The Tale of Ezra: Book 1

Chapter 11: The Ring's true secret

The next morning we all woke up early. Anna saw on her phone that the NGO agent guy had already bought the plane tickets to Boston. Our flight was in 3 hours so we had to get ready and head over to the airport. 
I remembered what the guy had said to us but I tried to forget it. He was probably just lying or bluffing. The others had forgotten about it as well. We took a taxi that drove us to the airport. The taxi had a small TV at the back and it was on a soccer channel. Me, Finn, and Jay were watching it as that was our savior from this heavy traffic. 
The sound of honking horns and cars almost about to crash was heard throughout the place. After the commercial break had came on I turned my head toward the window, there I saw another taxi, sitting at the back was the same man we saw on the TV yesterday. He was wearing that same mask and everything. I closed my eyes and opened them again, but he was gone, inf act that whole taxi was gone. Was I hallucinating? Something wasn't right though. I knew something was very wrong. 
After 30 minutes of traffic, we finally arrived at the airport with 1 hour to spare. I decided to go and use the bathroom. As I walked to the bathroom I accidentally bumped into this guy. "Oh sorry," I said. I looked up and the guy had definitely struck fear into me. He was a tall bald and muscular man; he was wearing this uniform. I then noticed the "FBI" on his jacket and my heart dropped. I was sweating profusely. I didn't know what to do. Was he going to arrest me or something? 
"It's alright young man." he said. "Going to a Cubs game huh?" I was wearing a cubs shirt and a cubs cap. He must have thought I was just a regular Chicagoan or something. 
He walked off without any suspicions I assumed. 
When I entered the bathroom the guy that I saw come out had looked like the guy I saw in the taxi and the guy who we saw on the TV last night. Same mask and same black hoodie. He walked past me, and I instantly turned around, but he wasn't there. He was nowhere to be found. 
Something was very off. Either I was hallucinating or something was actually wrong. How did I see the exact same guy that talked to us on the TV last night in a cab while we were in traffic and just now coming from the bathroom I was about to enter. Something was definitely wrong. I decided not to use the bathroom. Our flight was already here. 
The flight from Chicago to Boston would only take about an hour and fifty minutes if not less and it was quicker than just driving with a car which would take a pretty long time. 
On the plane me and Anna sat next to each other again and Ariana and Finn sat next to each other. 
"So Ezra, what are your parents like?" Anna asked. I found this question to be quite random and out of the blue, but I still answered. "Dunno, never met them before." "Really?" she said surprised. "For all my life it's just been me and my older brother, Austin. We did live with this old guy called Mr. Myers but he died when I had turned 3." 
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear" "Nah don't worry about it. It doesn't really bother me much. I mean from time to time I do wonder who my parents are and what they're like, but I never really got the chance to ask anyone or get a proper response" 
I wanted to ask Anna how her parents were like, but I probably already knew the answer. But I went and asked her anyway. 
"So how are your parents like?" "Uh well ever since I was a kid my parents have been having pretty high expectations for me. Almost every member in my family was rich and successful. My dad was one of the greatest NGO soldiers of all time and he fought alongside with great and famous NGO soldiers. Ever since he retired, he's been pushing me to be a great successful NGO soldier just like him" 
In all honesty, I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying at all. I was focused on her pretty eyes, my mind then went into a daydream of us getting married and having kids. Honestly ever since I joined the NGO I haven't had much time to think about that stuff, I didn't know if that was a good thing or if that was a bad thing.
Finally I decided to respond to not sound rude or anything. "Yeah it must be rough on you to be so highly expected of." I said "Yeah it really is. You know I was really jealous of you."
"What? Really? You were jealous of me? But you had everything! You were rich, you had so many friends you were so smart, and you were at the top of the class." 
"Yeah but you had something that I didn't, that was true joy. That's why you were the number one NGO prospect. You had something nobody else had." I was so surprised that something like this was coming from Anna. The fact that she was jealous of me kind of flattered me though. 
One of the reasons why I loved Anna so much was that she was honest and true, she would never lie. She would always be honest with you and kind. 
We arrived at the Boston airport, it was faster than I expected. This time instead of going to a hotel we would go to the address that the NGO agent gave us. That was Scott's address. We took an uber over there. Scott had lived in a small house out in an open field. 
"This must be the place" Jay said. He knocked on the door. At first there was no response then Ariana decided to knock. She knocked a bit more aggressively and that definitely compelled Scott to come out and open the door. 
The door opened and we were greeted by a middle aged, not so tall but not so short, a little bit fat, man. He had a beard with grey streaks and had black spikey hair combed back. 
"Who are you kids?" "Hey sorry to bother you but we're from the NGO" Ariana started, but as soon as she mentioned NGO he immediately closed the door.
"How rude!" Ariana said. She banged on the door and this time he didn't open the door. She kept on banging until finally it got annoying for him and he opened the door.
"Look, I don't wanna be involved or have to do anything with that organization." he said. "You don't understand the current situation right now. We need your help" Jay said.
"How do you guys even know who I am, and how do you know where I live?" 
"We were told to come here in seek for your guidance and help" Finn said. "Well I'm not helping anyone, so you kids can go on your way." He was about to close the door but this time Ariana held it before he could close it. "Don't be a bum! At least hear us out" she said. 
"You have thirty seconds." We all looked towards Finn to explain since he was the fastest talker out of all of us. "Okay, so basically Regalia got a ring stolen and is blaming the US, and the US got their documents stolen and is blaming Regalia. We have 5 days to find these missing items and return them or else there's gonna be war between them." 
"Well of course something like this is happening. These countries never learn their lesson"
"So are you going to help us" Finn said. 
"My time has come and has passed. There's nothing I can do anymore to help Regalia." 
"Uhm, did we forget to mention that this girl Anna right here is the daughter of the Yancy family?" Finn said as he pointed to Anna. 
"So you're Gaberiel's daughter?" He laughed. "Wow you've grown so much, the last time I saw you, you were just a baby." Anna awkwardly smiled. 
"And you...hmm you look familiar." he said while looking at me. "You're definitely someone's child but I just can't remember who" 
Maybe this guy knew something about my parents. I wanted to ask him but I knew that it wasn't the time. 
"Look old man, that isn't important right now. We need your help, this is actually serious. If you don't help us Regalia is gonna be in great danger." I said. "As I've said, there's nothing I can do to help you" "Well now what do we do? This old guy clearly wasn't of any help to us." Ariana complained. 
"You said the ring was stolen right?" "Yeah," Finn replied. "Wait...don't tell me that it was the ring of magic?" As he got done saying the word "magic" I felt sort of a chill in the air. "Is that what its called?" Jay said. 
"Yes, it being stolen is a very big deal. I probably shouldn't be telling you guys this but that stolen ring contains all the magic from the ancient times."
"I thought magic and all that stuff were just myths" Finn said. We all thought that magic power was just a myth but apparently not. 
"Oh it's not a myth at all. People who lived in the ancient times used magic on the day-to-day basis, it was the main source of power for the whole world The whole world thrived on magic. It was until magic fell into the wrong hands that it had to be taken away. Because of magic many wars happened, many innocent lives were taken away, the world was coming to its end. An organization was formed to stop this magic take over, they used magic to destroy magic, their goal was to permanently remove magic. They eventually created a ring that could absorb all the magic in the world and store it. The ring could never be destroyed, however. You would need a key to unlock the magic that was inside of the ring. 
After the ring absorbed all the magic, the world was left magicless. The survivors of this magic drought would be members of the Maelstromgem family, they could still use magic without it being absorbed but eventually they were all killed." 
"So that ring that was stolen has all the magic power that was used in the ancient times?" I asked. "Yes, if the ring gets into the wrong hands and the person finds the key to unlock the ring, the whole world will be in much greater danger." 
"Then we have to find this ring thief immediately." Ariana said. "Hold on, could the key be related to what that hacker guy was talking about?" Anna said. "But he wanted us to find 6 keys" Jay said. 
There was a lot to take in and comprehend. We needed to find a ring that held magic power that could destroy the world.
"Do you know anything else? Mr. Lance" Anna asked. "I'm afraid I do not. That's all I know. If you guys want to find the ring you have to find the thief who took it before its too late. For now I would focus on finding the ring before finding the documents."
Finding the ring first would definitely be the best for us. "I hope the information I gave you guys helped." "Oh yeah it certainly did" Jay said. "Thanks for helping us" Ariana said. 
"No problem kids, good luck on finding the ring and the documents." He closed the door. That was a quick change in heart, I said in my mind. 
We didn't know what to do. We needed to conduct a full investigation. We needed to find out our suspects. It could of been anyone. 
As we were walking a crazy wild thought came to my mind. "Guys, I know you guys won't like this idea, but I think we should get in contact with that hacker guy." I said. "Come on Ezra, that guy is just a waste of time. What if he actually doesn't know where the ring and the documents are?" Finn said. "I agree with Ezra. I think we don't have a choice but to contact the guy" Anna said. "Yeah, same here." Jay said. 
"Then lets do it." I said while taking out my phone. I didn't know why I took out my phone, but I just went to contacts and saw the same number 100 times on the call list"
"Wow it's just the same number on my call list." I said while scrolling through. "Just call it" Ariana said. I called the number and it was answered immediately. I put it on speakerphone so that the others could hear and the guy started talking. 
"Make sure that you are in a private place" he said in his creepy deep voice changed hacker voice.
"We're in a place far away from the public" I said to him. "Good, so have you guys decided on what you're doing?" "Yes, we'll find the 6 keys you want us to find and in exchange you'll give us the ring and the stolen documents. No scams" I made sure to add.
"Good, the first key is in Orlando, Florida. I will send all the details and messages through text." 
He ended the call before I could say anything else.
"Guys, I hope this is the right decision" Finn said. "I hope so too." I said. We didn't know what would await us in this mission to find the magic ring and the stolen documents.