After telling Kate and Brandon as much as we knew, well as much as we trusted them to know, about Shade and his demon blood, we sat quietly in a large circle with me being the centre of attention since my wings were still out but no matter how hard I tried they just wouldn't disappear.

"Aurora?" asked Asher, moving to sit directly in front of me.

"What?" I replied, my dry throat making me sound a lot harsher than I had meant to.

He raised an eyebrow at me making me let out a large sigh.

"Sorry," I said, rubbing a hand down my face. "have any ideas as to why I can't get rid of these?" I asked extending my wings outwards to prove a point.

"I'm guessing its because you still feel threatened" he shrugged, averting his attention to my wings "but not for yourself, I think that your subconsciously worried for Shade since he was the one who got hurt" he explained.

Shade who was sitting next to me pushed my left wing out of the way and adjusted himself to sit in front of it so I could see him.

"Aurora, I'm fine," he said placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

I concentrated on looking into his crimson eyes and started to picture my wings disappearing but once again, nothing happened. I groaned in frustration and jumped to my feet, needing to get some space.

"Why can't I do anything right?" I shouted suddenly, not meaning to actually voice my thoughts aloud.

Everyone stared at me silently, giving me a chance to calm myself down.

"Well if they won't leave I may as well put them to use" I sighed extending my wings outwards.

Asher nodded his head in approval while Shade stepped closer to me, probably wanting to come with me. Deciding that I needed some time alone I shook my head at Shade, making him stop in his tracks with a worried look on his face.

"Get ready to leave" I commanded before closing my wings forcefully around me, making myself shoot speedily up into the air.

I held out my hands and summoned the darkness to conceal me as I flew swiftly over the dead towering trees. I did a full circle of the area's perimeter to scan for any sort of movement or demon activity, occasionally dipping down to fly through the gaping branches, having to spin and turn sharply to avoid getting myself caught on them as they reached out towards me like barbed wooden claws.

"Aurora!" came the voice that I recognised as Shade's

I flew back above the trees and looked around to see him flying towards me at a great speed, what's he trying to do, knock me out of the air? I thought before realising that I still had my shield up which made it ten times harder to see me but since he was part of our little group he knew exactly what to look out for.

I dropped it instantly and flew sharply to the side, narrowly dodging him as he sped past in a gust of wind.

"Ha!" he shouted triumphantly "I knew it was you"

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his proud face.

"I thought I told you to stay with the others," I said regaining my serious expression.

"Really? It hurts that you think that I'd leave you fly off on your own" he said while shaking his head. "Besides, Since when do I listen to you Princess?" he added with a small wink.

I rolled my eyes at him before I continued to scan the trees.

"Seen anything yet?" he asked curiously, studying the ground below us.

"Nothing" I replied curtly.

"You have to be careful using your shield from now on, you need your energy" worried Shade, looking over at me with concerned eyes. I nodded my head and began to fly down through the trees towards the floor to have one final check of the area.

As we descended down to the forest floor I let my thoughts travel to the journey ahead, the closer that we get to the river of souls, the more demons there will be. It seemed stupid, maybe even heartless for us to lead our friends in that direction only to leave them alone on Emrick's command.

I know that they are fully capable of taking care of each other, but they're not going to be in the right head space if they think that Shade and I have either been taken died. I dread to think what could happen to them if they become reckless and confront Sebastian's men on the other side.

"Why don't we just leave now," I said quietly, just as we made contact with the ground.

"Princess..." began Shade, landing directly in front of me.

"No," I said, looking down at the ground "We are basically leading them to their deaths! like seriously, do you really think that Emrick will keep his word?" I blurted meeting his eye contact.

Shade looked down at me but seemed to be lost in thought.

"Why don't we just tell them?" I asked after a whole deafening minute of silence had passed us.

"We can't," he said softly "They won't understand"

I kicked a lone twig across the forest floor and screamed in frustration.

"Then what are we going to do?" I asked throwing my hands up "You know that they will come looking for us if we just disappear... they'll get themselves killed"

Another wave of silence flooded the air, allowing my stressed mind to clear slightly. I stood still, reminding myself that shouting at Shade would solve nothing, after all, we had to stick together if this was going to work.

"Got it!" exclaimed Shade clapping his hands together.

I snapped my head in his direction and looked up at him hopefully.

"We can send them a message orb, " he said making my heart sink.

"You know how to send one?" I asked trying to remain optimistic.

He looked at me dumbstruck for a second before he formed his classical smirk on his face.

"It can't be that hard," he said confidently.

"Of course not. It's only, and I quote, a form of the most powerful magic that has only been seen within those who have high authority" I groaned.

His face dropped and he turned away from me, concealing his wings so that he could kneel down on the ground without them getting in the way.

"Watch and learn" he whispered quietly, even though I couldn't actually see what he was doing.

I stared at his back curiously with my arms crossed, occasionally seeing beams of light flow from his direction. Once he had finally finished he turned to face me with a small glowing orb in his hands. My mouth gaped open as I took in the celestial white orb, he had actually done it.

"Close your mouth, don't want to catch flies now do you?" he mocked, making me shake myself back to reality.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" I questioned moving around him slowly.

"You tend to pick up things when you're thrown around to live in different places" he explained " I learned to make the most of it and learn whatever I could to increase my chances of survival" he finished with an unreadable expression on his face.

I nodded my head slowly and prevented myself from being pushy and asking more about his past.

"They're going to be ok," I said happily.

"Of course they are" laughed Shade, throwing the ball up so it hovered in the air before us. "They're survivors"

With that thought in mind, I concentrated on my wings and concealed them successfully. I cheered happily and was quickly engulfed in a small hug.

Now that we could send them an explanation, I know that Asher would be able to understand and he would make them all understand.

They were all going to be ok.