Fated (Sequel to Timeless)

Chapter 8

The man, Beej, according to Circe, told us to hide in the now empty cell while he "took care of things". We obeyed, crouching low to the ground and watching him intently. With a wave of his hand, all the sirens stopped wailing and all the lights went out, plunging us into darkness. A deep chill settled. The hallway was deathly quiet and dark when the guards got to it.

"What happened?" one of the female guards asked uneasily.

"Dunno. Just got a call that whoever was in cell a-44 somehow got out."

I heard one of them curse. "That's Betelgeuse!"

"You've gotta be kidding me."

I could practically see their fear coming off of them in visible waves.

"Uh, everyone else can see all this, too, right?" I whispered to the group as the guards continued to lament amongst themselves.

"What?" Logan asked me in confusion.

"I mean, you guys can see, right?"

"Like see in the dark?" June asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

They all shook their heads. "Nope."

"Oh. Okay."

Apparently I had night vision. Okay. That was actually kinda cool. And practical, really.

We were all startled when Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" started blaring over the speakers of the hallway.

Circe recovered quickly and was grinning from ear to pointed ear.

The guards had all turned pale and were looking around in all different directions, trying to spot the threat. One pulled out a flashlight, but the second after she turned it on, it exploded in an array of sparks. I heard Beej laugh, his disembodied voice echoing creepily.

"That's cheating!" he taunted, giggling like a gleeful child.

"You're the devil!" the guard shouted at him, throwing her flashlight to the ground in frustration.

"Oh really? Well, I hear he's partial to things that slither..... I hope you all like snakes!"

Around the corner emerged a giant cobra, its black and white stripes glowing and actively swirling on its body. It was trippy. It opened its mouth, revealing a glowing green interior, razor sharp teeth, and a striped, forked tongue. I leaned over to Circe.

"Is that-"

"Beej? Yes."

His crazed, maniacal laughter surrounded the guards as he got closer to them. They screamed and ran, tripping over each other. He stopped by our cell, poking his head inside. His head was twice the size of my entire body. Logan and I just stared up at him in a terrified awe, mouths hanging slack.

"You guys need a lift?" he asked us, and tipped his head down so we could climb on. Once we had all done so, he morphed handles onto his back so we had something to hold onto. "Hang on! We're blowing this joint!"

The ride was bumpy and terrifying. Sofia was screaming the entire time, June and Circe were laughing and whooping, Logan nearly fell of twice and puked (thankfully not on any of us), and I was just holding on for dear life, wishing it would end.

"Here we go!" Beej said, and we all braced for impact.

He crashed through the outer wall of the prison, surprising the guards outside. They were all screaming and scurrying in every direction.

"Coming through!" Beej bellowed, letting loose another crazed laugh.

He breathed out green fire, disintegrating the fence in a second. We passed right on through. All the guards were too busy trying to put out the fire, crying, and panicking.