Scavenger Hunt

Answers in a Dream

The next morning I woke up before Ria and quietly left the room, leaving Ria and Tiki still sleeping. I descended the staircase and continued wiping off the chairs. Other than that, Ria and I had left the room spotless. When I was done, I examined the rags. They were beyond any further use, so I tossed them and the food into the garbage then washed the bowls, then started to fix breakfast. I had just taken the pancakes off the griddle when I heard a sleepy Ria crashing down the staircase. A moment later she entered the kitchen, still wrapped in one of my blankets, followed closely by Tiki. I scraped about half a pancake into Tiki’s bowl then placed two on each of our plates and set them on the table. Tiki probably shouldn’t eat pancakes,  but we’ve always just gave him so much of our food that he began to refuse cat food. I poured two glasses of milk and sat them down. Ria had already eaten one pancake and started on the second when I sat down. There was no point in trying to give her a fork, we both ate pancakes with our fingers.

“You remember everything to pack in your bag?” I asked as I picked at my pancake.

“Yep.”

“Do you think you can get to the meeting place without being heard?” 

“Yep.”

“What about the-” I began, but she cut me off.

“Mikayla, relax! We’ll get everything, we’ll leave without being seen, the notes will reach our parents, everything will be fine!” She snapped, seeming slightly aggravated. Ria never really liked to be interrupted while eating, and she was most definitely not a morning person. I tried to ignore my nerves and attacked my breakfast.

When breakfast was finished, Ria went home, I cleaned up the plates, and Tiki went outside via open window. I went over my list of supplies mentally and began to collect what I needed and stored it in a nondescript, mud-brown pack. I had most of it, but some things would be a bit trickier to obtain. I bathed and dressed before walking to the general store in the square. There, I purchased the remainder of my list and a copy of The Islander. Glancing at the front page, I saw that Priestess had accomplished her mission; across the top of the paper was “Heranasi’s Amulet Stolen! Exclusive interview with the Head Priestess of Heranasi’s Temple.” I scanned the page and saw the Prophecy and The First Clue printed out about halfway down. It’d be handy for Ria to have a copy, I thought as I ripped them out of the page. I tucked them into my bag and placed the rest of the paper into my pocket, and walked back into the storm ensuing outside.

If Priestess had already gotten the Prophecy published, that meant she would be home soon, and I had wanted to leave before she returned. I ran through our supply list in my head, making sure we had everything we would need. Between Ria and I, we would have a length of rope, a compass, two pairs of thin gloves, several packaged snack bars, a large bag of jerky, a small sewing kit, three boxes of matches, two changes of clothes each, two bars of soap, around three thousand tands (my entire life savings), a notebook and pens, a hairbrush, two toothbrushes with accompanying cleaning powder, and a set of maps for the islands. Tiki found me on my way home, and I picked him up and buttoned him inside my jacket so that his head poked out the neck hole. It was pouring rain and he was shaking from the cold. Frankly, I was just surprised he wasn’t blown away by the wind. I ran back home, careful not to splash in any puddles on the way there, and threw myself inside.

I lit a log in the fireplace and placed Tiki next to it, smothered in blankets. He meowed happily and went to sleep. Lucky cat, I thought, able to fall asleep whenever he wants. Really, a nap didn’t sound too bad after my crappy sleeping last night. I placed my bag down in the closet next to the door and laid down on the couch, intending to puzzle out The First Clue. I grabbed the paper out of my pocket and looked at it, flipping to the second page. The headline read “Head Priestess of Heranasi’s temple killed by mysterious stranger on journey home!” I gasped, just as I heard a knock on the door. I jumped up and opened it to see Ariel crying on my doorstep, “I’m so sorry, Mikayla, he came out of nowhere! We didn’t even see him coming! He just stabbed Priestess and ran off, and, and we tried to catch him but we just couldn’t, and by then Priestess was already dying, and I’m so, so sorry!”