Chapter Six

Roan

The bright lights of the room slightly blind us, but within seconds we can see the contents of the room. Silent shock echoes through the chamber. Six large metal cages are standing in the chamber. A quick look around confirms what Elia told us. In each of the cages is a different supernatural species. There are about thirty supernaturals in each cage, from the ages of six to middle age. All of the captives are too thin and have massive bruises covering their bodies. They look near to death.

“Aiden?” I ask quietly, waiting for his orders. He drags his tan hand through his sandy blond hair. He looks at me and the anger in his amber eyes is frightening, but not to me.

“Roan, free the vampires. Meera, the sirens. Akira, the kitsunes. Elia, the witches. Wilder-”

“Wilder?” A small and weak voice comes from the cage holding the werewolves. We all turn to the sound and watch as two young werewolves step forward. Even in the state that they are in, I can see that they are Wilder’s brothers. They are like copies of him. Jet black hair, sea-green eyes, tan skin. Exactly like Wilder. “Wilder? Is that you?”

“Kato? Jae?” Wilder breathes the names in a quiet whisper, his voice hoarse. He runs to the cage and rips the metal door off its hinges. He throws the door behind him and I jump to catch it before it slams into the floor. When I look back, Wilder is on his knees hugging the young boys.

“Uh, Wilds? Who are they?” I ask gently. But before he can answer, a slow clapping sound echoes against the dark stone walls. I turn around to find Cain walking through the tunnel that we came through. He smiles creepily and claps slowly.

“Well done. You found your people.” He says. “Now you can die with them!” Stone panels fall away from the walls and gun barrels pop out of the holes. Without delay, they open fire. Before I can blink, Elia creates a forcefield around us and all of the supernaturals.

“We’ve been here before Cain!” Aiden cries and Cain scowls.

“You will pay for what you did to them!” Wilder shouts, his brothers huddled behind him. “All of them!”

“We will avenge every Supernatural that you have ever hurt!” I join in. Cain’s scowl deepens as understanding dawns on him. The guns stop firing, but we don’t.

“We won’t stop!” Meera jumps in.

“Not until we have saved every Supernatural being from your evil!” Akira practically spits at him.

“We will assume the roles bestowed upon us by my mother!” Elia says, power emanating from her voice. “The roles we were always meant to take. You only helped speed up the process.” Fear fills Cain’s eye and he starts to back away slowly.

“W-Who are you?” He stutters. I glance at my friends. We stand in a line along Elia’s barrier, all of our eyes shining with power. I smirk and say:

“We are the Kings and Queens of the Supernatural.” Elia’s pink mist surrounds us in a tornado and the dark chambers of the hunters’ layer disappear from underneath us.

After a few seconds of being encased in Elia’s tornado, we land in an open field, tall grass surrounding us. Soft wind blows through the tall grass, bringing with it the sweet scents of flowers.

“Is everyone alright?” Aiden asks the whole group. All he gets for an answer are nods. He motions for all the six of us to huddle up. Wilder kneels and says something to his brothers before walking up to Aiden. I take a step towards them when I see Elia in the corner of my eye. Her eyes roll back into her head and I race over to her. I wrap my arm around her waist as her legs give out. Her eyes open and there is a tired sheen in them. The others react and start to run to us instantly. I wave them off before Elia sees, knowing that she won’t want an audience.

“I’m ok. Just used a lot of magic.” She says weakly and tries to push off of me. I release my hold slightly and she starts to fall again before I tighten my hold again.

“Yeah, sure. Come on.” I support her and join the rest of the team. All of their eyes roam over her and she just waves it away. I smirk. Literally, none of us would ever admit to being tired or hurt. Hesitantly, Aiden starts talking.

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know. But dude, they’re terrified.” I say quietly. He frowns and looks around.

“El, where are we?” He asks. She looks around.

“I honestly don’t know. I just thought about the prophecy, and how it mentioned ‘the Hidden World’ and we just came here.” She gestures around. “I think that this is the entrance to the Hidden World, our world. It is where these people are going to be the safest while we figure out how to open the entrance.” Wilder raises his hand.

“Um, sorry, what?” He asks.

“I second that.” I raise my hand as well. Aiden rolls his eyes at us but raises his hand as well. I chuckle.

“My mom would always tell the story of the six supernatural rulers and how only they could open the doorway to the hidden world. A world where all the supernatural beings would be safe and could live together.” She gestures around us with the arm that isn’t hanging around my neck. “I think that this is where we start. Where we take charge.” Her voice is soft and tired. I feel her leaning against me and take more of her weight. Aiden looks around.

“Ok. We’ll stay here for a while, rest up. We can start planning our next step.” He says and claps his hands. “We need to set up camp for all of these guys, any ideas?”

“I can make something.” Elia says, her voice worryingly weak.

“No. Sorry El, but you’re benched right now.” Aiden places his hands on his hips. Elia opens her mouth to argue but he cuts her off. “I don’t need to be a witch to know or see, that you are near collapse. Don’t even fight me on this.” She tries to argue again, but her eyes roll again. She clothes them and shakes her head.

“Fine.” She answers grudgingly. I look around and see some trees in the distance.

“I can take some vampires and get some wood to build some sort of shelter.” I say and point to the trees. “Could find some food as well, and the vampires need blood before they start attacking the rest of us.” Aiden nods and I lean Elia on Wilder before I run back to the vampires. “Vamps! Let’s go for a hunt!”