The Taste of Seduction

Meredith, Atlas, and Marcus stood in disbelief as they listened to Austin confessing to being the traitor all along. After his flashback, he redirected his attention to them, a wicked smile appearing on his face as he talked to them with an insulting tone.

"Foolish, three of you. But I wouldn't blame you… I'm clever enough to fool you into thinking otherwise. How does it feel… knowing that it was me all along, making you question everything that's happened, huh?"

No words came out from any of them. They had worked together, fought side by side with Austin, and believed in his loyalty. But now, everything they knew about him was shattered.

With his confession, it was clear that all their plans, their hopes and dreams, were in peril.

Atlas looked at Marcus. He felt guilty for accusing him. Marcus had been genuine in his efforts to help them. He had been so sure that Marcus was the traitor, but he was wrong.

There was no excuse for his mistake, and he felt terrible about it.

He apologized for it… but he thought right here and then now that it's confirmed to them if an apology was enough.

Marcus, on the other hand, had no ill feelings towards Atlas. He knew that they were all under a lot of stress and pressure, and mistakes were bound to happen. He even volunteered to break the soul tie to prove his loyalty.

He didn't care if they believed him or not, but now that it has been cleared from the real traitor himself that it was him, Marcus felt like a big thorn was lifted from his heart.

His innocence was now finally proven.

"How could you do this to us!?" Meredith cried in anger, feeling betrayed by someone they trusted and made friends with. "You helped us from the very beginning… and just so you could get the book from us, huh!?"

It was a punch in the gut for her to realize that Austin had been deceiving them all along. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down and trusted him so easily.

"Even though you stole the book from us—" she started, angry tears already stopping from falling. "—we will not let you get what you want, whatever it is that you're soon going to do!"

Her anger quickly turned to determination, and she declared that they would stop him no matter what. However, Austin shook his head, reacting to what she said.

"There's nothing you could say or do to stop me. Now that I have the book in which I have sought for so long… I'll make things happen according to my plan." He looked at them with a mischievous grin, surprising them with what he said next. "Gwen is alive, you see… in a secret place in the palace."

Austin laughed at them, saying their words didn't matter and that he didn't care. He revealed that he had been after the Book of Spells all along, and that Meredith's mother, Gwen, was alive and in a secret room in his palace.

He had known about Meredith's mother all along and had been using that knowledge to his advantage.

"You… she's here… all this time?"

Meredith felt anger at his actions, and at the same time, fear for her mother when they finally knew that she was with them all along and they were just unaware.

"If you're going to involve my mother with whatever it is that you're doing, oh you have to think twice about doing so."

"Oh?" Austin's smile faded, the man cocking his head to the side as he glared at Meredith. "You dare threaten me when I was the one who in fact taught you all there is to know?"

"I don't care," she said strongly, both men beside her resonating with her strength as they vowed to fight alongside her. "You will never wake her up. We'll look for her and save her!"

Determined to beat Austin to the book and awaken her mother, Meredith declared their plan. She was not going to let Austin win, and she would do whatever it took to save her mother.

Not exchanging words and not waiting for orders from Meredith, Austin and Marcus charged for an attack to steal the book from him.

But their attempt to steal the book failed, and Austin was about to attack them.

"Ignorant fools!" he exclaimed, a red light emanating from his palm as he targeted them. "You think you can outsmart me!?"

As the attack was about to fatally land on the three, threatened that they might attack him again, it was about to touch them when suddenly, a mysterious voice roared, surprising them all.

"Don't you dare touch the savior's daughter!"

As they caught their breath, the voice spoke a moment ago before they disappeared into thin air, already teleported out of Machu Picchu for safety.

"The kin of the most powerful witch will reign; thou shall not touch the savior's daughter!"

The three looked at each other. As they were now slowly processing what had just happened, Atlas spoke, commenting on it.

"The voice… it was from the labyrinth."

The men looked at Meredith who had her hand over her chest. With adrenaline coursing through her veins, the mysterious voice spoke once more, explaining why he was with them.

"I am one of Lady Gwen's followers. I had followed you since you got the Book of Spells. What is to happen soon is something we should quickly act upon. I'll have to talk to you all quick before my strength leaves me since I left the labyrinth."

They looked at each other. The voice had been following Meredith, waiting for the right moment to help her. Now that the voice saved them, he decided to talk with them before expanding all of his energy in the process.

From this point on, they realized that Gwen is indeed a powerful and amazing witch. One of her followers were helping Meredith even without her command.

This time, she was more determined to wake her up. She knew that she had to find her in the palace before Austin does.

She'll have to save her mother with Atlas and Marcus' help; no matter what happens.