Queen of Darkness WATTPAD VERSION [Inter-Universal Protectors: Book 3]

54

"Ema was not kidding when she said this place was dead."

Amneris found herself agreeing with Jay as she looked around. The dirt was grey. The plants were black and in various states of decay. Stones cracked and crumbled. Even the air smelt lifeless. The whole word appeared to be colourless. No, that wasn't quite true, Amneris decided. The sky was a deep shade of blue, easily mistaken for black. The only light would have come from a moon, but it was now covered by a silver cloud. 

"Suddenly glad I can glow," Amneris said, glancing down at her star-lit hands.

"Perks of a new body," Jay agreed, fingers flying across the keyboard of his phone. 

"Still don't know how I got it."

"Who really cares at this point?" He pointed ahead. "Apparently we go that way."

"Follow the bad vibe." Amneris turned to Colt. "When has that ever not led us into danger?"

"Being around you leads me into danger," he countered. 

"Harsh."

"Oi!" Jay waved his hands from ahead. "Up front, Flashlight!"

Amneris' power sparked. "The fuck did you just call me?" She glared at Colt as she walked up front. He stopped laughing. When she turned away, she heard the two men laughing. Her power sparked again as she forced herself to not kill them. 

* * * * * * * * 

It took five minutes for Jay to decide he was bored. 

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with 's'."

Unfortunately, Colt decided to go along with the game. "Sand?"

"Nope."

"Stone?"

"Yes! Okay, let's see . . . I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'c'."

"Cloud?"

"Nope."

"Me?"

"Nope."

Amneris sighed heavily as Colt looked around, deep in thought. The longer he looked, the more she found herself cringing. 

"I see nothing else starting with that letter," he eventually said.

Jay grinned. "It was 'coin'."

"But there are no coins around here . . ."

The Fae male reached behind his friend's ear. A bronze coin appeared in his fingers.

Colt looked between him and the coin. "That doesn't count."

"Sure it does," Jay said.

"I could not see it, therefore it does not count."

"You can see it now."

"If you two are quite finished," Amneris interrupted, "I've just found a castle."

The two men came to her sides, the three looking over the castle. It was nothing fancy. Large and old. There was a giant cobra statue sitting on top, faded paint visible in the torchlight of guards pacing both atop and around the building. To the side was the ship which had attacked the Academy. Yes, this was the right place.

Colt pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. She gave him a questioning look. "You glow now," he put simply. 

"And it would totally give away our position," Jay added. He glanced at her glowing hands. "Want gloves?" Her questioning look turned into a glare. "Your choice," he said hurriedly. 

Amneris sighed but pulled gloves from a pocket. "Does your 'friend' have any inside knowledge of where they'd be holding Hathy?" Jay shook his head. "So helpful, you are."

"She said something about trying to get rid of a dragon so hasn't actually made it inside yet," he said, pocketing his phone.

"Dragons?" Colt asked, looking around. 

"Lightning dragon," Jay corrected. 

"Guardian of the Castle of the Chaos Serpent," Amneris murmured. "I really hate it when myth becomes reality."

"Says the literal Goddess."

"Fuck off."

"How do we get in without being noticed?" Colt asked, breaking up the beginning argument. 

"Whoever said anything about not being noticed?" 

He gave Amneris a sidelong glance. "No."

"You gonna stop me?"

"If I must."

"Try." Amneris jumped over the crest, sliding down dirt to the front of the castle. 

Colt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I do not like it when she does it." 

"You sound like you've seen her do it a lot," Jay said in a strange tone.

"I have." He blinked, realising what had been said and the look the Fae male was giving him. "We should stop her from blowing up the planet."

Gunfire made them look down. 

Jay whistled at the sight. "You mean before she massacres everyone standing between herself and Hathy, right?"

"Whichever comes first."

"Gotta love a morally grey Queen."

"Understatement."

"True that," Jay nodded. "Sometimes I wonder how she can hold Naiu's power."

I've been wondering that since we were kids. "We can have this conversation another time," Colt said.

"Yes," the Fae agreed. "We have a Queen with anger management and morality issues to help."

The two men jumped over the crest.