"Chloe! I'm already in the throne room. Hurry up!"

I push myself to go faster up the stairs. Luckily, no wolf has seen me yet. But I can't rely on luck all the time.

After a few twists and turns, I make it to the throne room and the doors are ajar.

In the middle of the room, I see a large manhole-like opening on the floor.

I run to it, knowing that Mia is probably inside and looking for the scepter.

"Climb in!"

I waste no second and jump into the dark hole.

My feet land on a dusty floor. I look up and see the hole I jumped in through is just a few feet above me.

A pale hand grabs my wrist and pulls me forward. I recognize the brown haired girl as Mia/Apolla.

"Where are we going?" I ask her.

She shushes me and walks faster.

Soon enough, we are immersed in darkness because the hole we crawled in from is so far away.

I wonder which part of the castle we are walking to. I've never seen this hidden passageway before.

This castle has it's fair share of hidden passageways, but I only know a handful of them.

The path becomes narrower and we end up crouching, then crawling on our hands and knees.

Mia stops moving and I nearly bump into her.

"What is it?" I ask in a raspy whisper.

"We're close. I'm going to do the entrance-making spell." She says.

Her hair and eyes glow a faint white.

"Isn't that the really loud one tha-" A small explosion cuts me off.

"-makes holes in walls." I sigh.

A small amount of light pokes through the hole in front of us.

I take the liberty of jumping through first.

I land on my feet and find myself in a small room illuminated by the moonlight that seeps in from the small window.

A pedestal with a cube-shaped glass covering stands in the middle of the room. Inside it, a transparent scepter rests on a cushion.

The colorless scepter has the same blue alluvial stones on the exact same places mine does. In fact, that one looks exactly like mine, except for the transparency.

"It your scepter. Kaceline's touch changed it. I saw your initial look of doubt."

I slowly make my way to the pedestal. Who knew it was all this simple? It looks very easy.

Too easy.

I freeze in my tracks. It can't be this easy. It is never this easy. This is a trap.

And we fell right into it.

"Well, well, well. You foound iiit."

I look around the room in hopes of finding the source of the taunting and singsong-like voice speaking. I know it's Kaceline's voice, but it's louder and sounds hypnotic. It even has an echo that is physically impossible in a room this small.

Mia is on my right, searching just as frantically for Kaceline. Her heart beats faster and so does mine. I hate being vulnerable. Especially on home ground.

"I'm not here yet, but I'll fiiind you in miiinute!" Kaceline's voice sings out louder this time.

I make the impulsive move and run to the scepter. I smash the glass case with my fist. Shards of glass pierce and cut my knuckles but I don't care.

I am just about to lay my hand on the wand when I am suddenly flung backwards by an unknown subject.

My back hits the wall with so much force the wall concaves.

I peel myself off of the dent in the bricks and growl at Kaceline who's dressed like she's at a gala.

Her white hair and eyes are highlighted by the white bodycon dress she's wearing. Her look is completed by her evilly smug smirk.

"Thought I'm that dumb Apolla and Rara, or should I say, Chloe and dear sister?"

My eyes widen. How did she find out? I made sure to disguise myself and my scent well.

"Any other witch or wolf would be terrified of demons. Actually, everyone evacuated the castle when they saw your little party trick. Except for me. I've dealt with demons before, sugarplum. And I can tell the difference between a real one and a fake one. Besides, it can't have been a coincidence that you 'went to bed' then there's suddenly an attack."

She puts a hand on her hip and raises an eyebrow.

"so checkmate, I win. Say goodbye now!"

Thunder roars and I use my fast reflexes to jump away from my previous position, where a lightning bolt struck.

"I've also mastered weather magic, Lumia. Wanna play?"

She shoots us a bright smile.

Bright white light escapes from Mia's body and I cover my eyes from the raw energy.

When the light dies down, I see Kaceline in a corner with a translucent sphere around her body.

Mia's skin is back to it's chocolate brown color and mine is pale again. We are back in our original bodies and I waste no time in shifting into my very much missed wolf from.

Feels so good to be back on four legs instead of two. Now let's maul a wicked witch!

I agree with Kasey here and pounce at Kaceline's barrier. Like I expected, it shatters like glass and it's fragments disappear as they fall to the floor.

Mia conjures icicles that fly in Kaceline's direction. Instead of stabbing her like I hoped they would, they suddenly melt midair and fall into a puddle on the floor.

I let out a growl at Kaceline before making a dash and clawing at her exposed back. She falls onto her front then turns over and raises her right palm in my direction.

I leap away from her just in time. A barrage of ice shards barely graze my ear.

Kaceline is knocked backwards by a large beam of glowing white power.

Mia stands opposite her with both her palms facing Kaceline.

I use the distraction to hurry over to the pedestal. I ready myself to shift back to my human form.

The wall that bore the only window in the room is torn down. Debris and rubble tumble over the pedestal and I.

Large chunks of rubble pile on top of my tail and I have no trouble freeing myself. As soon as I am out of the rubble, I growl viciously at the wolves that prevented me from getting my scepter.

From my peripheral vision, I see the scepter underneath a large brick near my right hind leg.

I go back to growling at the fifteen or so guards that are in their wolf form. They can't see the scepter even with enhanced sight.

I just wonder how they even got here. We're floors high.

With a white witch as Luna Queen, anything is possible, Chloe. No shut up and work with me!

I listen to my wolf and begin tearing through the small group of guards. In a short free seconds, I have all of them laying on the ground unconscious.

I turn back to Mia and Kaceline and find them still going at each other. Kaceline doesn't look like she can handle much more, but Mia looks equally bad if not worse.

I have to help Mia. Kaceline is much more powerful than her and Mia looks half beaten to death.

But at the same time, I need to shift back and retrieve the scepter.

I can't seem to make a decision on what I should do.

Kaceline is about to finish Mia off. I can't lose another parent figure.

At the same time, the scepter is literally within arm's reach. I can save my kingdom.

In the middle of my mental battle, I manage to notice the large dusty gray wolf that stalks closer to me.

"Hello there, dear Chloe."

I growl at the wolf. I hate how he looks so identical to me. From the eyes to the fur and our size.

"I will make sure you'll pay for all you've done, Uncle."