"Lacey? Oh no! I'm not getting her involved in all that!"
Aidas blatantly refused as he walked away from Hunt.
Hunt sighed, of course, he had expected such a reaction from him. He felt the same way too. But how were they ever going to release or try and get through Hades without involving Lacey?
"Wait."
Imelda said as she raised her eyebrow.
"They didn't actually say you need Lacey present there did they?"
Hunt shrugged.
"Her blood can open and close the portal. It can open the portal to the prison world and close it, that's what my father said."
"Then we don't actually need her there. We just need a vial of her blood!"
Aidas exclaimed in realisation. Hunt nodded. That could work. It could.
"So, all we need is her blood. What else?"
Now that was another hard part. They had to open a portal, or something similar to one.
"We need to open a portal, to the Prison. If the Fae Queen was here, she would have been able to do that in a second. But since it's only us, we're going to have to go through the hard way."
"Which is?"
Imelda asked.
"Get a witch to do it for us. The only problem is that we're going to need a really powerful one and no witch would want to do something like that especially if she's in a coven."
Imelda sighed.
"We'll have to find a powerful witch. One that's not associated with a coven. I think I know just where to find one."
She smirked.
"Leave that to me. Is there anything else you need?"
Hunt shook his head.
"I think we're good for now. Let's go get Lacey."
After Hunt and Aidas left, despite her protests to go with them, Lacey started to feel alone. The two of them had been adamant in taking her along with them and she had felt lonely all day without them.
She tried to keep herself occupied by visiting her father and then trying to apply for a job.
Since she didn't feel it was right that she would be working for Hunt after everything was over.
She was done sending her fourth application when she heard an urgent knock on the door.
She raised her eyebrow as she looked at the door.
She wasn't expecting anyone.
And Aidas and Hunt would never knock. They had the key card to the apartment. Besides, she figured they were going to be gone for a while since they still had to look for a witch.
"Who's there?"
She asked as she neared the door.
Her magic was on alert. she didn't want to be caught off guard.
"It's me. Suna!"
"Suna?"
She muttered under her breath in surprise as she opened the door. Suna and Crispin were standing in front of the door.
"Hey... What's up?"
Crispin asked as he smiled and Lacey waved at him.
He seemed like a nice guy but she didn't know him that well. She knew he was also a candidate for mayor and his family had a sort of demon fighting history.
That explains why he always had to be around Suna.
Lacey wondered if it was hard trying to tolerate Suna for so long.
"What's going on?"
She asked as she glanced at the two of them. Suna looked like she'd rather be anywhere else but right in front of Lacey and Lacey imagined that she was only there because they either really needed her or Crispin forced her to come over.
"We're going over to the mountains to Ianthe's hideout. The demon tracker we got showed us that a lot of them were retreating back to that area."
Lacey furrowed her eyebrows. A demon tracker? How did they manage to get their hands on one.
Aidas had briefly mentioned how important one was to her, but she didn't take him too seriously.
"You got one?"
She asked and Crispin nodded.
"My friends in Ark City were willing to help. Suna has her men all over the city tracking and gunning them down with them. But a lot of them seem to be retreating back to the mountains."
"We have to go and finish them off."
Lacey nodded.
"Yes. Of course. You have to."
"We also want to know what's drawing them there."
Suna added and Lacey shrugged.
"Isn't it obvious? It's probably Ianthe."
Suna sighed.
"Anyways, we have to go up there, finish the rest off. You're the only one who can sense Ianthe when she's nearby. And also probably the one one who can bring her down."
"Hunt and Aidas would never agree to letting us take you. So we didn't ask them. But would you like to come with us?"
She asked.
There was a brief silence among them. Suna was right.
Hunt and Aidas would never allow her to go and for good reason too. It was dangerous.
Lacey was silent for a long time and Suna was getting impatient.
They didn't have time.
"Make your own decision for once in your life."
Suna snapped and Lacey's eyes widened.
"You don't like me very much do you?"
She asked with a raised eyebrow and Suna nodded.
"Yea. And for good reason too. Are you coming or not?"
She added and Lacey nodded as she clenched her jaw.
"Sure. Give me a moment to change."
In less than five minutes, Lacey was ready to go.
Her mind kept screaming at her that it was a bad idea, but she had to do something. She had to help out in a way. That was what her powers were for.
She couldn't just sit down and wait for Hunt and Aidas to do everything for her like they had been doing ever since.
She was a supernatural. Half fae with the powers to prove.
Her mother was the Queen of the Fae Kingdom. Her mother herself had defeated Hades Vigilanco.
Lacey had to do something. For everyone around her, for her sister Lila who had suffered in the hands of Ianthe.
The thought of that alone was enough motivation for her.
"Before I open this portal, I have to warn you. The Fae who created this prison world did so for a reason. To protect an evil that is not meant to leave. We can't stay any longer than the time she allowed."
Greena the witch said and Hunt and Aidas nodded.
"Because I'm not Fae, I won't be able to keep the portal open for long. This is going to drain as much as my powers as it can so be fast about it."
"Are you getting him out of prison?"
Imelda asked and Aidas shook his head.
"No. That could be dangerous. We'll just have a short chat with him. See if he tells us some stuff about his crazy girlfriend."
"Be careful. Don't push too many buttons."
Imelda warned and Hunt patted Aidas's shoulder.
"Relax. that's why I'm here."
He said as he handed the vial of Lacey's blood to the witch.
"This should help you open the portal."
The witch smiled as she looked at it.
She opened the small vial and tasted the blood on her tongue.
"Well... I taste half human too... Let's hope this works."
She finished the rest of the blood in the vial and started with the spell.
After what seemed to be a long time, the air around them started pulsing.
"Is that normal?"
Hunt asked Aidas and Aidas shrugged.
He had never seen a portal before in all his years of living. He had no idea of what was happening.
He turned to Imelda who gave him a reassuring smile.
"Greena has to create the portal from thin air, it would be less weaker than an actual portal but it will get the job done."
"Just wait a while. And take the chance when you see it."
Imelda warned and Aidas nodded.
"Okay."
Soon enough, Like Imelda said a large growing circle that resembled a storm opened up in the middle of the room and the witch gave a slight nod to Hunt and Aidas.
Imelda turned to them quickly.
"Take this. It'll speed up whatever it is you have to do there."
She said as she thrusted a compass like object in Aidas's hand.
Aidas looked at it strangely.
"What is it?"
He asked and Imelda shrugged.
"I got it off some rogue fae while on my way here. She said it's some kind of truth catcher. Helps you know when someone is telling the truth. It might be useful."
She whispered.
"Thanks."
Aidas murmured.
"Ready?"
Hunt asked and Aidas nodded his head as they both jumped into the portal.
It was brief.
The moment they jumped in, they found themselves in the Prison World.
Which wasn't really anything to start with.
Hunt noted as he looked around what seemed to be an empty wasteland.
There was nothing.
Nothing except the man standing in front of them.
His eyes wide like that of someone who was tormented.
His appearance was disheveled. Ravished.
Hunt wondered how he wasn't dead yet. He must have been there for years.
He was wearing a raggedy old robe.
That had turned into a dirty brown colour with dark patches on it.
His hair was long and grey, in tangles and knots all over.
His eyes were a bright red.
Sickening and disturbing.
"Are you Hades?"
Hunt asked and the man started laughing manically.
Oh he was not okay.
Aidas concluded as he shook his head.
"Have you come to set me free?"
He asked in a crooked old voice that seemed to echo through the wasteland.
"Set you free? Now why would we do that?"
Aidas said and Hunt gently nudged him.
Hades stopped.
And then he smiled.
"Because you need me to stop her. Don't you?"
He said gleefully.
Aidas and Hunt looked at each other in confusion.
"Are you talking about Ianthe?"
He asked as he slowly looked at the truth catcher.
Imelda had given him vague instructions, but pointing it at whoever he wanted the truth from was the way it worked.
When it was on the red arrow, that was a lie. The blue arrow was the truth.
"Yes!!! Who else is there to talk about? You'd never be able to defeat her without me."
The truth catcher went blue. And Aidas sighed briefly.
"And why is that? You have no powers so we heard. The Fae Queen rendered you powerless."
Hunt taunted. Hades hissed loudly. The statement seemed to have upset him deeply.
"I possess something greater than what she has. Something that would change the world forever!!!"
He screamed.
He started laughing again.
In a way that disturbed Aidas.
Especially since the truth catcher was on blue.
"And what is it that you have?"
He asked and Hades turned to him.
His eyes wide with what seemed to be child-like glee.
"You'll learn soon enough. In the mean time... If you want to defeat Ianthe you'll have no other choice but to set me free."
He said in a sing song voice and Hunt shook his head.
Meanwhile, the truth catcher's arrow turned blazing red.
Hades instinctively turned, his eyes going straight to Aidas's hand.
"What is that?"
He growled deeply and Aidas buried it in his back pocket.
"Nothing."
He murmured.
But it was too late.
He already noticed.
And he was furious.
He raised his two hands. His hands were in the air and Hunt and Aidas could feel the air around them changing.
Getting thicker.
Getting stiff.
"I thought he didn't have powers anymore."
Hunt whispered.
Aidas shook his head.
"Guess we were wrong."
They braced themselves for whatever was coming, but it never came as a blinding blue light blinded them for a second.
They felt a hand reach out to them and in a flash they were back in the stuffy room where it all started.
"You fools!!!"
Queen Yvaine of the Faes spat out in anger as she promptly closed back the portal.