Gregor and the Prophecy of Death (Book 7)

Chapter 14

Lizzie POV

I spent most of the next day after breakfast with Hazard. He gave me a tour of the palace (since there was really nothing else to do) and told me the work he does around Regalia. He is the official translator of Regalia and is also training to be a doctor.

"Why is everyone else allowed to be a warrior but you?" I asked him.

"I just chose not to," he said shortly. "We have to go to the high hall now. We're supposed to go on a 'picnic' to see if we can find anything."

"Who is 'we'?" I asked.

"Me, you and Tetris," Hazard replied.

"What about Gregor and Ares?"

"Luxa is already suspecting something between Gregor and I so it's just us for now."

It's just us. Now I was getting ahead of myself.

When we got to the high hall, Tetris waiting with a food hamper and Luxa was talking to her. Tetris acknowledged our arrival and Luxa whipped around and came towards us.

"Hazard are you sure you want to go on a picnic. We don't have very good experiences with 'picnics'," Luxa warned.

"I know that. I experienced one. We'll be fine," Hazard reassured her.

She seemed convinced because she started because she started joking with us. "And when did you two start going out together?"

We both instantly became red. I could see it coming. Me going red. I was surprised when Hazard did too. I thought he didn't see me as anything more than a friend.

Luxa acknowledged the blushing and went on. "Is this supposed to be a date?" she asked me.

"Luxa it's nothing," Hazard said, playfully punching her.

"Have fun you guys," she said and left down the hallway we came from.

Suddenly it wasn't so exciting for either of us. "What was that about?" I asked Hazard.

"I don't know. Maybe she was just looking for a way to tease me," Hazard said.

"Why would she-."

Something in his mood had changed. He left me hanging. He's never done that. He shortly answered the question and went on to Tetris midway through my sentence.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Yea."

According to Tetris, the path we were taking was longer than the others. We told people in the palace we were going to one of the caves farther in off the sides of the arena. In reality we were really going through the caves to meet up with the Waterways. After that Tetris would fly down the huge body of water and find the hole that led to the man made tunnels. Our plan was that I take the picnic blanket and some food and pretend I was on a picnic by myself, looking out for anything that could be related to the prophecy. Meanwhile Hazard would be in the tunnels with Tetris looking there.

When we got there, it was nighttime and the park was empty. We decided there was no need to go to the Overland. We both searched the walls in silence. There wasn't a tension but a certain division between us that Tetris didn't seem to like.

"What happened?" She asked.

"What happened to what?"

"You two. Did you have a fight?" Tetris said.

"No, it's-," Hazard began.

"I found something!" I said excitedly.

Hazard and Tetris rushed over. "What is it?"

"It looks like a poem? It's all jumbled up though," I said, taking a picture.

"So we're done?" Tetris asked.

"We might as well eat the food," Hazard said as he finished inspecting the paragraph.

I vaguely nodded and started going up the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Hazard called after me.

"To see the moon. You should come," I offered.

"Are you sure?" Hazard asked following me up the stairs.

I had already gotten to the top and started struggling to lift the rock. Hazard appeared behind me and moved it for me. Tonight was one of the rare nights that the New York sky was clear. There were no clouds to be seen. The sky was lit up with stars that surrounded the ever so bright moon. Of course, even with the rare clear skies, the moon was no big deal to me. Hazard on the other hand seemed lost in gaze.

"Luxa told me she's seen the moon once. She said it was something you could never forget," he whispered to me.

He looked away from the moon and into my eyes that were already staring at me. Suddenly whatever tension or separation we had just a few minutes ago was gone. At that moment, it's felt like I knew. No I did know, we were going to kiss.