Amon's POV

"You need to stir it slowly, or it won't work," Alvina, one of the healers, explains to me.

I nod as I'm slowly stirring the potion in front of me. I've been learning a lot in the past few months, but there's still so much left. I'm excited about it, though. It's all very interesting and captivating and I think I'm pretty good at it by now. 

It's been about two weeks since Milo and I got back from visiting my parents, and I'm entirely focused on work again. I really enjoyed it, though, and I'm happy it all went so well.

Though Milo hasn't been doing so well recently. He hasn't really told me a lot about it, besides that he's feeling guilty about bringing me here.

But he really shouldn't. I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else. I like the life I'm living. Things are good right now. And I'm hella in love with Milo. He's the best boyfriend I could have ever wished for.

Suddenly, I hear steps, and I look up. It's Flynn, one of the prison guards.

"One of the prisoners wishes to speak to you, Amon," he says.

Oh. I look at him confused for a second. "To me? Okay." I turn to Alvina. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

She smiles. "Go ahead, I'll finish it for you, and we can work on a new one later."

I smile back. "Thank you. I won't take long."

I follow Flynn out of the room, and he leads me to the cells. Only one is filled right now, with Caspian, Arran, Clio, and August - and one other member of the Onyx Coven whose name is Ezra.

Flynn opens the door for me. "Just knock when you're done."

I nod and gulp. I'm actually a little nervous. I step inside and hear the door behind me close.

All eyes are lingering on me, and I feel uneasy.

"Hey, there, Amon."

That was Clio. She smirks at me.

"What do you want?" I pretend I'm confident. I'm a bit annoyed because this keeps me from doing my work, and the potion I was working on takes quite some practice.

"Just some company," she replies.

I throw glances at all of them. They're all chained to the wall, and they^re wearing enchanted chains around their arms which keep them from using magic.

"Get to the point," I reply harshly.

They all laugh. "So impatient and short-tempered," Caspian says.

I narrow my eyes. "You're one to talk. Now, what do you want? I have more important matters to attend."

My chest feels tight, and I just wanna get out of here again as fast as possible.

"Important matters?" Clio asks, "Pf, sure."

I don't reply right away because the feeling is getting worse. Something is off. I feel light-headed and nauseous, and the pressure in my chest keeps growing stronger.

I turn my head a little and realize that Ezra is using a spell on me. His hands are freed. Before I can react, everyone else in the room gets up, unchained as well.

I try to defend myself, but they're all using the same spell on me, and I feel how I'm slowly losing control over myself. I try to fight it, and I feel an agonizing ache in my whole body.

I feel like I'm falling, but my body isn't actually moving. Things around me get darker and darker until I can't see anything anymore.

I can still hear voices, far away. I feel my body move, and I can hear myself speak, but I can't understand what I'm saying.

I know it's me talking, but it wasn't me giving the impulse to talk.

I'm not in control of my own body.

I'm in the passenger seat. 

Milo's POV

I walk through the corridor on my way to pick up Amon for dinner. From far away, I hear strange sounds and furrow my brows. Then Philo almost bumps into me. She looks scared.

"Milo! We have a problem!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you on the way." She pulls my arm, and we rush through the corridor.

"The prisoners are on the loose. And... they got Amon."

My eyes widen. Oh no. "What?"

"I don't know what exactly happened, but we need to hurry," Philo says.

We start floating through the corridor and reach the entrance hall where the prisoners - plus Amon - are about to leave.

I see a body lying on the floor. As we get closer, I realize that it's Alvina.

She's dead.

Oh god.

I look up and see Amon about to walk out of the door.

"Amon!"

He turns around. I walk closer to him. "Amon, what's going on?"

He narrows his eyes. Then he lifts his arm and blasts an attack at me.

I wasn't expecting that, and I get thrown a few feet back and hit the floor. I stay on the ground for a few seconds, and more attacks get thrown at me.

I don't shoot back. I can't get myself to do it. 

I don't even use a protective spell. I just lie on the floor, defenseless and in pure shock.

Blood is running down my face, and I feel dizzy. Then the attacks suddenly stop, and there's a bang, followed by red smoke. Then it's quiet.

I try to push myself and get up, but I just let myself fall on the floor again and start sobbing. What the hell just happened? I feel a hand on my shoulder, but I don't react, and after a few more seconds, I feel someone picking me up.

Everything is blurry, and I'm too overwhelmed to know what's going on. Eventually, I end up in a hospital bed, and I've stopped crying. Some healers are healing my injuries, and one of them gives me a potion to drink. They help me drink it because my hands are still shaky.

"Milo."

I turn my head. Sophia and Philo are sat next to me, concerned looks on their faces.

"How are you feeling?" Sophia asks.

I just shrug and look down. "What happened?"

"We don't really know," Philo replies quietly, "Amon was called to talk to the prisoners, and the next thing we knew, they were all escaping together."

"Which one of them killed Alvina?" I ask quietly and look up again.

Philo looks at Sophia expectantly, who doesn't reply right away.

"Amon," she says weakly, "Amon did it."

I tear up, and I can feel my chest ache so badly. I can't tell if it's because I was hit with dark magic or because the man I love just killed someone I care about and then attacked me while looking me in the eye.

I just can't process what happened.

"They found this in the cell," Sophia adds quietly and reaches his hand out to me. I look at it and see that it's the brooch.

It's broken in half.

I take it and look at the butterfly. The purple is gone, and it's black now. The spell has worn off. I look at my own brooch on my jacket, and it's black as well.

I take a trembling breath, and a few tears start streaming down my face. I put the broken butterfly in my pocket.

"Milo," Philo says carefully, "we... we need to figure things out now." She pauses. "You need to decide what to do now. You're the leader."

I stare at the wall. I'm the leader, but I don't want to make a decision. I don't want to have to be in charge of what happens now.

I just want Amon back. Now.