me in. It was a similar outfit that I had been wearing before only this time it was pure white and there were no slits in the trousers and the top was without sleeves. Nero had also brought some more of her ‘seeing powder’, laughing when I told her what I had done with the last lot. She had been glad it had come in handy but admitted never using it as a weapon before. I also discovered that this wearing off was likely why my vision had started to go blurry when the Hex tried to take over. Apparently, it takes over all magic, which was what made Trice so special, he was strangely immune to magic used against him.
But it had been Lucius who had informed her the powder was needed, making me first wonder how he knew to begin with. Although Nero helped with that also, as she told me how Lucius when looking for me had paid her a visit and searched her memories. Well, as long as it hadn’t been done to Trice I thought cringing, or I didn’t know what Lucius would do.
I shook my head and was just about to slip off my trousers when something stopped me. Something was glowing in the darkness of the water and suddenly I became transfixed. I narrowed my eyes and muttered,
“What the Hell is…Ah!” I ended this by shouting out the second a feeling slammed into me. It was like being hit with an emotional bat and I found tears in my eyes as the feeling of dread suddenly washed over me.
“I found this too if you get too cold…Amelia?” Nero’s voice trailed off and I looked over my shoulder at her to see a jacket falling from her hands and panic was as clear as day on her face. The colour drained away from her skin and she looked…
Frightened.
“Amelia, you need to step back, right now!” she hissed not taking her eyes off the water. So I looked back and saw what she now saw. The entire pool of water had just been replaced by blood and it bubbled and popped as if made of lava. But then something overwhelming seemed to take over me and I turned back to her and in a voice that wasn’t my own, told her…
“It’s alright, Nero…I am the Queen of Blood.” Then I proved it by doing something foolish…
I let myself fall in.
29
Crimson Tears
The moment I let myself fall into the blood it instantly cleared and turned back into the water it once was. I didn’t understand how, and right then, I didn’t even want to try. Because my mind was consumed by another thought…
I could feel the orb was near.
I opened my eyes underwater and let the red glow guide me, swimming deeper and holding my breath despite the burning I could feel attacking my lungs. Yet this didn’t seem to hold me back as I couldn’t think about the air my body desperately wanted. Not when every single fibre of my being was focused only on finding what I knew was hidden down here. It was calling out to me and the deeper I went, the closer I came to answering its pull.
It needed me.
Finally, I could see an arch under the water where the glow was at its brightest, so with the last of my energy I kicked out behind me and swam through it. This was when I saw a bright light above me. I felt relieved when there was a surface as it was a good job seeing as any longer under the water and I would have most likely drowned!
I broke the surface taking in large gulps of air the second I could, trying not to cough too much so I wouldn’t pass out from lack of air that my body was fighting me on filling my lungs. Then, once I was calm enough, I looked around to see that I had discovered a secret cavern. Getting excited, I moved my arms around and kicked enough to stay afloat treading water. Then I found a shallow part to climb out of and quickly took note of the pale stone walls that matched the floor.
It was just a cave.
I swam over to the edge and climbed out, pushing my wet hair back off my face so I could take it all in. The space looked like an entrance of some kind, as all it held was another carved arch that I quickly walked