Truth [Book Three in Fake Series]

Part Twelve:

Part Twelve:

"Which way?" Silena asked.

"North," Ethan replied, pointing to their left. The great golden dragon and its three passengers turned to face the left. They had been flying for at least half an hour now, having split ways with the others at the break of dawn. The group had packed everything up before heading off. Jaz, Zoe and Charlie went on foot to try and find Sammy, while Alex, Ethan and Silena took to the skies on Festus.

Ethan was directing the group with the map, but so far, it seemed to Alex like they weren't getting anywhere. She sighed and felt the wind whip her face and send stray hairs that weren't tied back flying around on her head. "Keep you eyes peeled," she said, scanning the forest below them. "You never know where a clue might be."

"Well, the map says that we should be near location One." Ethan stated.

"Good," Alex felt excited. She had been trying to find Location One for ages now, and now that they were near - she couldn't wait to get her hands on whatever she was supposed to be looking for.

"Does it have a clue as to where it is on it?" Silena asked from the back of the group.

"No, all I can tell is that there's a square kilometre area where it could be." Ethan replied. "We should be entering it now."

"The forest gets a lot thinner here." Alex observed, eyeing the gaps between the trees.

"Yeah, quite odd, to tell you the truth." Ethan scrunched up his face as if he was thinking.

"Well, not long now." Silena said. Then she gasped. "Look down there!" She pointed a finger to a bare tree trunk below them. Festus stopped flying to hover in midair above it.

There was nothing odd about the tree at first glance, but after a long scrutinising look, Alex saw that there was a section of it which had something carved into it. "Lets take a look." She said. Festus flew down and landed beside the tree.

As they got closer, Alex realised that there were words carved into the trunk of the tree. More specifically, a riddle.

"Guys... looks like we've found our first clue." Alex grinned, jumping down before then proceeding to read the riddle. As she got further into it, her grin dropped into a frown.

Ask yourself where there is stone,
Then read the words carved from bone.

"What in Hades?" Silena scowled, her and Ethan having just leaped down. Anger rippled through Alex. No, this wasn't supposed to happen! They couldn't be held up by a stupid clue!

"Stone," Ethan muttered as he read over it. "Carved; bone."

"But what does it mean?" Alex demanded. She reread the lines another time and frustration oozed in her bloodstream.

"Where is there stone, though?" Silena questioned. "I mean, like, what kind of stone? Is it rocks or something like a mountainside?"

"I have no idea." This was their first challenge, and so far, Alex was failing. Badly.

•••

Jaz, Zoe and Charlie had been walking through the forest for half an hour. So far, there were only trees and bushes surrounding them. No paths, no creatures, no one to guide them. Just pure nature.

"Can we take a break?" Charlie asked. Jaz heard the exhaustion in his voice. She sighed.

"Alright. But don't get too comfortable. We already stopped once fifteen minutes ago."

Charlie pulled his water bottle from his pack and chugged down a few gulps. Jaz watched as he screwed the lid back on and put the bottle back in his backpack.

"Hey, check it out!" Zoe cried. Jaz turned to see that she was kneeling by a hole dug into the ground at the base of a tree.

"It's probably just a rabbit hole or something." Jaz said, seeing no point in stopping to look at rabbits which may actually be secret killing-machines. She shuddered just thinking about the time in Tartarus when she was ambushed by killer-bunnies.

"No, it's too big to be a rabbit hole." Zoe insisted.

Jaz huffed and moved over to peer into the hole. As she got closer, she realised that what she had originally mistaken for a tiny one to be a lot bigger and also seeming to run deep underground.

"There's a ladder." Zoe pointed at a rusty metal ladder which was at the edge of the hole and went down. "We should check it out."

"Nope," Jaz said. "Not going down there." Suddenly, a scream echoed through the air.

"What was that?" Charlie asked, hurrying over from where he had been examining the tree trunks.

"It came from the hole." Jaz whispered, fear gripping her words. The scream came again.

"Sammy," Zoe muttered. She reached over and grabbed the top rung of the ladder.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jaz cried. "Are you sure that we should just go rushing down there?"

"That's Sammy." Zoe insisted. "We have to go rescue him."

"But it could be dangerous!"

"We have to save him! How would you feel if you were abandoned by your friends?" Zoe gave Jaz a challenging smirk which she was taken aback by. She's changed... Jaz realised with a start. The Zoe she originally knew - the beach loving girl who was obsessed with anything to do with blue had given way to a new Zoe. And Jaz wasn't sure if she liked the new Zoe or not.

"Lets go," Charlie said. "We have to. For Sammy."

"Oh alright," Jaz sighed, then followed Charlie and Zoe down into the darkness.