Chapter Thirty-Three.

Cameron shivered against the wall, holding his arms against his chest, beneath both his hoodie and his tee. His knees were pulled to his chest, and he was doing his best to stay warm. The fairies had left him alone, for the most part. They brought him food five times a day, and water nine. They changed out his urn that served as a toilet once a day.

He kept that by the door to the cell.

A week had passed since the fae had kidnapped him, based on his watch.

At the moment, all he could think about was that he was cold. The deep caves were chilly, and he didn't have much meat on his body. To add on to his discomfort with the situation, the voices weren't just silent, he couldn't sense them.

At all.

It was the first time since he'd first heard their voices that he couldn't even sense them. Something about the caves they were being kept in blocked out the aether voices. That, or the food was drugged, but he didn't think it was. The cells also kept him from pushing his mind through, which both relieved and worried him.

"Psst," a voice said, and Cameron ignored it. "Human kid. Psst."

Cameron ignored it. The elf across the cell was trying to get his attention again. He didn't want to talk to anyone at all. He was suspicious of them all. His escape attempts had failed, too. He had a massive bruise on his face from the one earlier.

That fairy was rough. Excessively, in Cameron's opinion.

"Human kid," the elf attempted to get Cameron's attention again. "Are you awake?"

He refused to acknowledge the elf.

"There might be a way out," the elf whispered. "I heard them talking, before you woke up. You didn't forge a connection to your tree, which is why they throw you down here. Once you access it, they plan on turning you into a tree.

"However," the elf continued as Cameron made a decision to never access his tree. "I heard them mention that you're a demigod, and an extremely powerful one. They think that with you as a tree, they'll finally be able to open the portal to where part of the Tree of Life is. If they can open it, Titania and Oberon can eat its fruit and become truly immortal. Gods without being gods.

"That must mean you're pretty powerful," the elf told Cameron. "Immensely. I'm not sure how powerful, but if you're that powerful, then you might be able to escape. When you forge the connection to your tree, your control over your magic increases, as does its strength. It especially helps you with the control of any spell you have, as long as you study and become familiar with the branches or roots relating to them. The fairies all wear the mind block rings when coming down here to enter your cell, now, which tells me that you're a mind mage. A demigod as powerful as you probably are, with a forged connection to your tree – you might be able to override their mind block rings.

"All you need to do," the elf said. "Is to meditate inwards, to focus on clearing your mind of anything and everything while still sensing your magic flowing through you. You'll see your Tree of Magic. You'll be able to tell what every branch on it, what every root and leaf and fruit on it is for. If you have them."

The elf fell silent, and a few minutes later, a fairy floated through, changing out the urns. After the rounds ended, the moss on the ceiling of the tunnels dimmed, signaling that night had fallen.

"Just something to keep in mind," the elf told Cameron.

Cameron wasn't sure how true that was. He couldn't sense the elf's mind, and that bothered him. But Adam had mentioned the strengthened magic and greater control before, so it was probably true. But he wasn't sure how much else was true, nor how much better his control would be. For all he knew, it could be a tiny increase, and that was it.

Continuing to pretend to be asleep in a sitting position, Cameron turned his thoughts inward as he began to meditate. He didn't want to access his tree, but if it was the only hope he had at escaping, then he was taking it.

It had been a week, and no one had come. That meant no one was coming. They couldn't find him. To his thirteen-year-old mind, that meant that it would never happen. He couldn't believe that rescue would come if it hadn't already. He'd already been alone most of his life, why should have he have expected anyone to come rescue him again?

And so he meditated. It took him more than two hours before he found himself staring at the tree surrounded by blackness all around.

It was around five times his height, with four great, massive roots stretching both far and deep, as well as two branches. To him, it looked like just a tree, nothing special about it.

Examining one of the great roots, turning his thoughts to it, he knew it was the root for his mind ram. Mind force, as it seemed to call itself. The root itself had another, smaller root branching off of it. The one for his actual mental ram itself.

Another root was for his empathy and telepathy, each with their own roots branching off of it. A third root represented his compulsion, with the smaller root for the spell itself stretching out.

Finally, the thickest and greatest of his tree's roots, the one he instinctively knew was his primary root, his natural gift. The root for the voices. It had fifty-four smaller voices stretching out of it, three of which had smaller roots stretching off of those. Compulsion, telepathy, and short-range teleportation.

Making up his mind to focus on that root when strengthening his connection to his tree, Cameron let himself drift up to the pair of branches. He knew one of them was for his spatial magic. It even had a smaller branch sticking out of it, for his short-range teleportation. He knew that as he examined it, though he'd already suspected it.

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Turning his mind to the other branch, he examined it, and frowned.

When did I learn force magic? He wondered as his gaze traveled to the smaller branch sticking out, which had a couple of leaves growing off of it.

The leaves suggested great skill with a spell, and if he wasn't mistaken, there was even an apple forming, which confused him further. As he examined them, he came to understand what they represented.

And that, combined with his voices and compulsion, he might supply his way out.

Cameron allowed his mind to wander with his tree as he meditated on it and became more familiar with it. It would take time for him to be able to break through their barriers, he knew, but if he could hold out on letting them know he'd connected to his tree, then he might have enough time.

Eventually, he actually fell asleep, though those observing him would have seen no difference. When morning came, Cameron continued his usual routine. Titania paid him her usual visit, speaking sweet words to him, kind words he knew were meant to make him trust her.

She promised him safety if he agreed to help her with a project. Life that would last forever. All sorts of sweet promises that he knew were lies or twisted versions of the truth.

Eventually, she left, and he returned to his inner meditation, stopping only when he ate or needed to relieve his bladder or bowels.

For several days, he fell into that routine. He wasn't sure how long passed, but he knew that Titania was growing frustrated with his refusal to budge, and he began to suspect the elf was working with her.

But he knew something they didn't, which was why he continued deepening his connection to the tree. He knew he had that other spell. His most powerful spell, he considered it.

Two weeks after he'd been captured, he could tell that Titania was pissed about something, even if she did her best to hide it.

After failing to draw a reaction out of Cameron, Titania left his cell and floated her way back out of the prison, where Oberon was waiting for her.

"I take it they've caused a ruckus again?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered. "The Cupids aren't holding back in making it clear they want him, and during their attack while you were down there, another faction of angels led by their god showed up and went at it with them until a third group of angels showed up."

"Factions?" She asked.

"Omiru," Oberon told her. "And the Gefulri's angels."

"Was his Archangel present?" Titania asked.

Yes," Oberon answered. "And Refari was leading the third group, and helped the cupids push Omiru and his angels away."

"Gefulri doesn't often have interest in things," she commented. "Even if it's a heavenly war. Why would they be interested in him? And Refari? What was he doing there?"

"According to my spies," Oberon answered. "Cameron befriended a son of Refari's. I'm not sure why Gefulri is involved, though Refari has proven to have some sort of relationship with him, even if he's not one of the god's Archangels."

Titania let out a long sigh.

"Where did they attack, and what was the damage?"

"Silviar's domain," Oberon answered. "And they destroyed nearly half of it in the fighting. What's the progress with the boy?"

"Still unresponsive," she answered. "The elf failed to convince him into accessing his tree, and he's tuned my voice out entirely, not even reacting to my presence."

"Grabbing Greyson would prove problematic," Oberon said. "Refari likely has a tracker on him that allows him to instantly travel to his son. However, the other mage, Eden, is also a prize. If I capture him and throw him in the same cell, he might believe that with them together, Cameron accessing his tree would be a boon that let them escape."

"Indeed," she said. "Make sure you capture Lesovar, when you take the boy. It's time we repaid him for what he did to us."

"Indeed," Oberon smiled widely, revealing his rows of razor-sharp teeth. "And when we finally let him see the final end, I will feast on his flesh as he screams for mercy."

"Go," Titania ordered him. "Bring us the boys. Make sure to move them into another realm, first, so they're unconscious."

Oberon nodded, then opened a gate and exited through it. Titania left as her husband's gate disappeared, making her way to the ritual location, examining the circle that was being carefully enchanted into the ground by the eighteen fairies.

Three more days, and it would be complete. If they could convince him to access his tree, then they'd have succeeded in the first step. She was confident at this point that with him having access, he'd be powerful enough that they might only need a dozen of their largest trees in order to open the portal to the Tree of Life.

She watched as the fae continued to lay down the enchantments. It was one only they could forge, yet they lacked any affinity for enchantments, which made it difficult. The ritual was purely through the ingredients and pushing magic through when it was time to activate it. As soon as they did that, it would tap into the victim's magic to power the enchantment.

Nodding in satisfaction at the progress, Titania left the clearing, before flying to another spot in the forest, a clearing where two dead trees had been removed two weeks prior. The ritual circles there had been completed while she was working on the boy.

A quartet of fae guards appeared through a Fairy Gate, the redheaded twin elves following with them in a daze. They were butt-naked, their lean bodies fit from the exercise they'd done in their cell before she took them to her palace.

"Thank you for your services these last two weeks," Titania said to the elves, who smiled at her, happiness on their faces and in their eyes, even without silkspeech being used. "You two were most helpful with your duties. As promised, I'll allow you to grow beside each other."

The elves stammered their thanks in their native tongue, and she gestured for them to move to the two ritual circles. Without hesitation, the twins obeyed, and Titania watched as the fae began to initiate the rituals.

The elves were willing, their connection to their trees strong before they'd been captured, and strengthened over the last few years. It was one of the few things prisoners could do, so nearly all did, in the hopes that they'd manage to escape.

A realization came to her as she watched the brothers sprout roots from their legs, roots that dug into the ground as their bodies grew and thickened, growing bark and a pair of branches. Their bodies darkened, taking on the brown of the Trees of Magic. Both of the twins had a cluster of leafy branches on one of their boughs, a testament to the spell they'd cast together that had earned them a spot in her prison.

Once the twins had finished turning into trees fifteen feet in height and near-identical appearance, Titania's lips curled downward.

The boy was good at acting. One thing they'd learned over the last few couple of was that he could pretend as if he was asleep in nearly any situation, in nearly any pose. If he utilized that skill in acting he had, he could continue to pretend as if he's in fear while secretly doing everything he could to forge and strengthen a connection to his inner tree.

Which meant that he was likely planning another escape attempt. She should have found it suspicious that he hadn't done so in a week, despite making an attempt daily. The kid had balls of godstone, he wouldn't have given up that easily.

As she lifted up into the air to inform the fae making the ritual for him to make haste, Titania froze, refusing to believe what she was feeling.

The soul marriage she had with Oberon was gone.

Somehow, he was no more.