Chapter 398: Failed deal.

Zyra looked over at Hunter, both of them frowning in deep thought.

Hunter stepped closer to the sleek black vessel, staring at its front hull. Something about the design felt strangely familiar, like a weird itch in his brain. He squinted, tracing the lines of the metal, until his eyes landed on a deep, star-shaped indentation built right into the sleek black armor of the ship.

He froze, pointing a shaking finger straight at the slot.

"Zyra... look," Hunter said, his voice dropping to an excited whisper. "That shape, isn’t it familiar? Could this be related to that key?"

Zyra walked over, her eyes locking onto the star-shaped indentation. A sudden spark of realization hit both of them at the exact same time. It made their eyes go wide with wonder.

Of all the people in the world that could have found the key, it just happened to be them! What were the odds of such a miracle happening?

Hunter traced his finger around the indentation. The mysterious, star-shaped artifact they had taken from the bottom of the dungeon matched it perfectly. "Is it truly the same, or do my eyes deceive me?" He whispered slowly to her.

Zyra nodded strongly, her eyes glued to the strange star shaped dent on the ship. "Then both of our eyes are going blind. But I am sure mine are perfect. I know its hard to believe, but it is what it is."

A few paces away, Trinity’s ears twitched. She strained her neck, desperately trying to catch their muffled whispers. Realizing she couldn’t hear a thing, she twisted her nose and yelled across the room.

"Hey! What are you two whispering about over there?" Trinity smirked, fixing her eyes on Hunter. "Right, Hunter Kaelion. The ship looks a little too familiar to you, doesn’t it?"

The moment she ended her ambiguous question, the whole room went dead silent. Everyone turned their heads to stare at her.

Trinity’s smile widened. Perfect. Now that she had their full attention, it was time to play her cards. A deal for her freedom was practically in the bag!

"I mean, come on, Hunter Magnus Kaelion," Trinity said, dropping her voice into a dramatic, taunting one. She squeezed out a mysterious expression. "You must have noticed all those weird things happening to your body lately, right? You probably lay awake at night, wondering why..."

Arrow yanked hard on the iron chain around her neck, pulling her back so abruptly her head nearly snapped. "Will someone shut this crazy bitch up? What kind of nonsense are you babbling now?"

"Wait. Stop," Hunter raised a hand, stepping in front of Arrow. He frowned at Trinity. "What do you mean by that?"

Trinity hissed like an annoyed cat, brushing dirt off her shoulder. "Oh, why ask me? Why don’t you go ask that traitorous liar you call a mother?" She threw back her head and burst into a loud, cackling laugh_ rehearsing her best evil queen villain impression. "Trust me, darling, you won’t like what you find out! Not one bit!"

She stopped laughing as suddenly as she started, narrowing her eyes. "Tell you what. I happen to know a whole lot about your dear father, too. How about a little trade? Give me a lighter sentence_ say, exile me to the Wild Lands_ and I’ll spill every juicy secret you want to know. Your mother is never going to tell you the truth, and trust me, you are going to need that truth before the Somnivores cross the veil."

Hunter stood frozen, his eyebrows pulled tight as he tried to process her words.

Before he could speak, Zyra stepped forward. She walked up to Trinity until they were practically nose-to-nose. Trinity flinched at the sudden proximity.

"Make a deal with you?" Zyra let out a dry, sarcastic laugh. "Why would we trade with a prisoner when we can just force the truth out of you with our magic juice? If we could make you confess to manipulating things behind the scenes to orchestrate grandpa Kaelion’s death, we can get the rest of your secrets as well."

Trinity opened her mouth to argue, but Zyra leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a cold whisper. "And if your grand plan is to escape to the Wild Lands and join up with Julia and your army, let me save you the trip," Zyra sneered. "Julia is dead. Her army? Slaughtered. Every single one of your men is beast food."

The triumphant smugness vanished from Trinity’s face instantly. Her skin turned a ghostly, corpse-like white.

Dead? Julia is... dead?

The news hit her like a thunderbolt. No rescue party was coming. No army was marching to break her out. She was completely, utterly doomed.

"No... NO!" Trinity collapsed onto her knees and let out a ear-piercing, blood-curdling screech_ sounding exactly like a ghost that had just seen the gates to hell open up.

"Ugh, my ears!" Zyra winced, rubbing her temple. "Get her out of my sight!"

Arrow dragged the hysterical Trinity away, her boots scraping uselessly against the floor.

Zyra turned around and waved her hands at the crowd. "Alright, show’s over, people! Pack it up and head back to the surface. We don’t have the key to open this giant iron egg anyway!"

The crowd grumbled and started trickling out. Soon, only Hunter and Zyra were left standing in the room.

Hunter hadn’t moved an inch. He stared blankly at the wall, looking like a man who had just taken a brick to the back of the head.

"Hey," Zyra tapped his hand gently. "Don’t overthink whatever garbage came out of that snake’s mouth. We’ll figure it out together."

Hunter snapped out of his trance and let out a heavy sigh. "I know. But I need to talk to my father. I have to get to the bottom of this."

"Agreed," Zyra nodded. "But first things first_ we need to see what’s inside this ship."

She took a breath and called out in her mind, ’System! Hand over the key."

A bright flash of light sparked in front of her, and the star device materialized right into her palms.

Hunter’s eyes went wide. He scrambled back a step, pointing at the object panic-style. "Wait, wait, wait! Zyra, the last time that thing was turned on, an Orakuns chased us all the way to Beast Valley! If you turn that thing on they will come here."

"Relax, I’m not stupid," Zyra rolled her eyes. She cleared her throat and called out into her mind again. "Beauty! Do you have a way to mask this thing’s signal?" She was not about to risk handing over the spaceship to the Somnivores. Not before taking a look at what was inside.