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  Everyone nodded, then fell silent. The lack of noise was unsettling to Lila, who remembered how empty it was in the veil before she'd pushed through to this world. She swung her legs off of the side of the bed, placing her feet on the floor. Immediately, Liam showed alarm, but she brushed it off, standing.

  “Anyone got a coat?” she asked; it was freezing down here, in the sterile white tiled rooms with no doors. They were more like cubicles. She felt a coat drape around her shoulders, and smiled at Adam gratefully.

  Of course, it was too long, and Lila pushed her arms into the sleeves, only for Liam to have to roll up the sleeves for her. It fell to halfway down her thighs, which was a mercy given how exposing the hospital gown had been. At least it had been more than the kind which tied at the back, like civilian hospitals offered. She didn't need everyone seeing her backside.

  She set herself to the task of walking, which was more difficult than she'd anticipated, it had been almost a week and a day since she had used her legs, and they had weakened quickly. She'd thought it was only long term coma sufferers who experienced this.

  Liam made her stop, helping her to put on a pair of trainers, which seemed to be part of a standard issue set from the witch hunters, pure black and practical. She took Liam's arm when it was offered, walking out into the hall and down past the nurses station. From behind her white desk, a woman whose clothes were practically camouflage down here, stood up and gaped in confusion; she obviously thought they were leaving, thanks to the coat Lila was wearing, and the group trailing behind them.

  “Easy, we're just helping her get her sea legs back.” Troy informed her solemnly, as if it was of grave importance. Lila laughed, shaking her head.

  “Thanks, is that what we're calling it?” she asked.

  “Actually, you're wobbling, so it's kind of more like Bambi.” Rose observed, and there were murmurs of agreement.

  “Okay, fine, I'm Bambi. Can you help me up to see the weapons?” she asked; she really wanted to see the trap, to see if there was some element in it which could help her form a prison inside the Spirit realm. She wouldn't be able to take the trap with her into the Spirit realm, but maybe the concept would be enough.

  A moment of uncomfortable consideration descended upon them; She didn't know that they had requested a guard with her at all times after her little display. The nurse picked up a phone and murmured something which sounded a lot like a code, and before she knew it, someone lifted a hulking weight of a door from the ceiling, then dropped down a metal set of stairs, which were pretty impressive; she'd only ever seen ladders for this kind of door. Given that it was a hospital, though, it made sense.

  Stepping on to the metal frame, she held on to Liam, not quite trusting the rails to support her full body weight bearing down on it, despite how small she was. Nevertheless, she made it up there, taking a shaky breath as she saw the end in sight.

  Emerging above, it was as though someone had turned out the light. The contrast between the stark white rooms below and the dim, factory-like surroundings above was huge. Instinctively, Lila scrunched her eyes nearly shut, fighting the uncomfortable blurriness as they tried to adjust.

  “You get used to that.” Noah reassured her when he came up behind them and saw the expression on her face. “It's really bad at first, but if you come over here, you won't have the glare from below in the edge of your vision.”

  Liam helped her over, and the blurriness began to clear. She groaned, bringing one hand up to rub her irritated eyes. Before long, the fuzziness vanished, leaving her adjusted to the darker room, objects coming into focus, and she blew out air through pursed lips in surprise. This place was huge. Not just big, but gigantic. It was highly likely that you could run three factories inside the imposing structure, and Lila had no idea how she hadn't seen it from outside.

  “This is on the back of the main building, and hidden with magick. They just see a big barren field with vaguely dangerous looking stuff strewn around to deter them from actually going near it.” Liam seemed to answer her thoughts. “It's one of the reasons they keep witches around. Ironic, really, that they hate everything about witches except what they can use for themselves.” he pulled a face.

  “Okay, so... they make all of the weapons in this cathedral slash factory?” she asked. They were standing on an upper level, and she moved over to look over a railing at the floor below. She felt a slight wave of vertigo take hold of her, and she almost threw up. Apparently, she wasn't quite over her incident yet. Liam grabbed hold of her round the waist and prevented her from toppling over.

  “Most of them, I think. I guess they hide a few of the stuff we don't know about so they can use it against us if we show signs of going dark or something.” Noah shrugged. Behind them, Rose was talking animatedly to Adam, and Lila had to glance around to realise that she was talking about how to decorate the place. She laughed, turning away from the nauseating height to watching them, addressing Noah and Liam.

  “You know, she's not wrong. It's so dark in here and then so bright down there. Makes you wonder how many workplace accidents they have getting down to the hospital. At least they're in the right place.” Lila reasoned, tilting her head to the side.

  “You know, you girls talk about a lot of really random things when there's life-or-death stuff going on in the world.” Liam noted.

  “They're not random!” she argued, pouting a little. “It's just that stuff gets so heavy, and sometimes, you need to talk about the little stuff.”

  “To completely forget the fact we might die tomorrow?” Noah asked, and earned a scowl from Lila.

  “Not helping.” she growled, and Noah held up his hands in surrender. “If we just focus on all of the bad things in life, we're never going to do anything remotely normal. Not that I'm saying standing in a secret factory cathedral with a bunker owned by our mortal enemies, helping them to create weapons which might eventually be turned on witches like us, and from which we might never escape alive, is in any way normal.” Lila frowned, then spoke under her breath, trying to work out if what she'd just said made any sense whatsoever.

  “Okay, we've got it. Talk about random things whenever possible. Did you know that lobsters have blue blood?” Liam piped up, saving her from herself. He did not, however, save himself from her.

  “What in the heck made you think about lobster?” she asked, looking completely perplexed.

  “Well, the walls, and the fact I'm absolutely starving.” he shrugged absently.

  “Weirdo.”

  “Shut up. Do you want to go down there?” Liam asked, which made her frown again. “What, what did I do?”

  “Hang on... if the bunker is down there...” Lila pointed at the hatch, “And the floor is down there...” she pointed over the railing, “Then.... how?”

  “Ah. The great mysteries, at last.” Liam chuckled. “The bunker sits under empty land. We're technically partially underground right now, at least down there. That's why all the windows are high up on this side. We're built into a pretty steep hill.” he continued. “So that room and the top floors of the bunker are basically side-by-side, they're just separated by really, really thick walls. Thick enough to protect against a nuclear bomb, even if it hit just outside this room.”

  “My head hurts.” she scrunched her face up. Witch hunters, apparently, did nothing unless it was way more complicated than it had to be.

  “Do you want to go down, or not?” he asked again.

  “I want to eat.”

  “Then let's go eat.” Liam was laughing at her, and she stuck out her tongue.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Going out to eat had only proven Lila's theory that witch hunters made life far too complicated. That, or they didn't want them to remember their way back to the secret lair. They'd made a stop back down at the hospital so that she could change into what they considered inconspicuous clothing; black jeans, and a black t-shirt. Her own clothes appeared to still be back at the hotel they, and all of the guests (who
were thankfully still alive, though they couldn't be sure that Lila hadn't brought them back, too) had vacated in a hurry. Even the staff were reluctant to remain there. The witch hunters had cleaned up the location in such an efficient way that they'd do well in the Secret Service, but there were still faint scorch marks on the walls, and the grass they'd replaced on the lawn didn't quite match the slightly sickly looking grass around it. It was coming back to life, but would take months to truly recover. As for the chasms in the ground, a few Earth witches made short work of repairing the damage, and a fresh coat of concrete had secured any loose earth.

  After she had changed, they'd wandered up and down different halls with Liam assuring them that he knew exactly where he was going. Like the main building, the hallways were exactly alike. Sadie took to sticking post-it-notes on the walls with little arrows on them, and when they came back around to find the same note, they realised that Liam was turning left when he should be turning right, and promptly changed course. Liam was thoroughly teased about being unwilling to ask for help.

  They'd eventually found their way out on to the street, and Lila began to regret accepting the black clothing they'd given her. They couldn't have been more counterproductive or less inconspicuous. Perhaps they worked when the witch hunters were hunting on their own, but when you were walking down the street with six other people wearing exactly the same, you got some looks. They looked like they belonged in some kind of fight academy, sponsored walk, or maybe even a nineties boy band – which was strangely still believable when more than half were girls.

  The further they got towards the populated areas, the worse things seemed. The grass was withering, the trees shedding their leaves and there was a sense of decay all around which didn't belong in the crisp winter which normally preserved life beneath a layer of snow. Lila was given a new idea of what they must look like: a funeral procession. They definitely felt more and more despondent as they passed through the town.

  There was nothing they could do at this moment in time, so they made their way to a diner. Lila pulled out her phone, frowning as she noticed that there was a crack in the top of the screen. She would need to replace this, too. It seemed like everything was going through the wars at the moment. She could still barely walk; she'd held on to Liam through the whole walk here. She just hoped that getting some good food and caffeine would kick start her body; Liam had continued his healing magick as they'd walked, but he couldn't fix muscle weakness. That would have to be worked at with her typical stubbornness.

  They ordered, all of them choosing the same thing, which prompted a discussion about how they looked like they were extremely unoriginal. Rose glanced out of the window at the withered landscape, frowning, while they spoke. Lila looked over just in time for her to use her power, new green shoots appearing in place of the browned ones, bringing the earth around them back to life.

  “It seems like this just happens in their path... it's not permanent.” Adam mused, almost to himself.

  “So they're not all-powerful. What a relief.” Troy answered, and he did look relieved. He seemed to have come to terms with the collar around his neck, now that he knew they could earn its removal. Lila wondered if Grace felt the same way.

  “Well, Lila proved that they can't fight the cycle. They might be able to kill, but the wheel will always compensate. There'll always be more birth to counteract death.” Liam answered, clearly in a very philosophical mood.

  “You know I can't do that again, right?” Lila asked softly. “Not without killing myself.”

  The others looked at her, each face telling her that they didn't want her to do that again, not considering how close she'd come to death in return.

  “We're working on something to counteract their powers, to make it rebound on them. Kind of a magickal mirror so that if they attack us, it'll work on them instead. Hopefully it'll win this fight.” Noah answered, twirling his straw in his drink.

  “If you can get that to work, I'll personally pay for a years worth of chocolate for you.” Troy piped up.

  “Troy, you're the one who loves chocolate, remember?” Noah rolled his eyes, an amused smirk twitching the corner of his cheek. He shifted to rest his hand on the back of his boyfriend's neck, thumb stroking fondly just above the collar.

  “Oh yeah.” Troy answered. “Well, I'll still buy a years worth of chocolate – for us all. We deserve a chocolate binge after all of this.” he chuckled, and Noah muttered an obscenity which was entirely affectionate when aimed at Troy.

  “Jeez guys, get a room.” Sadie pulled a face, but it was obvious that she found them adorable.

  “All of you get a room. What's with the partnering up? Adam and Sadie, Lila and Liam, Troy and Noah. Singles table for one, please...” Rose grumbled, and they all chuckled.

  “It's not really a surprise, is it? We've been through a lot together. When you get to know each other as much as we have over the last few months, it's really easy to fall for someone.” Lila answered.

  “Blech.” Rose answered.

  Lila laughed, and Liam pulled her close as if to wind the younger girl up even more. She couldn't be sure, but Lila thought she saw Adam take Sadie's hand under the table. She did wonder about their group and the relationships they were forging. Adversity could make or break a relationship; she knew that. Would they survive what they had to do here? Would they survive ordinary life when it was over? Were they only together because it was hard to be alone when the sky was falling? Only time would tell. She and Liam had to contend with their age difference, which Lila would stubbornly attest was no problem to her, but secretly she wondered about what it would mean if they grew old together. She would lose him first, a fact that was easy to ignore when you could die any moment.

  “I've got to call Grace.” she announced, and Liam helped her to her feet, holding on to her stubbornly when she tried to tell him she'd manage alone. Somehow, he'd managed to learn her quirks better than she thought anyone ever could. Not that she was complicated, she just never expected anyone to try this hard to get to know her. She allowed him to help her outside the diner, then hit the speed dial she'd assigned to Grace, lifting the phone to her ear.

  “Hello?” The phone had barely rung when Grace picked it up, sounding hurried and eager.

  “Hey, Grace.” Lila was sure the other girl would hear the smile in her voice, full of fondness.

  “Lila! Oh my god, you're awake. I'm so sorry I left, they made up all these rules. I never would have -.” Grace began blurting out, and Lila could imagine her on the other end of the phone as clearly as if she were standing right beside her, her hair bouncing side to side as she shook her head animatedly, as if she didn't realise that Lila couldn't actually see her – her free hand would be waving about as she expressed herself.

  “Grace, it's fine, they explained. How is everyone doing at yours?” she asked, interrupting the stream of apologies. Lila could tell Grace was working herself up into a state, and didn't want to be the reason she burst into tears.

  “Oh, they're okay. I mean, they found the way everything's dying really weird, but there was an announcement that there's a weird toxin in the air which is affecting the plants, like a disease thing – I didn't catch the actual report, and my dad was pretty vague about it. I don't think they're even thinking twice about it. It says a lot about the brainwashing caused by the media..” Grace answered, and Lila sensed a political and corruption talk brewing.

  “We're at this diner... it's near the compound, pink and green paint? I can't read the name, it's all faded.” Lila spoke quickly, trying to avoid the rant which would keep her on the phone for at least twenty minutes.

  “I know the place you mean. It'll take me like an hour to get there. How slow can you eat?” Grace asked.

  “For you, dear, I will cut everything into pea-sized amounts and eat it as delicately as a Victorian maiden.” Lila answered, and Liam gave her a look which was half confusion and half amusement. Lila finished up on the phone before speak
ing to him. “She's going to take a while to get here, so we need to eat really slowly.”

  “Well, in that case, I think we're going to have like two meals each.” Liam answered. Lila chuckled, but only slightly, her stomach giving a loud rumble.

  “That might not be a bad idea.” she reasoned, holding her stomach. “I've been on a liquid lunch for a week.”

  “You're going to make yourself sick, I hope you know that.” Liam answered, shaking his head.

  “No, I'm not. You can cure nausea, right? Perks of having a fire coven boyfriend number one.” Lila chuckled.

  “I'm slightly offended, but considering that's the first time you've actually called me your boyfriend, I'm gonna let this one slide. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? You're my girlfriend, I'm your boyfriend. Let's hold hands and write in our diaries.” He couldn't help but make fun, but Lila could tell he was serious about most of it.