Rodrigo Zacara and the Mirror of Power

2. The Secret Passageway

Rodrigo felt as though someone was gripping his arm and he tried to shake them off with all his strength. He had to escape from this cursed place.

'Wake up, Rodri! It's nine o'clock already.'

As soon as he opened his eyes, he was confronted with Oliver's face half a metre away from his own. He looked around him, not completely understanding where he was until he finally made out the room he had been sharing with his three friends. He was drenched in sweat, obviously due to the nightmare that had tormented him during the night. It had been as clear as real life. He had been descending the stairs in the tower, but no matter how many steps he went down, he never found the exit. Meanwhile, a few words had continued to appear before his eyes every few metres. The stars will fall from the sky before you can leave. The moon will rise in the day before you can flee.

'Are you alright?' Oliver asked.

'Yes, it was just a nightmare. I'm fine.'

During breakfast, their classmates who had been sharing the bedroom next to them were still discussing who had thrown the stink bombs. Rodrigo and Oliver couldn't help but laugh.

'What are you two laughing at?' one of them asked.

Rodrigo could feel his cheeks starting to fill with colour. Fortunately, Oliver knew how to react.

'Are you sure they were stink bombs? Maybe one of you can't control their bowels?'

'Very funny. Was it you? You were all in the room next door. I wouldn't bet against you having found a hole in the wall.'

'You know what they say, right, Andres?' Oliver replied. 'Whoever smelt it dealt it.'

Luckily his comment had the desired effect and the others in the group returned to blaming each other.

'Very good, Oliver,' Rodrigo said quietly.

'We'll need a different plan tonight,' he commented. 'If we throw stink bombs again, they'll suspect us and they'll tell the Mole.'

'You mean you want to return to the tower?'

'They have to see it,' Oliver replied, motioning to Alvaro and Sergio. 'Maybe with all of us there, we'll find the secret passageway. I think the key is in the stars. If we could get our hands on a map of them that shows the constellations–'

'What are you saying about stars?' Alvaro laughed. 'I'm starting to believe you did go up the tower, but you must have fallen and hit your head on the stairs.'

'Right,' Oliver said. 'You don't understand because we didn't have time last night to tell you what the message said. It was something like, "Follow the path of the stars when you hope to leave, and... and..." Well, then it said something about the moon. I don't remember it exactly.'

Rodrigo started to laugh. Oliver was as bad at remembering mysterious riddles as he was at memorising river tributaries.

'"The stars will fall from the sky before you can leave. The moon will rise in the day before you can flee",' he recited. 'That's what was written on the wall.'

'That's it,' Oliver confirmed. 'What a great memory you have, Rodri!'

'That doesn't seem like a clue to finding the secret exit to me,' Alvaro stated. 'Surely the count wrote the message to torment the prisoners.'

'Do you mean you believe all their tales now?' Sergio asked him. 'I'm telling you the two of them didn't get any further than the bathrooms.

'What do you bet?' Oliver challenged him. 'What do you bet that we'll return tonight with a camera phone and show you it's true?'