<h4>Chapter 330: 330-Finally Awake</h4>


    <strong>Troy:</strong>


    For a moment, everything blurred, and then it felt as if I had just woken from a long sleep.


    But my body still wouldn’t respond to me. It was as if I were trapped inside it while someone else controlled it.


    Even as I regained consciousness, my movements were sluggish and dyed.


    I found myself standing beside two other broad, muscr men.


    For a moment, I couldn’t tell who was who. There were people scattered around, some standing on the road.


    One of them held a piece of jewelry and a woman by her hair, while another woman, dressed entirely in red, caught my eye.


    My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. Her beauty stunned me.


    I didn’t know who she was, but her gorgeous, curly red hair had my full attention, until one of the men slit his own throat and blood spurted out.


    I tried to focus on him, but the red-haired woman kept stealing my attention.


    Before I was fully awake, I noticed the woman who had been held captive being released.


    She snatched the chain from the man and ran toward me.


    Halfway through, she raised the chain and held it high for me to see.


    "Come with me to the subway! We’ll be safe there!" she shouted.


    My body moved on its own, obeying her voice. I followed her instinctively.


    Before I realized it, there were four of us inside the subway. She locked the door from the inside.


    "Come on, follow me deeper in. You don’t want to hear those whispers. Trust me," she said.


    I looked around in confusion.


    What whispers?


    I couldn’t hear anything except her voice.


    As she walked further into the dark tunnel, the two men followed beside me.


    "My God, this is devastating. What are we going to do now? They already know everything. How will we go back to the maind?" she muttered in frustration, her words more like gibberish.


    Then she tugged her suit down from the front, revealing her bra, but nothing in me stirred.


    She began wrapping the belly chain around her waist.


    "Okay, guys, you will listen to me," she said, realizing the chain was broken.


    "Oh," she groaned, unwrapping it again and lifting it to her side, trying to mend it. I kept watching her.


    "Of course we will," I finally said, breaking the silence.


    She lifted her head and gave me a small smile, as if to show how much she appreciated my words.


    "Now, you three are going to use your brains ande up with a n to survive the night, and a way to go back to the tunnel. I’ll ask her to get me another piece of jewelry, something less noticeable."


    Oriana tapped her finger against her chin, thinking hard.


    "This one seems broken," she murmured, "but I’m sure it’ll still work. The problem is that others already know. So I’ll just wear it like an essory. When they go to the ringleaders to expose me, I’ll hand them the jewelry. Then the ringleaders will think Joshua was lying, or maybe that he just lost his mind after his mate’s death."


    Oriana spoke with a smirk, and I began to nod slowly, ncing at Yorick and then Haiden.


    The two of them watched her in silence, just as I did.


    "So now, we won’t go out and let them deal with whatever trauma they’re going through. At the same time, we need to find another end to this subway, because of course it must open somewhere," Oriana continued, pouting as she looked around.


    "Gosh, it’s such a scary night," she remarked.


    "Of course it is," I replied, and once again she turned to give me a smile for agreeing with her.


    "Okay, you three need to find me a way out of this subway. I don’t know why, but I can’t even hear the shadow woman whisper in my ear anymore," sheined, shaking the jewelry. "Maybe Joshua broke it," she grunted under her breath. "Come on, lead the way."


    "Yeah he did," Yorick whispered but she didn’t pick it.


    She finally put her suit back on, holding the jewelry in her hand, and gestured for us to follow her orders.


    The three of us immediately sprang into action, stepping in front of her because why not? We had to get her out of this ’safe subway.’


    We began to walk, just following the route. I couldn’t tell how far we had gone when we finally started to see a faint light ahead.


    It was the other end of the subway station.


    She was the first to gasp and then rushed past us, almost skipping with excitement.


    "Okay, see? I knew it. Now we need to make sure this ce opens somewhere safe," she said, smirking happily. "Come on, open it," she told Yorick, stepping aside.


    Yorick turned to look at us, then followed hermand and reached for the door.


    As soon as he opened it, it felt as though everything we knew came crashing down. This was the real horror.


    It seemed to be the base of the North, massive, towering buildings looming over us. But what frightened me most was the air itself. As soon as we stepped outside, we could feel strange dust swirling around.


    "Okay, this is nasty. This air is disgusting. Oh my God, where are we?" Oriana muttered, coughing softly.


    She adjusted our positions, arranging us so we stood around her like a triangle. She clung to the back of Haiden’s shirt and to Yorick’s, walking between us while I took the lead.


    "What is this ce?" she asked.


    Then we heard chittering, strange, insect-like noises echoing from above and all around.


    It was still night, but it felt darker, heavier, more terrifying than before.


    "Where are we? Are you boys going to find out or not? Am I supposed to do everything?" she snapped.


    I turned my head over my shoulder to look at her.


    "What? Why are you looking at me?" she hissed, rolling her eyes as she pulled out the chain and shook it.


    "Fine, listen to me. Okay? Just listen to my orders," she repeated, trying to regain control by showing the broken piece of jewelry to us.


    "I think this is the most dangerous part of the North, Oriana" I remarked, saying her name out loud through my clenched teeth and I saw her eyes widen.