As her bedroom door loomed nearer, his heart hammered a thousand time in his rib cage, his toes twinkled in the mixed matched colored leather slipper he wore. He hadn't gotten the pleasure to have a good night rest in the past days – the dark curved circle around the rim of his eyes, his unbuttoned silky nightie and his unruly hair were a dead giveaway of many nights of turning and tossing on his bed from night till dawn. He missed her, he missed her smile, her laugh and her smell and it was all his fault all went away. If only he had said the truth. He deserved death.

At first, he thought he would get over it – wave it off and, continue his book and move back to where he belonged but he couldn't, even to complete his book which got him into his mess in the first place, he had not gotten passed the last chapter he wrote.

Daniel patrolled in front of her room like a guard on night watch, clipping his left finger nails with his front teeth one after the other.

He wanted to see her so he could apologize. But how would he do it?

Daniel fell on the wall just beside the door defeated. His forehead banging softly on its surface. What was he going to do? Maybe he should go another day.

What seemed like a slight headache tricked his insides until it morphed abruptly into an ear-splitting headache which bashed in his head when he rubbed the sides in an attempt to lessen the pain. It was so painful he could not hold his scream. "AHHHHH," he shouted with his hand holding tightly his head.

"AHHHH," he screamed again landing on the cold flooring with his bottom, his teeth clattering in pain. "What is happening to me?" He said to no one in particular as his legs fought one after the other, twisting and turning.

'Sleep' an airy voice echoed.

"What?" he managed to say, tunneling the heels of his palm on his closed eye lid.

'Close your eyes Daniel...it will all go away soon'

He made no argument. Anything to take the pain away he would do.

"All those times he said he would always protect me and it was all a lie," she heard her voice say, hollow and empty. Her eyes were still closed so she could not tell where she was but the faint smell of the perfume, she always knew and the odor of timber and iron gave her a good idea.

Zyca wished she wouldn't wake up from this bad dream. She wished it was a bad dream but then again, she'd seen the bad things he'd done.

Slowly she opened her eyes and scoffed. It indeed was the Aster's basement. The vault which was lock last time with chins and padlocks now stood wide open with no one to be seen. Written on the wall was they favorite game, HIDE AND SEEK.

She knew they wanted her to enter, to find them. They wanted to play a game of hide and seek, find and catch.

Inside was quiet and grave, and dark and lonely and the first unexpected sound she heard was the growl of her stomach. She lowered her hands to her stomach and pressed it a bit, gripping the touch she saw lying on the wall in her right hand.

The crisp white light focused on a set of dried bones at the corner which littered. She couldn't tell what it was whether it was human or animal – it was her second time seeing bones and it still crept her out. Trying as much as possible not to image herself as the falling-apart carcasses or what she would look like if Colt's plan succeeded (which it was already heading for), she continued around a murky crook and into an antechamber which opened when her hand inadvertently pushed in an indent in the wall.

The light slid on the wet cold walls, a bead of water from the vividly green ceiling fell on the surface in a continuous rhythm. Her body shivered.

"Where are you going to Zyca?" She rubbed her hands on the sleeves of her shirt in comfort. She moved forward, her feet which felt like noodles on the verge of collapsing walked in deeper and deeper.

A gasp escaped her lips on seeing a wild green without chains fast asleep, curled in a shell of his own. Its skin glinted from the light she shone on it. Its nostrils gave an unearthly sound and she thought it had awoken but it quickly flew away when it turned to her with its eyes tightly closed.

How could she get passed something that could kill her in minutes?

A sudden movement from behind spiked her interest making her whip her head to look at another wild green baring its teeth, ready to kill. No! She shone her light to see clearly.

"Lady Penicillin?"

"Hello Zyca – miss me?"

"No."

"Yes."

She curved to a height, a little lower than hers ready to pounce and she did, plunging meters high to where she stood trembling in horror.

Move. Move.

She tried to move, she really tried but she was too scared. Her eyes stayed transfixed on Master Kane's fiancée until she knocked her to the ground and into the sleeping green.

SHIT.

Zyca quickly rolled away in time when the genie she had run into snapped its teeth wanting to take a big bite out of her flesh.

"Look we can settle this," she tried to get through as she stumbled backwards. "We're of the same kinds. Greens – look," she pinched the skin on her wrist up high for them to see. All she received was a translucent drool from the sides of its mouths.

"Lady Penicillin, I worked for you. Please don't do this. Colt is the bad one."

"Any chance to kill you I will."

"Ok I guess it's two against one then," only then she saw them give a nod.

The both of them attacked at the same scratching the air with their extended nails and all she could do was to run, run for her life after she threw the torch in their faces. She had no combat skills nor powers and she knew she was sure to die if she didn't run.

She turned and turned again, every nerve in her body tingled unpleasantly. She wanted to go home, to normality where she was safe. And then she crept around yet another bend to a solid wall head on which was designed with manifold scrapings. The brass lock adjacent to the wall told her she had jammed a door.

Zyca approached it and gripped the handle with a tight but it didn't open. The multiple stomping of grounds sounded louder and louder.

"C'mon, c'mon," her fingers began to hurt from the pressure she was applying, her shoulders stiff and rigid. "Why won't you open?"

It seemed the words she sprouted from her lips were enough to open the door because she fell right in, slipping down a muddy slide which stained and ripped her clothes and she tumbled down headfirst with a thud.

"Ouch!"

Zyca felt numerous eyes on her as soon as she fell. She was sitting at the end of a long and wide dim lit room with cells at every corner conceivably for the wild greens. Towering pebble pillars of chains and spikes rose in front of each cell looming a firm volume of dusky obscurities through the empty cells. Oh, how she was glad they were empty but the thought did nothing to stop the hammering of her heart as she listened in the chill stillness.

She grabbed her worn out clothes and stepped with caution, watching for any signal to run. She kept her eyes narrowed, her breathing ragged, drawing closer to the end of the last cell which was protected by a three-quarter wall blocking her view of the other side. So, she craned her neck to see what was beyond the wall.

It was another medium space with similar pillars, the only difference was the people tied to the pebble extensions.

"Mother, father, Allet," she muffled, scanning her eyes on them each lasting more than a second.

She sprung over the wall, paying no heed to her wide-eyed father and dropped to her knees in front of her sister.

"Allet - please wake up," she shook her shoulders. "Please – please don't be dead." she palmed her face softly with her hands. She went over to her tied hands on her knees and loosened the twine which to her astonishment were easy to come off.

She went back to her the same way she came, and held her like a delicate flower in her hands. "Allet – Allet," she shook again her shoulders. Allet's face was white and pale, she looked lifeless.

"It's no use," Naxeremis softly said with a look of regret in his eyes.

"This is all your fault, if only you hadn't let your greed take over you, we wouldn't be in this mess right now," she looked up glaring through the darkness at him.

A groan escaped from her mother's lips, closing her eyes tightly in pain but she didn't wake up instead she fell back into a state of sleep as several words escaped her lips.

"I admit I was wrong ..."

"Why wouldn't you. This is all your fault."

"What a lovely family reunion," a soft voice said.

Zyca jumped and spun around fast, scraping her knees which left behind a harsh sting. Her breath caught in her throat and so did her father's. Naxeremis tried throwing himself forward making the twine around his torso twitch harshly. But the twine was too tight so it sent him reeling backwards.

"Save your strength, it's no use," he said then turned to Zyca.

"Colt – Colt Aster," she mustered a little strength to say his name.

"It's a surprise Zyca, I was sure you would have not been able to escape them," he said, clicking the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Although he never came outright to say evil to her face, his stance and the contours on his face told her he indeed was enjoying what he saw, what he'd done.

"You were my friend," she snarled through her teeth. "You were my best friend. I told you everything, you protected me, and you were a part of me."

She couldn't find the strength to stand, to spit in his face a thousand times like he did, and tear away the smirk off his lips with her bare hands.

Colt laughed dully at her words. "Never had I thought you as my friend, you were..." He seemed like he was at a loss of words then he snapped his fingers like he remembered. "Let's just say you were an important chess piece I needed for my game to be complete."

"You still have a chance to change. You are blinded by revenge and blood thirst – you don't know what you're doing," she had hopes, the boy she knew and loved was inside him. She was sure everything was not all pretense.

"Do as she says," he Father piped up. "You still have a chance, don't taint your soul like I did to mine and my family."

A smile curled up the corners of Colt's mouth. His gazed stayed fixed on Zyca. "Let me ask you a question," said Colt as his eyes turned cold. He spoke slowly. "Do you know what it feels like to come home one day only to hear your sister died – killed on her birthday? And Clearance was a little boy then so I had to bear the sibling pain alone. So tell me why I shouldn't make him pay," he pointed his finger at her father who looked ashamed.

Zyca lowered Allet to the floor and carefully she stood, shaking violently but not enough to pull her back to the ground. "I can't tell you I understand how you feel, but I've come close to feeling like that because of my sister. This is not the right way to go about things."

Colt's smile broadened. He peeled himself from where he rested on an arch opening. It was then she noticed the people behind, the Aster's with a smug look on their faces. Well she shouldn't be surprised his father and Clearance were happy to watch her rot but his mother – oh the woman who she thought was on her side.

She couldn't move when he drew closer and closer to her, reaching out a hand to her, he grabbed her, closing his fingers tightly around her wrist like she was a piece of trash. Zyca could feel his nails digging into her wrist and a trickle of blood oozed out.

His face came close to hers, fanning his breath on the tip of her ears. "Zyca, the tree," he breathed and her eyes widened. "Zyca..." A tear dripped down her face. "Under the tree."

She gasped softly. "It was you. You pretended to be Allet, you wanted me to see what you wanted me to see." She couldn't believe it, all those times she thought she was communicating with her sister - it was all a lie."

"Well you could say I planned everything but Clearance did the bidding."

"I loved you Colt. You were like my brother," the words came faster, pouring like a water fall. "You betrayed my trust, I trusted you. My father did you all wrong, something worthy of death. And now I'm going to pay for it, all of us are going to pay for it," she noticed her ever silent father looked away.

"An eye of an eye."

Zyca grabbed the collars of his shirt and struck him with her fist with all the strength she could muster. "Go to hell!"

To her dismay he quickly recovered after spinning rearward.

"How dare you touch my son," his mother stormed towards them and struck her with her own fist, which was too much of her to handle, sending her staggering to the pillar.

"After all you people did to my daughter, you dare hit my son!" She pushed her harshly on her chest. "I can't wait for all of you to be in pain – so I can see my daughter again." To her surprise Colt's father and Clearance didn't bare the same anger the other two bore. Yes, she could understand his brother was too young to know his older sister but why did his father only look sad, he looked pained and wounded.

"You have the crystal?" Zyca asked.

Colt dug into his pocket and produced the object she had come to hate, then put it back in in delight.

"Shall we?" Colt tapped his mother on the back. "And Zyca, I have a gift for you."

Zyca stared at them.

The ground began to shake like an impending earthquake rippling the air with its scrunch. Zig zag cracks made their way just behind her, making a large circle around the pillars.

"Stop it. She can't fight on her own – this is a slaughter," her father finally said. Now he comes to her aid.

"Our plan exactly." Cold spoke menacingly as he raised the floor surrounding the pillars about a meter high and she stood there down below all on her own.

She didn't know where they came from or how they surrounded her in a couple of seconds in the midst of the earthen dust.

Matching to the front were Master Kane and Lady Penicillin.

"Master Kane?"

"Your reactions are always killing me," the lady laughed, a little too loud.

"It was his plan for you to take care of me huh?"

He shrugged.

She was done for. Who would save her now, her savior wanted her dead?

Zyca farrowed her eyebrows, her attention on the predators. They came into focus with slow steps like a predator ready to devour its prey and she was the prey.

The smile had gone off their faces to be replaced by an ugly look.

"Kill them."

The wild greens advanced progressively, spreading out in straight lines with the Tarantula as Riel at the fore front, her old masters at the behind. She could hear their tramping feet across the dusty ground. They really wanted her dead.

Hands to her heart, Zyca began to run, hands swinging in the air as she moved, across the space, narrowing avoiding yet another snap of teeth - followed by multiple laughter's from above and a very female scream. Mother. Sarah watched her in fear and she watched her too with tears in her eyes. She didn't want to die, at least not yet.

Zyca tumbled on something hard and fell hard on the wall and tasted blood in her mouth – the enemies close behind.

A hand slid around her throat.

Master Kane gripped her neck from behind and turned her around until she saw the blood thirsty beast in his eyes. He was choking her, she couldn't breathe. She could hear him breathing in her ear. "Dead and I go home," he growled, compressing his grip.

"Is that what the promised you if you helped them?" she managed to spit out clawing on his hand. "They are liars, they will betray you as they did me."

For a moment she thought, it would have pity on her and leave her alone but he only slammed her back to the wall. She inhaled.

She had to do something unless he would kill her.

Her hand swung out, digging an elbow into the closest place she could reach which was under his arm but it was no use, even a grunt didn't escape him. She was slowly losing her vision, black dots clouded her sight, and her consciousness started to slip away.

"Stop it – please stop it," her mother cried again and again, wheezing and panting - and all she received was a sadist laughter.

Her mother looked drained somehow, like her life force was slipping away too, her once midnight hair which looked like her own now looked greyish and dull. She wanted to scream to ask why, she didn't understand. Were her powers taken away too?

Gasping, Zyca dug her nails in her palms then snapped them back open with force and pressed them into his eyes sockets as hard as she could. Master Kane roared like a lion in distress, and freeing his grip a little but enough for her to escape. With her knees, she kicked his groin and he fell down releasing her fully.

One down.

"Isn't it cowardly of you to send many creatures to kill one little girl?" she called out, her vision coming back to life. "Seven against one. Isn't that too many?"

Colt opened his mouth to say something but froze when a whip of air she knew wasn't his doing from his reaction, spun like a whirlwind.

Zyca turned around to stare down at the space, dust from the sands sprayed her eyelid, decorating her lashes with like materials. Two red lights bright like a burning flame appeared in the midst of the pile of air; it lifted the hairs on her skin. Several thoughts spun in her mind on what she saw but none drove in the direction of what she later saw.

Daniel stumbled, his hands dithering in the air until he fell face down on the surface. She couldn't believe it.

"Daniel?" she asked to make sure what she saw was not just a pigment of her imagination. She watched as he placed both of his palms down and hoisted himself up to come face to face with her on his knees.

Stillness decorated the air. Zyca didn't know whether to jump for joy or to smack him for being so dumb to get caught up in her business after his deceit. But what over took all those was the question of how. How did he get to the genie world? If he had made a wish, she would have felt the sparks and tingling's in her fingers.

"Nice enough for you to join our little party. Please enjoy," Colt yelled from above. "Watch Naxeremis, and feel the exact same way I felt when we lost one of our own."

A buffer blasted to life overhead, a luminous cupola of glass and stopped in front of the elevated molds to shield them possibly from the blood splashes. He really, really wanted her dead.

"How did you get here?" she asked worriedly when he shifted to stand beside her

"Later. For now, stay behind me. We just have to try to stay alive for a few minutes," Daniel said sticking out his hands in a form of protection. But what could he do, he was only human.

"Why a few minutes?"

He shook his head. "Later everything will be much clearer," he looked above with shielded eyes then looked back to her. "I'll try to distract them and when I do, you run. Never stop running until I tell you to."

"What about you? They are dangerous." Daniel raised his hands in response and the air undulated around him, electrical sparks of what could be a mixture of killer elements rolled of his body. Zyca gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "You have genie magic. How?"