I aware of just a few things when I regained consciousness. One, my head ached in a very cliche way and two, I was very damp. It was also pretty dark, too. I panicked for a moment, wondering if I had gone blind for some abstract reason, before reading I could indeed see the thin outline of my own hands. I guess it would be better if I could turn on my powers, it after a few seconds of trying, nothing worked.

Then all of a sudden I realized something that made my heart clench. I glanced around fearfully, trying not to panic to badly over my quickened pulse.

"Peri?" I called out. "Peri are you there?"

There was no answer, I hugged my knees gently. Where was I?

A light appeared a few feet away, fire. I looked up and there was Eddie, dramatically outlined by the flame in his hand. There was a ledge beside him and I think I could make out some cave walls with the dim light. He was obviously not using a bigger flame for that a reason, to keep me in the dark one might say.

"Good to see you're awake." He agreed somewhat merrily. "Want something to eat? Drink?"

"Where's Peri?" I demanded unthreateningly, scooting away from him.

Eddie reached over and stuck his hand on a torch, lighting it instantly. "I dunno, he flew off as I was dragging you unconscious body to this shifty looking and surprisingly wet cave."

The flame on the torch grew, and I saw I was indeed  laying on the floor in a shifty looking cave. That also explained the weird damp spots on my jacket.

"I mean there's not much I could do about it, I don't have a cool wolf familiar to chase after a bird with. He's probably going to bring your friends and your hot boyfriend running here to save you." Eddie sighed, sitting down a few feet away from me.

I frowned, I must have gotten a concussion because there's no way I heard that right. "Um, he's not my boyfri- why did you take me here?"

Eddie raised and eyebrow. "Really? He's single? There's no way."

I was definitely not conscious long enough to deal with this. "Are you going to take me to your boss?"

Eddie blinked. "My bo-? Oh yeah. Yeah she should be here any moment."

I stared at him in confusion for a few seconds as he unclipped his belt from around his waist. I hadn't noticed this before since he always wore that big black cloak, but he carried around a small circular flask on his hip. It was just a little bigger than the palm of my hand and there was a small creature swimming around inside. It looked like a lizard of some sort, but at the same time it didn't appear to have any scales.

    "What's wrong green bean? You never seen an axolotl before?" Eddie tilted his head.

    "No I just...does this make me your prisoner?"

    "Yes."

    "You're just gonna sit there?"

    "Yes."

    "Even if I run for it?"

    Eddie glanced up and pulled out a knife. "I don't think you have it in you, but we both know I can outrun you."

    Point taken. I hugged my knees a little tighter and shivered a bit.

    "Is this where you're keeping Felix?" I asked.

    Eddie glanced away and started playing with his knife. "I'm not allowed to tell you that."

    My fists clenched against the woolen fabric of my jacket. Kosmos, I was getting emotional again. I just felt so, so helpless.

    "Don't you care about anyone?" I prodded.

    Eddie glanced up, surprised. "What?"

    "Don't you have anyone out there who you care about? Any family?"

    He grimaced and pointed his knife back towards me. "You'll stop asking questions if you know what's good for you."

    "You said you wished someone cared about you like I do with Felix, can't you sympathize with a little bit?"

    "You know what I take that back." Eddie's normally neutral act disappeared, he looked kinda of angry. "I don't wish that because I wouldn't want someone chasing after a friend who's going to die anyway."

    I stared at him silently from across the room. "He's not dead yet."

    "Well he's as good as." Eddie spat. "We're not friends, Craig Ainwir, don't push it."

    My bottom lip was trembling along with my hands as I watched his fingers start to smoke. Eddie could still kill me, part of me knew he might. I want to know who did this to him, and what happened to his family.

    He spoke again to fill the silence with something more than unresolved tension. "You still want something to eat or drink?"

    "You probably poisoned it." I replied bitterly.

    "I mean, you could be right, who knows. It's not my job to keep you alive until my mistress gets here or anything." He rolled his eyes and fiddled with his fingers, sparks occasionally popping up.

    Okay fine, he was angry. I deserved that, but two could play at this game. I ruffled through my pockets and ignored him, finding a few spare slices of slightly damp dried fruit and munched on them passive aggressively.

    He didn't know anything, I had seen Matri, Felix was still alive. Peri knew what was wrong with him and he could help. I missed Peri, I hope my friends got here soon, if they could even find me. I hope Jason would even notice I had been kidnapped.

    Why did I even like him anyway? I picked and a stalagmite as I pondered this. I barely knew anything about him, besides the fact he was really sweet and had a laugh that sound like bells and... Okay maybe I can see why. As I picked at the rock I noticed Eddie visibly fidgeting and getting restless.

    "Okay fine." He spat. "You can't tell anyone I said this but maybe Felix isn't a hundred percent doomed okay?"

    I sat up immediately. "So you have seen him?"

    "Yes." Eddie crossed his arms. "I see him everyday, but I didn't even know his name was Felix until I was sent to delay you guys."

I slammed my palms against the ground. "Is he okay? Is he hurt? What are they doing to him?"

Eddie frowned. "I'm not allowed to answer that."

"You can't at least tell me if he's hurt?"

"I think you know the answer to that." He insisted.

I held my tongue and paused. He was right. I knew he was alive, but I had seen Matri, and the wolf had not been okay.

The fire flicking on the torch suddenly turned green. Edie stiffened and grabbed the collar of my jacket and yanked me to my feet.

"Hey-!" I protested.

Eddie cut me off. "Stand up, she's here. If you value your life, you'll hold your tongue."

I blinked as I realized he meant his mistress, as in the lady who was running this operation. Could she be the woman I saw back at the Pack? Or was that just another one of her henchmen (Henchwomen?) because it all came crashing in that I really had no idea whatsoever.

I felt chill run down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I heard a familiar sound. There was a long, drawn it, all to familiar hisssssss. A large, terrifying green snake slithered her way into the cave, curving around the rocks and stalagmites only to come to a wavy stop only a couple feet away.

A woman stepped out of the darkness, clothed head to toe in a purple cloak. Wavy, luscious, black hair spilled out from her hood. She reached up and pulled the garment off her head. Two unsaturated green eyes glared fiercely at the two of us.

"For one of my most skilled daímonas, Ellie, you sure did pick the worst possible spot to meet up."