∞

Iris shifted slightly, the cold, hard ground not exactly comfortable.

And neither was the atmosphere. It was tense and heavy, just like the steps of the demon that had spent the last few minutes walking around in circles and mumbling incomprehensible things under his breath.

He'd told Ezra and Iris to sit down and shut up and now, there they were.

Their minds were filled with questions, the number of them growing with every passing second.

Yet there were no answers.

Iris glanced over at Ezra, only to find him already looking at her, the same look of utter unease and confusion on his face that she was sure she had on hers, too.

A sudden sigh made both of them flinch.

They turned to look at Salem, the man sitting down on the ground in front of them.

“You don't have any idea what you just did, do you?” Salem let his gaze wander over the siblings, taking his sweet time to glare at each of them with individual disapproval.

“Well,” Iris began, voice slightly wavering under Salem's intense gaze, “we opened that pretty jewelry box.”

Salem snorted. “That was not a jewelry box.” He paused, taking the box into his hands. “This,” he held it up for them to see, “is a prison. The council calls it ‘The Pandora's Box’. Does that ring any bells, Ezra?”

Ezra flinched at the mention of his name, the attention now trained on him making him increasingly uncomfortable. Strangely, this situation reminded him of being scolded as a child. “Um, there was that one box in greek mythology that contained all evil called the Pandora's box.” Ezra's voice came out quieter than he had meant it to. He cleared his throat.

“Exactly. Ten points for Gryffindor.” Salem's voice was dripping with sarcasm. “Now while this,” he held the box up, “didn't contain all the evil of the world, it comes pretty damn close to it.”

“Well, what did it contain?” Ezra asked, his voice a bit steadier.

“Oh, nothing important. Just some of the most dangerous individuals to ever exist.” Salem slammed the box onto the ground.

“Well, they could've at least put a sign here to let us know. Something along the lines of ‘Warning, don't open or you'll release some super dangerous-”

“I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation,” Salem cut Iris off. “Let me explain it to you. Slowly.” His gaze bored straight into her eyes, the girl shifting slightly under the weight of it. “This box contained some of the most dangerous supernaturals to ever exist. Sure, some of them were only smaller rogues. But others led revolutions. They wrote supernatural history and had the world in ashes,” Salem scoffed, “heck, they've left marks on this world that still haven't faded after centuries of trying to recover.” Salem's voice was smooth as honey, even when reprimanding the siblings as sharply as he was doing now. You could clearly make out anger in it, distress, yet there was also a hint of something else. The glint in his eyes said it all, Ezra's suspicions confirmed by the slight trembling of the demon's hands.

He was afraid. Ezra gulped.

“Why should we believe you anyways?” he asked, a pathetic attempt at making himself believe that this was all a lie, it wasn't actually happening. “You're a demon.”

Salem groaned in annoyance. “Yeah, no shit. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

“He has a point. Demons aren't really known for being trustworthy, you know?” Iris' voice came out steady, way more confident than Ezra's had.

Salem sighed and immediately brought his hand up to unbotton the top buttons of his shirt. Iris was just about to comment when he suddenly pulled his shirt aside, revealing a pentagram-shaped burnmark on his chest. The pentagram was surrounded by runes, revealing exactly just what kind of burnmark this was. “You know, you'd think the fact that I've been living with your family for centuries would at least earn me some kind of favor.” Salem buttoned his shirt back up, Ezra's gaze immediately torn away from his bare chest. His cheeks were a bit reddened as he stared at the box, trying to get his mind elsewhere. He had not expected that.

“So, in that case we should maybe call the council?” Iris was definitely better at keeping her composure in moments like these.

“Unfortunately, that is not possible.”

“What? Why?”

Salem sighed and massaged his temples, clearly doing his best to keep it together. “You just triggered an ancient protection spell. By opening the box, you not only released all of those rogues, you also locked them in here. With us.” Upon noticing the confusion on the siblings' faces, he elaborated further. “Kyteler is now surrounded by a giant, magical barrier. Nothing can get out. But nothing can get in either.”

That took a moment to sink in. Ezra's mind went blank, all the questions he had suddenly forced into the back of his mind.

“So we can't leave town?”

Salem shook his head slightly. “Well, not exactly. See, Kyteler used to be a kingdom when this box was made, so the area we're locked in is much larger.”

“And the council couldn't just hold their meeting in that area? If they did, we'd actually have someone to sort this out.”

“Yes, Iris, I'm so sorry that the bad, bad council isn't always here to clean up your mess for you.” His words came out in a mocking tone, exaggerated sympathy, that was obviously faked, emphasized by the hand he pressed against his chest at the spot his heart was supposed to be. Ezra was immediately reminded of the burnmark. And the abs. He turned his head away again, scolding himself for his thoughts. “Well, I've got news for you,” Salem said, “this time, you actually gotta deal with the consequences of your actions.”

“What? No way! We're - we're children, you can't just expect us to take down a bunch of rogues!”

“Yes, I know, how horrible of me.” Salem raised his hand in false apology. “Making you solve problems that you mindlessly started yourself out of boredom.”

Iris frowned, crossing her arms. It's not like it was entirely her fault... Who just put a prison behind a sink anyways? It was their fault for not protecting it better.

Salem sighed, shaking his head slightly. “No, but seriously. You two have to figure this out. There really isn't another option right now.”

“Care to elaborate on that?” Ezra asked as there was obviously more to that statement.

“Look, I can't spend the whole day giving you explanations. The world's probably already going to shit out there, so we need to come up with something quickly.”

“And we'd be way quicker if you gave us more details on what exactly we are supposed to do and why.”

Salem thought about it for a second. “Well, yes, that is a fair point, I suppose.” He inhaled deeply, as if trying to calm himself down - though he seemed obviously annoyed. “I'll give you a short version. Basically, no one besides a few higherups in the council and your family knows this prison exists. It was your family who made it and took on the responsibility of keeping it safe. So the seals that you two have so rudely broken-” he made sure to give another disapproving glare “-only opened because you have the same magic and the same blood running through your veins as the person who made this prison. It's also why you're currently the only ones who can renew it.“ He held up the box. “And you'll also need this to do that, so we might want to keep it safe.”

“Great! So what do we have to do?” Iris asked, a smile forming on her face. She'd known from the beginning that this wasn't as serious as Salem had made it out to be. It just couldn't be.

“That, I don't know yet. Hand me your phone?”

Iris did as she was told, the blow of the first sentence somewhat devastating. She didn't really know what to say, the smile gone from her face.

“Right, so...” Salem frowned in annoyance. The internet was terrible in here. Finally, the map loaded. He zoomed out a bit and screenshot it, then opened a photo editor, so he could draw on the picture. “This,” he started drawing a red line to symbolize the end of the barrier, “is the area we're stuck in.”

He laid the phone on the ground, so all of them were able to see it. It was a larger area, containing a lot of smaller cities, even a few big ones.

“Well, that's not too bad,” Iris said.

Salem shook his head. “Wrong. There's airports in this area, planes will try to get in. And there's a lot of people in here, don't you think at least some will try to leave? Then there's imports and exports happening, but now that's not possible, so we have limited ressources. Humans are dumb. But this, even they should take notice of. And every single member of the council is currently far, far away from here, so we're probably all going to die.”

Ezra paled.

“And, um... are there any good news?” Iris asked hesitantly. She didn't want her last hopes shattered.

“The good news are that one of the council's safest bunkers is somewhere in the area. It might contain information on how to fix this.” Iris sighed in relief. “The bad news are that I don't know the exact location. Only that we are here,” Salem pointed at one end of the barrier, “and the bunker is somewhere there.” He pointed at the opposite end.

Ezra sighed, running his hand through his hair. This was making him sick, his mind struggling to comprehend the information he'd just heard. “So we have to go there?”

“Yes. And potentially fight off dozens of supernaturals on the way who will do everything they can to get that box and find the bunker, while also needing to eat, drink, sleep...” He sighed.

“And how exactly are we supposed to do that without dying?” Ezra asked.

“Not alone. For now, we try to get a bunch of people together and raid a few safehouses in the area for weapons. We might wanna get some of the food in the bakery, too, while we are at it.”

Both of the siblings nodded, Ezra still not fully comprehending the situation and Iris unusually quiet.

Salem sighed. “Okay, you know what, just go to sleep. We can't do anything right now anyways, so let's just wait until tomorrow to see just how chaotic this is going to be.”

Neither of the two said a word as they climbed into the shaft, Ezra taking the box with him. Salem morphed back into his cat form, making it easier for him to follow.

He still didn't understand how the siblings could mess things up this badly when they were only alone for a few minutes.

They reached the end of the shaft, the silence that had weighed down on them during the way still present.

The door to the bathroom hang wide open, the seal now broken and of no use.

Silently, the group made their way back to the backroom, Salem alert and looking for any sign of movement. He was mostly certain that no supernatural was left in the bakery, considering they weren't able to take a physical form yet - still, it was never bad to be careful.

Iris immediately went to sit in an armchair, taking a deep breath like she was trying her hardest to stay calm. She looked pale and was quite obviously overhelmed.

Salem didn't go in to comfort her. He knew that Ezra would do a better job at that, but at the same time he really didn't have any comforting to say.

There just wasn't anything good to this situation.

He quietly left the room to check the bakery for security leaks. It was one of the safest buildings in town, all of the protection spells normally did a great job at keeping unwanted visitors out. But it was better to make sure that there wasn't still a rogue in form of a cloud of black smoke floating around somewhere in here.

Ezra plopped into an armchair on the opposite side of the room, taking no notice of Salem's disappearance.

He didn't take much notice of anything, his mind full of questions.

As was Iris'.

How could she have known that there was a goddamn prison behind the bathroom?

Still, it couldn't be as bad as Salem had made it out to be. She was sure it was just a small thing. That cat had always been overdramatic anyways. Iris vividly remembered accidentally kicking over his milk when she was seven years old. He had glared at her for hours and when she went to get herself a glass of orange juice that day, he had jumped on the table and knocked it onto the ground, making sure to stagger away as proudly as possible, with his chin held high and the stance of a dressage horse.

Iris smiled a little at the memory. This was going to be alright. It had to be. She just couldn't imagine anything else.

With a sigh, her gaze fell onto Ezra, the boy just staring blankly at nothing in particular.

Her brows furrowed in worry. “Hey, Ez?”

He flinched slightly at his name, looking over at Iris.

“Are you alright?”

Ezra sighed and shook his head. “I honestly have no idea how to feel about this, but I don't think ‘alright’ is a fitting way to describe it.”

Iris' lips curled into somewhat of a reassuring smile. “Don't worry so much. It's gonna be alright, I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems.”

Ezra just nodded absent-mindedly. He was probably not even listening anymore, seemingly way too caught up in his thoughts.

Iris, however, was just fine now. She was good at ignoring issues, even though to her it was just “being positive”.

Satisfied with her new mindset, she closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep.

This was all just another small issue that would blow over in a few days. There was no need to worry.

Holding on to that thought, she finally drifted off into a much better world where unicorns existed and no problems could occur.

Her own little dream world.

Ezra however, could not fall asleep so easily.

He just kept staring at the wall blankly, too many questions racing through his mind to rest.

So he sat there, thinking, only accompanied by the light of the shining full moon.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the clouds of black smoke bolting past the window.

---------------
So, this took a while. Sorry "^^

It's more of a filler chapter, so it's kinda short and no one has been introduced yet - However, starting from the next chapter, new characters will be introduced.

Also, please finish your relationships, people.