Bloodstream (#2 Blood Series)

Chapter 13

I never could figure out if the Queen of Underworld liked me or not. She'd always talk to me like I was her precious daughter or something but in the next twenty seconds she'd attack my mind and dig up the most painful memories of my life so far. I hated her, obviously, but I could never figure her out. She did her best to keep both Oliver and I physically intact but then she'd go and torture us with endless mind games until we were in the brink of true insanity.

The day I got sent back home started like all of the others. Oliver came by the cave where I was held most of the time and woke me up. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead", he singsonged and dodged the blow I sent his way.

He made a scolding sound. "There will be plenty of time for that later. Now, get up, I'm bored", he commanded and I quickly got up, not because he told me to but because the bed I slept on wasn't exactly comfortable so there was no reason to stay in bed after waking up. I quickly put on a pair of sweats Oliver had gotten me from somewhere couple of days ago and followed him out of my dungeon, always eager to leave it behind.

As we walked we came by Mirabelle's throne room. It was all made of stone so it was really gloomy and dark since the only light around here came from the blue light of the Abyss itself or sometimes candles that were set on the walls. Mirabelle herself was seated on her cold throne in the middle of the room. She looked quite bored and kept closing her eyes and huffing in annoyance. In front of her stood two of her fortress's scary guardians. They looked a bit like mermaids with their tails but their cruel nature was nothing like Ariel's.

These two didn't look that intimidating, though. They were holding hands, crying and screaming, begging for mercy although they both must have known better than to ask for mercy from someone who didn't even understand the very concept.

"Who are they?" I asked Oliver.

"Two guards who fell in love against Mirabelle's orders and instead of protecting the fortress they protected each other. Someone nearly got through our defenses because of them but luckily Mirabelle was able to stop their attack before they got too far."

I instantly thought of Nathan when Oliver mentioned an intruder. Maybe this would be the day he'd find me? But then Oliver told me that all of the attackers had been demolished and my hope died again. I then refused to consider the possibility that maybe the attackers had been Nathan and his friends. That maybe he had tried to save me... and failed.

Oliver must have noticed how my face fell because he said: "You have to got to stop doing that, Haley."

I didn't bother answering him. I knew it was stupid. I had been over the security our corner of the Abyss had so many times and there were no holes on our defense, nothing I could use to my advantage. And even if I could escape Mirabelle's fortress I'd still never make it back to Earth. I had tried once, though, out of utter desperation. Oliver caught me right before I reached the cliff over the never ending Abyss. He had been so mad at me and kept repeating how I was fucking it all up. He dragged me back to my dungeon and wouldn't train me for days because he was still pissed. I tried to ask him what he thought I was fucking up but he acted like he didn't even understand what I was talking about. But ever since then I had been certain that he had some kind of a plan.