Legend of the Totems

The Restricted Area and The Black Box

As I stand still, trying to take this all in, Harper has already started searching. However, I don't know what she's searching for exactly.

"So what are we looking for?" I ask quietly.

"Information. About the stone of lies." Harper responded.

"What about the oracle?" I continued asking.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you about that." She responded.

"Oh..." I dip my head.

"Its not because I know something about it, in fact I don't know anything about it. I wouldn't know where to start looking. However, I do know where to start looking for the stone of lies." She explains. "Aha! Found it!" She raises her hand with a box in excitement.

The box is small. Its so small that it can fit in just one of our hands. Its completely black and it looks like an empty abyss. Its like something you'd find on the other side of a black hole. If there was another side.

"Whatever is in here should be able to help us." Harper exclaims. "My mom told me stories about you. She knew about the stone of lies, too."

"Can we open it?" I ask cautiously.

"Not here. Too many people may eavesdrop." She explains.

"Then, where?"

"Let's go to the dorms. We'll be safer there." Harper says.

We both exit the library and march quietly to the dorms. It was almost 7 o'clock in the evening by the time we left the library. We reach the dorms about 10 minutes later and encounter Lillian as soon as we step through the sliding glass doors.

"Hey! Did you find what you were looking for?" Lillian asks with excitement.

I notice Harper looking at me with a 'can-we-trust-her' look. I nod, assuring her that Lillian is in on the whole my being the possible Legend.

"This is Harper. She helped me search for some stuff and we found something. Want to join us?" I ask, looking over at Harper to make sure it was ok. When I receive a a smile from her, I face Lillian awaiting her answer.

"Of course! I definitely want to!" She exclaims.

"In that case we can investigate in your dorm." Harper states. Lillian and I nod in agreement.

When we reach the dorm, the three of us sit in a circle surrounding the black box.

"So, are we gonna open it?" I ask cautiously.

Everyone is silent, unsure of what to say. Then our totems begin to act up. Bryce and Celestine begin crawling up to the box, sniffing it cautiously. Lillian's spider crawls on to it, doing something with it's legs. Like it's possibly trying to open it. Harper's crow flies down and begins pecking at it.

"So, uh...maybe we should open it." Lillian speaks after the long silence.

"Only question is, how?" Harper replies.

The three of us ponder the question.

"Maybe Kaiden knows." I speak up.

"What would he know?" Lillian asks.

"I don't know, but we'll never know if we don't ask." I respond.

"Kaiden? As in Kaiden Hertz? The boy from our class? The wolf boy?" Harper says with a surprising and shocking attitude.

"Yeah! Is there a problem?" Lillian asks boldly.

"So, he's in on this, too?" Harper asks.

"Yeah, but don't worry! Its only the three of us who know, well four now." I say trying to defend him.

"Alright, let's go get him then." Harper and I begin to stand up, but we are stopped by Lillian's voice. "There's no need for that. I can send my spider to get him."

"What are you suggesting?" Harper questions.

"You see, there's a ton of interconnecting passages throughout the dorm, but its only small enough for the size of a spider to get through. I send my totem to places when I'm in need of assistance and she gladly helps." Lillian explains.

"Alright then, if you don't mind." Harper gestures towards the spider.

"Not at all!" Lillian complies happily. She closes her eyes and in mere seconds her totem is off. She crawls along the sides on the walls all the way to a corner in the back behind a closet full of clothes and other necessities.

"So, how long will this take?" Harper asks daringly.

"Oh! Um...maybe a few minutes? It varies each time I send her, but she's always back in less than 10 minutes." Lillian kindly answers. In about two minutes, we hear a knock on the door. Lillian gets up to open it and finds Kaiden standing in front of the door.

"I got your message." He says, holding out his hand with Lillian's spider in it. The spider then jumps onto Lillian's shoulder and Lillian invites Kaiden and his totem inside our dorm.

"That's amazing..." I accidentally say what was on my mind.

"Yes, it is quite fascinating." Harper concurs with me. "How did you know we asked for you?" She asks.

"Well, Lillian's totem talked to mine and my totem talked to me. I can only receive messages from my totem. Visually, listening, vibes and sometimes I can smell things, too." Kaiden explains. "So basically, I just got a vibe that I was needed and I listened that I was supposed to go to this dorm room. So here I am."

"Wow..." The fascination of these animal totems seems to increase everyday for me.

"So why did you guys call for me in the first place?" Kaiden becomes serious.

"The box." Harper points to the black box in the middle of the room. The four of us the sit down around it creating once again another circle.

"Inside this box is the answer to how to find the stone of lies." Harper explains.

"So there's another to join the group?" Kaiden asks.

"Yeah." I respond.

"And you guys thought that I would probably know how to open it?" Kaiden asks.

"Yep!" Lillian replies ecstatically.

"Well..." Kaiden examines the box. "It looks like it needs a key." He shows us the hole as to where a key would be needed. "Fortunately, I know what key we need."