Shadows (Book Two of the Royals Trilogy)

Chapter Two

SKYLAR

"I really doubt there's something in what's left of this piece of junk," murmured Blair with a tone of annoyance as we walked towards it. I shrugged and ripped the police away before walking into the abandoned building. I held out my hand and grabbed the device that was on my wrist. With the push of a button the gadget changed into some kind of robot that began to search the room for files through a special x-ray.

"Good thinking Sky," said Blair as she turned on her robot. While the two robots searched the most crumbled areas of the house, Blair and I searched while moving some of the rumble away. I reached a darkest part of the house and I suddenly heard something as my foot collided with the floor. I looked at the ground and stepped harder, the floor under me was hollow.

I shivered as I recalled a certain memory, but I pushed it away, that had been a long time ago and now I was a Huntress, I had to control my memories and my fears. I moved bits and pieces of concrete away until I uncovered what I was searching for. "Blair, come here, I think that maybe there's something down there."

Blair hurried to where I was kneeling, and she nodded before I opened the door on the floor. I lit on my flashlight and saw thin stairs heading down. "I'll go in first," Blair said, she had probably sensed my discomfort and uneasiness. I nodded and put my flashlight away before following after her, the closer we were to the ground, the more the darkness engulfed us. I took out one of my blades, one can never be too careful, especially if this building had once been inhabited by vampires.

When we reached the end of the stairs Blair turned off her flashlight and for a second, we were in complete darkness. Then the lights of the corridor turned on and I saw Blair smile, "there." I sighed and tried to steady my breathing.

My eyes widened when I saw the old worn out cells that I would never forget. Involuntarily, I took a step back and tripped. The blade managed to scrape my hand before falling to the ground. Blair turned to me with confused eyes.

"Damn!" I murmured as I felt sting of the cut and the blood started to stream out of my hand.

"i***t, put that thing away. The police have been here and there's nothing but webs and dust. Although by the looks of it, I don't think the police knew this existed," Blair said as she walked further down the hall. She examined the cells that were open and then she gasped and stopped.

I got up and was by her side in an instant and suddenly I wished I wasn't. There in front of me was the cell I had been locked up in, I was sure of it. I didn't think I'd be able to forget it. On the floor there was blood and torn pieces of fabric from a shirt, my shirt.

Blair walked in and started to examine the scene and come up with a theory. "My guess is that here is where they locked up your sister and probably beat the life out of her once. Or my second theory is that they were holding someone hostage to serve them as food and they killed him or her before leaving."

I was beginning to feel nauseous, but I managed to speak, "tha- None of those theories are correct. The second one comes close, but it is not accurate."

I could see the puzzled look on Blair's face, so I continued, "I know that because that's my blood on the ground."

Blair's eyes widened in shock, "what? What do you mean that's your blood on the ground?"

I sighed, "I was used as bait to recover my sister and they tortured me in there, I don't know exactly what was happening or who took me to the hospital, but I never wanted to come back."

My friend walked over to me and hugged me tightly, "I'm sorry Sky. I think it would be best for me to search this cell, you can take one of the others." I nodded and smiled, glad that my partner was Blair. Any other hunter would've made me search my own cell as a way to relive the memories, face my fears and 'move on'.

I walked towards the furthest cell from where Blair was and was about to step in when I saw a light shimmer in front of me. I pressed a button on the gadget and instantly, my robot was there in front of me. I pointed to the door and the robot scanned it with its laser.

The green laser then turned red and I knew, witchcraft. "There's nothing in your cell, how about you? Did you find anything?" Blair asked and was about to step into the cell in front of me.

"Blair no!" I yelled and pulled her back. She looked at me, then at my robot and understood. "Huh, so they have a witch."

"Do you think we should tell Elda?" I asked, and Blair glared at me. "Fine then, how about Gideon?" She shrugged but didn't say no.

"We need to break this barrier, whatever is left from them must be here," I said, and she nodded. Both of us walked out of the basement and headed for the door. Outside, it was dark and quiet. We must've been down there longer than we thought.

We opened the back door and took out a big, heavy gun. Blair and I carried it back down to the basement and placed it on the ground. "Jeez, it's heavier than I thought," said Blair as she looked at the gun. I agreed.

"Okay so this can go two ways, one; the gun works the way it’s supposed to, and the barrier will be destroyed or two; it won't work, and it'll explode," said Blair calmly.

I laughed taking her words as a joke, "you're kidding right?"

Blair shrugged and shook her head. "It's a prototype Sky and it’s the newest technology so I hope it works."

"Me too," I said before grabbing the gun again. Blair helped me and after a few seconds, it began to work. A blue ray was fired, and the barrier began to glow blinding white. I turned away and then heard something smash. I looked at the ground and sighed in relief. "Oh my God, it worked Blair."

"Yes, and to be honest I really didn't think it would," she said with a blush. I gently pushed her and then we put the gun down. We walked through the entrance and looked around. It looked empty, but I had been taught that that's the place where most things are hid.

"I think we should look for some secret compartment on the wall," I suggested, and Blair nodded.

"I feel like a spy," she said with a laugh and then she returned her attention to searching.

We searched along the walls of the cell until one brick moved. "Blair, I think I found it," I said, and she was quickly by my side. I moved the brick to the side and stuck my hand inside the small hole.

"Well? Is there something in there?" asked Blair impatiently after a second. I rolled my eyes but nodded as I took my hand out with some crumpled papers and a worn-out folder. I handed the papers over to Blair while I looked at the folder.

Inside the folder was... me? I began to read the papers and I found out they were all about me, the places I had lived in, my aunt's custody report, even my grades and medical records were there. My eyes widened as I looked at the last page and found a worn-out notebook page, it was a letter.

To my dear beloved Anastasia,

,You will never read this letter nor know just what you mean-

"What is that?" asked Blair coming up behind me and I quickly hid the letter from her sight. She was my friend but for some reason I didn't want her to know about Ethan. What would she think? Not even I knew what Ethan and I had been. Beloved, my mind repeated again and again in my head. I remembered the word, but I couldn't wrap my head around it.

"It's just a folder filled with information about me. What about you? What did you find?" I asked trying to divert her attention from the letter that was under my leg. Blair shrugged, "this building's papers, supermarket and gasoline receipts and another ticket that looks old, the ink is almost completely erased but back at the truck we can decipher it. Oh, and also their birth certificates, but not false ones, these are truly their birth certificates."

I nodded and began to get up from the ground. "I think this is the best we're going to find here, they cover their tracks pretty good." Blair nodded and followed me out of the basement. We walked to the truck and got it.

"What happens now?" I asked, and Blair shrugged. "Sleep, I'll take the first watch," she responded, and I nodded, for some reason reliving my experience drained me and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and forget the real world.