By the time we made it to Roran's other hideout I was practically dead on my feet. We had been lucky not to run across any other monsters, or perhaps they were just avoiding him after he slaughtered untold numbers of goblins. Either way it was a good thing, because as exhausted as I was he would have had to do all the fighting.

"Okay, so it's just a little bit farther," Roran said, lifting the torch he had made and pointing in front of us.

I blinked, wondering if I had fallen asleep standing up or if he had gone crazy. "Roran....uhm that's a wall," I began, staring at the stone in front of us and wondering if I was missing something. "I don't know about you but I've yet to acquire the ability to walk through solid objects."

He smiled at me and pointed straight up. "It's up there, Thea."

I squinted into the darkness and turned my head toward the direction he was pointing.

"And how are we getting up there? I'm assuming there's a ladder or something?" I asked, feeling stupid when he laughed at me.

"We get up there like this," he said, scaling the wall like an expert mountain climber.

Now it was my turn to laugh. "What, in the short time that you've known me, has led you to believe I'm capable of something like that?"

"Oh, come on. It's easy," he coaxed. "It's only around twenty feet."

"Oh really? Only twenty feet?" I quipped sarcastically. "Well, why didn't you say so? I'll just hop right up there."

He rolled his eyes and hung from the wall with one hand. I glared at him. Show-off.

"You don't really have a choice. It's the only way to get there, Thea."

I had to fight really hard not to stomp my feet and whine like a three year old. I was tired. And incredibly uncoordinated. There was a really, really high probability that I would fall to my death.

"Fine," I eventually grated out through clenched teeth. "But if I fall and die I will find a way to come back and haunt you for the rest of eternity. I swear."

He merely smirked at my threat and turned around to continue climbing. I made faces at his back in an attempt to make myself feel better.

"I know it's hard for you to see in the dark, so place your hands and feet where I do," he called down to me.

Taking a deep breath, I did as he instructed and heaved myself up the wall behind him. As soon as my feet were off the ground my heart began to race. Heights were not my thing. In fact it was near the top of the 'things I'm most afraid of' list. The list was pretty long – and by pretty long I mean infinite.

It took about ten minutes to climb the wall, and although it was ten minutes of mind-numbing terror, I fared better than I had originally thought.

"See?" Roran praised as I finally dragged myself over the ledge of the cave. "You did fine."

The only response he got was another glare from my direction. I laid on my back panting, wishing more than ever that I had never left the safety of my apartment.

'But then you would have never met Roran,' a little voice inside me whispered.

A fair point. I also would have never known I was capable of fighting a werewolf or climbing a rock wall, which were both pretty impressive feats for me. Not to mention, I hadn't had an asthma attack since I turned human again. I mentally gave myself a high-five and dragged myself off the ground.

As I looked around I wondered why Roran had ever left this place. It was pretty nice. Several hammocks hung from stalagmites around the room similar to the one he had in his previous hideout, but unlike his previous hideout, this one was also furnished with several chairs and a fire pit. There were also blankets and extra clothes on a shelf in the corner.

Roran had taken a seat in one of the chairs and I sat opposite him.

"So what now?" I asked. "I mean since I'm human again does that mean I can go home?"

He shifted in his seat and frowned. "I wish I could tell you yes, but I don't think Moroi will see it that way. Most likely he will try to find a way to use this to his advantage – or feed off you."

I cringed at the thought and sighed. "I'm never going to get out of here, am I?"

"I'm not going to lie," Roran replied. "It isn't going to be easy. But if anyone deserves to get out of here it's you, Thea. I'll do my best to help you find a way."

I managed a small smile. "Thanks. I know I haven't said it, but I really appreciate you helping me. I probably would have been monster chow without you."

Something I said caused him to scowl and look away from me. When he refused to meet my eyes I huffed and asked, "What is it now?"

He ran a hand over his scalp and said, "I'm not sure how I'm going to keep you alive down here now that you're human. There's nothing for you to eat – unless you want to try cannibalism."

"Wait, so you don't eat?" I asked, beginning to panic.

Roran shook his head. "I'm a phoenix, so there are very few things that will kill me. Starvation isn't one of them. I can go forever without eating if it's necessary."

"Not to mention you're technically dead, right?"

When he didn't answer I looked up and found him staring off into the dark once again. "Right?"

He turned back to look at me, but was silent for a long time. From the look on his face it seemed like he was trying to decide what to say.

"I've only ever told one other person about how I came to be here," he said quietly. "I'm trusting you to keep this a secret, Thea. The things I tell you can't leave this cave, do you understand?"

With wide eyes I nodded at him, wondering how it was possible for him to be here if he hadn't died.

Roran took a deep breath and rested his arms on his knees. After a few minutes of gathering his thoughts he began, "As I've told you before, it's nearly impossible to kill a phoenix. We heal so quickly that any wounds inflicted on us are rarely fatal and we don't contract illnesses or age.

"Our abilities were envied among men and monsters when I was still walking on earth. Many sought us out to try and become like us, but were sorely disappointed to find out we were born this way. Their petty jealousy quickly turned to rage and they began trying to kill us."

He paused for a long moment, and I worried he wasn't going to finish the story. But just as I was about to give up hope, he continued, only this time his voice was hard, cold.

"When they refused to stop hunting us we decided to live in isolation to try and avoid confrontations with them altogether. It didn't work. In fact, it just seemed to make them more persistent.

"Eventually it was one of my own kind who gave up the secret. My brother, Rhys, actually. He had fallen in love with a girl – a human girl. It turned out that she was a witch who tricked him into giving up our secret. After that it wasn't long before phoenixes were nearly extinct. Who knows? I may be the only one left."

He laughed cynically and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm trying so hard to get back to earth. It's not like there is anyone or anything up there left for me."

I scowled at him. "What am I, chopped liver? Were you planning to just ditch me as soon as we get topside?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face and he shook his head. "Sorry, got kind of lost in my head for a minute. Of course I'm not going to ditch you if you want me to hang around. It could be dangerous for you though if people find out what I am."

"Trust me, no one will ever suspect you're a phoenix. Besides, it can't be any more dangerous than what we've faced down here," I argued.

"Good point," he conceded. "But anyway, to finish up my story I need to tell you what happened to me in Britannia – or uhm...I think it's called Great Britain now."

"Yes, it is," I agreed. "What time period are you talking about? Is this Roman occupied Britain? Or sometime later?"

He nodded and replied, "Yes. Roman occupied Britain. The year was...I think, 495. Maybe 496. Arthur had just won a battle at Badon."

"Are you talking about King Arthur?" I asked, incredulous.

When he nodded and shrugged, I cried, "You're kidding me! This is awesome! What was he like?"

"Surprisingly understanding and considerate," Roran replied. "When I came to Britain trying to find my brother and bring him home, Arthur offered me a place at his table."

"The Round Table?" I shrieked. "You were a freaking Knight of the Round Table?"

He laughed and nodded. "For a time. Arthur was smart. He had me take on another name and had me wear a visor to cover my eyes from all but him and the other knights. Most of them were eager to help me hunt down the witch who had betrayed my brother. They had been having their own problems with Morgana, apparently."

"Morgana? The witch your brother fell in love with was Morgana?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Roran said with a scowl. "And it was the death of him. When I finally found her, my brother was long dead and she had been expecting me. From what I gathered from her senseless rants she was trying to find a way to steal phoenix abilities for herself, but that isn't possible."

"So you can't give your powers to others like vampires do with bites? How are phoenixes created then?" I asked.

Roran grinned wickedly and replied, "The old-fashioned way. Phoenixes are born, not made."

I blushed at the way he was looking at me, but continued, "So phoenixes are just basically super humans? You procreate like humans, and look like humans, but you have super powers?"

He nodded. "Basically. And from what I've learned here, lycans and shapeshifters are the same"

"But not goblins?"

Shrugging, he shook his head. "No one really knows much about the goblins. They are a tight-knit bunch and are good at hiding what they are. I think they are some sort of hybrid though."

"Hybrid of what?"

"Who knows," he replied, but I could tell he was keeping something from me by the way he looked away.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, "going back to my story: Morgana knew enough about phoenixes to keep me prisoner in Avalon for a long time - a very, very long time. She spent years trying to find a spell that would steal my powers and give them to her, but never succeeded. The wizard Merlin eventually found out where she was keeping me and tried to free me with a spell he created. In the end, all his spell managed to do was send us here. And that is how I came to be in purgatory."

I think I stared at him for five minutes in shock and awe before my brain finally started working again.

"But, wait, that can't be right," I argued rubbing my temples and trying to do the math. "You told me you had been here for 500 years, but Merlin and Morgana supposedly lived during the 500s. If you were sent here before they died that would mean you had been here around 1500 years."

Roran frowned. "I was locked in Avalon with Morgana for a long time," was all he said in reply.

"Morgana kept you in Avalon for over 1000 years? But wouldn't she have died by then?"

"No," Roran grunted angrily. "She was a witch. She knew spells that allowed her to keep her youth."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," I began, putting the pieces of the story together. "You were somehow transported to purgatory by a spell created by Merlin?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

Roran looked away from me. "He was killed by Moroi when he attempted to find a way out of here that didn't require making deals."

I felt bad for bringing it up. He and Merlin were obviously close friends. "Oh," I replied lamely. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," he replied. "He was a good man."

"So I'm guessing he didn't find anything, then?"

"Nothing that made any sense to me," he said. "And everything that he wrote down has been ruined due to time."

"Right," I responded. "Well, there has to be a way out. Moroi knows it and we just have to figure it out too."

Roran stared at me for a long time, his eyes sad. I knew he was probably already counting me as another one of the friends he would lose to the depths of purgatory, but I wasn't giving up just yet. I had about seven days before I died of starvation and I was going to do my best to find a way out before then.

"So do you have any ideas why I'm suddenly human again?" I said, changing the subject to try and get him out of his bad mood.

He leaned the chair back on two legs and stared at the ceiling.

"I have several theories, but I can't be sure of any of them since you can't remember what happened to bring you here," he replied before going silent again.

Huffing in aggravation at his long pauses, I prompted, "Well? Do you want to share them with the rest of the class?"

He leaned forward again, and the chair legs banged against the ground loudly. I winced and turned toward the cave opening expecting to see creatures pouring in by the dozen.

"Don't worry, even if they could hear us up here they don't know the way up," he reassured me. I wasn't convinced.

"But to answer your question, I think it has something to do with how you were killed."

"What does that mean?" I asked, not following his train of thought.

"I'm not sure you were entirely turned when the hunter staked you in the back. I think maybe your body was still transitioning and my blood must have helped fight off the vampiric infection," he explained.

"Wow, so that means you've saved my life like three times now," I said, feeling really lucky he stumbled across me in the crypts.

Roran shook his head, giving me a sheepish grin. His cheeks also looked slightly flushed but it could have been the light. "We don't know that's exactly what happened, Thea. It's just a theory."

I didn't care if it was just a theory. I was human again thanks to him, and it didn't really matter how it happened. Once I found the way out of purgatory I could go back to living my life without being a creature of the night who drank blood. Everything could be exactly as it had been.

'But is that what you really want?' a little voice whispered as I looked over to Roran.