-Quan Leung-

It had been a few hours, and I wasn't feeling great. Everything that had happened was working up to this moment and I was not confident in the slightest. We were doing the pretty obvious thing, but maybe my father would expect us to have something different up our sleeves or think that we're far too desperate for my mother's wellbeing.

"He had to be in the middle of nowhere," I complained, not caring if we were heard by anyone, especially not my father. He'd be expecting us to be quiet, I'm sure of it. "It's really difficult to get to if we actually wanted to do what he wanted."

"Yes, they love making life difficult." Ruarc gave a chuckle, but I could tell he was nervous. His hand was clasped tightly in mine again and we walked through the woods at a quick pace. I could see just fine, thanks to Modu earlier. It was probably a good thing in this situation, because it meant that I hadn't prepared anything against my father.

Clearly, over these past few hours I'd been thinking about this in serious and agonising detail, coming up with reasons for my actions and wondering what my father would think once he noticed them. My father noticed everything, and so it wouldn't be hard to believe that he had the same train of thought as I had when I was planning this.

The real questions were how well I predicted his moves.

Loche and Kavi were walking just behind us in silence. They weren't holding hands, though I could tell that they wanted to. They both had their wings stretched out wide, a vast contrast to each other. If I hadn't been in the police force, I would've been extremely intimidated by Kavi, who looked deadly for an angel.

Out of the trees came two fire creatures, their heads were facing us, and they simply hovered above the ground. They waited a few moments after spotting us before slowly turning their bodies and floating back the way they came.

"Escorts?" Ruarc mumbled to me as we slowly walked.

"Defences," I corrected. "If any of us made a move then we'd be burnt to a crisp in a second."

To prove my point, the two fire creatures in front of us lifted an arm and shot flames towards the other, creating a large mass of fire between them.

"Tight security." Ruarc remarked. I'd grown to learn that the more dangerous a situation is, the more jokes he'll make, or at least the more snide comments he'll make.

"It means that nobody would be able to get out either," Kavi pointed out with a sigh. "I'd assume he took some inspiration from the fairy jail?"

None of us replied, because none of us really knew the answer. For all we knew, they could be also used in fairy jail, or at least a variation of them. I doubted that my father had the same power as nearly a hundred fairies. If he did then we were wasting our time, and we should surrender the planet to him.

"You took your time," my father's gruff voice said. He was sitting in a lone chair which was made of some kind of rocks, which looked very akin to a throne. He was slouching back with his head high and eyes closed.

"Sorry, our invitation got lost," I commented snarkily as I glared at him. "Where is she?" I got straight to the point, seeing no reason to beat around the bush.

"With the others," my father replied ominously. "Seems you've come with yours, a rather terrible mistake on your part."

I felt a shoot of fear go through me. Which didn't quite make sense to me, because I haven't felt the connection between us deep down. I hadn't needed to go through the pain of being separated from Ruarc for too long. I had always had him near me, and if not, then I'd been too distracted with my own physical suffering. I believed that he would come find me.

"Just give us Juniper and everything will end up okay for you," Loche said with a fierce glare. He was practically covered head to foot in black mist and intricate lines swirling over his pale skin. His wings were growing with every moment, stretching to a size that anyone would be intimidated by.

But yet it was Kavi's expression which made me feel the most fear. I'd learned that Kavi and Juniper were best friends before they met my mother and Loche. His expression became more and more dangerous the longer we stood in my father's presence.

"I'm not going to do that though." My father gave a laugh as he continued to stay seated, moving forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "You've walked right into my trap."

"Trap? How unexpected," Ruarc remarked. "Let's not waste any time then and get right to it." He flashed a smile, which was sickly sweet and condescending. I found it hilarious that he was acting like this, but also slightly nervous about what he'd said. It was our job to stall my father, so why was he asking to get it over with?

My father hummed and shook his head. "That's not my style."

What? Since when did he have any sense of style? It dawned on me then that Ruarc had told him to do something, and the stubborn pain would naturally do the opposite to what he was being told.

"Of course it's not," I commented and crossed my arms. "Go on then, tell us your master plan and how you managed to get us trapped and torture us."

"Fairy!" my father called, glancing behind him. "Our guests wish to know our plan."

Out came Cappi, who's eyes were wide with shock when they saw us. "Guests?" they inquired. "We weren't expecting any at the moment, were we?" Their voice was somewhat grim, as though they were disappointed that they hadn't created a big enough trap for us.

"We were," my father denied. "I was, anyway, I told you they'd come as soon as the woman was in danger." I didn't know which woman he was talking about, but the fact that he didn't use a name got under my skin.

"You mean your wife?" Cappi asked bluntly.

My father turned, fire raging in his eyes, but he stopped himself short with a slow sigh, black smoke coming out of his nose. "Yes, her."

Kavi had to be held back by Ruarc, as he attempted to lunge at my father.

My father gave a low whistle. "Feisty, peculiar on an angel but not uncommon when it comes to matters of what's right and wrong." His gaze then turned to me, examining me for a few moments, staring into my green eyes. "You've not used your magic today? Powering up for the battle?"

I was expecting a battle, yes. But I had also suspected that he would see this as a threat towards himself, since he was probably looking for an opportunity to attack.

"Not particularly." I shrugged. "What use would my ability be in this situation?" I was currently open to suggestions. "What good are psychic attacks when it comes to fire?"

My father looked like he might've actually offered me an answer if Cappi didn't clear their throat and stepped forward. "Shall we execute the plan?" Their voice grew lower, and the gleam in their eyes turned dangerous. I could almost believe that they weren't acting, which sent chills down my body.

We hadn't been told about a plan. That was probably our fault for not giving Cappi warning that we'd be coming, or not giving them time to transport us here mentally. So, if this all ended badly, we could be partially to blame.

My father thought for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before nodding. "Yes, yes, initiate the plan." I felt as though my view was tunnelled on his lips as he gave the order. His expression turned even more sadistic as a creepy grin was plastered to his face.

I only had time to pull away from Ruarc as I was pushed to my right by a large mass of flame, the pressure hurting my ear as I rolled to the side. There was a large wall of fire separating Loche and I from Kavi and Ruarc. I could see over the top of it, my eyes meeting Ruarc's terrified ones. I was sure my expression didn't look too different as I was forced to back up near Loche to avoid an attacking fire creature.

My breath was heavy and hurting due to the huge quantities of smoke which bloomed from the fire. I was surprised that anything could live in this place due to it. I noticed that Loche had quickly retreated his wings, which were extremely flammable. But he cast a web of darkness near the fire creatures.

"I don't think they use eyes," I mumbled to him as my head quickly turned in all directions, trying to find some sort of escape or advantage.

"That's not all it's good for, Darling," Loche responded in a voice which sounded like a British television villain. "Look."

I glanced over to the side and saw that the fire creatures who had black fog around their heads were flailing their arms. Casting fire wherever they turned. It seemed that they had no logic to their wrath.

Turning to the other fire creatures, I saw that Kavi was doing a similar thing, except that the fire creatures were showered in a white mist, and they simply weren't doing anything, other than hovering above the ground ominously.

"You can't do that forever," my father gloated as he rose to his feet. "It takes up far too much of your concentration, and the second you lose focus, they'll attack you again." He began walking towards me. I didn't want to distract Loche at all, so I tried to move away from him, but my father saw this coming and created a circle of fire around us. "You're not getting away from me this time, boy. If I can't use you, nobody can."

"No!" Ruarc yelled.

That was the last thing that I heard before I blacked out, agonising pain shooting through my body.