A Deceptive Beauty

Chapter Twenty Three

"I have to do what?" Kaiden narrowed his eyes.

"You need to learn how to play nice with Kai," Annabelle smiled at him. She was wearing a olive green dress which brought out her jade eyes.

He was still recovering from the bombshell she dropped on him: that she would teach him about having another personality.

"I think I'll be fine," Kaiden tried to back out, not particularly liking the idea of forced communication with the being trying to ruin his life.

"No, you are coming with me," Annabelle said, grabbing his hand and tugging him along.

Kaiden exasperatedly allowed her to take him wherever she wanted to go. He had learned that she could be stubborn and that it would be useless to fight her. But, at the same time, he was curious about what she wanted to do.

When he saw a familiar door, he was surprised that she knew where the dungeon was. Unless someone, most likely Mary, gave her a tour. Mary seemed to really like Annabelle so he wouldn't be surprised if she gave her special treatment.

But what did she want to do in the dungeon?

"What is the purpose of going down here?" he asked, watching as she took a lantern in her hand and walked him down the flight of stone stairs.

"You'll see," she replied vaguely.

Kaiden didn't particularly enjoy the musty darkness that the dungeon provided. He wondered what Belle thought of it. Usually people cringed at the dungeon's settings, not that anyone goes down there anymore.

When they reached the bottom, Annabelle let go of his hand and walked into one of the cells, dropping the lantern on the ground.

Kaiden caught up to her, walking in the cell as well, and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Hey, let's go somewhere else. This isn't the best place to be," he persisted. Why did she just wall down to the dungeon and into a cell? Why did he follow her?

"It's the perfect place to be," Annabelle countered, looking behind him and nodding.

Then, a jingling sound came from behind him. He paled when he realized what it meant. Whirling around, he saw Mary locking the cell up with her keys. With him and Annabelle still inside.

"Mary? What are you doing?" Kaiden asked, incredulously, walking up to the bars. And where did she come from? He didn't hear anyone behind them on the way down.

Unless, Mary had been down there waiting for them.

"See you later Mary," Annabelle called out from behind him, directing his attention to her in time to see her waving.

That woman planned this out. But he focused on Mary because she had the keys.

"Mary," he called out, relaxing when she turned around. "Unlock the cell."

Mary gave him a sneaky smile. "Have fun," she said cheerily, turning around and walking away.

"Mary?" alarm came into his voice as she walked away. "Mary!"

As soon as she was gone, Kaiden whirled to face Annabelle, who was sitting comfortably on the stone floor. "Explain this to me," he sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get out until he did what she wanted.

"If you want to get out, you're going to have to collaborate with Kai," she yawned. He could see the glint in her eyes that told him that she was enjoying this.

He should have known that she didn't drop it.

"You know that neither of us will willingly cooperate with each other," Kaiden pointed out.