Blood Rose

30

***UPDATING TOMORROW CAUSE I'VE BEEN A BITCH

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A crunch between the leafy ground and my foot was the only noise that passed alongside Striker and me, but it didn't seem my silence could bother him at this point. He must've understood that I wasn't able to take small talk just to be friendly and uplifting.

Or maybe he was at a loss for words as well.

Either way, I only had one thing on my mind. And that was quite obvious.

I could see the small hill the tunnels had been planted in ahead, so I quickened my pace to a small jog that Striker had to catch up to until I was stood still right in front of nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"It isn't here." I mumbled once Striker stood behind me. I could feel my hope shattering and my heart falling at the feeling of near defeat. I was supposed to take over and settle this for Fox, and yet I couldn't even manage that?

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Luna." His attempted words of encouragement fell on deaf ears. "You can't let this get to your head. We'll find more evidence-" I held up my hand sharply and he silenced immediately, my ears perking to an odd sound.

"Stop!" A female's voice yelled from a distance. "Don't touch me! Let me go!" Our heads whipped around and I could feel my heart pound at the sound of that accent. Neither of us had to wait for the other before we ran in the same direction our ears led us to.

"Where's my mate? Grayson!" The voice screamed, pushing my feet harder.

And then we were right on top of the voice, as if I could hear her voice right in my ear.

We stood and looked everywhere, our heads turning every which way until I was sure I had whiplash.

"Who are you?!" She screamed, and I finally yelled back.

"Mom!" As my voice echoed throughout the forest I could feel the hairs on my arms stand straight, each repetition of my yell creating an eerie and odd silence among the wildlife.

I looked over to Striker with wide and confused eyes, his perplexed face already saying it all. And before either of us could mutter a thought to the other the ground beneath us shook and concaved, like trap doors had just opened and our bodies were in the air for the end to catch.

I felt the hard impact through my whole body, a yelp escaping my lips. The air was knocked out of me for a few minutes, and when I was able to breathe steadily again I sat up and looked around.

Striker laid a few feet from me unconscious, his eyes shut softly with a steady breath and a peaceful look on his face. I began to feel a slight panic in my chest now that I was alone to deal with whatever trap the fae set up for us, but I passed the feeling and focused on my determination.

I pushed myself off from the concrete ground and praised luck that none of my bones were sprained or broken.

I looked around at dimly lit room, my eyes landing on the one corner that was dark. I took a deep breath before looking back at Striker and finally moving slowly towards the suspicious corner. It was when I was consumed by the darkness of it that I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I reached out to what I couldn't see, finding that there was no wall. My eyebrows fell into a frown and I stepped forward, the wall never hitting my palm. I looked back, noticing that this was no longer the room and instead a hallway that didn't allow me to see.

I put both of my hands to the walls of the hall, my foot leading the way in case there was another trap. Instead, there was a new room to my right looking identical to the one I had just come from. And I mean it was the same room.