The Boy in the Walls

Chapter 19

Liam rode fast through the blistering forest. The wind whipped through his cerulean streaked hair as he rushed past unearthed roots and stray leaves, dodging the occasional low hanging branch. A faint wisp of maple along with the fresh aroma of wet grass permeated the forest floor that the borrower was traveling.

Georgina, which was the name of his squirrel, raced throughout the forest with her trusty rider holding fast to her. They continued scouting the new ground for several hours before stopping for a break. Sitting on a tree root, Liam enjoyed his   Basil leaf sandwich as he sat watching his companion squirrel wander aimlessly as she grazed.

His mind drifted to the news he'd gotten from Njinga. His brother was really alive, and in the empire. What a coincidence that his girlfriend of all people was the one training him.

As Liam finished his food, he cleaned up his area and went to go retrieve Georgina. He called for the squirrel but she didn't come. Liam walked around in search of his mount, but there was no sign of her anywhere. He continued waking into more unfamiliar territory.

His palms began to sweat with nervousness, something wasn't right. A chill, like thousands of tiny needles pricking his skin coldly, went down Liam's spine. He felt a gaze staring behind him, and quickly whipped around, only to be met with the wide eyed, splinted pupil gaze of a wild cat.

The borrower, panicked and stunned, scrambled back away from the massive beast. But this only egged the cat to pounce in an attempt to catch its prey. Without a second of hesitation or looking where he was headed, Liam bolted. The cat pursued Liam and the borrower was wheezing from the overexertion. 

Before he knew it, Liam was falling in a disguised hole. He heard the sound of metal snapping and hit the hard rough floor. He stood immediately and attempted to catch his bearings, he observed his surroundings, only to find he was incased in a metal cage. He began to panic further, the wildcat was still surrounding the trap he was in, and there seemed to be no way out.
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Today wasn't going very well for Gabriel, and It wasn't going to get any better. His best friend hadn't been acting normally ever since the loss of someone close, and while he seemed to be recovering over the three months that had passed, he still had built up walls against everyone. Gabriel rally wanted to help his friend but there was really nothing that he could do. He hated feeling helpless, he needed to do something about it.

It was a unique situation to be sure, his friend-Isaac- had somehow stumbled upon a strange friend. Isaac had explained the entire situation to Gabriel after the strawberry-blonde had discovered them together. This friend wasn't normal, he was- as insane as it may seem- tiny. Not short or scrawny, no, completely tiny as in shorter then his finger.

Apparently the kid was from some spices of tiny people that live in the walls, called borrowers. And this friend and been well...special to Isaac. So when he disappeared suddenly leaving a nondescript note, Isaac was devastated. The tiny boy hadn't been heard from in months and Isaac's mental and physical state was taking a turn for the worse.

Stuck in the thoughts of his friend, Gabriel began to stray from the path he had been walking on. He wandered through the forest thoughtfully not watching where he was going. He tripped on something and stumbled forward. He would've just kept walking hadn't been for the high pitched screech that came from where he had tripped.

He turned to look back at where the noise had come from and saw it was a hunters trap. He frowned, Gabriel had always hated trapping wild animals. He walked up to it noticing how something seemed to be struggling inside it.

"Woah" he said as he kneeled down to look at it closer, something moved inside it when he touched it. He flinched back and squinted his eyes to try and see through the foliage what was in the small trap. It appeared to be a mouse or some kind of small animal.

He brushed off all the leaves and vines disguising the trap and pulled it out resting it on his lap. Finally able to get a proper look at the trap he audibly gasped. It was one of them, one of the tiny people. It seemed to be badly hurt and in a panic to escape.

Gabriel's mind blanked. How was he supposed to act around borrowers again? What had Isaac instructed him to do in a situation like this? He too began to panic as he raced to come up with something to do.

Just then, the borrower began to get desperate for escape and banged on the exit of his Incasement. Gabriel noticed this and snapped to attention.

"Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, here let me get you outta there." He fumbled with the lock but soon came to realize he would need proper tools to open it. "Uh, I'll need to bring you back home to help ya out" he said to the borrower, who promptly averted his gaze.

Gabriel stood carefully gripping the trap with both his hands and began walking home