I looked around and stilled. Heat ran through my body, followed by a peculiar coolness. The spell was already wearing off. Draven and Hansa first emerged as shimmering figures, then their full selves. I looked down and saw my own body and trembling hands.
"Oh, dear," I murmured.
"Well, that didn't last too long," Hansa groaned.
Draven looked at me, his gray eyes flickering black.
"I don't mean to make this moment any less grave, but it's good to see you again," he said to me, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
I couldn't help smiling back. Hansa punched him in the shoulder, visibly aggravated. "There isn't any time for this sweet stuff, Druid! Whip out the rest of that spell before someone sees us!" she whispered, gritting her teeth.
///
Draven searched his satchel, then his pockets and then his satchel again. Shadows passed over his face before he looked at both Hansa and me with a stunned expression. A moment passed before his low voice broke through the silence.
"I think I lost the pouch with the rest of that paste," he said.
His words crashed into me, and the back of my neck caught fire. We were suddenly visible and very much vulnerable to Destroyer attacks from any possible angle. My instincts kicked in so fast, I didn't have time to consider panic. Judging by the way Hansa and Draven's eyes moved around, neither did they.
"It must have fallen off me earlier on the stairs with those Destroyers," he added with a frown.
One by one, the caged creatures caught glimpses of us in their half-sleeping states. One by one, they sat up, their bony fingers clutching the iron bars, begging us to release them. Incubi, succubi, Lamias, and many other species held down by shackles and locks-they all pleaded and offered us their services, their lands, and their fortunes if we could get them out.
One by one, we were forced to let them down, to lie to them and promise we'd come back for them. And yet, they persisted, their voices getting louder as more of them asked for help.
"Please, let us out."
"I beg of you, my children are out there. I need to find them … "
"Please, send a message to my father … "
"Please, I won't last much longer. Help me!"
It went on and on while we advanced through the chamber, shushing them and asking them to not give away our position. Some listened, keeping quiet while glimmers of hope bloomed in their eyes. My heart twisted in pain. How many of them would still be alive by the time we could return for them?
"Can't we do anything to help these people?" I asked Draven, who walked ahead of me.
"Not unless you want a horde of Destroyers to descend upon us and make us join them. I'm sorry, Serena. We can't risk it. We need to find Sverik."
I sighed as a fae caught my eye. She was beautiful, even beneath the layers of dried blood and dirt. Her once platinum hair was matted. Her eyes were the color of lilacs, and her lower lip was swollen and bruised. She must have been here when Azazel overthrew the government and forcibly took control of this planet.
"Excuse me," I asked her with a trembling voice. "You're a fae, aren't you?"
She looked at me and nodded, a frown pulling her eyebrows closer, informing me that she was leery of strangers. But she was sharp enough to recognize that I was as out of this world as she was.
"Do you know if there's an incubus named Sverik around here?"
"You're not from around here, are you?" she replied, her tone flat and dry.
I shook my head.
"Figures. If you were, you would've known not to walk into this miserable hellhole." She grimaced, bitterness lifting her upper lip.
"We need to find Sverik," I insisted, certain that she would be willing to help if I gave her good reasons. "He's the one who will help us free everyone from these cages, including you."
"I don't know of any Sverik. And there is no way out of here. But it's refreshing to see all that hope coming from you. I'm sorry, but you will lose it all. We all do in the end."
She'd succumbed to her captivity, hopeless and lightless. The shackles around her wrists had symbols engraved on them. Judging by how sad she seemed every time she looked down at them, I figured they were the reason why she couldn't use her fae powers to get herself out of there.
"Let's go, Serena," Draven whispered.
I looked at him, then at the fae.
"I'm sorry," I told her. "I wish I could set you free."
"I'm sorrier for you than you are for me. You will never make it out of here alive. But there's a spare cage behind me. We might become neighbors," she replied dryly.