BEN'S PROPHETIC DREAM COME TRUE

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED

With a woosh and a swish, I was sucked into a black vacuum one moment, and then I was dropped neatly on my feet in a stone cell.

"Sam?" River turned around looked quite surprised to see me. The three humans were just about to leave the cell. I was right, River's stone was as good as the master key to everything in the warlock lands.

I felt the air move behind me and stepped forward so Ki had space to land behind me.

River sighed, "You were right, Sam. I messed up. Now we're lost again."

"No way!" I stepped through the open cell, "You got us directly to where we wanted to go."

My wolves were here. I couldn't hear them though.

"Here? Are you sure, Sam?" River asked.

I nodded and looked around. The warlock's underground dungeon was lined in stone. It was very similar to our own dungeons, except the locks here were activated by River's stone, and there was the usual warlock magic tinged in the air.

Also there was no echoes at all. Our footsteps sounded like fake sound effects as we walked. The acoustic in this dungeon was magically messed up like everything else in the warlock lands. #ihatewarlocklands

But this was the only reason I could think of to explain why I couldn't hear my warriors despite their close proximity. My warriors were a noisy bunch. And it seemed like they hadn't heard our less than silent arrival either.

Now that we were all out of the cell, the guys followed me down the narrow passage way. This passageway was lit, but I couldn't see any light source.

And as I walked, I realized that this was quite a large dungeon. Even bigger than then one in our pack house basement.

"So the trap sucked intruders directly into a locked cell?" Keanu was still trying to figure it out.

"I guess that would make sense." River answered.

In what way did that make any sense? Nothing in this place made sense. Not the lighting, or acoustics, or anything at all, really!

Wilhelm looked worried too, but for other reasons, "Wouldn't the warlock be alerted now that we have triggered this trap?"

Which was why I told the humans to just stay there and wait for me, but what's the point of bringing that up again? We were all here now, and my wolves were... I took the first turn and found them immediately - my entire special team.

Except for Torque, they were all residing in the back where the shadow was darkest. I could see Torque's large frame and blond head pacing down the cell, his back to me.

So this was the pacer on my radar.

"Alpha!" Barry called out first. He stood up from the bench at the back and stepped out of the shadows within the cell to the front.

Torque stopped pacing the cell, turning his large frame to look, "It's really Alpha!"

Of course it was me. Who else were they expecting?

"Hey, EJ, look!" Barry turned back to cajole the younger wolf, "It's our Alpha. She came to get us! I told you we'd be okay. Come on, EJ! Snap out of it!"

"Leave him be, Barry." This was Ink, "He'll come round on his own."

Fluffy met me at the gate with an unspoken urgency, "We're alright, Alpha. But scary beta is in a bad way."

"Oh yeah." Barry remembered, "Never mind us. The young beta tried to put up a fight...."

"He sure gave that Warlock a pounding though!" Torque boasted.

"But the warlock had these invisible ropes..." Barry tried to explain, "They disappeared down that way."

"There is only a 2% chance of Beta Ben escaping." Ink informed me, "It's most probably that he is being kept in a separate cell now and heavily injured. We tried calling out to him, but he isn't responding."

See, I told you, my wolves were a noisy bunch.

"River, can you help me release my wolves?" I asked.

"Sure, Sam." River fumbled to take out his stone. I didn't wait. I followed my lucky sense of direction towards Ben. Ben who was probably "in a bad way"... But what did that mean?

Ki followed me down another two cells. The magic here was super strong. We should've brought River along. I realized belatedly that Ben would also be locked up. And he was... Oh! Poor Ben!

"Ben!" I gasped through the bars.

"Ben lifted his head an iota, his voice was raspy, "Sam? Get out of here."

I told you before right? Ben always seemed to take the hardest hit whenever anything went wrong.

Ki began glowing immediately.

"Dog? Get Sam out of here." Ben rasped when he saw the glow.

Ben was chained up against the wall. I couldn't see past the shroud of darkness. Most of him was covered in the mysterious dark shadows but I could smell blood. A lot of blood.

I looked around at what I could see of his cell. It was also made of stone, but the stone was cracked and there were pieces of broken rock lying around. The bar in front of his cell was also decidedly bent, like a large wolf had crashed into it. Ben definitely hadn't gone into the cell without a fight.

"Ki, please stay with Ben. I'll go get River to come free him." I left as quickly as I could, supposedly I was rushing to fetch River but the truth was, I was running away again. Ben... wth. How did he get this way?

Back with the other wolves, River wasn't having an easy time.

"Okay, it's unlocked. You're free! Why won't you guys come out?" I heard River's voice the moment I rounded the corner. Looks like the magic was messing with the sound like that. I was only around the corner but each segment of the dungeon seemed isolated from the other by some kind of sound barrier. It was overall rather considerate of the warlock to give each cell its own privacy?

Anyway, never mind the eccentricities of a warlock, why the hell were my wolves still in their cell? And why was someone crying?

"What's going on?" I asked.

The humans looked only too relieved to see me.

"Your wolves seem to be suffering some truama." Keanu tried to explain.

"Not all of us!" Barry countered, "Just EJ."

I stepped into the cell to check on EJ. He was huddled and crying in the furthest corner of the cell.

"What's wrong with EJ?" I asked.

My wolves got really quiet.

"He's always like this before a fight." Fluffy informed me with his practiced smile firmly in place, "It's best to just leave him here."

"What fight?" I asked.

"Cage fight." Barry gritted out, he tried to joke it off, "This place, really brings back old memories."

But nobody laughed.

Barry forced a wane smile, "Even the dimensions and layout is similar."

I paused, unsure of what to say.

"Actually the lighting too...and the echoes. This is a lot like the cells under the Central Covens." Barry admitted.

Oh, was this what the vampire cells were like?

"Arugghhhhh...." Torque smashed at the cell wall, "Let me out!"

"The door is that way." I said pointedly.

But Torque shook his head fugitively, "It's even worse out there."

"Don't worry, Alpha, Torque's okay. He's just claustrophobic." Barry explained, "He'll be fine once we get out to a more open space."

In what way was that okay?

Okay... I stepped back and took stock of my special team.

Barry seemed to be the steadiest.

EJ had totally lost it. He was just crying and whimpering in his corner.

Despite Barry's assessment, Torque wasn't much better. The big guy was pacing again, much like a caged animal. It was a little disturbing.

Okay, who else was still sane? I looked at Ink, who blinked owlishly back at me, "Ink, report."

"We ran into an enchantment shortly after escaping the rogue's missile." Ink reported, "This caused us to be trap in a loop. We were just walking around in circles. Beta Ben recognized the repeated scenery and used his wolf power to break the spell."

"Wait, how did he break the spell exactly?" I asked. Ben's wolf power was in the demolition category right?

"He punched it." Ink told me, "In one punch."

Oh. So my dream power was with Ben all this while.

"So you're saying Ben punched... What did he punch?" I asked.

"The air." Ink answered, pushing up his spectacles, "I understand, Alpha. It was completely illogical to me as well, but it worked, the space-time dimension..."

"The what?" I asked again.

"I believe the enchantment was created by manipulating the space and time dimensions..." Ink began to theorize.

I held up my hand to stop him, "That is enough. Thank you."

Okay, Ink was sane.

"Cobra report." I ordered.

Cobra who had be just standing next to Ink answered, "Shhh...."

Which I could take as proof that he was fine too, but I just needed to be sure, "With words. I know you can speak!"

Cobra looked extremely reluctant, and then he managed, "What Ink said."

"Okay... And then what happened?" I wasn't going to let Cobra off the hook.

"Ssssshhhh..."Cobra sighed, "We got caught in another enchantment, and appeared there."

Cobra pointed. I turned around, there was an empty cell opposite ours, but it had bars ripped opened and one wall smashed through.

I looked back at my wolves, "So that used to be a normal cell?"

"Yes, Alpha." Barry answered.

"The warlock was most displeased." Fluffy chimed in happily, but it was his superficial smiles - the one he used for "work".

I narrowed my eyes at Fluffy who immediately noticed and smiled wider. Fluffy was still being very Fluffy I guess. But his wolf had receded again. Poor Fluffy. I think his wolf had been severely traumatized again.

Actually, I suppose that could be said for all my special team wolves. But that's okay. I was the Alpha. I'll protect all of them, "Okay. River, please go around this corner and help Ki get Ben out of his cell. I'll sort my wolves out and meet you in a bit."

"Urm... Are you sure, Sam?" River looked worriedly at the passing Torque, "These guys look kind of dangerous."

"Whatever it is, they're my wolves. Please go help Ki with Ben. He's chained up and bleeding."

"Oh!" River seemed to suddenly realize the urgency, "Okay, I'll go over with Keanu. Wilhelm, stay with Sam though. I don't think it's good to leave her alone with those guys."

"Yes, your highness." Wilhelm agreed. This surprised me, since I would never have thought Wilhelm would leave River alone for anything.

I guess the humans really thought I was dealing with some dangerous guys... I looked back at the hissing Cobra, the tattooed-over Ink... And then at Fluffy smiling like Maria in a good mood, Barry towering over me, EJ sobbing in the corner, and Torque who just passed by again as he paced like a caged wild animal... yeah... Hahaha. I guess my special team could come off as the crazy dangerous guys you won't want to meet on your way home at night.

"Okay. Let's play a game." I decided, "It's called the 'get the special team out of jail game'. Torque close your eyes and pretend you're doing an obstacle course blindfolded. Ink will guide you out. The rest of you don't cram him. Barry, see if you can carry EJ. Let's go get Ben and we can get out of here."

The guys just stared at me unmovingly.

"Why? Were you guys planning to stay here overnight?" I flared, "Move it!"

I'll admit. I pretty much alpha commanded them then.

"Yes, Alpha!" Suddenly, their warrior training kicked in or something, and they got moving. Well, all except for EJ.

EJ screeched and clawed like a wild cat, but Barry once again proved himself to be the kind of nice guy who'd save his friend even while being scratched, "Okay, come on EJ... Let's go."

EJ screeched some more and then he got really quiet.

Which I took to mean everything was working out. We were all out of the cell and moving down the passage way. Even Torque was stealing peeks along the way without freaking out. I guess Barry was right. Torque was "okay".

"Uh oh." Barry said.

What? What's uh oh?

"Charming beta!" Fluffy called out to Ki the moment we rounded the corner, "EJ has gone quiet!"

Ki took one look from where he was and ordered, "Knock him out."

Cobra made a sharp poke on the side of EJ's neck and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

Wait, Cobra could do that? Why didn't anyone say so? Shouldn't we had knocked EJ out BEFORE he scratched up Barry?

"Thanks." Barry said, his face still sporting the scratches from just now, "It would be bad if the Red Prince showed up right now."

The what now? That was EJ's stage name right? In my mind I could only conjure up the memory of EJ singing A Whole New World in music class, but from the expressions of the wolves around me, they were remembering far darker things.

"Goddess, Beta wants to see you." Ki informed me now that EJ had been taken care of.

Eh? What? Ben's still inside?

What's wrong with my wolves? Did I have to step in and invite each and every one of them out of their cell personally?

But the moment I stepped in, I realized why. Oh s***. Ben's prophetic dream was coming true.