Wolf was not happy with this turn of events. “You need to be blunt with her. Like ripping off a bandaid. I’m sorry it was you Wolf, but Cinder wouldn’t want sugar-coating. She wants the truth in a way only you can give her.”

He scowled at Cress, even though he knew she was right. After they had confirmed that Levana had escaped, the five of them had decided what to do with the information about Kai’s kidnapping. They had all turned on him saying he was the man for the job. Though truthfully, he couldn’t see how he was the best. Cress was sweet and helpful; Thorne was Cinder’s best friend out of all of them; Jacin could be more blunt than he could be; and he secretly suspected Scarlet just didn’t want to be the one to tell Cinder. So he had been struck with the job.

They lumbered into Levana’s prison where Cinder and Winter happened to be waiting. He didn’t know whether it was better for him to tell Cinder alone, but he knew he needed backup. He walked up to Cinder, “We have something to tell you.”

Cinder appeared nervous, “Where’s Kai?”

“That’s what this is about,” Wolf continued. He knew he shouldn’t sugarcoat it. That’s why he had been given the job. “Kai has been taken.”

“Cinder,” Cress paused then spoke softly, “we’re really sorry.” She half hid behind Thorne.

“What do you mean taken?” Cinder asked angrily.

“We found Levana’s spies,” Jacin offered.

Thorne continued, “And Levana’s spies found Kai.”

Cinder looked up, wide eyed. “You don’t mean that Levana has Kai do you?”

They all nodded. Winter stared down at her feet, clearly not wanting to be there. Cress’ expression mimicked Winter’s and as a matter of fact, so did everyone else’s. No one had wanted to be the one to tell Cinder, and it was easy to see why. Cinder was devastated.

“How?” she screamed. “How could you let this happen?” She looked as if she was about to cry but they all knew that she couldn’t. 

“We’re so sorry, Cinder. Please… we’ll help you find him,”everyone eyed Cress as she said this, “what?”

Jacin scoffed, “You’re not exactly the right person to be saying that considering how shy you are. You hardly talk and when you do it’s to make promises for all of us.” They could all see Thorne stiffen at this comment and give Jacin a menacing glare, which he ignored.

Even though they had all worked together during the war to fix things, that didn’t mean that they all got along all the time. Once in a while someone would make a rude comment and that could shake the stability of the group, so they tried to avoid conflict as much as possible. Still, a nasty comment could send the eight of them into an argument that went in a downward spiral. 

Scarlet stepped in between Jacin and Thorne, “Not right now guys! And as much as I hate when this happens, I agree with Thorne. We are helping find Kai.”

Jacin sighed, but stood his ground. He wasn’t going to do anything about it... yet. Cinder continued to panic about Kai. Wolf walked over to her.

“Hey, we will find him. I believe that, okay?” Wolf said to Cinder.

“You do?” Cinder asked.

Wolf made the rare occasion when he smiled, “I do. And we will find Levana, and this time kill her!”

They all nodded, even Cress and Winter. 

 ______________________________________________________

Wolf was not used to being interrupted. Quite frankly, his menacing presence made most people afraid to be in the same room with him. So he was not expecting some crazy woman walking down the street to start blocking his path. Or more literally, Cress and Cinder’s path.

“How could you!” she screamed at Cress.

Cress looked confused, but Wolf could see it in her eyes: Cress recognized this woman, “I- I- I don’t know what you mean?”

Cinder stepped up to the woman, anger flaring, “Leave Cress alone, Adri.”

“Out of my way, cyborg!” Adri snarled. Wolf knew who she was now. Cinder’s stepmother. How Cress knew her, he couldn’t guess.

“Do not speak to Cinder that way! She could be your princess!” Thorne stepped to his friend’s side. Cinder flinched at the word ‘princess’.

“You know very well what you did!” Adri snapped, still speaking to Cress. Wolf could now see tears spilling from the woman’s eyes.

Cress gulped, “What did I do?”

“You killed my daughter!” Adri screamed.

“What?” Thorne asked, confused.

“Your friend here made me wait in an outrageous line to get a vaccine! Those extra minutes killed Pearl! If you had just given me the antidote when I asked, my daughter and your sister, Cinder, would still be alive!”

Cinder took a second to comprehend what she had just heard. “Pearl is dead?”

“Now are you going to do anything about it?” asked Adri.

Wolf saw Cinder looking at Adri and her friends. Would she help Adri and her old life, or Kai and her new one. A decision was made.

“No. I have to save someone else,” Cinder said and started to run toward the palace with the rest of them.

“Like who?” Adri shouted.

“Your emperor,” Cinder said to Adri, as they made it to the palace.

“I will have my revenge, Cinder!” Adri called, “On you and all your friends!”

 ______________________________________________________

Hey Lunartics,

Don't forget that there are two of this story both of which are written be me and not2old4fairytales. Hope you liked it. Please comment/vote/follow on BOTH of the stories. We post every Sunday at 9:00pm ET. 

Love you all,
~Princess Selene