I watched impatiently as the three talked about what I said, and from what I could tell, Kate and Brandon were strongly disagreeing with Luna.

"Why didn't you tell me that your birthday was coming up?" asked Shade moving to stand in front of me, blocking the argument.

I looked up at him and sighed. Now really wasn't the right time.

"I didn't tell anyone," I said plainly, attempting to walk around him.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back in front of him.

"Then how did he know?" he questioned putting emphasis on the 'he' as he pointed behind me.

I followed his finger to see Orpheus sitting on a rock, talking with Max and Zack.

"Really?" I groaned "If you must know, Max told him and if you haven't noticed, now is not the time to get jealous, so if you'll excuse me" I finished pushing my way past him.

I approached the three who had now seemed to have reached an agreement.

"Well?" I questioned not wanting to waste any more time here.

"We will travel with you until we reach the river of Animarum" confirmed Kate.

"The what?" I asked in confusion, Asher didn't mention that place.

"If it was Sebastian's demons that took your friend then they would have taken him to Regnum flammae which lies just beyond the river" she explained.

'The kingdom of flames' I thought while I nodded my head, she returned a curt not and walked past me with Brandon in tow.

I turned to walk away when Luna grabbed my arm.

"I know what your friend is" she claimed while staring over at Shade.

"Yeah, whats that?" I asked, looking down at her hand slightly annoyed.

"An abomination" she spat in disgust returning her attention to me.

"What is your problem?" I growled, my eyes darkening to a deep purple.

"Nothing, just know that if it comes to saving all of you, or one of them" she began pointing over to Kate and Brandon "it'll be them... know that family is important to me" she finished before walking away to catch up, leaving me gobsmacked.

I clenched my hands into fists and walked slightly behind the others trying to calm myself down. An abomination? who the hell does she think she is?

"Sorry for earlier," said Shade snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned my head to face him and smiled.

"It's fine" I replied watching as his sorrowful features turned to concern.

"What's wrong?" he questioned immediately.

I mentally cursed my eyes while blinking a few times in an attempt to force them back into their usual colour.

"Nothing I'm fi-" I began but immediately stopped when I realised he wasn't buying it.

"It's just... I'm not so sure that we should trust these people" I confessed.

"To be honest I would be more concerned if you did trust them since we only just met" he laughed.

I allowed a smile to form on my lips and directed my attention back to the trees.

*_*

We walked through the forbidding forest without stopping until sundown, I looked around our chosen sleeping area and sighed, throwing my backpack down on the ground next to Verity before walking away into the trees to gather some firewood.

I wandered aimlessly around the great bare trees, picking up stray branched that seemed suitable. I did this for around five minutes until I was satisfied with my bundle and began to walk back towards our camp spot.

"Aurora" a voice whispered making me shiver.

I looked around the woods in confusion when an unnatural breeze hit me in the face, sending my hair flying everywhere. I froze to my place, thinking that I just saw a dark shadow in the form of a person, I squinted in a struggle to clear my vision, to find that there was nothing there.

The breeze died down along with my nerves. I was just being paranoid wasn't I? of course I was, we were the only around for miles, besides Asher was searching the camp borders at that very moment, he would call if something was wrong.

I shrugged my shoulders and walked back to the camp at a quicker pace. The small clearing came into view and I breathed out a sigh of relief, letting my guard down.

"Aurora!" screamed a desperate voice.

I froze in my tracks and turned my head around slowly.

"Help me" the voice called again.

My blood ran cold when I realised that it was Chase's voice. I dropped the firewood and span around, jogging back into the trees. My mind was spinning with all sorts of possibilities, there was no way that I had imagined it, maybe he had gotten away, but that would mean that they were still following him.

"CHASE?" I screamed running full speed through the woods.

The wind picked back up and I skidded to a stop and looked around the thickened trees.

"Aurora" called Chase quietly, but it sounded... wrong somehow.

I took an uneasy step backwards, clumsily snapping a stick in the process.

I stopped myself from moving and remained like a statue, taking in the area until a distant laugh echoed through the trees. I frantically looked around in anticipation as shivers erupted my body causing my hairs stand up on ends.

"Chase" I whispered, even though I knew deep down that it wasn't him.

I took steady breaths and turned around until I was facing the direction of camp.

"I wouldn't do that," said a sickening voice.

I tried to pinpoint its location but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. I took one last look around the forest before I leapt into my wolf form and bound away from the voice as fast as I could, I extended my paws out in front of me and speed away so fast that the trees looked like distant blurs.

I tilted my head up to release a warning howl but was alternatively filled with a burning pain as something crashed into me sending me rolling across the forest floor, I whimpered in surprise when something pinned me down to the hard floor causing sudden dread to fill me. Why the hell had I been so stupid?

I transformed back into my human form and relieved myself from the powerless captivity of my attackers hold. I locked my eyes to his realising that my attacker was none other than Emrick.

"Don't struggle" he instructed as he lunged forward and pinned me to a tree by my throat. " you're weak from holding up your little dark shield for so long"

I gasped in pain as my skin burned fiercely where his hand was wrapped around my neck, I did the complete opposite of what he told me and clawed at his hands, trying to break myself free.

"G-get...Off!" I stuttered.

Without waiting for his response I grabbed both of his hands and used all my force to push him off me, he stumbled back a few paces in surprise before a large grin formed on his face.

"Impressive" he laughed "your father would be pr-"

"What do you want?" I questioned cutting him off.

He closed his mouth and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'rude' before he walked a few steps closer.

"I was hoping that you would be here with Shade" he sighed dramatically "Oh well, I'm only saying this once but I'm sure you'll pass on the message" he finished, his expression hardening back up.

I rolled my eyes and beaconed him to continue.

"If you want your friends to live then you will do as I say," he said threateningly. "After you have travelled to the river of Animarum, you and Shade will leave your company and enter Regnum flammae alone.

And let me make something perfectly clear, If we so much as think that you're not alone we will start to retaliate by killing your werewolf friend... Chase is it?" he finished smugly.

"How do I know that Chase is not dead already," I asked, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat.

Emrick contemplated this for a second before he pulled a glass panel out of his jacket.

"See for yourself," he said holding out the slate.

I walked forward hesitantly and peered into the glass to see Chase. He was chained to a stone wall in some sort of damp dungeon, he looked as though he had been severally beaten and hung his head down painfully in front of him, barely grasping onto life, but he was alive... for now.

A single tear rolled down my face and dropped onto the glass causing Emrick to pull it away from me.

"Remember. come alone or the boy dies, along with everyone else that you care about" he stated, sliding the slate back into his jacket. The wind picked up for one last time before he was gone, leaving me alone with this heavy burden.

If I wanted to save my friends from Sebastian, I was going to have to leave them. I wouldn't even be able to say goodbye, they were all to smart for that, they would be able to tell that something was wrong.

I trudged my way back to the camp, regaining whatever firewood that I could as I went, Sebastian had won, he was going to escape... and if I wanted to save my friends then there was nothing I could do about it.