The Hunt for Aquatenite

Chapter - 28 Lucy

We followed Bren between the clashing of weapons. I was holding onto Tyrek's neck for dear life as he and Oliver stabbed the giants to make way for us. We crashed through the crowd of giants until we were out of the claustrophobic area.

We all stood there for a moment to catch our breath until Tyrek announced that we had no time to waste. We stood, staring at the wall where the secret door from which the King entered appeared.

"What? Will a magical door magically appear here?" Rislerk sassed. But after the looks we all gave him, he immediately realized that's exactly what was going to happen.

When we didn't stop giving him the eyebrow raises and eye-rolls, he grumped, "What do you expect from a non-waterian?"

Tyrek laughed quietly. "I remember how you irritated everyone with every word you said." He looked at Nexiana. "I have no idea how you handled him."

"Eh, you just need to know his favorite food. It's easy to bribe him." Nexiana said.

I looked at her, wondering how they accepted she was the spy so easily. Nexiana caught me staring at her and I quickly looked away. But she knew why I was looking at her.

"Need not worry. You think I would be joking right now if I wasn't back to my old self?" Nexiana giggled softly, as she turned her gaze back to the others.

I looked at Tyrek for assurance. He nodded sweetly from which I couldn't resist smiling.

"Okay, okay enough jokes," Bren announced, clearing his throat. He adjusted his mask which he seemed to be doing a lot from what I'd seen. "Anyone has any ideas on how to make this door appear?"

While saying it, he seemed to be looking at me for an answer, hope in his eyes. He was expecting me to know what to do in a situation like this. Why? I had a feeling, I wouldn't like to let him down. I wrecked my brain for ideas.

C'mon, Luce. Think of something! I kept repeating in my head. I thought about all the times I had seen the King come through the door. The door always started to appear from the bottom to the top gradually and slowly.

But that doesn't help. I told myself. I need to know how the King does it. And that's when it clicked.

I focused on what he did physically. When he had entered the hall he had used his hands to make the door disappear. I repeatedly played the scene in my head.

"I think I got it," I told them, as I made my way to the wall. "I saw the King do something like this when he made the door disappear."

I held up my hand to the wall and moved it slowly to the bottom. Everyone held their breaths as they waited a second. 2 seconds. 3 seconds...

"Maybe it just takes time?" Nexiana offered. "It might be scanning us to...I don't know, check if we are permitted to enter?"

I sighed. "If that's the case, then we can never enter whatever it is behind this wall."

There was a moment of silence before I had another thought. "You know? I might be right about this but doing it wrong."

I un-crossed my arms, as another round of hope shined in everyone's eyes, and made my way back to the same wall. The King had moved his hand from top to bottom to make the door disappear, right? So if I did the opposite, it might make it appear.

Again, I put my hand up to the wall and thought about the door's appearance deeply. Keeping the image steady in my mind, I moved my hand from the bottom to the top. As it made its way to the top, tiny flecks of the giants' purple light shimmered up the wall, joining together at the end. And there the door was, just waiting for its knob to turn.

'Wows' and 'good work' were the only expressions I heard as I had already started to make my way through, with everyone else following suit.

Outside was a world I never imagined. The trees and plants around were wilting. The soil looked like there used to be water around but now it was dry. The cabins were made for the giants so they were bigger but looked just like the ones on Aresten. But the walls were damp and the cement was cracked. It looked like Havenland, just...sad and angry at the same time.

I roamed around the field, gently touching the large cabins. I looked through the windows. A mother giant was embracing her son in a corner of the room.

"Uh, Lucy, I think they're afraid of you," Oliver said from behind. I turned around to find him a few inches away from my face.

"Um, yeah, I'll just, uh, move away." I blushed, escaping from behind. I bit my lip before speaking again. "We have a member from every group. What now? We have no idea how we'll find Aquatenite." I started roaming around in circles.

Nexiana came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, no need to worry, okay? We're gonna find a way." She gave me smile, which seemed very comforting. I liked this Nexiana.

"We should divide into groups. It'll be a lot faster like that." Tyrek said, rushing us to decide quickly.

"But we can't be sure if the stone is out here. It could be back in the place where we were captured." Rislerk reasoned and I agreed with him. It wasn't like we had any idea where it was. But apparently, someone did.

Bren sighed. "They've gotta make it compulsory to read the stories. It says the Hexens needed a place near the giants' trapping area and close to nature as the stone was made up of their powers of nature elements: water, earth, fire, and air."

"So there aren't any elements of nature in the King's palace and that's why it can't thrive there." Nexiana completed.

"Exactly. Now we just need to find the stone in a place thrice as big as a football field." Oliver concluded. He sighed. "We'll never be able to do this."

We thought about it for a moment. He was right. It was going to be difficult to find a single stone in such a big area. But we couldn't give up, could we?

As if on cue, a bush rustled, and out came a stone. Tyrek and Bren took a step forward protectively.

"Who's there?" Bren called into the dying bush. No answer came. Slowly, we all approached the bush, and as we got closer a giant jumped out.

"Is that a giant?" Oliver said in a hushed voice. And we all understood what he meant. This giant didn't look like a giant. Instead, he was so small that we were taller than him. Specifically, he was a child giant He wore something similar to a greek dress- a knee-length black cloth hanging from his left shoulder.

"Are you havens?" He asked, grinning a crooked smile. This child giant was different than any other we had met till now.

"Um..." I said, backing away from him. "Yes, we are."

He stared at me with a confused look on his face which made me even more uncomfortable. But the vibe around me told me that I wasn't the only one.

Bren knelt to reach the child giant's height. "Okay, kid. What is your name?"

The little giant tilted his face as if processing what Bren asked him. But after a few seconds, he grinned again and raised his hand, jumping excitedly. "Can I answer your question, Mr. Large Haven?"

Now, whatever the kid's problem was, he was adorable with his sweet child voice. Even Bren giggled at his childishness. This kid might be a giant but he was still cute and maybe he could help us...