Chapter 3

Instructions

Blaire woke up next to Jane, tied up, and drowsy. “Where am I?” She managed out. Jane was also tied up, and looked wide awake. “The cave where you were spying on us.” “It was a little hard not to.” “Have you ever heard of privacy?” Blaire rolled her eyes. “Why were you spying on us?” “Curiosity?” “Curiosity killed the Trecanis Oculos.” “What?” “Nothing.” She laughed. “I thought if any Nulla Potentia knew what that was, it would be you.” Blaire shifted awkwardly. “How am I supposed to know that? Also, what is a Nulla Potentia?” Jane managed to shift to the wall, no she was rubbing her wrists against the rock. “Aren’t you Blaire Crankson? The genius of her age?” “Yeah, of humans.” “We’re humans, too! Just…a different kind.” “That doesn’t even make sense.” She rolled her eyes. “Typical Nulla Potentia.” She now had her hands free. “Now, to take care of you.” She lifted her hands and fire came out of the ground. “Well that should do it!” Blaire laughed. “Is this some sort of cage? This is weak, even for a myth.” Jane's face went sour. “For a myth? That name seems so inappropriate.” She crouched down. “No, this isn’t a cage. It’s a deathtrap.” “What do you mean?” “This ‘cage’ as you call it, will get smaller and smaller, get hotter and hotter, until…” She grabbed a rock. The streak in her hair turned black, and the rock caught on fire. When the fire was out, the rock was ash. She turned for the opening of the cave. “I hope you enjoy your stay.” “You can’t just leave me here!” “Of course I can, Nulla Potentia.” “What-” She coughed. She could feel the smoke filling her lungs. “What does that even mean?” Jane stopped at the entrance. “No potential.” Then she left. “Wait!” Blaire struggled with her bands. “Oh come on, there has to be a way to get rid of these.” She shook them some more before she got too close to the fire. “Ow!” She looked down at her wrist. The ropes were gone. “Sweet!” Blaire ran until she found Jane. She didn’t want her to trap her again, so she waited until night time when she was falling asleep and grabbed the dagger in her pocket and crept up to her and put the knife to her neck. She kicked her shins to wake her up. Jane jumped and cut herself. “What the-” She saw Blaire. “Oh, you.” “You left me to die.” “And in the ring, you wanted to kill me.” “What? When-” Blaire suddenly remembered where she had seen Jane before. “You’re-” “Yeah, and now that you know what I’m capable of, I suggest you back off, before I melt your face off.” Blaire laughed. “What? What’s so funny?” “I’m sorry, but ‘Melt your face off’ doesn’t sound menacing at all.” Her face turned red. “Well then, what do you suggest I say?” “Well, for one you could say, ‘turn you to ash’ or ‘you’re about to become part of my collection. My collection of people I’ve killed.’” “Those sound just as lame.” “They’re better than what you had.” She shrugged. “True, but still, you better back off.” Blaire got in closer. “Do you want me to tell you a secret?” She pulled the knife in a little closer. “This is a Virtus Pugio.” “Power dagger.” She said, with a vacant expression. “Oh, so you know it.” “Of course I know it.” “Well then you know what it can do to myths.” “Not to mention a Nulla Potentia.” Blaire glared at her. “If you use your powers this dagger will turn your own power against you.” “I’m guessing Daddy gave it to you.” She said, sardonically. “You better not talk about my father that way.” “You mean the father who was willing to kill you at first sight?” Blaire blinked. “How did you-” “Well, you did let me go, and you did let me trick you, so…” “Hey!” “It's not my fault he shouldn’t have trusted you.” She pushed the knife deeper into the myth’s neck. Jane put her hands up.“Okay, okay. Gosh. Somebody’s got anger issues.” “And somebody’s about to be dead unless you give me some answers.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Is that really the only thing you wanted? I thought it was something bigger if you went through this much trouble.” “Oh, whatever. Just tell me what you and that…whatever were talking about.” “We were talking about my mission.” “And what was your mission?” “Like I’m going to tell you.” “Well if you don’t…” She pushed the knife closer, so that now, Jane’s neck was bleeding. She looked at her with a bored expression. “You really have got to come up with a better threat.” “Well, not really, actually.” For the first time, it looked like Jane actually felt an emotion. Confusion. “What?” “Well, you know I was spying on you, what you don’t know is how much I heard.” Her face went from confusion, to anger. “What are you saying?” “I’m saying that if you’re dead, you don’t get your prize.” “That won’t matter to me if I’m dead.” Blaire put one of her hands up, keeping the golden knife against the girl's neck. “Fine then, risk it. Maybe you can beat a weak and pathetic little nulla po…po-” “Potentia!” “Right. You can defeat a nulla potentia.” She made a sound in her throat that Blaire took as growling.