The Tale of Zaharos

Chapter 18: Enemy of the enemy

Mariana woke up to find herself in a comfortable bed, with a steady ceiling above her head. At first she thought she was dreaming. Then she remembered... after Axel had left from the treehouse, Sidonia had been worried that Dean would come back and see them or that Axel would lead others there. Mariana didn't believe Axel was going to out them, but she was worried too. They were roaming the streets of Zaharos when they bumped into Ben and Max. It took some time, but once they explained the situation to Max, he invited them over. Mr. George had been delighted to see them, but he was worried about Mariana being seen in his house. He had been jumpy, freezing from fear every time he saw something moving in the garden or out of some window and sweating every time someone knocked. Despite that, he had insisted on Mariana and Sidonia staying for a sleepover and having nowhere else to go, they had agreed.

She looked around, savouring the sensation of sleeping inside. She could get used to this. The warm, comfortable bed was so much better than the wet unbending planks she was used to. The solid walls gave a feeling of protection, unlike the 'walls' of the treehouse, which seemed ready to fall at any moment. And the silence... she had never slept so well; in the treehouse she had to be half-awake in case someone approached the house, so she kept drifting between sleeping and being awake with every noise. In the winter, the howling of the wind was sometimes so loud that she had to wake up every half an hour or so to ensure that the planks were still firmly held in the right positions. She liked not having to hear the howling of the wind, nor feel its cold flogging her skin. Taking one last moment to enjoy all of this, she stood up and crept out of the room.

She tried not to make any noise; the sun wasn't even up yet and Sidonia was lying on the bed next to hers, fast asleep. Max had explained that this room was often used by guests. He and Ben had slept in Max's room, which was just next to them. It had been an amazing night. They had played so many games, watched movies, danced, ate every sweet and crisps that could be found and had so much fun. When Mr. George said that it was time to sleep, they went in their rooms and used plastic cups to talk from one room to the other. It was very funny because most of the times they couldn't understand what the other person was saying and ended up talking at the same time. It was a bit like playing broken telephone, only the telephone was very broken. They hadn't slept until after midnight, yet, minutes before sunrise, Mariana was already awake and walking around.

She went inside the living room and was surprised to find Max already sitting there. She blushed slightly and was about to leave when Max called her.

"There's no need to go," he whispered as to not wake up the others. "Do you want a drink?"

"No, thank you," Mariana replied and sat down. "Do you always wake up this early?"

"School starts early and even during the holidays, I like to wake up to see the sunrise," Max replied. "What about you? Did I wake you up?"

"No, I always wake up this early. The sunlight gets into the treehouse even before the sun's up and wakes me up, so even now, that there's no sunlight in the room to wake me up, I somehow know that it's dawn and wake up on my own," she explained.

Some minutes passed in silence as they both watched the sun slowly revealing itself from behind the mountains. Sunsets are magical in Zaharos, the sun slowly falling into the sea, but there was something about sunrises that always enchanted Mariana.

"Do you think we've won?" Max asked.

Mariana didn't need an explanation to know what he was talking about. It had been on her mind since the moment she saw Axel. If everything was over then why would he search for them? Dean had been with him so Axel hadn't gotten the chance to explain, but there had been worry and fear on his face.