And Then There Were Four by Lilith Carrie

Cassie.

that looked wildly out of place to be within Asgard.

When Silas told me he knew of a place for us to go, I was expecting something fancy or perhaps something that was more... elegant, marble, and who knows what else. What I wasn't expecting though was for him to take us to an old brick building with broken windows Pollux, Trixie, and Sansa decided to stay behind and snoop around the school to see if they could find anything that might be useful. With them looking around, no one would suspect them for doing anything, me, however, they would.

Yet, even though they were busy looking for information, I wished they were here with me. I wanted Pollux to see this building, to see how beautiful and strange the land around it was. One thing about my brother that no one knew but me was his love for history-a love for the past because the past makes us stronger.

The building reminded me of old ruins of castles in a way with its intricate archways and carved designs within the stone. I couldn't help myself when I passed them to reach out and let my fingers brush against the ancient markings. My mind wandered to who these people must have been because it was far older than anything here now.

"Where are we?" I asked softly, my eyes turning to Silas, who smiled down at me with amusement. As if he knew a million secrets and wanted to tell me but didn't know how.

"This is a structure from another realm, one that we no longer speak of because of the battle that commenced there thousands of years ago," he replied as he gazed up at the structure running his own hands against the broken rock. "During the battle, they sought to escape and when the portal was opened, it moved the earth they stood on and anything else around."

"Who is they?" I asked curiously, trying to understand how anyone could be so powerful that they could move all this earth and even structures.

Silas chuckled though as he glanced back at me. "You don't know any of the stories, do you?"

I wasn't sure why he was amused by me not knowing the stories of this place, and shaking my head, he pushed open the large wooden and brass door before us. The creek of the wood echoed against the silent air around Silas and me. I found myself stepping into a hall of darkness filled with cobbled steps and cobwebs.

Silas moved forward down the

cobbled steps further into the darkness, and I hesitated for a moment took a deep breath and forced myself forward. One thing people didn't know about me was the internal fear I had of darkness. Not that anyone would suspect it-I hid my fears very well.

"Silas." I called out into the darkness having lost him in my delay as I reached the bottom step. My eyes strained to see through the black void that filled my vision in front of me. "Silas?"

"Over here!" The dim lighting of a torch coming into view as he came around a corner, and once again I was able to see his smiling face. "Come on, what are you doing?"

What am I doing? Jesus, like I meant to get lost.

"Nothing, right behind you," I replied, pushing a smile onto my face as I watched him turn, my steps right behind his. There was no way I was going to allow myself to get lost in this place again.

After a few minutes of walking, we

came to another archway that opened up into more darkness. Silas stopped in his tracks and turned to the right, letting the lit flame of the torch to touch something on the wall, and as it did a wind blew through the room lighting every torch in sight.

A gasp left my breath as I took in the sight before me. Bookcases reached high into the ceiling, multiple levels of books as far as the eye could see. Never in my life had I seen something so beautiful, and felt the soft gentle brush of Silas' hand.

"Do you like it?" he asked, causing me to turn to him in awe.

"Like it? Silas, I love it," I said, my voice echoing, "how is this kept like it is? I'm surprised people don't come here every day."

Shrugging his shoulders, he looked around as if contemplating what I had said. "It's been forgotten, honestly. Not to mention the school explained to the gods it wasn't a safe place for students to be. So it went vacant for a thousand years."