ears could make out.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s probably just a hellhound. They are pretty harmless, or they at least try to be. Just don’t provoke them,” Beetee attempted to reassure.

Nicholas and Reese both answered at the same time. “Hellhound!?”

I was about to believe her and then explain the concept of hellhounds to the now overly nervous, but feigning confidence angels at my side, when a whispering voice invaded my ears.

Dani.

Soul Seether.

The voice was sharp, it felt like a literal gust of wind. So sharp it could have cut my skin. I shut my eyes for a moment, feeling as it sliced into my mind.

Dani.

I felt the urge to slaughter something, whatever it was. I stretched my fingers out and felt my dagger manifest in my hand.

“What are you doing?” I heard Elise ask next to me, slight hesitation in her voice. She wasn’t unnerved by me, but she also didn’t know how to react.

Before I realized what was happening, I was moving. I headed towards the woods, into the darkness. I had never liked true darkness, the kind that encapsulated you, blinded you. I preferred the darkness when I knew I could leave, when I knew I could open my eyes and see things clearly. I overlooked the suffocated forestry and focused on the familiarity of what I was being pulled towards.

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