The sharp, sickening feeling in Shintaro's stomach slowly eased to a swirling nausea as the darkness around them snapped away into a total change of scenery. Shintaro took a jolting step backward against the dizziness that clogged his head, separating his feet to steady himself as he blinked away the shakiness. As he raised his eyes to look around him, he felt Linda press her shoulders against his chest to catch herself. The whole group, including the several Darks that had taken them captive, was standing closely in a cleared section of forest. Looming above and in front of them was a large enclosed area, the tops of buildings peeking above the walls that surrounded the city. The walls looked old and unused, and when Shintaro turned his eyes directly in front of him, he saw rusted metal gates sealing off the city. Two Darks were standing a few yards across from each other, each eyeing the group with a lazy suspicion. 

Shintaro heard Amy scoff with amused confusion and turned to see her tipping her head back to stare up at the buildings and walls. "Did you take us back in time or something?" she retorted, the tips of her mouth turning up slightly at her own joke. "This whole place looks a million years old." 

The woman who had been standing in front of Shintaro lowered her hands and turned away from Shintaro with a bored look, as if she hadn't said those confusing yet sensible words to Shintaro a moment ago. Her brown eyes slid over to Amy, and a faint smile touched her lips. "It isn't a million years old," she said with a hint of amusement hidden in her voice. "But I have heard that this site was used in history by a civilization that vanished years ago." Offering no further explanation, the woman strode nonchalantly toward the two Dark guards. 

Shintaro's mind was still reeling in shock and confusion. Who was this woman, and did she really want Brethren banished back to the Abyss again? Was she simply trying to intimidate Shintaro? Why would she call Brethren stupid if she didn't hate him? Why did she hate him if she was a Dark - a highly ranked one, no less - and working for him? 

Was she really trying to help them when she'd given them all those precautions? Shintaro figured that any normal Dark wouldn't have cared, because they knew that Brethren wouldn't kill the ones that he didn't want to. 

Who was she? 

Why was she oddly familiar? There was something about her that reminded Shintaro of something, but it was too far in the back of his head for him to dig it out. He knew that he recognized her from somewhere, but he couldn't pinpoint from where. 

Had they met before? Had he met someone she was related to? Did she know Shintaro? Why had she called him Shin, a common nickname that he'd been given by his friends? 

Shintaro took a breath and forced himself to focus on what he did know - she was helping them. Though he wouldn't trust her completely nor immediately, there was no doubt that she was trying to help them. 

He wasn't sure if she'd heard that they had planned to go straight to Brethren, but it seemed like she knew what Shintaro was going to do. If she hadn't known that they were going to walk right into Brethren's clutches, would she have let them all go? 

Linda's head tilted back against his chest, and he realized that her uninjured eye was open. It was narrowed in pain, but she continued to take in the sight around her as if nothing was wrong. Even though she was able to see her surroundings, she remained pressed close against Shintaro - and he wasn't really sure how his emotions decided to handle that. 

A loud, metal creaking split through the silence, and Shintaro realized that the two Dark guards were pulling open the tall gates. The dark haired woman was facing the group again, her face void of emotion as she gestured to the opening gates. 

On the other side, vast buildings rose above the walls, empty streets were lined with old shops and abandoned houses, and in the center of it all was the tallest building in the city. It loomed high above the walls, with cracked windows and even a few balconies overlooking the buildings and streets below it. 

That was where Brethren was. 

Shintaro couldn't fight back the twist of panic and anxiety that flipped through his stomach, and he found himself wrapping his arm around Linda's shoulders tightly. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind - or she was simply too focused on the scene before her. 

"Get moving," a Dark snapped at them, and Shintaro glanced toward the voice. Blake was standing a good distance away from the group with his arms crossed over his chest, looking impatiently annoyed with each of them. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Shintaro saw Ruby cast a concerned glance at Zeke, who looked exhausted and shaky even as he stood straight with a frown. His eyes were trained directly ahead as if he didn't bother to look around him. Shintaro had never gotten a concussion before, but he knew that they were awful to experience. 

The Darks around them started pressing forward, forcing everyone else to start walking toward the open gates. Shintaro kept his arm firmly wrapped around Linda's shoulders, keeping her steady as they walked together. Abby was on Shintaro's other side, her hands clasped nervously in front of her as her blue eyes swept up along the stone walls the surrounded the huge city. Gabriel was right behind her, favoring his injured leg with a frown. Amy was in front of all of them, her head tilting in turning as she assessed everything around her. Ruby and Moon were near Zeke, who was walking stiffly with a regretful frown. 

Shintaro's eyes caught on Ozai, who was walking on Shintaro's left. He seemed closer to Shintaro than he'd been a few moments ago, but Shintaro tried not to pay much attention to that. Ozai's red eyes were filled with a terror that looked on the bridge of loathing. His shoulders were shaking as he walked, but he wasn't turning around or trying to escape. He was accepting the fate that he'd been caught in - though Shintaro hadn't wanted to drag him in. 

After the group passed through the gates, Shintaro heard the squealing of the metal hinges closing. There was no doubt that this place was encased with magic, which meant that they were locked in. 

There was no turning back now. 

The Darks closed in around them as the large party walked through the narrow streets. The Darks looked pleased with themselves as they sauntered toward the large, well-built building. Only Blake seemed to be in a bad mood, but Shintaro didn't particularly care for that. 

He just wanted to find out more about that dark haired woman. 

How long had she been working for the Darks? Was she even working for them in the first place? Was she simply a double-agent? If so, who in the world was she working for? Was there a secret society that fought against the Darks discreetly? Why hadn't Shintaro known, if there was one? If there even was a rebellious group, where were they and why hadn't they contacted Shintaro? How long had they been working against the Darks? 

Shintaro knew that he was probably jumping to wild conclusions, but he couldn't help wondering. 

Did the woman know Shintaro? What was her name? Had they met before? If they had, why didn't Shintaro remember it? Why did she seem familiar? If he had only seen her face before, how had she known his name? Did she know more about Shintaro than she led on? Were there rumors being spread about him? 

Shintaro nearly jumped out of his skin when Linda's hand suddenly closed around his forearm, her fingers clutching him as if she never wanted to let go again. Shintaro tilted his head down at her, then realized that she was holding him simply because they were nearing the building. 

She was scared. 

Frowning protectively, Shintaro lifted his other arm and slid it around his other one, hoping that she got the message: I won't let anything happen to you. Shintaro hoped with all his heart that he could keep that promise. He would do anything to keep that promise for every one of his friends. 

The thin woman ahead of them paused in front of the large, closed door of the huge building, forcing everyone else to stop as well. She turned around with her back to the door, and her eyes traveled along Shintaro and his friends. Something like an encouraging smile crawled onto her face, though it was almost indistinguishable. "Remember what I told you all." 

With that, she turned and opened the door. Although the building was old, the hinges didn't make a creaking sound and opened smoothly. She walked in first, her black hair swinging carelessly behind her. The few Darks that had been behind her sauntered into the building, followed by Amy and the others. 

The building looked even older on the inside, but it had obviously been touched up by the Darks on their arrival. The walls were bare and a plain white, but it was easy to tell that there were supposed to be paintings there. To the right of the group was a closed door, and it looked like it hadn't been opened in years. Directly in front of them were the start of a flight of stairs. 

Almost immediately, the woman began walking up the stairs. Everyone else followed, though Gabriel and Zeke shared the same disappointed, exhausted look. Abby noticed and moved closer to him, offering without words to let him lean on her. Shintaro saw Ruby do the same to Zeke, who threw her a frown that looked more confused than annoyed. 

Moon screwed up her face as she began walking up the stairs. "Elevators are much better," she muttered huffily. 

"This building is possibly thousands of years old," the woman ahead of them called over her shoulder. "The people that lived here didn't have elevators then, which means that you're going to have to deal with stairs for a while." 

Shintaro couldn't help but note that she'd added "for a while". 

She really was depending on Shintaro to get rid of his father, wasn't she? 

Ten minutes later (which felt like three hours for Shintaro), the woman ahead of them twisted to the right, out of the doorway of the stairs. Shintaro held back a sigh of relief and turned with her, pulling Linda with him. He could feel her shoulders shaking with either exhaustion, fear, or pain (it was possible that it was all three.), and he didn't lower his arms away from her. 

He was glad she didn't care. For some reason, Shintaro didn't want to let go. 

Falte, who had been ahead of Shintaro, slowed down as they walked into a large hallway that seemed to stretch on forever and was lined with closed doors. Falte's right hand pressed against his lower back and his shoulders heaved as he breathed deeply. 

"Are you alright?" Shintaro asked worriedly as he and Linda caught up with Falte, who gave them a curious, exhausted blink at their position. Shintaro decided not to frown at the look. 

"I'm fine," Falte said between breaths. "I just need to catch my breath. That was a lot of stairs." 

"It's not much farther," the woman suddenly said over her shoulder, her voice bordering on reassurance and concern. Shintaro caught a flash of her brown eyes as she cast a short glance behind her shoulder at Falte. "If you need a moment, we can stop." 

Instead of waiting for Falte to reply, the woman slowly halted, and the rest of the Darks did the same - although they cast skeptical glances at the woman. The woman hardened her gaze toward the Darks, and they all looked away unquestioningly. 

Silence fell over all of them. 

And then Shintaro heard it. 

A young, male voice coming from somewhere ahead of them. The speaker was shouting angrily, but his words were muffled by the walls of the building. Whoever was being yelled at either wasn't replying or wasn't speaking loud enough, because Shintaro could only hear the shouting voice. 

Fear and hope skittering through Shintaro's heart, he craned his neck to listen. 

"YOU LIAR!" the voice shouted in fury, and it was followed by a loud slam. "You made a deal! You promised, you liar!!" 

And then, a few rooms ahead of them, one of the closed doors flew open abruptly. 

And Kai stormed out.

~

HE'S FREAKING FINALLY HERE!!! I DON'T HAVE TO REMIND MYSELF "HEY HE'S NOT HERE YOU DOLT" ANYMORE!!! I CAN FREAKING LOVE ON MY CHILD!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

I CAN'T WAIT TO FINISH THIS BOOK.

IT'S ALMOST DONE, YOU GUYS.

A

L

R

E

A

D

Y

!!!!

I STARTED THIS BOOK NOT EVEN A MONTH AGO (I think)!!

It may be shorter than Alone and Escape, but it will end WELL. 

THANK YOU FOR READING.

P3ac3!!!~~