Freedom

Chapter 3

After completely formulating their escape plan, they start it off by a couple enchantments.

Hoatzin closed his eyes to concentrate while Opifex held out his talons, and as Pearl watched his palms, a light gray keycard appeared on them.

"Woah," Crayfish said softly. "Do you have the toy?"

"Yep," Hoatzin replied, showing his purple keychain with two vertical circular bumps on it that he could pop into the other side. "It's a simple-dimple."

"Alright, let's hide," Opifex whispered.

Each one of them outside the cell hid behind a pillar-like structure that was fused into the wall, all going to the place they were assigned. They breathed very lightly, and Crayfish held his breath.

And only about ten second later, a guard came in and opened Hoatzin's jail cell.

"Hi Hoatzin, how are you doing?" The guard asked.

"I'm doing fine," Hoatzin answered.

"Can you tell me what enchantment you just made?" She urged, trying to sound kind.

"I made this fidget toy so I can keep myself entertained," he responded.

Pearl held her breath. She imagined the guard investigating the simple-dimple in her talons, and Hoatzin looking innocent to her. She could hear a bit of jingling, probably from the chain of the simple-dimple keychain.

"Okay," the guard finally spoke, "You can keep it. But please make sure to tell us guards what enchantments you make next time, okay?"

"Okay," Hoatzin said.

"Bye-bye now." She waved at him and closed the door. She pulled the keycard out of it, and walked out of the Animus lair.

Pearl exhaled. "Is it safe now?"

"I think so," Opifex uttered.

They cautiously came out of their hiding spots, then went to Hoatzin's cell, and Opifex put the duplicate keycard in. The door slid open, and finally Hoatzin was free.

"Ooh, Hoatzin! I missed you so much!" Crayfish hugged him tightly, developing tears in his eyes.

"Awh, I've missed you all," Hoatzin began. He looked at his friends, then his gaze turned to Pearl, who was behind them, and he gave her a puzzled look.

"This is Pearl, she'll be joining our friend group." Opifex grinned as he introduced her to him.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Pearl." Hoatzin smiled.

"Nice to meet you too," Pearl said shyly with a smile back.

"Alright, let's leave now," Snowdrop insisted, seeming nervous.

"Snowdrop, you shouldn't be too worried," Crayfish pointed out.

"I know, but still. It's kind of a stressful situation." She opened the door, and signaled them out.

Pearl was a bit confused on why Snowdrop shouldn't worry, but understood that this was a moment not to ask.

They tried to run down the hallway as quietly as they could, and they flew down to the hall that leads to the Subway station, trying to hide within the crowd as much as possible.

"Oh, perfect," Snowdrop said as she saw that the Subway train was already there.

They hurried into the train and this time stood and held on a bar instead of sitting at a table.

"Where are we off to?" Pearl asked.

"We're now going to Jadepoint, but I hope we get to leave the station to go outside and fly away from them," Opifex suggested.