I need to know

"We are not vampires. We are demons." Simeon answered the question, straight to the point, without beating about the bush. He was already tired of all the drama especially when Kaz was involved. All he wanted was to get answers to his questions, but Kaz was determined to ensure he was frustrated.

"Not demons, Simeon. Angels. We are Angels." Kaz corrected, seeing how Miranda immediately panicked when she heard Simeon's answer.

"Angels live in heaven. Angels who have been sent out of heaven are called demons. Demons live on earth. We were sent out of heaven. We live on earth. We are demons." Simeon explained.

"Stop saying that. You're scaring her." Kaz whispered to Simeon and this time, the latter pinched his forehead tiredly.

"Excuse us for a minute," Simeon said to Miranda, then he turned to Kaz. "Come with me. We need to talk." He stood up and started walking toward the stone structure, and Kaz followed closely behind him. As soon as they entered the building, Simeon turned to Kaz. "I told you to let me handle this. Why aren't you listening and cooperating? Don't you want to leave this place?"

"I was cooperating until you started scaring her by saying we are demons," Kaz responded.

"That wouldn't have even come up if you hadn't yelled about being imprisoned for five hundred years. What is wrong with you?"

"I was only shocked about how long we've been in here. That wasn't intentio…" Kaz's speech suddenly slurred and he collapsed, going limp immediately because while he was still speaking, Simeon knocked him out by placing his hand on his neck, giving him temporary paralysis, an ability he was blessed with.

"I'm sorry I had to do this Kaz, if not, we will not make any meaningful progress." Simeon apologized, then walked out of the stone house, and back to Miranda, already prepared in his heart for Kaz's revenge once he woke up from the short slumber he had been put into.

"Where is Kaz?" Miranda asked when only Simeon returned. She had still not sat down. The thought that she was speaking with demons was one she was still trying to come to terms with. Was her parents perhaps right when they said she was the child of the devil? She had no urge to run away anymore as she thought about these things and the events that led to her appearance in the forest.

"I put him to sleep so that we can talk without any interruption. Please sit down. You have absolutely no need to be scared of me. I will stop existing before I think of bringing you harm in any way. It's true we used to be angels before we were sent out of heaven. but be rest assured that I bear no ill intentions toward you. All I need is for you to tell me how you made it here so that we can figure out how to leave."

At this, Miranda moved back to her stone seat, plopping down on it. Although she wasn't completely trusting of them yet, his words gave her some peace.

"How I came here… It's quite unbelievable." Miranda started, and Simeon laughed.

"You are speaking to a demon here. Nothing is unbelievable when it comes to me. It may be unbelievable for you not for me. Please tell me."

"I was sucked into a book I read," Miranda revealed, expecting a shocked reaction from him, but got a curious one instead.

"A book?" He asked and she nodded.

"Tell me how it happened." Simeon probed further, and Miranda narrated everything that happened right from when she purchased the book up till the time when she was drawn into it, while Simeon listened attentively without once interrupting her.

"And that's how I found myself here." She concluded.

"I see. Can you tell me what the story is about?" Simeon asked and Miranda nodded.

"It's about a king and a queen who did everything in their power to deliver their people from the clutches of a tyrant king, but their good was paid back with evil simply because the humans found out their king wasn't human. They captured him and imprisoned him somewhere he wouldn't be able to escape. It was because of that unsatisfactory ending I decided to follow the instructions behind the book which led me here."

"That was not exactly how it happened and that definitely was not how we were captured and imprisoned. But if reading the instructions led you here, then you may be the key to our escape. I guess the ending was twisted to rouse your curiosity so you can follow the instructions." Simeon reasoned, his expression thoughtful.

"Wait! Are you saying that the story is real? Did it happen for real?"

"No." Simeon wasted no time to answer the question, knowing that answering honestly would lead to questions he wouldn't be able to answer right away. "Our story is a different one but that is not important right now. Please tell me exactly what the instructions were."

"Nothing much. There were ten symbols that I was warned to memorize before proceeding to some words I was unfamiliar with, and it said I had only ten days to figure out the puzzle, otherwise, we'll be trapped forever in the prison."

"And you memorized the symbols?"

"I did."

"What about the words?"

"I didn't get a chance to memorize them. I only read them twice, the first time silently and the other time, out loud. After reading those, the book pulled me into itself."

"That's alright. The symbols, I will need to know what they are and look like." Simeon stood up and looked around, searching for something. Soon, he found a sharp stick which he picked up and handed to Miranda. "Come with me. I'll need you to show me what they look like."

He led her to a small clearing where the light of the moon brightened up a little. "You can illustrate on the floor." He informed her, but Miranda looked like she was hesitating.

"It's dark already. You won't even see what I draw." She mentioned her concern.

"I can see perfectly in the dark. The question is if you can draw in the dark."

"I think I can." Miranda let out a sigh, then squatted down as she drew the symbols from number one to ten just the way she remembered them. Unknown to her, Simeon's eyes narrowed the moment she drew the first one and remained that way until she reached the seventh one when confusion took over his features.

However, as soon as she lifted her head after drawing the tenth symbol, he wiped the expression off his face, replacing it with a smile.