Valkyrie Demons

Chapter 23

He steps over broken glass strewn everywhere, making his way toward one of the wine barrels. Slowly, he climbs on top of one, feeling along the empty shelf next to the barrel. The barrel shakes a little to much for my comfort, but it stills when he hops down. He holds up a bronze key, the rust falling to the ground.

"Where exactly are we going?" I ask when he grabs my hand again, leading me in the opposite direction.

"There's an old staircase leading out of the castle and straight into the forrest. Everyone forgot about it because it was never used."

We run for a few good yards, stopping only when the lamps are to far in between too clearly see where we are going.

"You know I'm a faerie right?" He asks suddenly.

"Uhm yes," I answer confused.

"Don't freak out, but I have a way to make some light for us to see where we're going."

"What? Are you gonna flap your wings and sparkle?" I snort and shake my head.

"Yes actually, although it doesn't sparkle. Basically, the same luminescence that make fireflies glow, makes our wings glo." He unzips his jacket, unfolding his wings. The sheer size of it amazes me, no wonder they have to fold it!

"Wait, you're serious?! I was only joking, but I guess that's kind of cool."

He flaps his wings a few times, creating a strong wind in the proses. The light starts very dimn, almost imperceptible, but brightens with every flap of his wings. I stare in wonder as his wings go from a pale brown, to a bright and vibrant blue.

" Wow, can I touch it?" I step forward holding out my finger.

He laughs, but steps away. "Maybe not today."

After that, we take of running again, this time not even stopping when we could hear the guards running above us. My heart is pounding a mile a minute, adrenaline rushing through my veins. I hardly notice the slimy, damp exterior of the tunnel we're running through. I can see a bend in the distance, I must be imagining it but there's light coming from there. We must be almost there!

"Around the bend, it must be the exit -" We round the bend, just to come face to face with a wall.

I can hear splashing in the distance, thousand of boots rushing through the shallow water of the tunnels. The shouting grows more intense until it's almost upon us.

" They must have realized we can escale through the water way. What now?! There's no place else to go but back." I frantically look around, searching for the tiniest gap.

"I didn't want to do this, but you're gonna have to teleport us."

"How?! I don't have any energy left!" My hands are shaking, violently.

"I'll try and channel some of my energy into you. Hurry!" He puts his hand on my shoulder and I can feel the power going into my veins, albeit a small amount.

I close my eyes, drawing all of my power into my finger, making a circle. I grab the edges of the circle before it closes and pull. I pull and pull only managing to open a hole the size of a watermelon.

"I can't. It's not working!" I strain to keep the hole open.

"Hold on, it's almost big enough." I can feel David giving me more energy. I force the last of my energy into it.

"Hey you, what are you doing!" Someone shouts from behind us.

The hole is just big enough for us to fit, so I grab David and pull him into the darkness. The darkness is absolute, pressing against us with suck force. I'm still shaking, clearing my head of any thought.

" You have to pick a place," I whisper.

A light forms, blinding me, before we fall out of the darkness. The ground is hard, pushing the air out of my lungs, but softer than I originally thought it would be. I lift my head from the ground to see a dozen sets of boots.

" Wow... now that was cool." A feminine voice says.

I rub my eyes to clear the white spots, formed by the light. I knew the voice sounded familiar!

"Crystal!" David jumps up, wrapping her in a big hug.

I don't like looking up at her, so I get up and dust myself of, trying to hold on to the last of my dignity.

"Valery."

"Crystal."

She gives me a terse nod, quickly looking back to David.

"We were worried sick about you. What took you so long?" She let's go of him, motioning for the men behind her to turn around.

"The guild members kept changing the dates. Then it took us forever to get to Denali's castle. She -"

"Hold up... You mean to tell me that was the guild!" I throw my hands up into the air.

"Yes, how do you not know this?" Crystal asks, irritated.

I give David a look. "For starters, I was chased by men in black. I couldn't see their faces and... oh yea, I didn't even know this world existed!"

David steps in between us, holding his hands out.

"Ok, I think all of us has had a difficult few days. Let's all just get back to HQ without killing each other."

Crystal nods and David looks at me for confirmation. I sigh, but nod in any way. We begin walking again, following the men Crystal brought along. The weather is hot and humid, not helping our foul moods at all. We trudge through mud and sometimes puddles of water. It must've rained for a few days.

I walk at the back of the group, not really wanting to socialize. David is explaining our escape to Crystal, over dramatizing everything. I roll my eyes, rubbing the bridge of my nose. A headache started forming the moment I layed eyes on Crystal, growing more intense by the second. I close my eyes to rest them for a second, when I walked straight into a pit of quick sand.

"Ahh!" I scream, trying to get out.

"Oh, so now she can't even walk right. Wonderful!" Crystal says sarcastically.

David ignores her, grabbing hold of my arm.

"Stop struggling, it'll only make it worse. I'm going to pull you out on three, Ok?"  I nod, taking quick breaths to steady my heartbeat.

"One"
"Two"
"Thr-"

"What the?"

I prepare myself to be yanked back to safety, instead, he let's go and I fall back into the sand. The quicksand feels like it's crawling towards my face, smothering the words I wanted to say.

One of Crystal's men grabs ahold of me before I sink completely.I was about to go of on David for letting me go, when I see half the group slicing... vines?