a smile catching the corner of his lips as he nudged me in return. It turned into a grin as he found the catch holding the door in place and pressed the brick into the wall.
There was a sound of grinding stone as a doorway was revealed and flickering orange light from somewhere below lit up a curving staircase.
I threw a silencing bubble over the three of us then looked at the others. "Whatever is down here isn't good. Last chance to turn back."
Seth scoffed dismissively, but we both knew my offer had really been for Xavier who raised his chin defiantly.
"I'm coming," he said, stamping his foot like it was a hoof and I was gifted a vivid memory of him doing that exact thing when we'd all been playing together as kids. How no one realised he was a Pegasus before he Emerged was a mystery to me in hindsight.
"Alright then, let's see what you've got, pony boy," Seth joked and I smirked as I led the way into the dark stairwell.
We jogged down the stone steps, the cold air seeping into my skin and making me use fire magic to warm myself. I reached out for Seth's arm behind me and gifted him some fire too as he was the only one amongst us without it, and he leaned forward to lick my cheek in thanks.
I batted him off with a snort of laughter but quickly forgot our playful crap as another scream came to us from much closer this time and the two of them sucked in gasps of alarm.
We broke into a run, heading down to the foot of the stairs where the firelight burned brighter and a huge room opened up before us.
Seth threw a concealment over us as we stayed hidden in the shadows at the foot of the stairs and we looked out over the stone chamber where several medical tables were laid out with surgical equipment beside them.
A short man in long red robes stood over a guy who was strapped to the table in the centre of the room, his white hair almost shining in the firelight as I looked at the back of his head.
"I know him," Xavier hissed, horror lacing his tone. "He's the Order Conversion Therapist Father got for me after I Emerged as a Pegasus. His name is Gravebone."
"What the fuck is that when it's at home?" Seth asked.
"A sick motherfucker who tried to make me believe I was a Dragon and not a Pegasus. I never could work out what the point of it was, but his methods were scarily effective. For a while, I almost began to believe the shit he was feeding me." The rage and disgust in his voice was clear and I laid a reassuring hand on his arm as I gritted my teeth in anger at the way he'd been treated just as Gravebone started to speak.
"Rats are such dirty creatures," he purred, his voice as slick as oil and his attention fully on the man who was struggling against his bonds beneath him. I spied a pair of magic restricting cuffs around the man's wrists which were clearly being used to stop him from fighting back. "Such little, pointless, scheming vermin. No one would wish to be such a lowly Order. You certainly don't."
"There's no shame in being a Tiberian Rat!" the man on the table hissed. "You won't convince me I'm a fucking Medusa so stop trying."
"The procedure will go much more smoothly if your mind is in alignment with it," Gravebone said, sounding resigned. "But if you won't even try to adapt to your new reality then there is much less chance of success-"
"Fuck you!" the Rat snarled before spitting right in Gravebone's face.
The creep flinched back, growling loudly as he swiped a red sleeve over his cheek to remove the spittle. "Let's try this again." He lifted a scalpel from a small table beside him, but Seth threw a hand out before he could use it, casting a thick web of vines into existence which snapped tight around his hands and immobilised his magic.
I shot forward in the next breath, earth magic pulsing in my veins as I sped around Gravebone several times while he cried out in panic, binding him in vines of my own. He yelled out for help before falling to the ground with a hard thump but with my silencing bubble surrounding him there was no chance of that coming.
"Oh my stars,