Severance (Book 1: Rise Of Chaos)

Chapter 9

The four walked back to the ruins of the pet shop with defeated looks on their faces. Mia saw that the remnants of the store also showed several animals that had managed to escape. As she kept walking, she heard a loud meowing noise from the alley. Looking down it, she saw a black cat with one eye staring back at her. The cat meowed again, and then walked past the alley, out of sight.

Mia kept walking, but then heard the same meow again, but this time, much closer. Looking down at her feet, she saw the cat was now rubbing against her legs and looking up at her, purring slightly. Looking bemused, Mia reached down and picked up the cat, seeing it was the same one. "Hey there, sweetie. Lost your home, huh?" Looking at the three others ahead of her, Mia stuffed the cat in the front of her hoodie, zipping it up, hoping it would be quiet.

Making her way down the steps of the abandoned subway station, Mia tried not to think about the deafening silence that Ridley was casting upon the group. She couldn't help but think that she was responsible for all of this. Just another thing in her life that she screwed up, only this time she had managed to let out a fire-breathing monster. Sighing to herself, she jumped down onto the tracks.

Ridley gestured to the tunnel that hid the door to the Junction, and walked right through it, disappearing into thin air. Ren, Trisha, and Mia soon followed. As they walked down the steps of the entrance into the Junction, Mia felt Trisha move up next to her. "Hey, um...you alright?" She whispered, looking at Mia a bit worriedly. Frowning, Mia nodded. "Yeah, I guess. All of this is just so weird."

Nodding, Trisha hugged her arms slightly as they walked. "Was that your first time seeing a dragon?" Mia scoffed a little bit, and looked at her. "Yeah, I don't usually make seeing those things a priority." Trisha smiled a bit, then looked down with a serious glance. "It was my first time too...I almost froze up. I didn't know what to do." Mia looked at her, then tentatively put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, at least you did more than I did."

Looking up, Trisha shrugged. "That's only cause Ren helps me. He's been my best friend ever since we were kids." Mia blinked, surprised. "You two grew up here?" Trisha nodded and walked down the corridor behind the two boys. "Yeah...been here all my life. Ethleir says that my parents put me here because they thought it could give me a better chance to live. They were poor, but aware of the magical world, and thought Proctors could give me protection."

Mia felt a familiar pain in her heart when she mentioned that she had been given away by her parents. "I guess...they wanted what was best for you..." She said silently, then noticed that Ridley and Ren had stopped in front of Ethleir's room. Ridley raised his hand to knock, then the door opened, Ethleir standing in it, seeing the four of them. "Ah yes...I was wondering when you would get back. Come in, we have much to discuss."

They all sat around the table as Ethleir listened to their story, and he eventually nodded and hummed slightly as he took it all in, putting his hands in his lap. "If Redwing possesses a dragon, then things are much worse than we thought." Mia bit her bottom lip, then spoke up. "Master Ethleir...I think it was my fault that the dragon got loose. I rushed in when Ridley told me not to...I lost control again. I'm sorry." She looked down, ashamed of herself.

The others, especially Ridley, stared at her surprised, but Ethleir simply shook his head, smiling as he put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. "You have nothing to be sorry for, my dear. Your powers are still growing, you should be proud that you barely have as much control as you do. That egg would have hatched either way. Blaming yourself for things out of your control is a bad way to go through life." Mia nodded, hesitantly accepting it.