DONOVAN (Book Three)

THIRTY-SIX

I scratch another tally on the ground using a rock as the tool. I count the number of an hour to indicate the time being stuck here.

Figures Eddie or Solomon still needs to figure out the secret door entry of this place.

Besides tally markings, I count the small fishes in the water, pluck flowers to make a flower crown, and reread the story of Princess Amihan. After reading, a rough charcoal sketch of the princess is on the book's last page. I couldn't believe she looked like me. The eyes, the shape of my face, the chubby cheeks, it's like looking at my long-lost twin sister from old age.

How come NayNay never told me about the princess and her story?

Did she not want me to learn about the princess's wealth and that crazy people would use me to get the treasure?

Sure, it sounds like what is happening now with Eddie.

Not waiting for my baby daddy to come and rescue us, and by us, I mean the unborn baby and me. I got up, brushed the dust off my pants, and looked around for an exit or another secret door.

Press my hands against the walls looking for an invisible button or a level. I search high and low, but there is nothing on the walls. It's substantial. I need to try another idea of how this Dungeon and Dragons knowledge of mine works. It's been years since I played that game. As a little girl, I would play with dolls and have fancy tea parties with stuffed animals with one bunny doll named Mr. Hopkins, but I played video games for a while before I started my teen years. My mother wants me to be a proper lady. That boarding school for girls was hell. Matching ugly uniforms that Raggedy Anne Wears and your hair braided into two like Peppy Longstockings. All the other girls are sucked up because their parents are wealthy. Also, they are mean. It's like a British version of the movie Mean Girls, and the Headmistress looks like the stepmother from the Disney film Cinderella. Even her attitude is like hers. If my personality is like Cinderella, I would punch that stepmother in the face.

I was not too fond of that school. I hated those girls and the headmistress. I'm overwhelmed. I left the school after the second year, or else everyone will head to the bathroom and do a number two.

I was still searching for anything that could get me out of this place before I went crazy. I look anywhere where there can be a secret button or level I have to pull. I even tried removing the candle sticks on the wall but had no luck.

I stand in the middle, tap my foot, bite my lower lip, and use my brain as if working on a complicated puzzle.

"No wall button, no level, no nothing." I groan and brush my hair back as my stomach growl. "And I'm hungry."

Sticking my hand behind my back pocket, I pulled out a now flat-squish granola bar. "Oh, fuck." I stare at it, sigh, and shrug. "Oh, what the hell."

I am hungry for approximately five hours with no one looking for me.

As I chew on the granola bar squished by my ass, I look at the coffin giving some thought. I walk over to it and look at the beautiful engraved designs and words again. That is when I see a small hole in the center of it with the same shape as the pendant. I pull out the necklace and place the small charm to match the size. The small rock lock in the coffin made the platform under it move to the side, revealing a dark pathway with stairs.

"Great, I wonder if this is the exit," I say; I finish my snack, grab a candle off the wall, and, with much courage, take steps down slowly to this underground lair.

The more I lower myself, the deeper the stairs lead me. It's quiet and creepy. My heart is racing so fast that I regret going down here, but if I didn't take the chance, I wouldn't know if this was the exit. I hear cinching noises whenever I take a step. It's either bugs or something I do not want to know. Spider webs in front of me as I go; I use my arms to break my way. Until I was deep enough where the light from once I came looked like a dot, there was a creepy stone door in front of me. I use the candle to light my vision and release the size of it. It's about ten feet tall to fit in this tight space.