Chemical X!

Chapter 9 ~ Gargoyles

Louis POV

I gently untied the string and the brown paper fell to the floor around my legs. In my hands was a wooden box with the words Vestibulum Mortis neatly carved in the lid. "Vestibulum Mortis? What language is that even?" Niall stated confused as he peered over my shoulder to get a better look at the dusty oak box. "How am I supposed to know" I replied weakly and fingered the lid. "Well, don't just hold it! For goodness sakes open it!" Liam spat as the curiosity became overwhelming. I slid off the lid and a puff of dust burst out of the box like a cloud of cinnamon from a youtubers mouth. "Yeesh! How old is this thing?" Harry questioned batting away the dust. "Don't ask me!" I responded and began pulling a number of items out of the box, consisting of, but not limited too, thumb sized stone gargoyles, which Harry immediately took from me to lol at, old stiff pieces of paper, wooden dice, sticks of chalk, a broken hourglass with sand spilling everywhere, and a folded up game board. "I think its an old board game!" Liam said excitedly as I unfolded the game board. It was covered in dirt and grime but with a few swipes of my sleeve I could roughly make out some of the words on it. "Does that square say Burned Alive?!? Why kind of demonic game is this?" Zayn shuddered as I continued looking it over. Evil games were nothing new to me considering my life had turned into one. The entire bored was covered in gruesome spaces such as lost a leg to a wolf pack, move half the amount of spaces you roll your next two turns, or stuck in a collapsed mine shaft, skip a turn. "Who would even give you something like this? Put that thing in the trash and lets get ready for our concert" Liam instructed as the group got up and headed over to the sound guy. I returned the game board and all it's pieces to the box and headed out back to the dumpster. I was just about to throw it away when I noticed a phone number written on the bottom of the box. Maybe it was Lydia's! I couldn't just throw it away now so I quickly stuffed it under my pillow in the bus and headed off to sound check not thinking about it again untill that night when we all got back on the bus.

Harry's POV

The concert was over and the bus was off again, this time driving to New Jersey. Louis had been laying on his bunk, eyes wide open, phone in hand, since we had gotten back. What if X had contacted him again? What if she knew about the FBI agent we had hired? Louis would of told me if that had happened right? I wasn't sure and the rest of the boys were talking amongst themselves so I took the opportunity to head back and talk to him. I sat on my bunk which was directly across from his and he turned his head to look at me. "You alright?" I questioned as he sat up. His eyes wouldn't meet mine and he gently drummed his pillow with his fingers as if he was hiding something beneath it. "What have you got?" I asked cocking an eyebrow and glaring at him subtly. Louis took the hint and after glancing at the other boys to make sure they weren't looking, he pulled the box from earlier out from under his pillow. And sat it on his lap. I inhaled quickly and bit my lip. "You kept that evil game?!?" I whisper shouted and clenched my fists. "It had Lydia's phone number on the bottom!" He hissed back and showed it to me. "You don't know that that's her number! And even so, you could of just written it down and pitched the game!" I replied and snatched the box from him. "You can call the number but then we're throwing this away!" I muttered as he pulled out his phone to dial the number. "Well don't just hog it! I want to hear too!" I whispered and set the game down on my bed. I followed Louis yet again into the bathroom and he put it on speaker. "Hello?" The person on the other end answered. It sounded like a girl. "Lydia! Is it you?" Louis questioned excitedly. "Louis! Oh thank goodness you called! I have something urgent to tell you!" She said breathing heavily. "What is it?" Louis questioned, an air of concern glazing his face over. "I'm so sorry Louis! I never meant for this to happen! My friend from Ireland sent me the wrong package, I gave you the wrong thing! I'm so sorry!" She choked out, obviously holding back tears. "Lovely it's alright, that explains the creepy game though." Louis laughed slightly. "No! It's not alright! Louis you opened the box didn't you! Please please tell me you didn't hold the playing peices!" She shuddered "You mean the gargoyles?" Louis asked. "Yes, the gargoyle pawns! Louis did you or did you not hold them?"

"I did, Harry did too...why"

"I'm so sorry! I'm so so sorry!" She sobbed shakily

"What's there to be sorry for? Lydia please explain!"

There was a brief silence as she collected herself and shakily began to describe the situation.

"The game I gave you isn't an ordinary game, whatever happens in the game happens to you in the real world"

"That's creepy" I finally spoke up

"Then we just won't play it" Louis replied thinking he'd solved the problem

"But you must! Now that you've held the game peices, you've become attached to the game. There's no getting out of it until you've finished!"

"Who's gonna make us play?"

"The man who created the game challenged his daughter to play him at it. The lost lost and has been trapped inside the game board ever since. Once you've held his playing peices, you become his pawns in the real world and if you do not finish his game, he'll finish you. Louis I'm so sorry, please make sure no one else touches the playing pieces and do your best to beat the game! Keep me updated. Louis I have to go, I'm so sorry, I know you can do it"

The line ended and the two of us were left in silence. Suddenly a scream pierced the air and we burst out of the bathroom. "Harry, where did you leave the game board?" Louis questioned in a panic. "On my bed, why?" I responded as we ran out to the couched on the bus and saw Niall on the floor recoiled in pain. "Niall whats wrong?" I asked. It was then that I noticed the game board on the table. Niall had just rolled the dice and moved his pawn. "We were just playing that game that Lou got from the meet and greet and Niall took his turn first and as soon as he landed on his space he just up and started screaming!" Zayn explained confused and scared. I glanced over at the space he had landed on and it read. ~ Met a deadly spider. Head back to the beginning for anti venom~ I quickly moved his playing piece back to square 1 and looked over at Niall who was still on the floor in pain. "Louis why didn't that heal him?!?" I questioned as we moved Nialls hand away from his neck. There was a clear spider bite and his skin was turning brown all around it. "I don't know, but we need to get Niall to a hospital quick!"