Korova Avenue || ONC 2022

Chapter 13

Dominique crouched in the hall and pulled out her jar of juniper seeds. She used the bottom of one of the glasses to crush up a handful and dumped a good portion into each drink. Then she got up and waltzed over to the guards.

"Your drinks, sirs."

She offered them each a glass, and they studied them carefully.

"Why is it purple?" One of the guards asked. He was a beefy man with a red face and a small handgun strapped to his side.

"Extra vitamins. The General specifically requested that you drink it all up so that you can become the best fighters this army's ever seen."

"Alright then, piss off." The other guard spoke this time. He looked exactly like the other one, except he seemed a bit more annoyed with Dominique's presence.

She turned around and noticed that there was another hallway veering off from the one she was on. It was only visible if you were facing it. Dominique decided to head down it. She walked for a minute, until she was sure that the guards were no longer paying attention. Then, she made her way back and hid underneath a small table.

She could hear the guards conversing from where she sat. They had both chugged the poison concoctions and were discussing what they would do once they were the greatest soldier of all time. Dominique knew she'd picked the right lie to convince these two. They were so greedy and wanted to be the best. Neither had questioned why the General would specifically choose them out of all the soldiers and guards in the army. Their egos were just too high to doubt anything.

Dominique figured that she had at least fifteen minutes until the berries took effect. Now she just had to wait.

–

Meanwhile, Crow paced up and down the stairs. He regretted what had happened with Dominique, but he didn't know what to do now. He really wanted to apologize, but he didn't want to mess up her mission. He'd hate to get them caught, so he stayed put.

While he was waiting he came up with excuses in case someone saw him. He decided to stick with Rhodes' lies from before. If anyone came, he'd be a new soldier who was trying to find his way around. He knew he didn't look the part, so he hoped that no one visited this corridor.

He stopped when he reached the top of the stairs once again. Crow unsheathed Rhodes' sword and swug it tentatively. It was so nice of the guard to lend his weapon to a stranger.

Crow's heart leapt into his throat when he heard voices underneath him. He creeped over to the railing and peered down. Two people were conversing at the bottom of the staircase. One looked very important. He wore a dark blue army jacket with lots of ribbons pinned to it. The other person was mostly out of view from where Crow stood.

"So you're telling me that two children snuck into the castle and no one noticed?"

"Yes, sir. I tried to stop them, but the girl threatened me and the boy stole my sword. I think the King would like to have a word with them if we can capture them."

Crow thought that the second voice sounded a bit familiar, but he couldn't place it. He was too far up to hear properly.

It scared him that there were two dangerous children running around the castle. What if the people who were searching for them came across him, or Dominique? This would complicate their quest. He had to warn Dominique.

–

Dominique watched as the guards started to look uncomfortable. They put their hands around their stomachs and back as their faces twisted. Both of them looked like they were about to be sick. They exchanged worried glances, wobbled to their feet, and bolted through a nearby door.

Dominique counted to thirty before she decided that the coast was clear. She left her spot and ambled casually towards the door. If anyone could see her, it looked like she was just taking a walk. She studied the wood, looking for the symbol that Rhodes had described. Engraved in the center, like a peephole, was a small star. Dominique counted seven points.

She grabbed the keys from her pocket and picked out the one with a 59 on it. It was slightly smaller than all of the others and it had the star on the other side.

Dominique inserted the key into the doorknob and twisted it. A second or two passed before she heard a click. Then, she pulled the door open and stepped inside. She made sure to lock it behind her.

She turned around and studied the room she had entered. It was a small library with a pedestal in the middle. Everything was covered in dust as if no one had entered the room for years.

She walked over to the pedestal and looked at the old book that was sitting there. Its cover was worn, and its pages looked fragile. Dominique rubbed a layer of dust off of it and examined the front. It was engraved with the seven-pointed star. This symbol had to be important, but Dominique didn't know why. The book also had the word Fate printed on the cover. Below that, was a phrase written in ancient runes. Dominique had heard and seen this saying many times, so she was able to decipher it. It translated to "What's meant to be will find a way to happen." Dominique understood why it was there. She couldn't change her fate or anyone else's.

She took a deep breath and flipped open the cover of the book. Inside, she found a table of contents. It shimmered a bit and words continued to shift around. She located the section about mortals and decided to start there. Every single living being was in this book, but not all at once. The names would rotate through, but whatever you were looking for would be there for sure.

Dominique realized that she didn't know Crow's last name, so she decided to look for his first name instead. She scrolled through the C's and found nothing. Just as she was about to give up, her eyes skipped to the next page. She saw the words "Dukas, Crow" and figured that it had to be him. After all, how many Crows were there in the world?

Most names had a short description of the person's accomplishments and when they would die, but Crow's only said, "See page 1105." Dominique flipped to that page and was only slightly surprised to see that it was in the "War" section. The page was filled with a short description of Crow and his life leading up to now. Dominique could see every important thing that had happened in his life. At the very bottom of the page was the word, "continue" and an arrow indicating to flip the page.

Dominique braced herself and closed her eyes as she turned the page. When she opened them, she stared in disbelief. It was blank!

–

A/N: Hi! It's been a while since I put in a note, so I just wanted to check in. I hope everything is making sense so far. This Book of Fate is an idea that I came up with in my head, so I want to make sure that it's not too confusing. Please let me know what you think!