I stared at Datha. She was different and not just in dress style but in attitude. Was she mad that I left her behind? I had no choice, and I was sure she would be ok with the oracle. What happened after we left?

  “Datha, how are you?” I asked, and she scoffed.

  “Stuck being a prisoner like you,” she replied acerbically. Nothing of the sweet sister I knew from before. What happened to her? I noticed everyone except Nero was glaring at us, and Datha grinned. “What did you think we needed your help after you abandoned us?” she said, and I sighed.

  Myra scowled.” We had no choice! A god pushed us through a space rift and back to our world,” she said, as I stood speechless. These had been my friends at one time, and I had led this group to the Ice Temple to free the slaves before everything happened.

  “Enough! I don’t want to hear it from you. You’re crazy, and we were fools to follow such a sick person,” Datha said.

  Myra’s eyes widened, and she took a deep breath, glancing at me with hurt in her eyes.

  “Datha!” I said, scowling and wishing I could wrap an arm around Myra’s shaking frame.

  “What? Is the truth so hard to handle? She’s…”

  “Enough! I don’t know what happened to you, but Myra doesn’t have the blame for any of it, so lay off,” I said, turning to Myra, who wouldn’t stop looking at the floor.

  “She led us to a trap,” said Pallas, and Datha smirked.

  “She didn’t know about the council being there,” I said.

  “With all her abilities, and she didn’t know?” scoffed Ilias, and I felt like knocking him into next week.

  “I only learned to use one ability at a time. There wasn’t time for me to learn otherwise,” whispered Myra, tears streaking down her cheeks, and it pained me to see her usual fire so put out.

  “A likely story,” Datha muttered, and I glared at her.

  “It’s true! My…”

  “You don’t need to tell them anything, Myra!” I yelled, shaking my head.

  “Why not? They already know...I’m…” she choked back a sob.

  I pressed as close as my bindings let me. “These jackasses don’t need that information if they can’t even accept that you’re ...different alright?” I whispered, and she nodded.

  Datha actually sneered! “What a touching moment, but we deserve to know what kind of crazy we’re lugging around in case she decides to lose it again.”

  I growled at my sister. She had pushed this camel too far! “What the hell is your problem? Myra has never done anything to you; in fact, she saved you, so why are you so mean to her now? Huh? What changed?”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “The fact that I saw how crazy she was. I should have let Arriana put more of the nerve poison in her bowl and be rid of her before she caused trouble.”

  Myra looked up with liquid eyes, a tiny spark flying through her irises. So she could still get mad, good to know she was still fighting. “You knew?”

  “We all did,” she said.

  Nero sighed and nodded. “We were all in on it,” he said, and Myra curled closer to me.

  “So you all hated me from way before? I worried over people who hated me?” she asked, eyeing everyone desperately. Only Atesh met her eyes, and he glared back almost hatefully. She recoiled. She didn’t deserve this! Any of this!

  Datha smirked. “Afraid so. We won’t be following a crazy person again,” she said.

  “I’m not crazy!” cried Myra.

  “A crazy person would say such a thing,” muttered Datha, and I growled as Myra whimpered, wanting to draw her back into my arms and rub her back until her tears were dried up.

  Nero stood, his hands were freed from the rings. “We need to get along if we are to escape,” he said.

  “Leave them to their fate and undo ours, Nero,” said Datha.

  He ignored her.

  “That’s a direct order, Nero!”

  He turned to her. “You don’t seem like my leader. Right now, you are acting like your nemesis,” he said, undoing my rings but only tapping Myra’s. I felt her flinch.

  “Hey, what gives?” I asked.

  “It’s better for us if she remains locked down. We don’t know how she’ll react with all her powers,” he said.

  “I’m powerless right now,” Myra whispered, and Datha scoffed.

  “Then you’re useless and better left here,” she said.

  Myra sank to her knees. “I’m not useless, I know runes and can use them to Medium ability.”

  “So can I. We don’t need a liability slowing us down,” said Niran, and I winced because I, too, had called her a liability before. Now, I regret it. I scooped a broken Myra up and cradled her in my arms. Some friends! She had been worried over this?

  She had shown compassion over them, worried over them, wanted to make sure they were safe, and this is what she came back to? How was this fair? And Datha! She had turned into Arriana! Or worse! I wasn’t having this. Not any longer. If they wanted to act like asses it was on them. We didn’t come back for them...any of them.

  I turned to Myra and bent down to whisper in her ear. “We came back to liberate the slaves and children of the mines. Forget them and their preconceived notions of what is crazy and what isn’t! We’ll get your powers back and we’ll set them straight.”

  Myra sniffled and nodded. “I think I know how to take these rings of Ether off, but I need some Ether first,” she said, and I smirked.

  “Say the word and I’ll help,” I said, brushing my hand through her hair.

  “Ok. Pinch the ring between your index finger and thumb and feed it Ether. You’ll know when to stop,” she said, and I did so, gathering my Ether in my hands and feeding the rings. I noticed them shrinking on her and her uncomfortable look. I was going to stop, but she looked at me and shook her head.

  “Keep going. You’re almost there. I can put up with a little pain,” she said.

  I was going to respond when a shudder ran through me. I stopped feeding the rings Ether and glanced at her.

  She smiled. “Felt that right? Now act as if you were opening a space rift. Aim it at the rings.”

  I did. It was hard to do, considering I was still getting the hang of opening space rifts. I heard a chink! And then she was pulling her hands from the rings and rubbing them. There were sharp blade marks around her wrists. They were bleeding slightly. I inspected the rings and noticed that hers had a thin blade running on the inside. She could have cut her wrists clean off! I growled and pulled her to me, checking her wrists.

  The cuts were deep.

  A little pain?

  This is what she called a little pain? I took my silk and muttered the chant, searching for the first aid box I put in there. I had a bunch of bandages and some antiseptic that would work for this, for now. I unrolled the bandages and spread the cream over them before applying more on Myra’s cuts. I wrapped her wrists.

  “How is she free? I adjusted her rings for that reason,” said Nero, and I felt like slugging him.

  “You made sure? How?” I asked, finishing my task and putting the stuff away slowly. It wouldn’t do me any good to jump to conclusions

  “I activated precautionary measures,” he said.

  Now I really wanted to hit him. He had activated the blades on Myra’s rings. I was a kid and was learning how to use those when I ran with my mother and Datha. They were deadly and could have, if they had gone a bit deeper, cut her veins. It was a punishment for prisoners, not friends! It seems even Nero couldn’t be trusted. I felt her hands wrap around my arm. She winced but held on. I unclenched my fists and placed my hand on her leg, glancing at her.

  “Promise not to do anything stupid. We need to get out and find the oracle,” she said, and I nodded. She let go, and I rose from the ground to punch Nero. He was too surprised to block.

  “I never would have guessed that you, of all Kin, would turn against us, but I guess that’s how deep our friendship truly goes. This goes for all of you! Stay the hell out of my way, or I promise things will get ugly. I’d rather be with a crazy person than with backstabbing idiots,” I said as I helped Myra up and we headed to the door. I used an Ether shot to blast the door open, and we walked out into a carnage too horrible for words.