Chapter 51

Aria's POV

I sat at Atlas' desk, staring at the map, left there from when I had been kidnapped. It was the middle of the night, but I couldn't sleep, so I went to make a plan.

How to destroy a cult.

Maybe I should type it into wikihow, see what comes up.

(A/N I actually did it, it only told me how to join one, how to recognise one, and how to start one.... Soooo who wants to join my cult??)

Anyway, safe to say I had no idea how to destroy them, other than killing them all, or putting them all on a massive bonfire....

Lucy and I had come up with a plan, but not a full one, we still needed to know their numbers, and what they were planning for their next move.

I threw my head back in defeat, I didn't even know the size of the cult.

I didn't know what weapons they had at their disposal.

I knew nothing about them.

"You look like you need some help," Lucy said, suddenly appearing next to me.

"Lucy," I gasped, clutching my heart, "Where have you been?"

I hadn't seen her since yesterday, she just traversed away, leaving me with my family.

"While you have been reconnecting with your family, I've been reconnecting with my own," I just stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"And....," I prompted, she looked like a cat who had got the cream, only not a cat, and there was no cream.... So more like a Fae who had something to spill. "Spill."

She flashed me a smirk, "Well, my younger sister, Leah, is great at surveillance, so a few weeks ago I got her to follow your father and his cult, and to report back to me."

"What did she find?" I asked impatiently.

"What didn't she find," She answered, "She knows their location, their numbers, even what time the guards take a toilet break, every. Single. Day."

I just stared at her, "How does she knew all that?"I asked with a gasp.

"My sister is very persistent, give her someone to watch, soon she will know absolutely everything about that person."

I nodded, "Cool, so what did she find?" Before she could answer I quickly added, "The short and concise version, it's 3 AM, I don't have the energy, for anything actually."

She laughed before answering, "There are about 100 rogues left, give or take a few, with no leader they've fallen to anarchy, they are uncontrollable, but that makes them disorganised, an advantage for us,"

I nodded, "So it wouldn't be too hard to defeat them, as long as we strike soon, and we make sure not to leave any standing." I yawned out.

"That's the jist of it, I'll tell you the rest in the morning, when your not going to fall asleep on me," and with that, she was gone, and I was alone in the office once again.

It was once I was alone that sleep finally caught up to me.

I yawned again, nearly falling asleep in the chair where I sat.

Then I did fall asleep in the chair where I sat.

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"Aria, Ari, babe wake up," I woke up to Forest, shaking me slightly, "Are you awake now?" He asked with a grin.

"No," I mumbled out tiredly, "And you're dumped."

He just grinned again, picking me up in his arms, "If you're going to go back to sleep, at least sleep in a bed," His eyes furrowed in confusion, "What were you doing in Dad's office anyway?"

I yawned as he placed me down on our bed, pulling the covers up to keep me warm, I was half asleep by the time I answered, "I was tracking down my Father's cult,"

He may have said something about that, but I didn't know. I was asleep before the words fully left my mouth.

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When I woke again the sun was high in the sky. I could hear pots and pans being bashed down stairs, I guessed it was around lunch time. One glance at the clock confirmed my suspicions, it was one o'clock.

I would say I overslept, but I didn't actually sleep until about half five, I was quite proud of the seven and a half hours of sleep I'd managed to grab.

I walked sluggishly into the bathroom, still half asleep, and turned on the tap. I splashed my face with water, effectively waking myself up.

Next point on the agenda, clothes.

I went to my wardrobe, selecting some jeans and a comfy top. I had no reason to leave the house today, and if I did, people would just have to deal.

Feeling much more awake now, I gracefully skipped down the stairs.

Just kidding.

I tripped on air and yeeted myself down the stairs, miraculously surviving, just to run into a closed door.

My day had only just begun and it was already going great.

"Ari, is that you?" I heard Forest confused voice from through the door.

"Yep," I winced out, rubbing my nose while opening the door.

"Are you ok dear?" Isla asked. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.

So did Atlas.

And Forest.

"Yep, I'm quite alright, it was the doors fault."

That did it, they all simultaneously burst into laughter, and soon I joined in too.

Finally Atlas stopped laughing for long enough to ask, "Why did you sleep so late?"

"I was up until about four, planning the downfall of a cult, it's harder than it looks you know."

They nodded, "I bet," Isla said, "Have you asked Lucy to help, she could probably find some information about them."

I smiled and was about to tell them when I was beaten to it, "She already did, we have everything we need to know. We just need to set a time and date."

"Lucy," Everyone greeted her before taking a seat round the kitchen table , "Do you think the others should be here for this?" I asked.

The others being Ash, Skye, and their parents.

"Already on it," Atlas, pressing some buttons on his phone.

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It took another half an hour of impatient waiting for the others to arrive.

And yes, I will call them the others as much as possible. Saying Ash, Skye and their parents every single time took to long.

Any way.

The others arrived.

And it was time to make our plan.

"The cult is hiding in the woods, here to be exact," Lucy said, sticking a thumb tack into the map we'd hung on a bulletin board while we waited, you could say we did it because we were board ok I'll shut up now.

Everyone nodded to show they knew where she meant, "And from what we could gather, there are about 100 rogues, ranging from experienced fighters to newbies, although most of their forces were killed off in the last fight, whatever you do, don't underestimate them."

We nodded again, I was feeling like one of the dolls on a car dashboard, nodding and nodding over and over again. It was getting annoying.

"We should be able to infiltrate here," She said, sticking another thumbtack into the map, to the right of the first one.

Again everyone nodded, and because I was irregular, and decided to spice thing up a bit, I nodded and said yes at the same time, as I said, spicing things up abit....

I'm so funny....

Anyway......

I had zoned out halfway through the plan and started paying attention at just the right part so I didn't miss anything.

Score.

"So that's the plan." Atlas stated, "We attack tomorrow morning, all of us go, as well as the warriors and some of the trainees waiting in case we need back up. We attack quickly, destroying the camp, leaving no survivors and get out as quickly as possible. Sounds good to everyone?"

Everyone nodded again.

Ha, bobble heads.

"That's that then. I'll go and inform the warriors," Ash's dad said, walking towards the door. Just before he left he turned to me, "It's nice to have you back Aria, back where you belong."

I nodded with a smile, "It's good to be back."