The Key

Chapter Two

“I don’t care! Caleb, no one knows about the catacombs. We shouldn’t have brought them here and you know it.” The boy or man who talks has a clear, but deep voice. He talks silently.

“Maybe they know,” another boy, Caleb I guess, answers. His voice is deeper than the one of his friend, I assume, and slightly rough.

I keep my eyes closed and listen to the sound of my brother’s breath. It is silent, but regular. I breathe out relieved.

“She’s awake.” It’s Caleb’s voice.

Now that they know I’m awake, I slowly open my eyes and then sit up. Pain explodes in my brain, making me take a sharp breath. My hand moves to my forehead.

Both of the boys are staring at me.

“I’m Boone,” the guy with the clear voice says. “Are you okay?”

“Cassandra, but just call me Cass, please,” I say, without answering his question. I don’t feel like he really means the question and I don’t feel like I can answer it either. The memory of yesterday slowly comes back. I see my parents in their blood in the living room again, then our home bursting into flames. I don’t notice that my breath stops for a while.

“Hey.” Caleb moves towards me.

I look at him confused.

“Get her something to drink,” he orders. Boone leaves the room.

My gaze wanders over the golden walls. A lot of different, antique looking weapons decorate them between some just as old seeming paintings. There are shelves filled with books that look like no one read them for over a century. No windows.

I close my eyes for a second. Then, I look at Boone and Caleb. Both of them are tall. Boone has dark blonde hair, relatively high cheekbones, dark brown eyes and full lips. He is tan, and sort of muscular, but not as muscular as Caleb.

Caleb’s skin is a lot darker than Boone’s and his dark brown hair is more chaotic, as if someone just tousled it. His face is striking, his lips are full, and his muscles show under his tight V-neck shirt. He has a straight nose. What fascinates me most about him are his eyes – they don’t seem to have a specific color. At first sight, they look dark but the longer you look at them, the lighter they get and the more colors you see: blue, gray, green, brown and topaz.

I realize that I’ve been staring into his eyes for at least a minute. I feel the warmth rising into my cheeks and look down. His silent, deep laughter makes a shiver run down my spine.

I look at my brother’s sleeping face and try not to look up again. The feeling that I would find his eyes watching me makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

Suddenly, there is weight at the end of the bed I’m sitting on.

“So?” As I look up, I see Caleb with a worried look.

“So what?” I ask.

“What happened?”

I stare at him for a long time, without realizing the tears in my eyes. All of a sudden, his eyes seem to get darker and he looks down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to say something wrong. I actually just wanted to know if you know about the catacombs.”

I nod slowly and look away, trying to blink my tears away. It doesn’t work. My voice trembles as I answer him. “No, you’re fine.” I take a deep breath. “You’re fine.” I look down. “Actually… we didn’t know about the catacombs until yesterday.”

“How did you find out?” It’s Boone who asks this time. He enters the room, walks up to me and gives me a glass filled with cold water.

I try to say ‘Thank you’ but I can’t. The words won’t come out. It takes me a moment to regain my composure. “We found our parents murdered.” I won’t describe it in detail. Saying it out loud to strangers finally shows that it is real. Our parents will never come back.