Chapter 16

The next time we woke, we got back to work immediately. An unspoken renewed sense of urgency flowed through all of us, and I did my best to keep Finn and Eldrin"s energy levels up as much as I could.

The process was painstaking, hours slipping by as they methodically chipped away at the earth. I zapped them periodically, the energy boosts helping them to make progress a little faster. And then, with a final, concerted effort, the wall crumbled away, revealing solid wall.

We had reached the prison.

"It"s iron," Finn grinned wide at us, looking only the slightest bit unhinged.

"Yay?" I offered.

"I didn"t bring Eldrin just because he"s pretty," Finn told us as the man in question laid his hands against the cold metal, his eyes already closed in concentration. "He has the best metal magic in his royal line." Eldrin"s cheeks pinked slightly, but he kept working, the wall beginning to bend and shake as he pressed his palms flush against it.

"Ready?" Eldrin asked as we stood on the other side of the wall, the tension in the small passageway dense. He and Finn stood, ready and waiting to use their combined powers to break down the wall.

"Hurry up," Nia growled, her body already in a fighting stance.

Finn nodded in agreement. "Be on high alert. We"re going to have to fight our way through." I pulled the new dagger out of the hip holster Nia had equipped me with, the weight familiar in my hand. With my other hand, I called my magic, making sure my lighting was just under the surface waiting for my order.

Within seconds, the iron was warping and bending, straining under Eldrin"s pressure. Then with a deafening roar, he broke through, chunks of iron breaking free, cascading to the ground in a shower of sparks and debris. Dust filled the air, making us cough, but Finn summoned his air, swirling the dust away on a cloud of wind.

I"d expected alarms to blare, things to explode, but instead, all we were met with as we stepped through the hole was silence. The prison corridor stretched out before us like a foreboding maze, illuminated by flickering torches mounted along the walls. Their dancing flames cast long shadows, flickering and swaying with the movement of the air, eliciting an eerie feeling that sent chills down our spines.

We moved forward, our steps echoing off the walls, reverberating through the empty passageway like a ghostly whisper. As we reached the end of the hall, a heavy wooden door stood before us.

"We should be heading the right way," Oliver said in a hushed whisper.

The wall we had knocked down had certainly made a lot of noise, yet no one had come running. I smelled a trap. Flames flared to life in Oliver"s hands and I knew he was thinking the same thing. The weight of the ring stayed flush against my chest. I had debated putting it on, but I didn"t want to get sucked into its orbit if it wasn"t absolutely necessary. Having that much power was the most addicting type of high.

With each step we took, shadows seemed to close in around us, spurring us forward. As we reached the end of the corridor, we arrived at the door, its surface marred from age. Without a word, Finn reached out, his fingers curling around the handle, giving it a tentative twist.

With a creak of protest, the door swung open, revealing a large room beyond. Torchlight spilled into the room, illuminating the rows of empty cells that lined the walls, iron bars gleaming dully in the dim light.

My heart sank as I surveyed the desolate scene before us, a sense of despair washing over me like a tidal wave. Where was everyone? Where was Lily?

"There," Nia"s voice cut through the silence, her voice barely above a whisper. "She"s over there, I can feel it."

We moved toward the corner of the room, doing our best to keep our footsteps quiet as we hurried. And there, huddled in the farthest cell, was Lily, her eyes wide with disbelief as she struggled to stand up. The room was empty aside from the cells, no guards or cunty mothers in sight.

For a moment, Nia just stood there, her eyes locked with Lily in silent communication. Their chests glowed brightly as they neared, but a bond didn"t flare to life yet.

"We"ll have you out of there in no time," Eldrin said, moving forward to begin working on the metal iron bars.

Lily gripped the nearest bar to us, tears welling. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "I knew you"d come for me."

"Where are your guards?" Callan interrupted, darting glances around the room.

"You said there were ten of them?" Nia added, and Lily stared, realizing her dreams with Nia had not been dreams at all. "T-They left, a few minutes ago. Right after a loud explosion. That wasn't you?"

Suspicion burned as we looked around at each other blankly, but we still couldn"t waste this time. Eldrin was already making quick work of the bars, molding them to make a gap wide enough for Lily to fit through. Just a few more seconds and she would be with us. If they wanted to jump us, then they could, but at least Lily would be with us.

As we moved to pull her out of the gap that was now wide enough, my eyes caught sight of another figure, huddled in the cell beside Lily"s. A man, his face mostly obscured in shadows, almost undetectable in the chaos of the moment.

"Who"s that?" I asked, my voice trembling with uncertainty. Still, I stepped forward, peering into the darkness, my heart pounding in my chest as I struggled to make out the figure before us. Then, the torchlight flickered, casting eerie shadows across his face, and I saw him clearly for the first time. Our eyes met at the same exact moment, brown eyes echoing back at me. I had thought I looked like Queen Tantaii with her blonde hair and brown eyes, but I realized now my face had taken inspiration from this man. His thin nose, rounded face. The way the left side of his mouth was slightly higher than the right.

"Olette," he whispered with an astonished look. "You"re Olette, right?" He pushed up to the bars as quickly as his broken body could. He and Lily wore matching cuts, burns, and bruises. From experience, it was the cells that were keeping their shifter abilities from healing.

"I go by Rowan now," I finally said.

Engar"s eyes widened in disbelief, his gaze flickering between me and Lily as comprehension dawned on his face. "Rowan," he repeated, a small smile splitting across his weathered face. "Like me."

I nodded, my throat tight with emotion as I struggled to process. My father, alive and imprisoned for centuries.

Questions flooded my mind, but I held my tongue. We had been in here much too long already. There would be time for questions later if we could get out of here alive.

Finn stepped forward, his expression grim as he surveyed the cell. "Hang tight, we"ll get you too." Eldrin stepped up, already working on the bars. He bent and twisted the metal until it yielded, creating a gap wide enough for Engar to squeeze through.

As he emerged from the cell, his movements hunched and stilting, I felt my emotions stir. Callan reached out, squeezing my hand for comfort and I tightly gripped back before letting go. "Portal, now," Callan ordered in a warning tone, motioning for Oliver to get one open. He raised his hands, then grunted.

"What"s taking so long?" Finn hissed, and we all tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps from another door at the end of the room.

"My magic isn"t working," Oliver said. "Rowan, you try." I held my hands up in front of me, taken aback when my magic didn"t respond to me. Not just the portal magic, but the lightning too.

"They must have turned it off," Engar said, his voice rough and hoarse.

"Turned it off?" I asked incredulously. I knew there would be defenses, but taking my magic away hadn't occurred to me as one of them. He nodded. "I"ve seen it before. They can toggle the ability to use magic in here like a switch. They always turn it off when they bring new prisoners. Once they"re in their cell, they can turn it back on."

"Shit," Oliver exclaimed, shocking me with his use of mortal realm curses. "I didn"t know that. Fucking enchantments. We need to get back to the hallway, quick, go!"

Just as we turned, the second door at the end of the room slammed open.

We were too late.