Chapter 561

Chapter 0561
Silas
Orion lifts the little wooden door from above my head. Daylight almost blinds me after being sat in the darkness for several hours, listening to the sounds of the crashing river echoing through the tunnel. He reaches in a hand and pulls me out with ease. Casting a glance around the room, I see that we are in someone’s lounge.
As the wooden hatch shuts, Indy quickly flattens a worn rug back over it. “Sorry” she mutters. “I didn’t think I would be so long. This is my home. You should be safe here.”
I stare at her. “If I didn’t believe what I had seen, I would have thought you were setting me up.”
“I’m sorry. Thalia’s guards were on the move. The problem with you is that your scent is quite strong, but luckily for you,” She gestures to the floor, “It’s blocked down there. I went to the healer a few days ago and stole something that hides it and now we need to hide yours while you are out and about.”
She pulls a necklace out from under her sweatshirt. A small key dangles from the thin leather. She tugs it over her head as Orion removes a few books from a bookshelf. The books conceal a keyhole. Indy slots the key in easily, opening up a small trapdoor. Inside were a few vials with different coloured liquids.
“I thought that side of you was weak.” I watch her soul, ready for a lie
“It is, these are all stolen.” She mutters as she checks each one, “You never know when you might need something.” She glances at Orion, “Don’t judge, it’s helped us both out.”
Orion rolls his eyes. But I liked her honesty, though I’m surprised she had lasted this long with being so truthful. If you are in a pack where someone is trying to gain all the power, you weed out the problems first. Maybe she had been overlooked because her Witch side wasn’t strong. But she was smart.
She continues to rummage through the small vials and finds one with a blue liquid. “This hides your scent.” She holds it up between her thumb and forefinger. “You should be able to move around without a problem. But you need to place a drop on your tongue every hour.”
“Unless they are all blind, it is no help at all.” I tut
“Well… That’s the thing, they are pretty much blind.”
“Thalia took their eyesight?” Some of my methods were questionable but to blind people for the sake of power. That was different.
She shakes her head, her white hair fanning out. “Not quite as dramatic as that. From what I understand, no one out there sees White Cliffs for what it is. They all have this image in their heads. I’m guessing maybe an image from the past. Like you, you said there are white roofs on the castle. They never used to be white. They used to be gold, catching the sunlight. People loved them and that is probably what they still see. It used to be the place everyone wanted to be, but it hasn’t been that way in a long time.”
Orion elbows her.
“I was getting to it.” She tuts and a crease appears on her brow. “The others out that door, don’t even see the dead. They see what they are told to see. Acting like their precious life is perfect when it couldn’t be any further from the truth.”
*The dead?”
She nods her head.
“I need more than a little nod. I need you to tell me everything if you want me to help you get back to Silas.” *The ones Serkan fed on. Serkan is a…
“I know he is a Rogue.” I point to myself. “Rogue Hunter. He is one of those fancy ones that can shift, but still hunts like a fucking beast.”
“Okay, did not see the Hunter thing coming.” She looks away but her eyebrows are practically up in her white hair, *Anyway the bodies are just out in the streets, rotting away. The people walk around them like there are no decaying corpses.”
*Surely they smell. If they are decaying, the smell must be rancid.”
“Did you smell them from outside the walls?” she stares at me expectantly. “Because you should have done if you think that’s bad.”
She had a point. I had scented the delicious food they were cooking, but now, I question what it really was that they were doing.
*Are there other Rogues here?”
She shakes her head, “I don’t think so. I don’t think Serkan would let them live here.” She sits on a nearby stall,” Everything about this place is cursed. The people in it. How it’s hidden. The smell. The truth. Even Thalia’s guards are oblivious to the truth. But if she wants them to kill you. She will put your image in their minds. She is crazy powerful. More powerful than Serkan.”