Crud

"So he's just leaving us like that again." Syri whimpered, pulling her knees to her chest with a pained expression on her once bright eyes. Zimi kneeled beside her and rubbed her back, pulling the sad kitten to her in a cradle hold. Once Syri acknowledged her comforting act, her ears perked up once more. "Auntie, I forgot to say hello!"

Zimi was taken aback by her sudden reaction as her neice made a grab for her, wrapping both paws around her waist while resting her head peacefully against her tummy. The gentle pats to her back continued despite her lack of purring, feeling it best to draw some sense of familial security in this dangerous time.

"I'm sorry Auntie, but today's not the happiest day for me."

"Hush, child. Your Auntie knows the feeling too well, and I see things have become complicated too."

Syri moved her head in a subtle nod. "The Hunter is my Dad."

KuliKuli huffed nearby at his mentioning with Zimi kissing Syri's head. "Yes, he is."

The other girls kept still, watching as light began to creep in as they neared the next floor. Within seconds they would arrive at their next hopeful exit, perhaps. Dimyri tried to remain optimistic, pushing her concerns away. Mother wouldn't have that, she would know better.

"Get ready." Her hands coiled tightly into a fist, the corner of her lip twitched as she closed her eyes and silently prayed for good luck. How are we going to do this? Where will we go? What do we do if we're caught, how do we escape this? How do we bring the family home?

Zimi helped Syri up with Reta feeling her own stomach while sweating lightly. KuliKuli kept as close to the wall as she could without pressing against it, not a good idea as they were moving up on a moving metal platform.

Dimyri whispered to herself in a cracked voice. "Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe."

Shut up, you're not helping, Reta thought as they came to a stop. Dimyri swallowed her fears and moved in, her bare human foot feeling the contrast from heavy cold stone floor to a comfortable red carpet flooring. Thank the gods, so far so good. Her along with her group scanned the hallway clean. Red floor carpet, wide open hallway with large pillars supporting the sides, multiple torches lighting the place, and an ominous pink glow stemming from above.

"That's the pink light, I remember seeing that before waking up in that room." Syri's voice shook as she felt herself turning a cold sweat.

Okay Dimyri, think. Reta is immune, so am I. Dad mentioned it works when they get near it, but they're closer to the stone now then they were before when they first entered the front doors.

"Aunt Z, what do you know about the Demon's Eye?"

Zimi pursed her lips and whispered, "Complete mind wipe, leaves subject devoid of thought and susceptible to command. A submissive puppet to say the least."

"Does it work by proximity or sight?"

Zimi looked confused. "I don't... I don't know."

"Time to find out." She grabbed her ragged robe that she was given to wear and tore from the bottom leaving her knees and thighs exposed. It was bad enough having literal cold feet since she got there... shiver. After this she would never question the invention of shoes ever again. Passing her torn cloth back, she looked at Syri, KuliKuli and Zimi side by side.

"I don't know who to choose, someone needs to risk themself to see if this works." It was clear that Zimi was reluctant, with Syri unable to make eye contact and KuliKuli feeling worried. Each of them had someone to lose, and Dimyri couldn't test this herself due to her immunity. If she had a large blanket, maybe that would help.

Zimi slowly raised her paw and stepped forward. "You girls are young, you've more to live for in case this goes sour. Give me the rag."

"Hold still." Dimyri stepped around, tying it over her eyes to keep them shut. Reta made a pained look, her eyes growing frantic before walking away in a hurry.

KuliKuli walked over to her. "Hey, something wrong?"

"Not a fan of the lack of sight bit." She shook her head, Dimyri now grabbing Zimi's paw and leading the way.

"Walk slowly with me, you're doing good." She instructed.

"Your hand is awful sweaty, Dimy."

"Shush!" She looked up, seeing the overwhelming boulder-sized Eye hitting her with its glare at full strength. "Just keep walking... slowly."

"I don't feel comfortable with this." Zimi trembled as she moved her paws forward, left paw first followed by her right. Cats don't see darkness, the night is mute to them as their eyes were gifted with clean sight. No shadow existed for them, and thus they moved freely in the dark of the night. Walking blindfold reminded her what darkness was, utter blackness with nothing to discover, feeling alone and forgotten. If she had fingers, she would be squeezing her niece's hand painfully tight by now. "Dimy, a-am I done?"

"Almost." She gulped, feeling herself struggling to breath at a normal pace. Good grief, I hadn't felt my heart moving this fast since the time I caught my first sight of a couple cementing their love for each other. Worry over getting caught was ignored as curiosity had the best of her, gluing her eyes to the scene back then. She learned the definition of two things that night, sex and peeping. Only she became a fan of one of those two subjects.

Zimi heard her gasp, alerting her and keeping her fur on edge. "What's wrong? A-am I turning? Oh dear, it's happening isn't it? I'm becoming one of them."

"Ow!" Dimyri pulled away, in her aunt's worry she exposed her claws and caught both of her hands with their reveal. When her Aunt reached for her blindfold, Dimyri lunged and clasped both hands at either side of her head, keeping the blindfold on. "No don't! Keep it on."

Yuck, she pulled back to see some of her blood staining the blindfold. Blood! Oh no... staring at her two palms, she found that she wasn't bleeding profusely, but it certainly gave the impression that it would reach that way unless she sought out for some care. Damn it, why now?

"I smell metal." Syri whispered, poking her head out. "Sis, are you okay?"

"Get back, dumbass!" Reta cried, pulling the girl back.

"Sorry."

Dimyri shook her head before reaching for her Aunt's paws carefully this time. "We're almost there."

She felt her hopes begin to rise, this is it! The stone doesn't work when they're blind, it's easy! Maybe this can work, maybe we can escape! The exit is right there, there's no stopping us. We can do it!

Her sisters gasped with Syri covering her mouth. Turning back, Dimyri felt her heart sink as the two large front doors opened up, the missing red guards entering in and carrying some large equipment before noticing them.

"Aw crud."