Shatter Fate

Rebels in the Wind (Saph)

I pace anxiously in front of the library doors. Suddenly the doors open and Mira walks out carrying her bag.

"Did you get it?" She nods and I sigh in relief. We walk back towards our apartment and up to my room where Chase has been waiting for us. Yesterday when Mira caught us we had to explain everything to her and she took it surprisingly well. She also thinks that magic is magic, so she's not against Chase being a warrior. Over all she's been a big help and I don't think we could've done all this without her. He drops her bag on my bed and takes out the book.

"Is this it?" Chase asks. It looks like an enlarged version of a notebook.

"Yeah. It's basically just copies of what the profits journal says. I flipped through the some of the pages and found this. Here." Mira opens the book to a page for us, and hands it to Chase. We sit side by side as Chase reads it aloud.

"'I write this because I know I'm going to forget it soon, and someday I'll have to seem all 'wise and powerful', but I know I'm really not. So somehow I need find a way to tell them that the sword is in the Nihil Maze. I'll do something magical, like glowing eyes or floating. People always love the floating.'"

"Wow. This prophet sucked at his job." I say.

"Well he is named the poor prophet for a reason." Mira tells me.

"So what's the Nihil Maze?"

"The Nihil Maze is a very dangerous maze. Not many come back after entering it." Chase continues to look down at the book he's holding, so I'm unable to see his face.

"We're still going in there. We need the sword." I reply. We have to save Anna. I promised her that she would never get hurt again and I intend to keep that promise. "Sunday's our deadline. If we leave right now while everyone else is in class we can make it to the maze and the clearing before the deadline." I plan all this out in my head. Nothing can go wrong. So then why do I have the feeling that nothing's going to go right?

"Fine. We leave in five minutes. Hurry and pack a bag of some clothing and food. Meet me downstairs when you're ready." Chase stands up to leave and Mira follows him. After they've left I pack a bag full of clothes and three granola bars, plus a chocolate bar. I need my sugar. I add in a few more things and swing it over my shoulder. I walk downstairs and a second later Mira walks down with her bag.

Chase sees this and says, "You aren't coming."

"Yeah I am. I got you the book. I'm coming." Wow. She must've had that planned out from the very beginning.

"You better not get in the way."

"Wasn't planning on it." When Chase isn't looking I stick my hand out for a high five. She slaps my hand and as Chase looks back at us we quickly stick our hands behind our backs. I bite down on my lip to suppress the smile coming onto my face. I'm glad that Mira is coming with us. Chase turns to us.

"Stay close and stay low. When I tell you to stop you stop and don't make a sound." We nod and he opens the door. We stay as quiet as possible and the snow helps to muffle the noise of our footsteps. Sometimes we'd step on ice and it would make this crunching sound. We walk past the rest of the apartments and head for the cafe. I went there once for breakfast and it's a nice place. The food there is to die for! We pass by a couple people on on our way who don't take a second glance at us, but Chase won't stop swiveling his head, looking for something. We enter the cafe and head towards the back. We go into the storage room and shut the door quietly behind us.

"Normally I come here at night so no one is here. Just stay quiet until I tell you not to." We nod our heads as Chase goes to the far side and moves a crate out of the way. He reaches into his pocket, of course, and pulls out a key type thing. It's a wand and a sword crossed over each other like an x. He places it into the indentation in the wall and a secret door opens up. He takes out the key and puts it back in his pocket and ushers us forward. We enter the passage and he moves the crate and the door back so it looks like nothing happened. It's dark in here, so Chase reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box of matches. He lights one and carries it as we walk down the passage. So this is how he manages to get from one side to the other. I never knew this existed. Huh, maybe that's what makes it a secret passage. That makes sense.