Recap:

"I'm not going to pretend I understand how you feel Aleksander. You've apparently had more time to think about this than I have. But-" I twisted my body around and straddled his waist, "Dmitri was right. We can't keep going around in circles and it's obvious we can't fight this anymore."
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"What could possibly be in Chernobyl? This has to be a ruse," She scoffed.

I pursed my lips and pivoted my feet towards the door. "It might be- but we won't know until we get there. So unless any of you know where the Dark Ones, I suggest we jump on this lead."

They looked around, their eyes pleading for someone have information. But as I suspected they were just as clueless as I was.

"Great. I guess it's settled then. We're going to Chernobyl."

Please Cam, I silently begged, don't be there.
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Caddie's POV:

We had been flying for hours. Alix sat in front of the group, using her psychic sight to guide Murphy. She made several attempts to talk to me but I remained silent. The others talked quietly amongst themselves while Aleksander held me securely on his lap. I was surprised with how open he was with public displays of affection. After hiding his feelings from me for so long, I didn't think he'd be ready to plop me on his lap as if we'd been dating for months.

Alix released an exasperated sigh and kept her stare pointedly fixed on the horizon. She was a melting pot of emotions. Anger, sadness and guilt fused together, creating a toxic combination. She was bottling up all of her frustration and eventually it would spew out. I just hoped all of her anger wouldn't come out while we were in Chernobyl. We needed to be focused and ready to fight.

You should talk to her, Maddox told me.

Maddox was usually good with staying out of people's business. He tended to ignore the thoughts of other people. I didn't understand why I had to be the one exception.

Because you are the only one who likes to make your life difficult. Now talk to her, he bossed.

I rolled my eyes but took his request seriously. My eyes continued to dart towards Alix. Maybe it would be better to talk to her, I thought.

You forgave Aleksander and he's done worse things than Alix has. You need to listen to what she has to say- she never meant to hurt you.

I grunted. Of course she never meant to hurt me, her sole purpose in life was to keep me safe. But I couldn't trust her with my friendship. There were too many what ifs. Like what if she was just pretending to be my friend to make her job easier? What if my aunt was forcing her to befriend me? What if I had overreacted and Maddox was right? The last question worried me the most.

"Are you worried about going to Chernobyl?" Aleksander asked.

Snuggling deeper into Aleksander's embrace, I felt guilty for keeping my mind occupied with such trivial things. I was worried about my broken friendship with Alix and I was unnerved by my fast growing relationship Aleksander. But I hadn't really thought of Chernobyl or the person that might be waiting for me there.

"I am worried."

That was not a lie. My entire life revolved around constantly being worried. I was going to have gray hair by the time I reached thirty.

"But you're not worried about what is coming?" Aleksander asked.

I felt his confusion radiate off of him. I should have warned him that paying attention to my emotions would give him a headache. Yes, I was afraid of going to Chernobyl. Death had been looming over us as when he decided to go to that horrible place.

"I am worried about what could happen. We're not ready to fight and we don't have a plan. Aleksander, we could die in the next couple of hours," my voice cracked as I admitted the truth of our situation.

Saying it out loud made me feel worse.

"I know," Aleksander answered swiftly. He didn't even blink.

"How-" He spoke before I could finish my statement.

"Death is inevitable Caddie. We're all going to die at some point. But I don't want to leave this planet sitting on my throne, as my kingdom falls to pieces. Like my brother, I want to be a hero."

Boys, I thought exasperatedly, they all want to be heroic princes. Why can't there just be one person who grows up and becomes a sniveling coward?

"Well, I don't want to die!" Mira squealed.

Never mind, I thought, Mira already fulfilled that role. Her mascara was smudged from crying, she hadn't stopped crying since Alix said we had passed the Ukrainian Border.

"Then you better be prepared to fight," Ryder told her gruffly as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Lord knows I'm not going to be watching your back."

They bickered like children for the rest of the flight while the rest of us kept to ourselves. I stared at the large white clouds as they melded together. The monstrous cloud hovering in the sky, hid the sun from the rest of the world. Freezing winds left me a chattering mess. My shivering frame was clinging so tightly to Aleksander, I was afraid I was going to cut his oxygen supply off.

My eyes darted to the world below us when drops of rain began to fall from the sky. The beautiful sprawling forests of Ukraine had transformed into a desolate place with no sign of life. Trees were bare of leaves, their branches were brittle and their bark was rotting away. The grass had become a nasty shade of brown, it reminded me of grass in Massachusetts after winter. Imposing buildings casted dark shadows upon the miserable town. A lump formed in my throat as we flew over an abandoned playground. The swings were swinging back in forth as if  children of the ghost town had come out to play.

"Why can't villains have evil lairs in places like Tahiti? Why do they always choose a place out of a horror movie?" Ryder groaned.

Directly below us stood the Chernobyl Power Plant. Half of the complex was blown to smithereens, the other half looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment. I couldn't imagine innocent little Dmitri and Cam using the destructive power plant as a jungle gym.

"Evil people are like bacteria. They can only grow in nasty, dark places," Alix informed Ryder, "Everyone knows that."

There might be some truth to that statement, I thought as Murphy began to fly to the ground. There's never a villain who spends their time lounging in Hawaii or Florida. Instead, the choose to reside in old abandoned power plants during the middle of a brutal winter. Murphy's clawed feet tore into the ground, his tail landed with a loud thud that resonated throughout the air. Nobody moved, we were waiting for he swarm of Dark Ones to pour out of the building.

"This is good," Mira whispered with a nervous smile on her face. "They don't know we're here yet, so we can leave. No damage done!"

Ryder glared at her, "Next time we go on a field trip, I'm going to bring a muzzle."

She dropped her head into her hands and muttered, "If there's going to be 'another' field trip then just leave me home."

I ignored their childish comments and scanned the property. Nothing looked out of place, the power plant looked as if it hadn't been touched since it exploded. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the smallest details. My eyes zeroed in on one particular window, it was boarded shut- but I swore I saw two hazel eyes peering through the cracks. I blinked and the eyes disappeared. Aleksander and I disentangled our bodies and slid off Murphy's back. The others followed in a similar fashion. We stood in a line, like plastic toy soldiers. Our backs were straight, our heads were held high- but we were all scared out of our minds.

I waited in anticipation for their arrival. Did they expect us to go in? Or were they going to come out when they were ready? It felt like they were already there. I could practically feel the power of their crazed stares on my backs.

Turning slightly to look at the world behind us, I tried to see any suspicious characters. But nothing was hiding behind us. We'll, nothing that I could see. I turned back around, my heart nearly lurched out of my chest when I saw boy standing a few feet in front of us. His black hair was disheveled, bags hung underneath his wild eyes. He wore a toothy grin but it looked like it pained him to do so.

Ryder stepped forward. I didn't know if he wanted to provoke the warlock or if he just wanted to talk- but I stopped him nonetheless. The Dark One would have already attacked if that were his intentions. It was very possible that he was just a diversion and I didn't want Ryder to waste his energy on that.

The boy continued to stare at us, inspecting our every move- but he never moved. His eyes narrowed when he saw me unfurl my fists. Magic sparked through my veins as I called upon my black magic. Before I could even form a spark the warlock disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Ryder sighed and relaxed his stance.

"I can't believe we all got worked up over-"

"Ryder watch out!" Alix screamed as the same warlock appeared out of thin air and jumped onto Ryder's back.

Ryder pulled the Dark One off his back and snapped his neck like a twig. He smiled at the corpse but his amusement was cut short when a more Dark Ones appeared from the cracks and crevices of Chernobyl. Their screams echoed in my ear as they lunged at us. I was able to incinerate several of them before they could touch us- but there were too many!

"Caddie you need to go inside!" Aleksander yelled as he made another Dark One pass out.

"What? No! That's too dangerous," I screamed.

"They're not attacking you- they're attacking us. You need to find him."

I dropped my hands to my sides and realized he was right. The Dark Ones were purposely avoiding me and attacking the others. I had the perfect opportunity to sneak away and find the Dark One- but I didn't want to leave my friends behind.

Aleksander didn't give me a choice. He pushed me towards the door and shouted, "Don't worry! We'll catch up with you soon."

He lied. The Dark Ones continued to pour out of Chernobyl and their attacks became more violent. My gaze flickered from each person as they fought for their life. How could I leave them to die?

A loud boom echoed through the lot. I looked away from my friends, and at Murphy. Hate and anger toiled within him as he stared at the battle scene. Taking a deep breath, smoke blew through his nostrils. The fire was practically begging to leap off of his forked tongue.

"Maddox!" I yelled in my mind. My eyes centered on my reptilian friend.

"W-what?" His breathing was haggard from the fight.

"Herd the Dark Ones towards Murphy," I ordered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maddox gave me an affirmative nod. We were going to win, I told myself. We had to win. The other choice was impossible. Spinning away from the fight, I beckoned the black smoke to wrap around my body and whisk me away.

Before my feet had even touched the floor, an arm wrapped around my waist.

"Didn't I ask you to wear a dress the next time we saw each other, Lyubov Moyà?" A familiar voice whispered in my ear.

I stopped breathing, hot tears burned in the back of my eyes. My heart pounded against my ribs, as if it were trying to escape the horrible situation.
I tried to move but he pulled me into his steel tight embrace. He held me prisoner and the worst part was that I didn't even want to get away.

"C-Cam," I stuttered as his lips crashed into mine.

**Sorry for this being late, I've been on summer vacation but I was excited to get this chapter written. It is Cam!! Not Aleksander and Dmitri. Cam used to spend a lot of time in Russia with his best friend Dmitri so it makes sense that he picked up the language. And it was stated that he was a fire elemental before he became a werewolf so that's why The Dark One prefers to use fire. You guys will get all your other answers in the next chap. Also, if you guys are confused about Cam's last comment please reread chapter 27 again. I had rewritten it a few months ago and I know some readers probably didn't see the update.

Thank you for reading I hope you guys had a good Independence Day!!
XOXO,
Ro.**