“Shade, if my people knew that you could be one of these kind of specials, especially since Darren exposed it with his attack, I have to warn you and let you know that upon returning to Teleen, all unmated, unmarried males in my race will be courting you for your attention. You’ll probably be bombarded by them, pushed to choose one of them for a mate.”

“What? Oh no, no, no. They can’t make me do anything. I won’t choose anybody. I won’t be staying there at all. I wouldn’t return there after what happened, and besides I’m going home.”

Dylan nodded and sighed. “Yes, Shade, of course you will want to go home. But I must warn you. Even at home, you will not be left alone. Teleen men are relentless. Our queen will not stop them either, not until you choose one of them as your mate. Only then will it be ordered by our queen to leave you alone. It is vital for the survival of our people. I’m sorry, Shade. At the very least I had to warn you before that happens.”

Shade let her face screw up in disgust. Marriage was the least of her worries. She wished he hadn’t said a thing about it at all. She turned and slumped down onto her sleeping bag again. She still felt tired and now irritated on top of it all. She stared up at the ceiling, lit up in Dylan’s glow. The whole cave was flickering in the light. There was still no sign of a way out. She pulled the blanket over her head and balled up into a ball.

“Dylan, how are we getting out of this place? I looked everywhere. I don’t even see where I came in! What is this place? I feel claustrophobic and it’s cold down here.” She closed her eyes and waited.

“It’s a place to forget oneself or forget about someone. It’s both a blessing and a curse depending how you look at it. This cave is one of the ancient prisons of Faerie. People were left here for years to forget about themselves, wither away or to emerge fresh, with a clean slate. It’s an immortal’s dungeon or oubliette, Shade. I am surprised you stumbled across one; usually it can trap only immortals.” He paused. She listened to the silence, waiting for him to continue while pondering his words.

“It does make me wonder why you are down here. You must be immortal then, to end up in such a place. Possibly a powerful changeling for all we know.”

“Who gets people out of these things? Who made them? Was it the Lonares?” She muttered. She felt her eyes heavy with sleep; she rubbed them and struggled to stay awake.

“No, as I said this room could be used as a prison but not always. It can be a safe place, you know when you’re being pursued and you need to seek a sanctuary. No one gets people out of these places, except for the faery who put you here. You must will it so yourself–to escape, I mean; you must get us out here Shade”

She thought of his last words as she drifted off to sleep. What a bunch of crock.

*****

Shade woke up in darkness yet again. She heard a soft breathing across the room. Was she still in the oubliette? The cool, damp air reassured her disappointment as she sat up, pulling the blanket down from her head. She felt around for her light stone, which sat cold and dormant in the center of the room where she had left it. She grasped it and watched it reignite. Her eyes focused in the dim light as it grew. She watched the bundle that was Dylan softly sleeping. He wasn’t aglow anymore. He must have slipped his glamour back on like a robe before bed. She sighed and set the light stone down again. She wondered if she should wake him and also about how long she had slept. She didn’t know what day or time it was anymore. It could have been hours or minutes and she wouldn’t even know it down here in the dark, dank bowels of the earth. Her cell phone was long dead, since she hadn’t charged it lately. She leaned against the smooth stone and thought about everything they had spoken about before she had let sleep win her over…was it the night or day before?

She felt bad for doubting Dylan, but he didn’t make much sense to her half of the time. She smiled, glad that she wasn’t alone down here anymore but pondered again on the subject of escape. Just will it so? What the heck was that about? Like, tell the stone to open up and let me out kind of thing? Shade thought with frustration. She was pretty sure she hadn’t asked to be placed here, at least not on purpose.

She stood up again and shook her head. Oh whatever, this entire place doesn’t make any sense. Changelings, witches, faeries and whatever the hell else pops up. She wondered how much of the world she had grown up in was real at all. It seemed like none of it was real, it was just a lie, just a façade that the fey had played on all of human kind. They probably got a good laugh out of it all the time. Oh, what dumb humans they are, can’t figure out that more than half their land isn’t even on their maps because it’s ours. We can do whatever the heck we want and they don’t know any better. Idiots!

She kicked the wall again, but not hard enough to hurt her foot but enough to make her grunt. She thumped her back against the wall and sighed in.

“You alright there? The wall isn’t going to kick you back you know, it didn’t really do anything to you.” Dylan had his hands behind his head while he remained lying, head up and staring at her, sneering.

“Oh shut up. How do we get out? We need to get out like yesterday, Dylan! How do we do it?” She stared at him, huffing out her anger as she marched back to her sleeping bag. She shook it out violently and stuffed it into her bag. She pulled out her canteen and drank the cool drops of water. She tossed it back in and then tossed her bag to the side as she sank down to the ground, feeling the tears sting her eyes. Darn if she was going to give Dylan any more signs of her current breakdown, she just couldn’t take the mortification.

Dylan sighed and stretched out. He stood up and held his hand out to her. “Come on, we gotta go.”

He waited as she stared back up at him, tears still pooling in her eyes. She took his hand and stood up, swinging her pack onto her back and followed him over to the smooth walls of stone. “Now, to leave these prisons, one must believe in impossibility. Lay your hands on the stone and think, think about the mountains you saw before you got here, the fountains. Make a road in your head that will lead you to the place you want to go, and it will happen, make a way for yourself, for us.”

Shade studied his face, feeling a prick of hope mixed with disbelief as he spoke. She nodded and did what he told her to. She closed her eyes and wished the stone would open and let her out into the sunlight, into the wilderness she so longed to see again. She prayed and wished as hard as she could, caressing the cool rock and waiting for the stone to do something under her dirty fingers.

Nothing.

Shade opened her eyes and stared at the rock. She looked over at Dylan and shook her head. “Nothing’s happening Dylan. What if we’re stuck here?” She stared at the curved wall, wanting a way out where there was none. She sucked her breath in. “Wait!” She grabbed her pack and opened the zipper, rummaging through it frantically. She pulled out the runes Ilarial had given her. She held them in her gritty hand and stared at the symbols. She shook her head; she didn’t know what she had to do with them. Ilarial said they would help me find my way when there is none, but how? She stared at them and closed her eyes, silently praying for a way out of the oubliette.

“Shade! What’s going on?” Dylan pulled her out of her thoughts. She glanced around to find the rock fading in front of them with a soft rumble around them. The bubble was no longer a bubble but extending into an elongating hall, growing and growing longer into the earth until it reached the top of the soil. Steps formed out of the smooth rock, and sunlight slowly streamed in through dirt and roots dangling down from the forest floor.

The walls had stopped rumbling and the ground stilled. She looked over to Dylan as they now stared down the small corridor to the stairs. She smiled and looked at him as he reached back, grabbing his cloak and her light stone from the ground.

He tossed the stone to her as they walked up the stairs. “Way to go, Shade. See, you just have to believe in yourself.”

“It worked! Ilarial gave me these rune stones that would help me out, when I needed it. I didn’t even do much but wish there to be a way out…wow, it’s amazing Dylan!” They both shouted with glee as they scurried up each step.

The sun bore down on them like a spotlight in their faces. Shade’s eyes cramped in pain as they adjusted to the bright sunlight. She blinked and shaded her eyes with her hands, and looked around them. They were no longer in the river of boulders but at the base of the Santiran mountain range. She pulled herself up and out of the hole in the ground with Dylan just behind her. The ground seemed to swallow up the darkness of the prison as they watched it close behind them. Only grass and leaves lay where the exit used to be. She bent and reached out to touch the patch of grass and dirt. It felt firm and undisturbed. She swallowed, amazed by the whole thing.

“Look, Dylan,” she pointed up the massive wall of mountain. “It’s the Santiran Mountain! We must be so close to the fountains! We’re almost there!” She walked with a little jump in her skip, almost bursting with anticipation. She would find the magic waters of the Santiran fountains, and then she would be that much closer to going home. Home. Going back to her snotty nosed brothers and bratty sister. She missed them so much her heart ached in her chest. She’d be able to hug her mother again. She wanted to run up the mountain and hurry as fast as possible; she could barely contain herself.

Dylan grabbed her arm and tugged hard. She was about to curse him out when he pressed a finger to his lips and tugged at her arm again for her to follow him. Her eyes widened as she strained to hear what he had. She followed him behind a boulder near a dip in the mountains side, almost like someone had taken a scooper and scooped out a bite of the mountain’s base. She wasn’t sure she liked being inside the hollowed stone but whatever Dylan had heard tripped his alarms at full force.

“What is it Dylan?” She whispered as they waited. She was about to ask him again, when she heard it. Murmurs of voices seemed to dance on the rock walls and made her turn her head in all directions to discover which way they were coming from. Maybe this hiding spot was not such a good idea. The voices grew louder and echoed even more, like they were hitting a concaved amplifier.

They waited quietly, barely breathing in fear of discovery. The voices continued to dance around them like they would in crowded arena. She knew they were coming from the side they would have to follow to get to the fountains. She gritted her teeth with impatience, willing the men to move along already.

When the murmurs returned into silence, Dylan peeked over his shoulder at her and nodded his head in the same direction as the voices. The strangers were going where they needed to be. Shade nodded in agreement, but the pit in her stomach flipped with anxiety. She wasn’t sure how many people might be waiting for them around the bend, how many Lonares were guarding the mountain?

They found the path deserted. They were breathing out sighs of relief as they crept out silently up the graveled path. They climbed the rocky path, slipping frequently from the loose dirt. They eased their way up the mountain, the altitude shifting into thinner and cooler air. The views were breathtaking, with emerald green treetops. The forest spread out for miles. The mountains stood tall, like a row of kings standing around the valley and framing the forest with their embrace. Shade took it in and smiled, finding nature beautiful even in her current situation. Again she felt as if she had changed somehow.

A cool breeze caressed them as they ascended. The forest began to grow again as thick as it had below, in the valley. The mountain path turned into a narrow crevice that they slide through one by one. Inside was a plateau cove, green and partly shaded by the mountain. Trees stood in all sizes around the path that led to the other side of the cove’s rock walls, where a carved opening stood in shadow that never reached the sun’s rays.

Shade followed Dylan, taking refuge in the shrubs and tree trunks that kept them hidden from the sight of the two soldiers; they were both standing casually by the door entrance. The men were chatting loudly, never noticing the intrusion. Shade snickered, she was sure the Unseelie queen would not be happy with the help around here. Dylan glared at her, warning her to be quiet.

He studied them and then sank back down to a hidden crouch.

“I only see the two guards. The Santiran fountains are inside that darkened doorway. If we can get through them, we should be all right. It seems that they weren’t expecting us to be here at all.” He paused, furrowing his brow in deep concentration. “Unless, of course, it’s a trap.” He bit on his lip, furrowing his brow in thought.

“How are we going to take on two guards?” She glanced over at the guards, who didn’t even have their helmets on. They were the same height with the same color and length of hair. They had blonde that hit their shoulders. They were tossing jokes back and forth and giving each other friendly pushes and punches. As she looked closely she could see they were identical twins.

Great, double the trouble. How am I going to take on two husky guards? She squatted back down and out of sight and looked at Dylan, and worry spread across her face. “I’m not a fighter, I haven’t learned enough to take on one of these guys. They’re each as huge as a house! They could crush me with a finger!” She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves.

“Shhh, it’s alright, you can distract them and I’ll take them out. They won’t know what hit them.” He smiled and began pulling out his weapons, unsheathing his sword and draping a rope across his chest and shoulders. She watched him prepare, her face contorted in horror.

“You mean I’ll be the bait? Wait a minute, I don’t know, that doesn’t sound very promising. You might as well mark me for death. What do I say? How do I distract those two big buffoons? They don’t look that smart but who needs brains with brawn like that?” She rambled on nervously. She wrung her hands over and over, feeling almost faint with anxiety. She grasped Dylan’s tunic as he started to leave.