Adrianna tried to shake the black spots out of her vision and slowly her eye site began to return. The room they were in was dark and damp but not made of stone. The ground was soft, probably earth, and the walls were the same. Adrianna struggled to her feet and ran her tied hands across the wall, trying to find some sort of door.

"You won't find anything," Adrastea's dull voice answered.

"So you're here too?"

"Sure thing."

Adrianna sank down to the ground and sighed, pulling her knees up and resting her chin on them.

"I can't believe I let myself get caught," she muttered.

"I was hunting after all. All my senses were completely alert!"

"So were mine. Honestly there was nothing either of us could do," Adrastea answered. 

"Why?"

Adrastea groaned a little and Adrianna heard her shuffle around a little.

"Well to tell you the truth we're under ground...Under a tree actually. We were swallowed by a tree," Adrastea answered bluntly.

Adrianna wanted to reply but did not exactly know how. What was there to say? They were in deep, deep trouble and could quite possibly die. That was the cold hard truth and there was not much to say about it. However, Adrianna was not completely new to the dangers of the forest and the first thing that popped into her head was the number one lesson taught to everyone in a time of crisis. Trees will never swallow anyone during the day unless instructed to.

"Why did they do it? Who told them to?" Adrianna asked quietly.

"I don't know. That's what I've been trying to figure out...Honestly it could have been anyone in the group. Someone who doesn't want Cephalus getting to the stone."

"Well that narrows it down to about every single person who has other plans."

"Actually, it does narrow it down a bit. How many people knew about our trip? Only a handful."

Adrianna nodded and stared into the black, not able to see anything but still trying. There was something haunting about being in an underground prison.

"But what about the people who knew you had the stone?" she asked, trying to think of all their possibilities.

"I don't have the stone, I only know where it is...But that doesn't help us much either. Only a few Cievo court members."

"How did you end up knowing where the stone was anyway? I was told only a few chosen people were told," Adrianna told Adrastea.

None of it made sense really. Why choose a loner in the mountains? Then again it was actually a pretty good choice. Adrastea obviously liked to be alone and lived in a cabin on top of mountain...Extremely remote and, as Adrianna started to think about it, a good choice.

"I guess I sort of stumbled upon it on accident," Adrastea answered.

"But-"

Adrianna was cut off by a sudden stream of light that shot through a crack in the ceiling and lit up the whole room...or more like the hole they were prisoners in.

"Alright, everyone out!" a familiar voice said.

The opening was now big enough for both Adrianna and Adrastea to fit through and they climbed out of hole, squinting at the afternoon sun. 

"Thank you Haliphas, that will be all," Aileen told a Talpa who standing near by.

Adrastea and Adrianna were in the company of about thirty fairies, all of which were well armed and possibly quite dangerous. 

"So you were the one, huh?" Adrastea asked, clarifying what was obvious.

"Oh its nothing personal. I just have a job to do and I take it very seriously," Aileen answered calmly.

Adrastea muttered something under her breath and Adrianna bit back a sarcastic remark. That reply really was not sufficient but she guessed that Aileen really did not care.

"Follow me," Aileen told them and a couple of soldiers hurried them along with the point of a spear.

The tall trees towered above them in thin cone like shapes giving their position away. The only place where the trees were that shape and the temperature was so nippy had to be the mountains. Not necessarily high up, but just enough for the climate to change. Both Adrianna and Adrastea made an educated guess that it was probably the west side of the mountain. Only on the west side were the forests so dense. They could not see the top of the mountain from the thick canopy of branches and most people probably would have guessed they were still on lower ground. The forest valley, just before you come to the legitimate mountain, was often mistaken for part of Rubin Soth, but in fact was about one mile out of the town's boundaries and half a mile up the mountain. The space between the forest valley and the city of ice was technically not owned by anyone but had wonderful resources for coal, making it one of the prime spots that Rubin Soth and Hielo (The city of ice) fought over. However most of the time each city just snuck in and mined some coal when the other was not paying attention, so to speak. 

"Alright, we'll stop here. I'll go tell Brice that we're coming up. In twenty minutes head up. I probably won't be back," Aileen instructed.

One of the soldier's nodded, probably the highest ranking, and Aileen shrunk to her smaller size and flew off.

"Why does she have to tell Brice?" Adrianna mused, not really thinking she would get a reply.

"The fairies are quite short sighted so if they see a bunch of us clambering up the mountain they will most likely shoot us," Adrastea answered.

Adrianna looked at the fairy soldiers and almost wanted to laugh it was so outrageous.  

"They seriously shoot anything coming up the mountain?"

"Only if its on their path." 

"Hah, remind me never to come up this way."

Of course, being the wet blanket, Adrastea simply answered with, "You may never be taking any path after this."

"Yeah, thanks for that ray of sunshine!" Adrianna said, rolling her eyes.

Adrastea twisted her head around, surprised at Adrianna's forward remark.

"Oh come on, loosen up a bit!" Adrianna told her, playfully shoving Adrastea in the shoulder.

Adrastea was not sure how to react. For once in her life just glaring at Adrianna did not seem quite right. Deciding that she did not want to answer at all Adrastea just looked in the other direction at...a tree.

Adrianna watched with wonder. How could someone be so...so tense? So depressing and angry? It did not make any sense to her. However the fact that she did not glare at her was a good sign! 

"What are we going to do for twenty minutes?" Adrianna spoke up, purely for the sake of making conversation.

"Nothing."

"Well there has to be something we can do."

"Why do you need something? We're prisoners of someone we thought we could trust and will most likely die! Why are you in such a good mood?" Adrastea lashed, frustrated by everything.

Adrianna leaned back a little against the stump of a tree and shrugged.

"What's the point of being in a bad mood? If you just think things are going to get worse they most likely will. You have to learn to think positively," she answered, refusing to take offense.

Adrastea rolled her eyes and looked back at the previous tree wishing she were back at her cabin, alone with nature and absolutely. No. People. 

"Oh my gosh! Look at that!" Adrianna exclaimed excitedly, pointing ahead of her.

Adrastea groaned and reluctantly looked to where her positive traveling mate was pointing. Way off in the distance on a regular path down the mountain were three wagons with rounded roofs and little windows. They were being pulled by heavy set horses and on the front seat was a man with brightly colored clothes and a bandanna tied around his head. A couple of kids with dark hair and olive skin, also dressed in colorful clothes, were fluttering about as they slowly made their way down the mountain. 

"Gypsies," Adrastea muttered, watching the brightly painted wagons.

After a moment they stopped and several people climbed out of the wagons with baskets and the drivers unhitched the horses while the others sat down and slowly made themselves a camp.

"Looks like they're stopping," Adrianna said idly.

"Of course they are."

Adrianna ignored Adrastea's snarky remark and continued to watch the tight knit group. Gypsies never really did anything with anyone outside of their group. Lots of people thought they were thieves, and a lot of them were, but each Gypsy wagon train was different from the other and one could never tell if they were honest or not. So the majority of people just stayed away from them. To Adrastea it seemed like the ideal life. Just to be left alone in peace. That was one thing she would give her right hand for.  

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Adrianna asked quietly, leaning over to Adrastea.

"Probably not."

"If we could somehow get over to those Gypsies and convince them to give a ride down the mountain we could probably get back to the group without Aileen finding us."

"What makes you think that?" Adrastea asked skeptically.

"Who would think of looking in a Gypsy wagon?"

"No one, because they're afraid of what they might find. Adrianna, Gypsies are notorious for being thieves and in extreme cases slave drivers, I don't think its a good idea to go asking them for a ride."

Adrianna opened her mouth to reply but quickly shut it when she saw an unfamiliar light in Adrastea's eyes.

"You're afraid aren't you?"

Adrastea abruptly straightened up and quickly said, "Excuse me? I don't get scared."

"Hah! Like I'm going to believe that. Stea, everyone gets afraid its fine. Its pretty obvious you don't want to leave this mountain. I can see it in your eyes. Either its because you want to somehow get back to your cabin, you've had bad dealings with Gypsies, or you're scared of someone down there," Adrianna answered, nodding her head towards the landscape below the mountain.

Adrastea refused to look at her and did not answer, simply fiddling with her fingers and ignoring everything. Adrianna sighed, knowing she was right, but did not pursue the matter. If there was one thing she had learned about Adrastea it was that she would never ever tell anyone anything if she did not want to. 

"Whatever it is you want to do, I want to get back to the others. If you want to come along you're more than welcome, but I won't be going along with you because you don't think something's a good idea. Sometimes people have to take drastic measures and honestly, there have been worse situations than this," Adrianna told Adrastea.

She was completely determined to find her way back to the others and really did not care what Adrastea thought about the whole situation. 

"Alright, let's get going," one of the fairies said standing up.

Everyone else followed suit and within seconds they were on their way up the mountain, heading straight for the waterfall that poured over a cliff at the end of the valley. It was no secret that behind the waterfall was a extremely gorgeous city, but very few had actually seen it for the fairies kept it well guarded. Strangers were prohibited unless they had special permission from the Queen, meaning Aileen. 

Passing through the waterfall was actually a lot harder than Adrastea and Adrianna had expected. Once they came to the curtain of water it seemed more intimidating. But, not wanting to show fear in front of each other, the both of them just marched straight on through, getting completely soaked. To their dismay the head of the fairies pulled a lever on a rock and a giant bolder shot out of the mountain face, directing the waterfall in a different direction and clearing a path for the men. 

Adrastea was visibly upset, but Adrianna was focusing more on the ingenuity of the whole situation. To her it really was quite magnificent.

They were then led up a tunnel carved in the rock and came out the other end with open mouths. The area itself was a deep cylinder with rock walls and underneath they could hear the rushing of water. The whole city was built on platforms that jutted out from random angles, staircases leading to and fro alongside each of them and in the center on a giant stone the palace stood, tall and elegant with lavishly decorated towers and rails. 

"Wow!" Adrianna exclaimed.

"I found our way out of here," Adrastea told her quietly.

"What? Where?"

Adrastea looked to see if anyone was listening than quietly whispered, "Up the long ladder and down the short rope."