DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 14

"Admit it, life would be boring without me."
- Unknown.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kale's eyes lock with mine.

My heart spikes in fear, suddenly beginning to beat more than one million times per minute. My once-quiet breathing turns heavier as sweat beads on my forehead and invades my palms.

"Spit it out already," Blake scolds from inside. "Do I what?"

Kale continues to stare at me, unmoving.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or a very bad thing.

"Kale? Are you even listening to me?"

No response. Kale blinks.

"What are you looking at?" Blake questions. I hear the distinct sound of a chair sliding back, followed shortly after by footsteps.

Kale seems to snap out of whatever thoughts had been flying through his mind.

"Sorry, I just had this really weird thought," Kale lies smoothly, walking through the doorframe and closing the door behind him.

No longer can I hear their conversation, only the sound of muffled voices.

Great. Now what?

This is so not a fairytale situation as it had been with Rapunzel.

Because, unlike me, she was actually capable of getting down from her tower. I'm stranded, like Cinderella would have been if she'd been in Rapunzel's place.

Then again, Cinderella had a magical fairy godmother that could probably fly her out of here. I mean, she turned a pumpkin into a carriage, for crying out loud.

With nothing to do and nowhere to go, I sit down against the wall, looking up at the starlit night sky. It's mesmerising, as it always has been, however being up high makes me feel closer to it. More intrigued.

Gazing down at the village between the gaps in the railing, I hear the faint sound of laughter- something I didn't expect to associate with anything to do with Ashleigh or his people.

Curious and bored, I stand back up again, leaning on the railing with my forearms as I squint through the blackness.

There are a group of people gathered around the centre-square bonfire, laughing and moving around... are they dancing? Suddenly, the faint sound of music drifts up to me, and the dancing picks up, with more people joining in.

Off to the right, something catches my eye. Focusing my attention on it, I notice a moving orange dot, heading towards the castle. It's a fire stick, and someone's holding it.

I'm about to dismiss it as insignificant, until it stops fairly close to the base of the castle.

And starts shrinking. As in, the fire sick starts becoming closer and closer to the ground, until it completely disappears.

How...?

And then it hits me, like the glacier hit the Titanic.

The person went underground. There's a secret tunnel, and, for some reason, I have no doubt that it leads into this castle.

It might not, but I know I need to explore it sometime before tomorrow night, when Brayden is set to arrive.

I hold my hand out in front of me, closing one eye. My hand covers the distance between the base of the castle and the spot where the person disappeared. That's my measurement. My key to finding the secret tunnel again.