Fog of Shadows

Part 11

Insane, ludicrous and downright crazy were just a few of the descriptive words Flinn's crew used to describe the plan he and Alisea had come up with; Pablo even went as far as threatening to inform his grandfather, which was something he rarely ever did, but his crew knew that arguing with him would be a waste of time and that informing Captain Triton would only delay the plan being put into action and wouldn't halt it altogether. After several hours of discussion, he was finally able to convince his crew to help him and Alisea sail all the way to and from Candle Cove with the limitations that would only stay a few days and that Pablo, who knew of the island and its infamous legend, could stay on the ship while the rest went on land. Once dawn settled over the island of the academy and most of its inhabitance had gone to bed; Flinn made met with Alisea at the docs while their crews worked as quickly and quietly as they could on their ships and just as quietly as the crew worked, the two young captains made their way through the now empty streets. At the hospital cabin, the two split and Flinn continued his way to the principal's office on his own while Alisea tried to quietly sneak into the cabin.

Alone at this hour Flinn, though no longer a child, still felt uneasy; the night was chilled compared to the day and only the light of the waxing moon and stars gave him enough light to see. Every noise gave him the feeling of being watched and followed; twice he stopped and looked around, sure he had just heard someone whisper something, but it was too dark and he was too unsure if he had correctly heard it or if it was just in his head.

After a few more minutes of walking around in the dark, Flinn finally made it to the main building. At night, the halls, which were usually buzzing with life, were as quiet as a grave; which did little to calm Flinn's raw nerves. When he came to the door of the principal's office, he was disappointed to see that a light was still on. He took a quick look through the keyhole to see how long he might have to wait before he could sneak in and get the image and the map. To his luck, the office was deserted. Looking both ways to make sure no one, though he was sure no one was even awake at this point, was in the halls and could spot him. Since the door was unlocked and a lamp was still burning, he was sure the principal only went out for a few moments and would be back at any time. Finding the map was easy since the principal had a nice for organizing and rarely ever misplaced anything and sure as the sky was blue; the map was back in the same position it was in when he had first seen the principal pull it from the shelf. Finding the drawing, however, proved to be a little harder since, unlike the map, he hadn't quite seen out of which draws he took the drawing from. It took him a solid ten minutes to look through most of the drawers and their content to find the small, hardly half the size of a piece of paper, sized canvas with the drawing of the young Janet; just as he was closing the drawer, he heard the door handle being pressed down and the door slowly opening, both of which created a light creaking sound.

Flinn's breath caught in his throat and he quickly dove under the desk and hopped, whoever it was, wouldn't find him. Judging by the heavy footfalls and how familiar they seemed to be with their environment, Flinn was sure that it was the principal. From his hiding place, he could hear the principal placing books and other documents back on the shelves; he quietly hoped the principal wouldn't notice the missing map. When the footsteps came closer to the desk and where Flinn was hidden, he could feel his heartbeat going fast, which it usually only did when he was around Alisea. He was sure that at any moment, the principal would become aware of his presence and find him; thankfully, he didn't, but took the lamp with him out of the room and locked his office door behind him, effectively trapping Flinn in the office.

He tried over and over to pick the lock, once he was sure the principal was gone, but simply couldn't get it to open. This was no surprise to Flinn since he had once heard that this office was one of the most secure rooms at the academy because of all the important maps, books, and documents. He was certain that by now Alisea had gotten advice from Willow and was now waiting for him back at the docks. He gave the door a few more tries before giving up and setting his attention on the windows; he knew that it would be quite a jump from the office window to the ground below and that if he messed up in the slightest, that he could seriously hurt himself and endanger the mission, but at this point he knew that it was the only way out. Releasing the window latch and looking out, he realized it was slightly higher off the ground than he expected and that, once he got out and to the ground, he wouldn't be able to close the window and he was sure the principal would notice that, but he knew this was his only way out and he took it. With one deep breath, he jumped from the window; the short moment of pure weightlessness was quickly followed, but the sensation of hitting something hard. Pain ran from his right knee up his spine and into his head and he was sure he had heard something pop, but he didn't waste any time thinking of his injuries and tried his best to simply walk off the pain.