"So. Arrow?" She asked with a poisonous undertone in her voice. I drop the hair strands and poke Cae's thigh viciously enough that he winced and breathed a quiet 'sorry' into my ears sending a fresh wave of shivers down my spine,  and I trembled at the sensation.

"It.... had nothing on the tip," I offer sheepishly, she sends a scowl that could wither plants and then sighs,

"I know I shouldn't question Amable's rules of secrecy with all your missions - and my! Those are some scary faces," She gasped and I realised I had scowled at the mention of Amable's name, I had little doubt Cae was doing better than me, not from the tight clutch he suddenly had on my waist,

"no," She whispered, hands flying to her mouth in shock.

"He did this to you," she lowered her hands, her eyes suddenly blazing, as though they were fire. I nodded and explained the story to her, with Cae adding in any details I had missed when I fainted.

"That means he'll be soon here for you, he knows that I'm your healer and he will not let you flit through his fingers this easily," eerily, a banging on the main door downstairs suddenly rang out through the house. Terra's eyes widened and she shot up scattering leaves and petals on the floor, she scrambled to pick them and dumped them messily into her basket.

"You need to go hide, now!" She harshly whispered, and I strained my muscles to move them so I could walk, but the treacherous things abandoned me and I remained leaning on Cae. He sighed and gently put his arms under my shoulders and legs to lift me against his chest as he stood up.

"Listen, Zornitsa knows where the storing room is, hide under the crate with a T on it, it's full of garlic and the smell will put Amable's hounds off your scent," She ushered us out with a wave of her hand and before we parted, she grasped my head in her grasp and whispered with determination,

"Remember, you are a shadow, Let them see what they want to see. Darkness is only what we want it to be," and with that, she left after a kiss on my forehead. I pointed Cae towards the lower levels and into the storage room. There was no crate with a T printed on it near the front and we searched deeper and deeper into the room until finally, we found it tucked between two huge boxes huddled into the corner of the place. We faced it and I mentally cringed at the smell that radiated from the box. I turned around from the foul reek and finalised that facing Cae's chest would be a much better alternative than the garlic stink inside. Voices from above us raised and footsteps pounded on the ceiling followed by animalistic snarls,

"go. go, go GO! We have to go in now!" I whispered, frantically slapping at Cae's shirt, he nodded and placed me inside before breaking a two garlic stems and handing one to me,

"Rub it all over you to cover you in its smell just in case," he whispered, smearing his plant over his clothing,

I rubbed mine on my clothes too and then pulled my body into the box - thankful that my strength was coming back, the odour was even worse inside and I could barely breathe from the stench. Just as Cae came to lie next to me, the footsteps abruptly stopped, as if they were inside the room. My elbow dug into the floor of the box and I winced at the pain spiralling up my injured arm. Cae looked up in alarm at my movement and presumably noticed my look of pain because he then snaked an arm around my waist before pulling me flush over him so that my whole body weight was on top of him. I wiggled in discomfort and murmured,

"I don't need your help, put me down,"

"Stop moving like that, or bloodhounds will be the last of your problems," he whispered back. I scowled and pinched him. Hard.

"You know, I try to be nice, but you make things so damn hard Zee," He grumbled quietly, his voice sending vibrations down his body which made mine feel them too,

"Stop talking like that, it fe-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as suddenly I glimpsed the toe of a boot in the corner of my eye. I held my breath, turning still as deep, guttural noises slowly crept towards us. The dogs' sniffles were getting closer and closer, and soon I'd be able to see the dogs too. I didn't dare blink, as if the movement would trigger something irreversible,

"What are all these boxes for, Old woman?" Tanker's nasally voice cut through the air and I boiled with rage as I remembered his involvement in my injury. I clenched my hands, shaking from the anger, and ground my teeth together forcing myself to instead think about how much I'd be endangering Terra's life if I decided to kill him, injured or not. Cae squeezed my waist in warning or comfort I wasn't sure, but the movement did little to calm me down. Only Terra's determined voice flowing over the roaring in my head eased my mind,

"Herbs and whatnot. What else would I make my medicine from? Now come on chop, chop, do your searches quickly and leave. These ugly dogs are making the whole place stink, I'm going to need to disinfect this whole place!"

"Don't show such disrespect for the Dark King's protege, Old Woman. I earn more in a day than you do in a whole year of your miserable life,"

"Funny how you're already calling yourself that when you haven't even caught the old protege yet. Isn't the rule that you have to kill the protege to take their place? Of course, being an old woman and all that does have its advantages, just means I remember these small things from so long ago. Guess for now you're just another one of Amable's dogs, following him around for the next order just like these animals. Hmm?" I hear the scrape of metal and Terra's breath hitch slightly,

"Careful, you might just find that this dog has one hell of a bite. So I suggest you shut that babbling trap of yours before you end up on this floor with your insides spilling out, understand?" I hear a shuffle, and then Tankers angry voice pierces the air again,

"I said do you understand?"

"Yap goes the dog," She whispers and he laughs, then her scream tears through the room, cutting off my breathing in one sharp slice.