The Lamb and the Lion

Chapter 5

- Is this a joke? The test is with fire? What do you mean?

Exasperated, Nicolas couldn't believe what he and Abigail had discovered.

- This is crazy. We're ten years old! How are we going to work with fire?

Abigail could understand why Nicolas was so worried about the test. The boy's excitement faded with every minute he spent conjecturing about their mission. While he kept looking for fire tests in the guide book and chattering in her ear, Abigail couldn't stop staring at the flame she had drawn. Not for the flame itself, but for the extra element it provided. What was the figure of a lion doing there? Had Nicolas seen it and ignored it?

If Nicolas didn't say anything, he probably didn't realize how the internal features of the flame formed a lion. But not noticing was one thing. It was quite another if Nicolas couldn't see the distinctive design of the muzzle and mane that was perfectly obvious to Abigail. Could this be her imagination playing tricks on her? Abigail couldn't tell if she wanted the answers to these questions.

- Oh my God, calm down! You're freaking out! - Abigail exclaimed when Nicolas started nudging her to pay attention to his desperation. - Nobody's going to tell us to do anything dangerous. What do you think is going to happen? That we're going to walk into a furnace? Calm down.

- And where does fire come into it, Mirian?

- I don't know what the proof is. To tell you the truth, I don't even know if the fire is for today's mission. Maybe it isn't.

- Maybe they'll make us create a campfire. - Nicolas commented, breathing a sigh of relief after imagining this scenario. - Of course it is. We're on a camping trip, for a test at night. Of course we're going to make a campfire. The fire is for today.

- It could be for tomorrow night. If that's the case, we have no clue what's going to happen now.

- True... but we can't take any chances. If it happens today, we have to be prepared.

- Yeah, we need to take advantage of what we discover. Not all children know this.

- Abigail pointed, happy to realize that she might have a better chance of winning the race and completing a step towards her goal.

- We could tell the others. - The words were barely out of his mouth when Nicolas received a look of protest from Abigail.

- Are you crazy? This is a competition. No way!

Nicolas closed the guide book and handed it back to Abigail, shaking his head negatively.

- I like to play with the same chances as other people. That's all.

- Only one person will win the prize, Nicolas. If you make it easy for everyone, you'll never win.

- So why did you ask me to find out about the competition with you? If I win, you lose. Shouldn't you play alone?

Abigail stared at him and thought about it. She didn't even think about not sharing her suspicions about the golden lines in the book with Nicolas. She'd only known him for a few hours, but she liked him. He was her companion in that frightening place. Losing wasn't an option, but if she could choose someone for second place, it would be him.

- And another thing, part of the races are team events, have you forgotten? A lot of our victory depends on how well the group does. - Nicolas added, with a raise of his eyebrows that made it clear he was proud of his line of reasoning.