First Eclipse

Fauna looked behind them. The halls were endless. She looked at Tim. "Where are we?"

"The underground chambers."

They went by two more doors. "Which is?"

He slowed his pace. "The royals lived here after the twins were born because of the prophecy." He shrugged. "That's the short version." He smiled. "The long one is hundreds of years and complicated." "They don't live in the palace?"

"Some of them do. They just recently moved back to it."

Why would anyone live underground when they could live in a palace? They passed a hall that turned, and she could swear they had already gone that way. "You do know where you're going, right?"

He chuckled. "Yes." He stopped walking. "I'm sorry about earlier. I should have made sure you were safe..."

She gave him a wide-eyed look, "You were a little busy trying not to get clubbed in the head."

Tim shrugged. "I still should have..."

Fauna put her hand up. "It's okay." She smiled. "I found out I can reach birds." She winced. "Maybe not the ideal situation, but I'll take it."

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes moving as he searched her face. "I won't let it happen again," he said, starting to walk again.

Fauna stood there watching him walk away. She was trying to make him feel better by mentioning the hawk. Of course, she was still thrilled she'd managed it, but what happened wasn't his fault. When he turned a corner, she jogged to catch up. Getting lost in this underground, whatever it was, scared her more than that guy grabbing her.

She stood there looking around. When they'd called this place the cells, that's what she had pictured. Jail cells. What she was looking at had no bars, no walls, really. They were big clear boxes. She thought possibly made from plexiglass but doubted that's what it was because she couldn't see through it.

She followed Tim to an area where several of the royals stood.

Jeri came over to her. "Capri didn't take that well."

Fauna puffed out her cheeks and then blew the air out. "I don't think I'm taking it well." She leaned closer. "Do you really think they were specifically looking for us?"

Jeri shrugged. "Lately, nothing surprises me."

Arius walked in, and everyone went quiet.

"What did the scans say?" Prince Michael asked.

Arius held out a tablet to him. "A few mixes. The rest are from Interealm."

"Really?" Jeri looked from him to Trendan. "I was beginning to think only women were mixed."

Trendan shook his head. "We've had a few males with the fathers we've been dealing with."

"So, do they have skills like Jeri, Fauna, and the rest of them?" Paisley moved over to the other end of the area, opened a panel and did something on it. No one answered. Did that mean they didn't know?

Fauna sucked in a breath when the wall changed, and she could see who was on the other side. A man sat on a small platform that could have been a bed. He had messy dark hair and cuts on his face. She winced. A few of them were pretty big.

"Your hawk did some damage." Paisley smiled at her.

Fauna looked back at him. It was the man who grabbed her.

Arius turned around and looked at the man. "He's in a mood, so I think we'll start with one of those that ran first." He glanced over his shoulder at King Troy. "One of them has been trying to plead his case since he arrived."

The king raised an eyebrow. "Is he a mix or human?"

"Human."

Troy nodded. "Let's start with him." He turned around and looked at Fauna. "If you're comfortable with it, I'd like him to be able to see you. If they have been looking for you, then his reaction should tell us." She looked at Tim.

He nodded. "You'll be on the other side of the wall, Fauna. He won't be able to get near you." Fauna turned back to the king and nodded.

"Interesting," Chase whispered and followed Arius when he walked out.

Fauna noticed a few of the others were looking at her curiously. She didn't understand why until they also looked at Tim. She turned and looked behind her. There were none of the other guards here. Turning, she saw Tim watching her. He motioned to go in the direction that Arius and the king had gone.

When they left the space, the others followed behind. She wanted to ask him about the looks they were getting, but with so many present, she decided to wait. Her life had never been anything you could call normal, but the last few days, it was entering into a whole different level of things she'd never considered happening. If she was going to have some emotional breakdown, she preferred not to do it in front of an audience.

When they stopped in another small space, she noticed several of the others waiting in the opening. She looked around at the walls and couldn't help but wonder if an aerial view of the cells might resemble a maze.

"Are you all right?" She turned to see Tim standing beside her.

She nodded. "I think so. This is all-" She waved her hand around and then shook her head. "I don't know what it is."

He moved closer. "If you want to go home, say the word. I'll take you."

Fauna almost said yes, but then glanced over at Jeri, who stood with Trendan. Her family might be in trouble, so she shook her head. "No. I'll stay. We need to know if they're looking for us," she paused. The pictures were taken at the building they all lived in. They knew exactly where they were, so there was no looking involved. It was just a matter of taking them. "We need to know." She could tell he wasn't happy that she was going to stay, but he nodded and then looked over at Princess Paisley.

"I'll stand where he can see me, too," Jeri said quickly, stepping into the center of the area.

Fauna took slow steps and stood beside her.

"I'm going to make it so you can see him first and hear him." Paisley turned around and opened a panel at the end of the wall. "He won't know you're there, okay?"

Fauna looked at Jeri. They both nodded in unison.

Daxx stood in the opening at the one end. "What is someone with no ability doing working with them?" Quinton gave her a look, and she shrugged. "Scans picked up nothing. No magic. No mixed DNA."

"Here we go." Paisley pushed some buttons, and the wall changed.

Fauna moved closer to Jeri. Inside the empty cell stood a man. She studied him. He was hardly a man, she thought. He was barely old enough to be called that. He looked like he was seventeen, but eighteen would be pushing it. He had messy blond hair, and just one look at his expression told her that he had no idea what was happening.

A panel slid open on the end, and King Troy, Prince Arius, and the scary Prince Victor stepped inside.

The boy backed away from them and then just stopped and stared at them. "Where am I?" He looked around nervously.

"You're in Alterealm." King Troy said and then glanced at Arius.

Fauna had seen Arius several times but had never seen him looking as intimidating as he did right now. She felt bad for the boy.

"What were you doing at that camp?"

The kid jerked his chin and looked at Arius. He scoffed. "Trying not to get eaten by insects-" His eyes rounded. "Or bears." He looked away from Arius and then turned so he could see Troy. "Is this really Alterealm?" His mouth quirked. "I was beginning to think it was all just a load of BS." Glancing back at Arius, he sighed. "I'd like to go home now. Like, home, home, not some shack in the middle of nowhere land with some scary ass chick doing weird things."

Troy looked over to Victor. "We can discuss that after you've explained things to us."

The kid started nodding. "Yeah. Whatever you need. Just-just ask." He waved his hand around. "I don't want to go back there with her. The perks didn't live up to expectations. At all." He shoved up his sleeve and held out his arm. "Look at this. I don't know what bit me, but it's itchy and it burns." He frowned at his arm. "I think it's infected."

"What's your name?" Arius' voice was soft and did not match the lethal look in his eyes.

The kid stopped and looked at him. "Brad." He said slowly. "But everyone calls me Bam." He looked at Victor and then back to Arius. "Brad is fine."

"All right, Brad. Who is that woman that was at the camp?"

The kid's head jerked, so he was looking at the king again. "Astara? You mean her? If that is even her real name. Sounds made up to me." He shook his head. "I think she's possessed or something. Her eyes light up." He stared at Troy. "Light up like someone flips a switch." He held his hand up. "And her hair does this " He wiggled his fingers beside his head. "-like when there's no wind or anything to blow it around."

"Why were you all out that at that camp?"

Brad looked at Victor. "We were brought there to wait for the others, and then we were going to do this big thing. They had a plan to get some people that Astara said had to be detained because they were a threat." He jerked his chin and looked back at Troy. "It's all weird. Some group is trying to take over the realms-" He grinned briefly."—which I wasn't sure were real until I saw giants chasing me and now" He motioned to the wall. "I'm in another realm." Arius looked over his head and nodded.

Just a heads up: FindNovel.net is the only place to read the complete version of this book for free. Don't miss out on the next chapter-visit us now and continue your journey!

Paisley pushed a button on the panel, and the light reflection on the wall between them changed.

Brad jumped back and then stopped and looked at Jeri. With a slow movement, he looked at Fauna. She could see recognition on his face. He moved over to the wall and slammed his hand against it. "Hey. Can you hear me? You need to hide. Dye your hair and get out of the city." He glanced over his shoulder. "Can they hear me?" He asked Troy. "Those two are on the list. You need to hide them."

"Can you identify all on this list?" victor asked.

Brad nodded. "Yeah, yeah, she made us memorize them like our lives depended on it." He blew out a breath. "Look, if it gets me home, I will tell you everything I know."

Paisley hit buttons, and then Fauna couldn't see or hear Brad.

"Astara," Jeri whispered. "Capri's twin."

Fauna nodded. "And she wants us."

"That's not going to happen." Daxx came into the space. She looked at Trendan and then Jeri. "You two go back over and make sure everyone goes to the meeting at Interealm headquarters."

Fauna realized she was talking about all the Geminis. "Vex won't," she glanced at Jeri. "She's not able to be around others yet for more than a few minutes."

Jeri turned back to Daxx. "She can't control her feeding all the time yet."

Daxx turned around and then pointed to Quinton.

He nodded. "I'll get someone there to watch the building."

"Fade can stay as well if she's uncomfortable with being around a lot of people," Trendan said.

Fauna grinned. "Are you kidding? She's going to love getting out of the building."

Jeri went over to Trendan and leaned into him. "We'll go now. Can someone come over and take all of us to the meeting?" Fauna could see the worry in her eyes. "I don't like the idea of them out riding right now." Fauna sighed. "That's not going to go over well.'

Daxx snorted. "It never does."

Jeri held up her hand. "Just until we talk to them." She shook her head. "Nothing will stop Sparx from riding." She frowned. "Or Karma."

"Or Ava and Sym." Fauna gave Daxx a hesitant look. "Any of us, really."

Daxx smiled and looked at Tim. "Yeah, I get that. Being benched never goes the way they plan."