A COURT OF SHIFTERS AND SECRETS

F I F T Y - T H R E E

NIX

"Nix, wake up" Small hands tapped my face as a familiar voice filled my ears "Phoenix James...please wake up. I need you to wake up." 

My small whimper at the end of my sister's sentence managed to clear the fog that was currently clouding my brain. 

"Sphinx?" My croak turned into a hiss as a slice of pain pierced through the skin of my neck for some unknown reason "What...what the hell are you doing here?" 

I tried to move my limbs only to see that they were bound to the floor, thick metal chains wrapped around both my wrists and each ankle. 

"Don't move too much" My sister's dirty face swam into view, gently touching my face and wincing as the skin underneath the collar began to hiss"I tried as hard as I could to get them off but they just won't budge." 

My eyes snapped down to her charred hands, fresh blood still oozing from her unhealed wounds.

"Why would you do that?" I barked at her "Don't touch anything down here." 

My sister narrowed her eyes at me and in that moment, she looked identical to our mother, right down to the white-blonde hair and freckles spanning across her cheeks. 

"I couldn't sit here and let my brother suffer" She huffed, shooting me a dirty look "I'm not as useless as everyone thinks." 

I snorted and then groaned as the collar burned me once again. 

"The day someone thinks that Sphinx Fenrir is useless is the day that hell freezes over " I wheezed out "And frankly, I'm fucking upset that you see yourself that way." 

She looked away, her jaw trembling slightly. 

"How'd you get here Inx?" I asked redirecting the conversation as softly as I could given the fucking burning on my neck "And where is here?" 

"One minute I was in my dorm sleeping, and the next, a gigantic portal was ripped open in the middle of my room" She growled "And then I was being hauled into said portal by a Vamp, a Witch, and a stupid Wolf from my class." 

"What?" My head reared back in shock, more hissing sounded out as the skin at my nape made contact with the metal "That's impossible. Witches don't work with those from other districts...Not to mention that Vampyres hate us." 

The clanking of chains and the sounds of footsteps coming from the darkness that had my hackles raising. 

"I told you I'd get her involved if you failed me" A cold, familiar voice declared from behind me "And now your poor sister has to suffer from your mistakes." 

Sphinx screamed and tugged on my chains as hard as she could, urging me to move.