Killing (And Other Games)

(Seventeen)

(Seventeen)

Whether visiting a wizard is an occasion for dressing up is what I stress over in the morning. Do I wear something cute and summery or do I wear something that'll make me look like I'm there for business? I'm tossing up between high waisted jeans and a t-shirt or a flowery dress when I hear Zane walk up the stairs, knocking on my door.

"Immy, are you ready?"

I pull on the jeans and shirt option and open the door to face Zane. He gives me a bright smile, my heart racing. For some reason I had the idea that he'd forget about last night and deny it, I thought it was too good to be true or that I'd stuffed it up by freaking out, but the look on his face says otherwise.

I follow him downstairs to the living room where Charlie and Danika are waiting, the two of them sitting close together looking very intimate. They spring apart when they see us and I can't help but wonder why they're trying to keep whatever is going on between them a secret.

"You know how to get there, right Charlie?" Zane asks. Charlie looks bored, his head supported by his hand, and shrugs unenthusiastically.

"Sure."

"Do you have the payment?"

Again, he shrugs. "Sure."

"What's wrong with him?" Zane asks Danika. She rolls her eyes and purses her lips.

"Charlie doesn't agree with any of this."

"Charlie thinks this is the waste of his time," Charlie snaps, glaring at me. "Charlie thinks Charlie can do all of this by himself." I hate it when people talk about themselves in the third person. Especially when they're giving me death glares at the same time.

Zane folds his arms over his chest and gives him a patronising look. "What happens when you stumble upon another shape shifter or some powerful mage realises that the guide girl questioning him is actually the host of Hand to Hand?"

Charlie doesn't have anything to say to that, he just continues to sneer at me. I shift uncomfortably in my spot.

"Off you go. Be nice. I'll know," Zane warns like a mother as he grabs Charlie's arm and drags him off the couch. "And please don't get into any fights."

"I'm not promising anything," Charlies hisses as he storms towards the backdoor. Who would've thought someone grumpier then Ryker could be living under the same roof? At least Ryker listens to Zane.

Before we go through the trap door, Charlie shape shifts. Going from a relatively normal looking guy, he changes into a pale skinned man with fully red eyes and dry, scabby skin. Under his blue-white lips I can see each sharp, red stained tooth arranged like a picket fence. His hair is short and cut raggedly, with some parts longer than the other and some part nearly bald. He's taller now then his actual self, and gaunter, and overall he has a terrifyingly dead look to him.

"What are you?" I ask but he doesn't answer, just stiffly bends down and opens the door. He goes down into the darkness without hesitating, not even looking back to see if I follow. Fear floods through me. That thing that he is seems to have no human qualities at all. I wonder how much of him shifts into the creature-is his mind affected? Would his mind even need to be altered for him to hurt me? I doubt it.

Carefully, I follow him down into the depths of the Melbourne Underworld. I don't see him until I reach the door of light and come out into the completely empty stadium. He watches me with frighteningly intense eyes and motions for me to follow him. We nearly do a full circle of the stadium-I have to roll my eyes at the back of his head for not going the other way-until we find an archway into another passage. I've never seen this before and I wonder if it was always here. Things seem to pop up randomly in this place.