The Broken Myth

Chapter Twenty-Four

                                                    Maxine

We walk out of her office and Tiffany is there talking to some guards. Why are their guards here? Is something going on? Wait is Collin here? He wouldn't be stupid enough to do that- would he? Not without backup anyway. Tiffany whirls around to face us with worried looks. 

"Guys- Someones entered the kingdom through portal."

"What? Do we know who it is?" Leo asks. His facial expression of happiness has disappeared and he's pure seriousness. 

"Not yet, though we're pretty sure we know who it is." one of the guards states. Tiffany and Leo exchange a look that holds a whole secret conversation. 

"Whats happening?" I ask. 

"Max Don't worry about it. Tiffany and I are going with the guards to deal with this. You stay here with Dolores." Leo says sternly, his jaw clenched. That answers my question.  A boy can get jealous really quickly when he knows other boys  are around something or someone they like. Leo must know Collin is my brother. It doesn't change that fact that by the way he hugged me earlier with out my consent, he likes me. Especially since he was flustered afterwards. He probably thinks Collin is here to take me away which he's not wrong. Except for the fact that Collins here to get me out.  

Dolores walks up to be in line with me and nods. Leo and Tiffany run out with the guards to take action. Deep inside I'm praying that the army doesn't rip Collin to pieces. As soon as the door swings shut, Dolores spins over to face me and says "It's now or never Max." She's right. This is probably going to be the only time that I'll be left alone with her. I nod my head, it's go time.

She takes off her doctors coat, hangs it up, sighs, grabs a backpack and gestures for me to follow her. We don't head out the front door though. She goes to the lift. I give her a confused look but she just keeps gesturing for me to follow. I follow her into the lift as she pulls on the rope and it shoots upwards. 

"You know how to clime?" she asks. Wait is that what we're doing? I mean I know how to clime but I'm no professional. I nod hesitantly. 

"Great, so the plan is that when we get to the very top we clime a little higher because when I built this place I made sure there was a secret exit so I don't lose my sanity. The exit will take us to the community circle which is where the most of the crowds are. We'll blend in and you can pull up your hood and I'll do the same. Most people won't recognize you so you're going to need to ask around what's happening and where. We'll see where we are at that point, okay?" She says this with deep seriousness in her eyes. 

I nod my head just as we reach the top. It has a beautiful view of the kingdom. It's just a wooden platform that circulates around the tree with a railing. Dolores taps my shoulder and walks over to the other side. I follow her until she stops. 

"Just watch where I put my feet and my hands and you'll be fine. Good luck." she says grinning over her shoulder. She leaps up and grabs a branch and starts to clime. I guess it's my turn. I follow in her foot steps after I've leaped up. She unravels a thick vine  off of a branch so now its dangling down. She grabs hold of it, gives it a quick tug, and swings over to another tree to a platform. 

"Your turn Max!" She yells over to me. My turn?! She didn't say anything about this! Then again, it's either this or death and I chose life so I guess I don't have another choice. She swings the vine over to me and I grab it before it swings away. I grip onto it for dear life as I press myself against the tree and then push off with all my strength. I bite down on my lip to hold back my screams of fear.

 My palms are sweating and I begin to slip down the vine. No no no no!!! Before I know it I've lost all grip of the vine. Except I don't fall and die like I should be. A hand grabs mine and I look up too see...Collin. Wait- COLLIN?! How is he here!? He starts to laugh. 

"Good to see you too. You plan on hanging on for life or do you want up?" 

I stutter trying to say something as he raises his eyebrow. I nod my head yes instead of failing to speak English. He grabs my other hand and pulls me up and I crash into him. I snap out of my own head. He's your freaking brother chill. 

Then there's a pair of big blue eyes starring at me. A Gecko? Why would he have a gecko? I roll off and stand up as he does the same. Before I can say thank you he's already turned away and is facing Axel. Wait Axel is here too!? They're both idiots apparently. 

"Do you know her?" He asks Axel. Axel breaks away from his hug with Dolores and nods. 

"She's my cousin. I thought she died but apparently she's been here the whole time." Oh- that explains why he never mentioned her. The gecko on Collins shoulder has turned around and looks panicked. I follow it's gaze over to where we just came from. Looking down a little bit I can see where me and Dolores had started climbing. Except there are people there. Guards specifically and.... Oh no Leo's there! He's starring right at me and he looks furious. I turn around and tap Collins other shoulder rapidly. He breaks away from his conversation annoyed. 

"What-" His eyes are full of annoyance but then I think his ears click to the sound of the yelling from the other tree. His eyes widen. He spins around completely ignoring me. 

"Guys we got a huge problem. They found us!" Their eyes flick to us and then to the commotion. Theres only five of us including the gecko and there's ten of them including Leo.  We need to go now! They've gotten a spirit guid help! I push Collin out of his shock and move him across the bridge.  The others follow behind us. We all get to the other side before someone yells "STOP!" It sounds like Leo. I turn around as everyone keeps moving until they realize I've stopped. They yell for me to keep going but I won't. I want to hear what he has to say because then I can make a snarky comment for him to remember me by. 

"MAX! COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" He is so pissed and I am loving it. He doesn't have control anymore but I do and thats dangerous. I grin as his eyes widen as the realization hits him. 

"WHOS GOT THE POWER NOW YA JERK!" I yell back at him with glee. The vine hangs in the middle out of his reach. He glares at  it and leaps out to grab it. To my annoyance he catches it and holds on tight. Before I know it, two arrows whirr by my ears and cut through the vine completely. Axels Arrows! Dolores grabs my hand as we turn around and run leaving a screaming Leo behind us.