Chained (The Siren Series #2) (11 page)

“
It’s on council orders; you know their
word is law.” Naaz answered.

“
The council?” Sophia asked. “That’s
bad.”

“
Why?” I asked.

“
If the council says to do something
you do it.” Marcus sighed.

“
Really?”

“
Yep.” he replied.

“
We need to finish this then.” I
said.

“
Are you sure?” Marcus
asked.

“
I always thought that we’d have to go
back in sooner than later, and I just want it over and done with.”
I replied.

“
Ok.” Sophia added.

“
The council knows about your little
Siren, Rhea. They are not happy that you deceived them.” Naaz’s
cold words struck hard with her.

“
What have you done?! You told them
about Ellie?” Rhea’s voice was rough and angry.

“
Do you think I did this on purpose?
They feel you are not fit to conduct this mission.” Naaz
answered.

“
So they asked you?!” Rhea
asked

“
I’m the only one who can finish this,
you had your chance. After this is done they want to see
you.”

Rhea paused and quietly thought to herself.
“You have deliberately manipulated the situation for your selfish
needs!” shouted Rhea.

“
You are still too young and
inexperienced; I will be taking over and after all of this is
finished, the council wants to meet the Siren.” Naaz looked in my
direction.

“
Rhea?” I looked to her for
answers.

“
We will sort everything out when we
get back, don’t worry.” Rhea assured me.

“
Well, are we ready?” Naaz
asked.

“
What, now?”

“
It’s the perfect time, they won’t see
it coming.” Naaz said.

“
As much as I hate to agree with Naaz,
she’s right, it’s the perfect time.” Marcus agreed with
her.

“
Ellie, we have no choice.” Sophia
sadly said.

I nodded to them. That was the last place I
wanted to go, I hated that place along with the creatures that
inhabited the disgusting sewers.

I stood over next to Rhea and took hold of
her hand. I stole a glance at her face, it was covered with worry
and doubt. I had a feeling that things were not going to go well
for any of us. The group formed a circle and I was lifted from the
ground and thrown to our stomach churning destination.

We arrived in the dead of night, while the
full moon shined down its white light on us. I expected to land at
the same place where we escaped, but this place was new to me. I
tried to look through the darkness but not even the moon’s light
could penetrate its dark aura. Something evil had taken root here
and we all knew what it was. I could almost reach out and touch
it.

“
This isn’t the place.” whispered
Marcus.

“
They’ve moved around quickly and we
were lucky just to learn of this location.” Naaz whispered
back.

While they whispered back and forth I felt
the wisp in my cold hands glow with ebbing light, its gentle glow
warmed my hands in the cold dark night. I could feel its warmth
gentle embrace bring me a little comfort.

“
Rhea!” Sophia pointed towards
something in the dark. “Something is moving out there.”

We all looked at the spot Sophia pointed
to in the dark, something
was
out
there, moving.

Rhea walked towards the darkness and stood
there for a few minutes before waving her hand sending black ash up
into the wind.

“
We must be close.” Rhea said as the
ash flowed behind her.

Naaz took off without warning down the hill
and into the darkness that was night.

“
Shouldn’t we stick together?” asked
Sophia.

“
She’s going to get herself killed.”
Marcus whispered.

We all followed Naaz down the muddy hill and
found a worn out sewer gate. Naaz snatched at the gate and threw it
to one side with ease. She was the first to enter the darkness,
leaving the rest of us out in the cold.

“
Ellie, are you ready?” asked
Rhea.

I swallowed a hard lump in my throat and
answered. “Yes.”

I followed behind Rhea into the tunnel. The
memories came flooding back of the creatures and the failed
assassination of the snake woman. There was no going back this
time, we had to finish this or we would die or worse, chained up to
a wall and left to die.

I cannot believe I was down here again, I
hope this time it was worth it.

The orb in my hands lit up the bleak red
stained tunnels. All the horrors of the sewers were on display for
all to see. Scratch marks covered the walls along with unknown
stains. Bloody hand prints were dotted all around. What had
happened here? I carefully made my way through the massive amount
of slime that covered along the tunnel floor. Naaz didn’t wait for
us. She had rushed through the maze of tunnels as if she knew the
way.

“
Can someone tell her to slow down?” I
asked.

“
She’s going to get us all killed.”
whispered Marcus.

Rhea ignored our pleas and carried on through
the rusty tunnel.

We turned a corner that led deeper into the
system of tunnels. We were now ankle deep into the murky water
again. My shoes were soaking and I could feel the water slowly
filling them up.

“
No this again, that’s two pairs of
shoes you owe me now.” whispered Sophia.

“
Don’t worry, I’ll buy you any amount
of shoes, now get going.” Rhea replied.

“
Those
were
good shoes too.” I added.

Rhea shushed us and we all stopped. She
turned to me and pointed at the glowing orb in my hands.

Now was the time, I held the ball up into the
air hoping it would work (come on work). We all had our hopes
resting on this one glass paperweight. Marcus took a space next to
me and readied his sword. Shuffling noises echoed down the tunnel,
my guess was that there were a few leaches around the conner. Rhea
stepped forward and caught their attention, they hissed and charged
at us.

“
Now, Ellie.” Rhea yelled.

As if the orb knew what to do, it started to
pulse a light around the tunnel. The leaches screamed and scampered
away from the light as it burned their skin.

“
It’s working!” Sophia
yelled.

“
The light will always banish the
darkness.” said Rhea.

“
Wow, I cannot believe it actually
worked.” I looked down at the glass orb as its light retreated back
into its self as if sleeping.

“
It’s all down to you now, Ellie.”
Marcus said.

I turned to him with glowing cheeks.

We continued down the dirty tunnels after
Naaz. Where the hell was she?

Doubts entered my mind and I tried to get rid
of them, but when everyone is counting on you, it’s hard not to be
filled with dread. I would try get rid of one, then another would
appear to take its place. My head was just going round in circles
and I hated it.

“
Do you think we’ll fail again?” I
asked Marcus.

“
I hope not, I don’t think we’ll get
another chance again.” he replied.

“
We have Rhea and Naaz here this time,
so I feel a little bit safe.”

“
I’m not too sure about her though, she
seems devious to me, look at what she did to you.” Marcus
said.

Marcus had brought back one of my memories.
The pain, that’s all I could, and would remember. Her sadistic
smile would haunt me forever.

“
I know, I know. I hate to say it, but
for now we need her.”

“
Yeah I guess you’re right, but I’ll
still keep an eye on her, for you.”

“
Thanks.” I shyly said.

From the corner of my eye I could feel
Marcus’s eyes glued to me, what was he looking at?

“
Let’s just get this over with.” I
whispered to him.

Loud voices swept through the tunnels, we
were getting close. The nerves had kicked in and I tried to calm
myself. The orb in my hand could almost feel my nerves and it
pulsated its warm glow through my body, energizing it.

Rhea listened to the voices and without
warning pulled away from the group leaving the three of us hanging
back.

“
Rhea?” I whispered.

She held out her hand and stopped us, we
stood our ground and she disappeared around the corner. The voice’s
soon acknowledged Rhea’s presence and began to talk like old
friends.

My heart started to pound in my chest, and
with being so close to Marcus didn’t help ether, both of us covered
in sweat. Marcus was tightly wound and he was ready to charge in at
any moment. Sophia’s face had many mud streaks across her face with
sweat beading onto her forehead, we were all tired and worn out,
and I was not cut out for this. I belonged in a world where I was
in school dreading about failing my exams not worrying about
monsters trying to kill me.

We all tried to listen in on the
conversation, but sadly there was nothing to learn.

“
Should we charge in or something?” I
asked nervously.

“
I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rhea
can handle it.” replied Sophia.

“
Maybe we
should
charge in.” said Marcus.

The voices were getting louder and I think
they were arguing about something. I had to do something. I stepped
away from the wall and sprinted after Rhea. I tried to ignore
Marcus and Sophia calling me back, but I wanted to finish this, no
I needed to finish it. I quickly stopped myself when I saw the
large serpent woman again. Her eyes opened with shock and
bewilderment.

“
So you’ve finally brought her to me to
make up for your passed mistake?” her voice seemed to have
harshness to it.

“
This is Ellie.” spoke Naaz.

“
Yes, the Siren, we’ve met before.” It
said.

Rhea quickly put herself in-between the
creature and I.

Before I could speak or try to. Loud
footsteps pounded the floor behind me. Marcus came to my side with
his sword raised. The snake woman quickly slithered up to her perch
on higher ground.

“
Lie’s, it’s nothing but lies.” The
creature screamed. “Come to me my children.”

Shrill screams and loud wailing came from
every direction and every entrance, leaches came flooding in to
protect their mother.

“
Ellie, now!” shouted Rhea.

I knew what to do. With both hands I clasped
the orb and tried to channel my power. I thought back to when I
could burst with energy. I let it grow and fester until I was ready
to release it. The heat intensified around me, I was ready to
explode.

Around me I could hear screams and whizzing
noises fly past. Rhea was shouting orders to the others, making
sure that I was protected. My body tingled all over until I could
not stand it anymore. I opened my eyes and let out a wave of power.
It traveled away from the orb, making its way to each of the
leaches, blackening their skin before finally, turning them into
ash on the spot. Some of them tried to escape but they were
consumed by the white wave.

“
No! My babies!” screamed
Idina.

The snake woman tried to make her escape but
Naaz lifted up her arm and darkness snaked from her fingertips. The
dark energy found it target and slashed at Idina’s bare flesh many
times causing her to flail and fall to the floor in pain.

Her skin had deep gashes with crimson blood
trickling from the many wounds. She laid on the floor screaming and
writhing in agony as Naaz’s power repeatedly cut deep into her
skin.

“
Stop it!” I screamed.

Naaz turned to me, her face was full of glee.
She enjoyed the pain she inflicted.

“
She needs to die.” Naaz said through
gritted teeth.

“
Not like this, this is torture.” Naaz
dismissed the darkness and turned to me, Idina made her move she
saw her chance and quickly sprung towards me. Her strong hand
snatched at my throat and lifted me up into the air, leaving me
gasping for breath.

“
No!” Marcus charged forward but with
one flick of her large tail, he was sent hurtling towards the
wall.

Rhea was about to do something with her hands
but she stopped when Idina increased her grip onto my throat.

“
Let her go!” shouted Rhea.

“
Come any closer and I’ll snap your
pretty pet’s neck.” It spat.

I gripped onto her strong arm to see if I
could influence her. Her skin was dead cold and I could feel my
body vibrate with her power. I closed my eyes and tried to go
deeper. Her hate for Rhea and Naaz was unimaginable. It was so
strong, I could almost feel myself growing mad. I delved deeper
into her memories. Something was calling to me, asking me to dive
into the many memories that lay before me.

Idina was once mortal. I could see into her
memories living a normal life with her friends and her sister, a
Siren. They were close and she did everything for her younger
sister. I tried to learn more but something fought against my
control, something that she didn’t want me to see. Naaz’s face
appeared inside her mind with her signature sick smile.