SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 95- Wrath

"You don't understand the meaning of taking a break, do you?" Magnus says exhaustedly as he watches me finish getting dressed, pulling my hair back in a high ponytail.

"I don't need to get involved in anything, but if I stay cooped up in here any longer, I'm going to lose my mind," I state, glancing up at the few hairs that didn't make it into the tie "Damnit."

"I'm not disagreeing, but I already know how this is going to go," he sighs as he sits up on the bed "You're going to overhear something important, and next thing you know-"

"So be it," I state irritatedly as I go to the door "Let's go."

"You're impossible." he sighs.

"And you're adorable." I state bluntly, pushing the door open and immediately being met by two guards "Are you kidding me?"

"Your father's orders," one of them states, looking down at me "You need to stay up here for the rest of the day, I'm sorry."

"He has no higher authority than me; you both know it. Now, I suggest you step aside." I order sternly, and they both exchange awkward glances.

"I'm sorry, but we-" the other begins, and I start to ignite my forehead.

"Don't test me, now move," I say, not trying to do anything but scare them. Luckily, it seems to work. Nervous, they part themselves out of the way and Magnus and I rush past them to the stairs.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Magnus says nervously as we head down.

"It's not like I was actually going to do anything, but my dad really needs to stop with the protective shit already," I explain irritably as we make our way into the throne room.

"I don't know, I still think it's a stupid idea." I hear Desire sigh, and I see her and Kai talking across the room.

"What's going on?" I ask curiously as we approach them, and they seem shocked to see us.

"Forget about us, what are you doing down here? I thought you were taking the day off?" Kai asks worriedly.

"Not by choice, so here we are." I roll my eyes "My father has different ideas about what's best for me."

"Maybe, but I think you need to take it easy for a little longer." Desire sighs "How did it go yesterday?" she asks sympathetically.

"It's over, and I don't really want to talk about it," I explain solemnly, trying not to think about everything that transpired.

"I'm sorry," Desire apologizes "I didn't mean to-"

"Don't, it's okay." I force a smile "I'm just not ready yet, but, if it helps, I feel a little better about the whole situation now." I explain, looking hopefully at Magnus. His wisdom last night was exactly what I needed to hear. I may have known it all along, but hearing someone say out loud that I didn't need to feel guilty for letting Lucius love me eased my mind in indescribable ways.

"I'm glad to hear that," Kai smiles "So, what are you guys doing down here anyway? They don't want us anywhere near the meeting right now," he explains, and I can tell he's not happy about it.

"Of course they don't," I roll my eyes "How long have they been talking?" I ask curiously.

"About five hours, it seems like they're trying to figure out how to draw out Gaia without her finding out the others are dead." Desire explains.

"They've been here for days, does everyone really think she has no idea what's happened here?" Magnus asks skeptically, and Kai sighs irritatedly as he paces toward the hall.

"Please tell me they have a backup plan," I ask desperately, but Desire shrugs.

"No clue, they won't let us in." she huffs, and I can tell she's been stressed about this all day.

"How much longer are they going to keep us in the dark about this shit? It's like they're forgetting everything we've done up until this point." I scoff, looking around for Kai "What are you doing?"

The Seed- AURORA

"Um, I think we have a problem..." he states worriedly, and we all rush to the hall. The red glow coming in from the windows is unmistakable, the sky is becoming eerie again, and it's not hard to guess why.

"She's coming," Desire gasps as she stares out in horror.

"Guys," I say frantically, backing away and starting to dash down the hall.

"Tesa, where are you going?" Magnus asks as he starts to chase after me.

"The dining hall doesn't have windows!" I scream, and the others start to run. "Someone has to warn them!" The palace guard has already started to gather and seems frantic as we go, luckily the hall isn't too far away. As we turn the corner before it, I feel the ground start to rumble making me lose my balance. As Magnus catches up, we grab the wall and start to feel sediment falling from the ceiling.

"What's happening?" Desire shouts as she jumps behind us, sliding down the wall as Kai runs to look out the windows at the city.

"If we were wondering if she knew about Lucius and Ember, I'm going to take a guess and say she does," Kai says as he looks out at the city, turning back as he grips the window sill.

"I thought Atlas was seismic activity, what else is she fucking capable of?" I ask frantically as I see cracks begin to cross the floor. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder erupts from outside, followed by pouring rain, and Kai starts to breathe heavily.

"Everything." he gasps as he slides down the wall, taking cover as a tremor starts to shake the temple. Suddenly, I hear a loud cracking sound, and we look up to see the ceiling above our heads start to break.

"Get close to me!" I reach out to Kai, and as he takes my hand, I yank him in. Terrified, we all duck down to the floor while I create a burst of air as forceful as possible as the ceiling above our heads comes crashing down. Despite my best efforts, we quickly became buried in the rubble.

"Is everyone okay?" Desire shouts through the rock as the tremor begins to soften.

"I'm fine," I say, pulling my arm through and trying to shift through enough that I can move. When I look up, I can't even see the light from outside through the mess.

"I'm okay," Kai says, moving rocks enough that I can see him faintly in front of me.

"Magnus?" Desire asks nervously, and I can hear her shifting bricks.

"Magnus?" I ask desperately, moving stone stone out of the way in his direction. When I start to uncover him, I dig, finding his face, but see that he got hit on the forehead where his stitches are.

"Breeze, what happened?" Kai asks as he tries to crawl through. I touch my fingers to his neck and feel his pulse, it seems steady. When I look at his stitches, he doesn't seem to be bleeding very much.

"I think he just got knocked out," I explain worriedly as I try to uncover him more.

"How deep do you think we're under?" Desire asks nervously as she tries to move.

"I don't know," I say, trying to pull myself up, shifting what's above me "I don't think we're going to be able to dig ourselves out on our own."