Heels click along the passage as the three girls descend deeper into the corridors.
Soon enough, the cool dry air turns warmer and another lantern light flickering in the distance can be seen...
"Cadence, that you?" called out Mei. The light shifts forward.
As the girls get closer, and the light from the two lanterns joins in unison to light up the passage, the figure behind gains features.
Eyes like dark walnuts and a smile like no other greets them. As the lantern illuminates her surroundings, it makes her hair, which is tied up with a long ribbon, resemble a chestnut aura.
"My girl Cadence!!" Evelyn exclaims, wrapping one arm around her. "So, how's your side of things? We got the letter you wanted," Evelyn takes out of her pocket a tired envelope and waves it in front of Cadence, "except it seems...empty."
"Come, let's get back to the basement." Cadence motions to the door behind her.
The girls follow her inside, they are met with a strong smell of old spices which makes Mei sneeze.
Cadence strides towards the candle on the wall and brings the envelope close to it.
"Woah! Don't burn it!" Evelyn's eyes widen and then narrow. "We had a hard time getting our hands on it..."
"No silly, all you need is a bit of heat and..." As Cadence's delicate fingers hold the envelope close to the flame, shapes start to appear, like fish swimming to the surface of a pond. "No-one would suspect the message to be on the envelope."
Open boxes and dots line the paper, but Leia's eyes do not wince like the others'.
"A pigpen cipher!" her muted voice exclaims, no louder than the creaks of the wooden floor.
But her voice doesn't go unnoticed as Cadence dramatically hands it to Lei, "it's all yours!"
Lei smiles eagerly and takes a pencil and notepad out of her dress pocket, "it's simple really, all you need to know is the alphabet." Her hands work quickly, scribbling down the letters. "Oh." She blinks.
"Oh?" Evelyn raises an eyebrow. "Nothing good ever happens after an 'Oh'."
"It... doesn't make sense..." She tenses. "Yet."
"What do you need?" Cadence's lyrical voice calms the uneasiness in the room.
"A book... about flowers." Leia smiles, "I think we have a flower connoisseur on our hands."
YOU ARE READING
Time Maidens (Book 1) - Tunnel Vision
Historical FictionStrange letters, secret ciphers, mysterious men in suits... As five girls embark on a quest through time itself, all is never what it seems. With the ultimate goal of receiving the title of Time Maiden, each will have to conquer their own quests an...
