ONE (Book 1 in the Amnesia Archives)

Chapter 9

Aknon lay on his stomach on the ground and looked at the book, making sure he was looking at a single page and letting the light from the fire create words which only he could see.

"What if it's a trap?" I asked grumpily, looking at the blank page. "What if it's telling us to go in the opposite way? What if they want to lead us to our death?" I knew that if that was the case, then I really shouldn't be listening to Senka. Senka could be possessed by anyone or anything, the very thought of it was terrifying, but the soft spot I had in my heart for her would outweigh any of my paranoia.

"Then they deserve to kill us," Sarphi replied and rolled across the ground so that she was beside Aknon.

"You're so lucky there's a lake nearby," I commented with disgust as I noticed the dirt and mud beginning to cover her. "Aknon, what does it say?"

"Well, it's a prophecy."

"What?!" I exclaimed and leaped forward, very ready to do as I had said I would do and throw it into the fire, but he just laughed at me and pulled the book away.

"I'm joking." He shook his head and moved the book so that he was reading it again. "But it sounds like one. It's a letter."

"A letter?" Sarphi repeated. "Why's it in a book? Aren't letters usually just single bits of paper?"

"Letter?" Senka repeated, causing me to jump back ins surprise, since I was under the impression she was still asleep. She moved down my body, jumping and hopping until she was in front of the book as well. "Nice letter, big words, good handwriting."

"Unless they just wanted me to read it. But yes, letters are usually singe pieces of paper, unless you're Acer, who could honestly write a book with every letter they sent."

"I haven't sent many letters, why are you assuming that?" I frowned.

"Because you say enough to fill a book." Aknon cleared his throat, and his eyes scanned the page for the hundredth time. He sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't say who it's from."

"That's not the only thing we want to know." I sighed and sat cross-legged next to them. "What else is there?"

"Apparently, we're on the right path." He glanced over at me. "I don't know how it knows what path we're on, but we have to keep going. There's someone behind us."

"What?" Sarphi sounded like I had earlier, but a lot more serious. "Do you mean that we have someone hunting us?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"That's what it sounds like," Aknon replied, completely ignoring me. "Apparently we've made friends who will help us, but we need to be quick."

"Quick how?" Sarphi asked, pushing herself into a standing position. "Are we able to camp here for the night or not?"

"No," Senka replied. She looked up at me, her black button eyes seemingly growing bigger. "We need to leave now. Hurry up, harry up!" Her voice got louder and louder and she jumped to her feet, blowing uselessly at the fire, which we still hadn't gotten to use.

"Okay, no." I shook my head, "We are cooking our food and boiling our water before leaving."

"Acer, we're being chased by something dangerous," Aknon said, also getting to his feet. "Is it really the time to think of food?"

"Yes, because I'm starving, and you wouldn't exactly read out the letter that you could see in the book, and it could be a trap, and we could die of starvation before we get another chance to camp." I continued listing the various reasons as to why I was currently hurrying to cook the food and boil the water we had. "We've been chased by many things before."