The Five Rooms

Chapter 7

I cautiously peak around the corner of the room I was in to look down a new hallway. My senses are on hyper drive as Alec and I sneak through the rooms and hallways of the second house we've been in. I can tell Alec is just as serious about looking out and being careful as I was by the way he moved around. He walked on the balls of his feet and his every step was light and close to silent. He kept look out behind us, to protect us from attacks from the back. It seemed especially important since Paige's house didn't seem to squeak or creak as we walked through it. Which was both a good thing and a bad thing.

But to my luck, Alec had, in fact, gotten his clue and had studied it well before leaving him room when he landed in this new house. Though all he tells me about his clue is that he knows exactly where it's leading him. When I try to ask for more information about it, he doesn't seem to want to tell me which makes me a little nervous. I put my faith in him and here he goes, not telling me something as important as where his key is. Does he think I would steal it if I knew? I didn't know. But, for some reason, it kind of hurt.

I shake my head slightly to get back to looking around. This wasn't the time for these immature thoughts. It was time for precaution and focus. I allow myself to take one deep breathe, before letting it back out slowly, and then stopping in the middle of the hallway, turning back to face Alec.

"Um... We need to talk about our clues. We have to find them so we can get out of here. Together." I whisper to him awkwardly, again.

I was too stubborn, and to be honest too scared, to just tell him where my clue is straight up. I could always give him my sticky note that I could still feel crumpled against my left hip in my leggings elastic, but who knows how good at interoperating art he could be. I didn't want to take that chance. Not yet anyways.

"We can look for mine second, okay. But I need to know what yours is. We can find it together." Alec replies, stopping his silent stride a few feet in front of me. "You can trust me."

"Can I though?" I ask, looking up at him with a neutral look. "You haven't done anything to prove it yet."

Alec lets out a deep sigh, his shoulders slouching forward a bit as he does. "If I recite to you my clue first, let you interpret it, will you tell me yours after so I can help you find your key?" He asks me, forcing me to make eye contact with those gorgeous blue grey eyes, probably in an attempt to make sure I knew he wasn't lying about anything. "First." He adds quietly after.

I'm hesitant to agree, because who knows. He could spout me some lie, instead of showing me his actual clue. Though, some part of me, as deep down as it may be, told me I could trust him. And though I'm not normally one to follow my gut feelings as they normally lead me to do things out of my comfort zone, this one felt so right. It demanded to be heard, to be felt. So, on an abnormally big leap, I trusted it.

"Fine, okay. Deal. Now, show me your clue." I say finally, letting my gaze drop from his eyes to his hands, expecting him to pull out a similar sticky note to my own.

Instead, his hands move behind his back and his voice fills the silent air.

"A room of metal, oh so strong,

Filled with thoughts that could go wrong.

A blast from this will send you flying,

With this warning I'd hope you're buying.

It fits in the lock, so let it be,

Won't you please come after me?"

I take in the words of the poem he had just recited. A poem? Was this some kind of joke?

"You told you'd show me your clue. Where you seriously lying to me?" I ask him, not meaning to let a small amount of anger coming to my face.

Did he think this was some sort of joke? I wasn't laughing. This was serious. I needed to see his clue so I could help him, and hopefully learn to trust him, and he does this. Maybe that gut feeling was wrong.

"That is my clue. That stupid voice recited it in my head like five times so I could remember it. Why would I lie to you? I literally just told you that you could trust me. That'd be a dick move to lie to you a few seconds after." He says to me, forcing eye contact again. "I was being serious when you said you could trust me."

As those last words filled the air around us, I could feel that small part of me that seemed to want to trust him reply, "I know."

I didn't think I'd actually said the two words out loud, until his perfect lips seemed to stretch into the shadow of a smile. I bite my lip, not knowing what to say anymore. This whole moment felt awkward now. I turn my gaze away to the floor, and let out a silent sigh.

"Can I know your clue now?" Alec finally asks me, after a moment.

When I look back up at him to reply, I see he is still looking at me, his ghost smile still on his face. I don't get him, to be honest, he confused me entirely, and so did the fact that my gut was telling me to trust him. This guy I don't even know. I shake my head a little at myself then nod to Alec. My hands slowly pull out the yellow sticky note from the elastic of my jeans. I hand it to him.

~|||~

After Alec had studied my sticky note for a few minutes, I asked him to repeat his clue poem, so I can remember it, and think about where it could be. He was obviously hesitant to repeat it, and I didn't really know why. Was he still scared that I would go steal it or something? Did he really think so little of me? If so, why did he ask me to team up with him?

I nod at him slightly as he finishes reciting the poem and I let myself think for a minute. Where could that be? My mind thinks back to Paige's room, there were very few things in there, so my mind quickly goes to hunting. From the looks of her room, she was obviously a hunter. I let my mind go over the words of the poem again. Metal, blast, warning. These words stuck in my head more than the others. A gun?

"A gun." I accidentally say aloud under my breath, but from the look of Alec's face he didn't hear it, and I was thankful for that.

"Um, so, you said before that you already know where your key is, why don't we go find yours first then?" I ask him, it seemed more logical.

"Because, we need you to find yours and ladies first, you know." He replies, he was good at hiding his true thoughts, but it was a lame attempt to trick me.

I knew he was hiding something, but I had no clue what. I couldn't let Alec find his key after mine. Not after what happened with Aria. I needed to make sure he had his first before I could find my own. I can't help by feel the need to stick with him, to keep him safe. Though I feel that way with almost everyone. I rather almost everyone else be safe rather than me. And I was planning on keeping Alec safe for as long as I could.

I want to tell him that he's using horrible reasoning and that I know he's hiding something from me, but I can't process the words any farther then my thoughts. They don't want to come out.

"Come on, let's start looking for your key." He says to me, as he turns and continues down the hallway slowly, walking on his tip toes as he had before.

I sigh quietly, and start to follow, attempting to be just as silent as him, but my mind was elsewhere. It was busy making a plan. No matter how stupid, or weird it seems. I'm going to break off from him, secretly. After Aria, I can't just get my key first. My gut was telling me to keep him safe. So, I'd find the gun room, find his key, and then find him again. At least that way I'll know he'll be safe. That he can move on to the next room, with or without me.