The Keeper Exams

Chapter Nineteen - Without Hesitation

Realm Two: Underwater Atlantis Maze

Team Purple

Ripley Alician

"Alice, come on!" I came to the top of the stairs, bursting through the crumbling doorway finally, even though my calves were burning from the dozens of flights of stairs I had just climbed. Finally, my partner, Alice, stumbled up the last of the stairs, panting heavily. I rolled my eyes, looking back at her before continuing forward toward the disoriented light, disorienting the light by the moving water. I walked out further, my gaze scanning the lights patterns reflected on the sides of the ruined buildings.

"Rip, stop!" called a frantic voice from behind me. I froze, before glancing back at a hysteric looking Alice, rushing toward me. I glanced down, before sharply inhaling and stepped back quickly, away from the frayed and shakily swaying bridge, missing sections of wood every few steps. Alice caught up with me a moment later, still breathing heavily, and looking down at the bridge.

"Do you think it'll hold us?" I asked, carefully tuning my fingers around the fraying ropes along he edges of it.

"Maybe there's another way around," Alice mused, looking around.

"No, Alice, look." I pointed across the ruined bridge, toward a pink door, standing out against the ruined city background. "We're going to have to cross it." Without waiting for her answer, I carefully gripped each of the fraying ropes, feeling my way over the first piece of rotting wood. The bridge swayed precariously, by I continued on, shifting my weight across the bridge.

"Ripley, I don't think that's-" Her voice was cut off by a scream, my own scream. The piece of wood beneath me sudden gave out, and I fell through, my fingers tightening around the old rope. My knuckles were turning wire as I got a terrible rope burn from sliding downward on the rope. "Ripley!" The bridge starting rattling, from what I guessed was Alice making her way toward me. A well-manicured hand reached toward me, and I quickly let go of the rope, grabbing the fingers a second before I plummeted to my death. Alice pulled, and a moment later he two of us were safely on real ground.

"Okay, let's never do that again," I said through shaky breaths, pulling myself to my feet. Alice nodded quickly, leaning up against the wall to regain her balance. Suddenly, with a quick scream, she fell back, opening a bright pink door. I smiled, following her through the door, and into a cool, dimly lit room, with a blueish glow in it. Inside were two other apprentices, whom I recognized as Serena and Samuel. I clenched my fists, staring them down as I mentally prepared for a fight. I wasn't going down, not this close to the finish.

Serena lunged at me, and I grabbed her arm, just as her shoulder knocked me back into the sandy floor. I stumbled I keep balance, twisting her wrist around, Alice advanced on Samuel. Then we all froze, as a low, metallic voice echoed through the room. The watery lights shifted their patterns, and words appeared on the ground. Immediately, I let go of Serena, and looked down at the words- a riddle.

What word gets shorter when you add two letters to it?

I was good at riddles. I alway had been, it's what I did in my free time, which I had plenty of. Immediately, without thinking twice, I spoke.

"Short," I said, staring at the reflection of light against the sandy ground, a smile curling on the edges of my lips. "The answer is short."

As of in answer to my answer, the ground runbled again, and a dark doorway appeared on the other side of the room. Without hesitation, I grabbed Alice's wrist and dragged her behind me, leaving the other two in my dust. We weren't going to be beaten anytime soon.