Fire Moon by Miss CrazyPlantLady (phonics reading books .TXT) 📖

rumours that they could even bring the dead back.

Her honey eyes widened, "Yes" she looked surprised that I knew, "I heard that you were a Blaze-hound from the guards."

"Do you know if brought anyone else in with us?" hoping that Alice and my parents were here, hoping that they have the Oracle in a different cell and one look at her furrowed brown, I knew.

"No, it was only you two" she looked sincerely apologetic.

"What's your name?" I felt myself ask. I could hear Urith vomiting again and I had force myself not to vomit with him.

"Miles" she smiled, which quickly disappeared as two Zetas approached the cell.

Two plates of blended mess slid through the bars, almost falling over in the process and I glared at them when they didn't give one to Urith, "What about him?"

They seemed hesitant at first but then they both shook their heads, "He won't last the night."

I was furious, I felt my flame in my blood and I stared them down, "Give him a plate" I demanded, my voice echoing through the cells.

One of them huffed at my demand but the other nodded, I watched them disappear and I turned to Miles, "When will Lolita come back?"

She was already eating her slop and she shook her head, clearing her mouthful, "She won't, you can only summon her again if it's an emergency."

I waited until the Zetas returned with Urith's food and when I heard the soft snores of Miles. I ensured that the Zetas thought I was sleeping when my fingers met the poisoned arrow under my pillow, I looked over at Urith once more and I drew a single line up my forearm. Slicing through my pale skin, watching the dark liquid bleed into my bed covers and I felt the poison instantly hit my veins.

I dreamt of August. August coming home and finding no one there. August coming home and Quinn telling him that I've left. That I was coming back and him waiting for my return. My heart broke as I imagined his face as he realised, I wasn't coming back. I dreamt of the Oracle, with his neck bared open and his blood soaking the earth. My heart hollowed out that the thought of him dying alone in the trees.

"HELP!" Miles was screaming, "someone help!"

I couldn't move to see what it was. I couldn't open my eyes. I could barely breathe. I was floating. Looking down at my limp body, arrow in hand and blood staining my clothes and frail bed. The colour glowing amongst the white of my bed.

Miles was screaming. I could see her fighting against her chains, the metal cutting into her dark skin. Trying to reach me. Urith was in the same position as before, lifeless and unmoving. The blended mash they finally got him was sitting in the corner, untouched and cold.

The Zetas arrived first. Yelling at her to shut up and not realising my state. They were confused and fear shone in their eyes as Miles continued to cry out.

Alexei arrived next, he had this perfidious aura about him as he walked but when his eyes instantly fell on me and I watched the dread wash over his face, "LOLITA!" he shouted as he started unlocking the cell door.

Miles didn't stop struggling against her chains, "I can save her!" her curled hair falling around her, "Let me save her!"

He ignored her and reached for me, "What have you done?" his voice a deadly tone, he threw the poisoned arrow across the room and he felt for my pulse. He turned back to the Zetas, "Unlock her!"

The Zetas were hesitant, frowning at him, "Mr Velasquez but..."

"UNLOCK HER NOW!" his voice vibrated into my body, his face contorted into pure anger.

The Zetas didn't hesitate this time and rushed to Miles, unlocking her chains. She reached for me and I dragged myself back into my body.

I stopped her hands weakly and Alexei's emerald orbs glowed at me, "Don't be a fucking fool, Eden."

My vision started to blur and I shook my head, "Alex, please" I begged, "save him first."

I would beg for my friend's life and nothing else. I would protect my friends until my last breath.

He didn't let go of me when he gave Miles a look and he didn't leave me as she went to Urith and our eyes were just watching one another, I felt my lips come up in a smile, "You should've—saved him—when I asked."

He shook his head in disbelief, a tiniest smirk on his face and his hand gripped my shoulder, "You could've died."

I struggled to shrug, "It would've been your fault."

He only turned to Miles, "Hurry the fuck up."

He smelt nice. A completely different smell to August, more like bergamot and musk mixed with the smell of coffee. An odd mixture but it strangely worked.

"You smell like—coffee" I felt myself mumbled as Miles reached us.

Her hands were cold and soft, she grabbed my slashed up arm and closed her eyes.

I wanted to ask her if Urith was okay but I heard a heavy cracked breath from across the cell. Followed by a cough and a sharp intake of air, "Eden!"

My heart swelled, my eyes burned with relief as my tears fell freely down my face and I looked at Miles with awe on my face, "Thank—you."

The familiar darkness was warm this time and I fell into it without hesitation.

I didn't dream this time.

I woke to Urith eating his old blended mess, blood back in his face, his dark eyes glowing with life and I wanted to cry again. I looked down at my arm and pale skin stared back at me. There was no scar but a black line where the scar would be, it fanned out at the end in delicate swirls and I looked up to meet Miles's gaze, "What's this?"

"It's the mark of my healing" her amber eyes were nervous and she shrugged, "I don't know why."

It was almost beautiful but it was stark against my skin. Glowing up at me. I rose from my bed and my legs burned as I went to Urith, he smiled at me without holding back and we held hands through the cell bars.

"Thank you" his voice was thick with appreciation and I smiled back at him, "I will never forget this, E."

"Quinn would kill me if I let you die" I laughed, "I wouldn't last a second against her."

Urith's gaze turned to Miles behind me, "Thank you as well" his smile disappearing but his gratitude clear on his face, "For saving my life."

Miles wasn't chained anymore but she still sat next to them, as if she didn't know anything else. Her smile was genuine and wide, her pure teeth glowing against the tan of her skin, "You're welcome."

"Great, you're up" Alexei interrupted as he strolled down the corridor.

Urith's cell faced the corridor and from my position I could see two more Zetas at the end, one on each side and a towering arch framed the entrance of another corridor. I could see the light bleeding through the windows and a plan was born in my head.

My lips curled up at Alexei, "I would rather not be disturbed in my imprisonment, thank you."

The ghost of a smirk showed on his face and he unlocked the door, "Your presence has been requested."

The frown was deep in my face and I crossed my arms, "By who?"

One of the Zetas stepped in and grabbed my arms, I almost started to protest but I thought against it and the Zeta locked my arms behind my back with chains.

"You'll find out" was all Alexei said before the Zeta pushed me forward.

We left the cells and I thought we would go through the window covered corridor but we took a hard left, into another identical corridor. I watched the back of Alexei's head, his dark hair so still as he moved and only then did I notice the fine chain around his neck. The chain was thin and feminine, I wondered if it was his mate's but how could such a person have one. A traitor to his own kind. Was the moon that forgiving?

"Who are we seeing?" my voice echoed through the corridor. There nothing on the wall, no paintings, no remembering marks and not even any windows. It was as bare as my bare feet striking the smooth dirt floor.

Alexei didn't turn around or acknowledge my question. We entered through a set of battered wooden doors and the floor turned to rough cut stone. Uneven and placed disorderly. The cracks stabbed the bottom of my feet and I struggled to not wince from the pain.

I was trying to remember everything around me. The number of steps from the cells to the doors. The number of Zetas or Etas. The colour of the dirt or the texture. The walls were a textured stone, the same throughout the whole building it seemed and it was peppered with grays and blacks.

This corridor had several windows, all flanking the right-side wall but I was too far to the left to look out of them. Only the paled turquoise of the sky was framed in the windows, no land in sight. I had no idea if we were up really high or somewhere else entirely.

"Where are we?" I asked again.

"West Stygian" the Zeta answered behind me at the same time Alexei mumbled, "It's none of your concern."

West Stygian? I didn't think anyone still used the old land names. They changed them centuries ago. Our packs used to govern large area sections named after their leaders, I didn't know what ours was but I knew Stygian came from the river Styx. A river in hell, a boundary between the underworld and the land of the living. Meaning the Alpha was infernal, hellish and extremely dark. The original Alpha died when I was a child and I had no idea who it was now.

We came to a stop halfway through another long and twisted hallway, the door was similar to the ones at Sawyer's. Chestnut and delicately carved. It looked out of place. Like it didn't belong here.

Alexei didn't step in but moved aside, gesturing for me to enter before him and I tried to ignore it but a drop of fear creeped into my veins, "What's in there?"

One of the Zetas stepped in front and opened the carved door, the remaining Zeta followed and Alexei joined me as my side. The door led us into a small room, another set of doors before us and they were made a thicker wood, larger and protective. I could hear music playing on the other side, not music but the sound of a waterfall. Loud and roaring sound of water.

My curiosity was peaked and my dark eyes met the emeralds of Alexei's, "Be honest, is there a waterfall behind these doors and are you going to throw me off it?"

I think if we were in a different setting, he would've laughed but instead he turned away and stepped forward, "Open."

I held my breath and there was no waterfall behind the carved doors. No, it was another room but this one reminded me of Sawyer's throne room and just like Sawyer's, there was a raised platform and on that platform was a throne. There was water falling on either side, disappearing into the floor as fast as it returns. Like a vertical river. The noise almost deafening.

I didn't know how I was walking with Alexei, I couldn't take my eyes of the occupant of that throne and my mind was trying to place the stranger's face but there was nothing.

The floor was the same roughly cut stone and walls the same textured stone but it was the air that smelt of violence and the metal stench of blood that caught my attention.

Our echoed steps were almost as loud as the heart thundering in my ribcage and we came to a stop before the throned stranger. His long dark hair were in tousled waves like a lion's mane and