ANDREW James and I decided that we would walk down the spiral staircase convinced that we would eventually reach the bottom.  But every level that we hit looks identical to the level that was above it.  The pictures on the walls and each doorway is always the same.  We have been walking for what feels like forever.  The view from the windows never changes.  The sun has not risen since we have been in the tower.  It is the dead of night, and the sky is void of any moon or stars.  Black clouds swirl against the dark blue sky.   Tension and frustration is building between us, and I fear if we do not come up with a new idea soon that we will end up fighting.  After descending the stairs and landing in seemingly the same circular room for the hundredth time, I sit on the floor.  My legs feel like lead, and I am pretty sure my feet are bleeding withing my shoes.  Exhaustion mixed with hunger is driving me to the brink

JAMES  Delicately Lilith cuts her chicken into bite sized pieces, grinning at us while she eats.  Neither Andrew or I have dared to take a bite or drink anything that is laid out in front of us.  Both of our stomachs are growling loudly from hunger, but we know we cannot trust anything that Lilith has placed in front of us.  “Aren’t you boys hungry,” she bats her long eyelashes at us.  “You’ve been walking the stairs for three days now.”  “Three days?” Andrew says exasperated and I suddenly feel a lot hungrier.   “mmHmm,” she mumbles as she chews.    Leaning back in my seat, I glare at Lilith.  She looks exactly like I remember.  When I was little I used to twist my fingers around her long strands of hair while she told me stories.  She would look down at me with her bright blue eyes and kiss me gently on the forehead, calling me her Ferocious Pup.  I constantly have to

LYRA Memory after faded memory flashes through my head.  Right before my eyes I watch James grow up.  This bright blue eyes and blonde hair have remained unchanged all of these years.  His mischievous grin is also the same.  Grace doted on him constantly, treating him like a little prince.  Lilith seemed to only tolerate his presence.  I watch as a four-year-old James runs wild through the forest with Grace desperately trying to catch him, but he is so fast that she cannot keep up.  Grace collapses on the ground and pretends to be hurt.  She calls out his name in dramatic distress and it stops James in his tracks. His beautiful blue eyes fill with concern as he runs to her side, until she flips him on his back and started tickling him.  His laughter fills the forest as he tries to wiggle his way out of her arms.  As the memories pass through my mind I cannot help but think that I have never seen a child tha

LYRA A gust of wind bursts from Lilith’s fingers.  The burst is so strong that I cannot stand against it, and it slides me across the floor, smashing me up against the wall on the other side of the room from my mates.  Sliding one foot out in front of the other I block the wind from hitting my face with my arms.  The wind feels like shards of glass as it whips against my forearms.  All I can hear is the sound of wind whipping around my head and Lilith’s evil laugh filling my mind. My anger begins to rush to fingertips.  The urge to burn the tower to the ground is overwhelming, but I can hear Grace’s teachings echoing in my head.  “You will never overcome the element of air with the element of fire.” Closing my eyes against the wind, I pull the wind from around room into my core.  Swiping my hands down in a single swift motion, I push a gust of wind from arms towards Lilith.  “Enough,” I scream as my wind catches Lilith

ANDREW  “I’m driving,” Lyra says as she grabs the keys to my Jeep from my hands.    “Uh,” bile rises in my throat at the thought of anyone driving my Jeep but me.  “Do you even have a license?”  Lyra hops into the driver’s side and puts the key into the ignition and giving it a turn.  “I mean not on me this moment.  But I have one legally… I think,” she slides that last part in quietly thinking that I do not hear her over her revving the engine.  “Nope,” I draw out the word before popping the ‘p’ with my lips.  “You aren’t driving.”    Reaching in I try to pull her from the seat, but she is ignoring me, fiddling with the dials on the dash and adjusting her mirrors.  “When was the last time you ate?”  She questions with an eyebrow raised and I can only glare in her direction because I know that she is technically right.  I am in no shape to drive.  “Exactly,” she chi