SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 41- Ignis

"Wow, you must be bored of telling that story by now." Artemis laughs "Lucius was right, your name does fit you well."

"Breeze is a hell of a lot better than 'princess'." I sigh as I slowly sit up, trying to hold back nausea "I've always hated being considered royalty. I'd rather just be me, I don't really care about having a title." I explain.

"I guess I can understand that." she states as she leans on the wall, resting her arm on her knee "I would probably second guess how people treat me like they would only want to be friends with me because I'm special or something," she explains.

"Exactly," I agree "I'm glad that my boyfriend got to know me before all of this. I've always avoided dating until now for that reason." I explain thoughtfully.

"Love is wild." she sighs as she tilts her head back "But, there's gotta be a person out there for everyone, right?" she asks hopefully.

"I like to think so." I smile lightly, then suddenly become sad. "Before I can find that out for sure, we're going to need to get the hell out of here."

"I thought you said it was impossible?" she asks curiously.

"Maybe, but if we sit around here, they're just going to..." I stop as I suddenly stare at her worriedly "What all have they told you since you got here?"

"Not a whole lot?" she says nervously "Why?"

"While they had me out there, I overheard a lot. Some of it seemed like nonsense, but they kept mentioning that someone named Ember had..." I begin to hesitate as I look at her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks, suddenly seeming pale "What did they say?"

"Ember seems to want to-"

"For the love of god, we can't leave you alone for five minutes without you two trying to analyze fucking everything." Cleo states angrily as she and Tex wander in "No need talking about it really, she's been getting impatient." Cleo smiles as she begins to gaze into Artemis' eyes. Artemis tries to scoot back, but as they open the door, Tex immediately picks her up and throws her over his shoulder.

"Stop!" I scream "Don't do this!" I plead in tears and suddenly manage to force my door open. I quickly dart out and launch myself at Tex, knocking him down. As he trips, he lets go of Artemis and she tumbles forward on the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" Tex shouts angrily as he starts to stand up.

"Go!" I scream and Artemis quickly begins to dash down the hall, but is stopped when Winona blocks her way.

"Honestly, how much more trouble are you going to cause?" she asks irritatedly as she looks at me, then back at Artemis. Without hesitation, she grips Artemis' wrist and begins dragging her down the hall "Don't leave the girl here alone, I don't trust that she won't pull something stupid."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do with her?" Cleo asks as she and Tex both grab my arms.

"That's Sterling's problem, he's the one who insisted on bringing the stray cat in." Winona huffs. I still feel faint and nauseous as we're both dragged down the hall, back to the room with the altar that they had brought me to earlier. Now, Marissa and Sterling stand there waiting for us, the room illuminated by dozens of candles. Sterling seems surprised when I am dragged in, I know that I wasn't supposed to see what is about to happen. Suddenly, Cleo flings me at him aggressively.

"She's your problem now," she states as she rolls her eyes, moving to stand beside Marissa. Sterling seems all too pleased as he grabs me, turning me around to face the altar. I tried to pull away, but I'm still too weak.

"Well, this ought to be a show. We haven't had an audience in nearly eight-hundred years," he says excitedly.

"Where's Malakai?" Winona asks curiously as she looks around the room.

"He said he wanted to be left alone for a while." Cleo sighs as she glares at me.

"Very well then," Winona states as she waves everyone else over. Suddenly, they pick Artemis up and lay her back on the altar, holding down her arms and legs while she struggles to break free from their grasp. Suddenly, they all take a deep breath and fall silent as I am forced to watch this disturbing display. 

Within seconds, the flicker of light from the candles begins to fade as they all go out at once, leaving nothing behind but the darkness. Suddenly, I hear Artemis screaming at the top of her lungs in what must have been excruciating pain, a sound that has slowly become ever too familiar to me. I want to plead for them to stop, but Sterling must have predicted this and covers my mouth. Her cries echo throughout the room, then come to a stop without warning. After a moment of silence, the candles around the room once again become inflamed, the fire nearly reaching the ceiling before finally dying down to their natural flicker. A cloud of dark black smoke has surrounded Winona, slowly dissipating as the light fades back to normal.

As I readjust to the light, I see that the others have let go of her, seeming to be waiting for something. My heart feels as though it is going to burst from my chest as I try to breathe through my nose, terrified as I wait for what feels like an eternity. Suddenly, Artemis gasps loudly, fighting for air as she sits up, her body uncontrollably shaking. This seems all too familiar, almost identical to our awakenings, but something feels off. This is not the same.

"Oof, that was fun." Artemis suddenly begins to speak, her voice is high-pitched, yet soft. I know that that isn't her.

"How do you feel?" Winona asks curiously as she holds out her hand.

"Sore," she sighs as she gently takes her hand, delicately stepping off of the altar "You couldn't have let her sleep in a normal bed for at least one night before letting me in? Now I have to deal with this shit." she sighs irritatedly as she begins chewing on her fingernails.

"We intended to," Cleo states bluntly "But you sounded like you were tired of waiting so here we are." she scoffs.

"Sheesh, what's got you in a mood?" she asks as she wanders over, cocking her head to the side and sticking her hip out.

"We can go over that later, for now..." Cleo suddenly points across the room to me "We have company." Suddenly, the girl turns and looks at me excitedly, her eyes appearing wild as they turn a bright shade of magenta.

"How could I forget!" she says anxiously as she skips over to me, lightly tapping Sterling's hand so that he would move it away from my mouth "Breeze, right? Or do you prefer Tessa?" she asks curiously as she pushes her nose against mine.

"I don't care," I state bluntly "And you?" I ask angrily as I stare directly into her glowing eyes.

"Little old me?" she asks as she stands up straight, cocking her head to the side as she smiles and winks at me "My name is Ember, and it is so exciting to finally meet you, dearie."