Thia staggered and placed a hand on the cold stone wall. After Jen left with Daeva, they had continued to make their way out. Thia wondered if she should have tried to save Jen, but the rational part of her mind said that he made a choice. Besides, he had kidnapped her.

She felt a hand on her leg and saw Ruby standing next to her. "Are you okay?" the younger girl asked.

Michelle came up behind her. "That cut is looking nasty. You've been leaving a trail of blood."

Thia put a hand up to her cheek where Daeva had cut her. Her hand came away bloody. "It's just a scratch," she protested. "Her nails weren't even that sharp."

"But they might have had poison or something on them." Leo squinted at the cut when he caught up to them. "You should get that checked out."

When Maha reached them, she said, "I can clean it out a bit. I brought some extra bandages and stuff in my pockets, and I don't think they were emptied."

Thia was too weak to protest so when Maha applied stinging ointment, she didn't struggle. By the time Rikan and Garry got to them, she was on her feet again and ready to continue.

"Are you okay?" Rikan asked her. They were walked ahead of the group.

"Yeah. It just stings a little bit," Thia replied.

"That's not what I'm talking about."

She played dumb. "So, what are you talking about."

"You know who."

"Stop making second era references."

Rikan stopped her. "Stop avoiding the question. You know who I'm talking about."

Thia sighed. "I don't know how I feel," she confessed. "He's the enemy. His sister's the enemy. What he did before he left, well, I don't know. Look, Rikan, I just want to get out of here, okay? So can we please stop talking about him?"

Her twin smiled sadly and gave her a quick one-armed hug. "Okay."

They were about to start walking again when they heard running footsteps coming their way. They whipped around ready for an attack, but it was just Ruby. She panted as she slowed to a stop in front of them.

"They're all gone!" she cried. Ruby burst into tears and ended up hiccupping because she was crying and trying to catch her breath at the same time.

Thia put an arm around her and said, "Slow down, Ruby. Who is gone?"

Ruby took a few deep breaths before explaining, "I was walking right behind you guys when I turned around the talk to Maha, but she wasn't there. So, I saw Michelle and started to walk towards her when she just disappeared." She started to cry again but regained composure quickly. "Then Leo disappeared and Garry. I ran back in the direction that we came from. I don't know if I thought they were still back there, but when I couldn't find them, I turned around and ran all the way back to you guys." By now, she was crying again.

Rikan had a distant look in his eye, one he always got while in deep thought. Thia was frowning, but she hugged Ruby and tried to comfort her. None of them knew where the others could be, but they had to keep walking. If, no, when, they got to their parents, everything would be okay.

---

"I got it!" Rikan shouted.

"Got what?" Thia wondered.

"I figured out where the others are! Well, I have a theory."

"What is it?" Ruby asked eagerly.

"They were taken," Rikan said grandly. He paused and they waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"They were taken...," Thia prompted. He stared blankly. "Would you explain what you mean?"

"Oh, sure. Someone kidnapped them," he began. "Most likely someone with a glamour because Ruby couldn't see them. One second, they were there, the next second, they were gone."

"But where did they go? I ran back the way we came, but they weren't there," Ruby said.

"Maybe the disappeared, or ran super-fast," he mused.

"Or they have a secret passageway," Thia supplied.

"Yeah, that makes more sense," Rikan admitted. "But where is it and where does it lead?"

"We can find out when we get out of here," she said. "Let's go."

"Hold on." He grabbed her hand to keep her from moving on. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing." She extracted herself from his hold and walked away, Ruby on her heels. Rikan ran until he caught up. "You're not going to leave me alone, are you."

He grinned. "Nope. So, you better spill it. Or you're stuck with me pestering you."

Thia stopped walking and turned to face him. "I'm scared, okay? And worried. And injured." She gestured to her bandaged cheek and muttered something under her breath. "I just want to go home. I want to see Peony and Garan and Torin again. I want to see Mom and Dad and Aunt Iko and Aunt Scarlet, Uncle Wolf, Aunt Cress, Uncle Thorne, Aunt Winter, Uncle Jacin. Stella, Duke, Logan, Solstice, Autumn, Amelia. Michelle, Maha, Leo, even Garry! I want to see light. A real sky, real plants, real people!"

"Thia, I'm sorry," he whispered. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed until she couldn't breathe. "I want to go home too. But I think there is more that you want."

She peered at him through narrow eyes. "And what is that?"

"More like who." Rikan appeared uncomfortable and shifted from his right foot to his left.

She narrowed her eyes even more. "Who, then?"

"Umm, can you guess?" he stalled and smiled a fake smile.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Rikan. Out with it," she growled. She seemed to be getting really angry.

He pretended that he didn't hear her and turned to Ruby. "What about you, Ruby? Can you guess who I'm talking about?"

Ruby glanced at the twins, not wanting to interfere, but not knowing what to say. "No," she said.

"Uh, it's a boy." Rikan looked even more uncomfortable. "He kidnapped us, and his sister is a murderer. He um, kissed you, and betrayed you. And his name starts with the letter J."

Thia's face turned red with anger and embarrassment. "Just say it already," she hissed through clenched teeth.

He opened his mouth to answer, but a girly giggle came from the shadows.

"Do you miss Jen?"

A/N:

Hi. I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so... sorry that this is coming out so late. It's been a week!!! *Mentally bashing myself* But, after the long wait, here it is! We get a lot of brother-sister-twin relationship insight in this chapter.

Also, you may be wondering why I had everyone disappear, and that is partly due to the fact that it was very hard to write with that many characters. I felt like they were all struggling for the tinniest amount of page time, and I didn't want my story to feel that way. I kept Ruby because I like her personality (not that she has much of one yet).

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and fun fact: this story is over 12,000 words!! Yay!!

Thank you for reading!

~Bookworm 😜