The Keeper Of Light

Chapter Ten: Tunnels

Jay's POV

Garret decided not to kill me. But to give me worst punishment of all. Either he kills Avery, or I do it instead. And the entire group had a vote, not one voted 'no' against the punishment. Except, if Julian were here, I know he'd side with me. But I'm own my own here.

"So it's settled then, you dick." Garret teased.

"Don't call me that." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well I can't call you, a hero, or a leader. Now can I?" He cocked his head.

Garret was right however. I am a traitor towards The Group. I knew Avery was The Keeper of Light before any of them. But I don't care at this point. All I want is for Avery to be safe. Her safety is all the matters to me. "So, Jay what's it gonna' be then?" Nathan crossed his arms at me. My mouth forms a thin line.

"I'll kill her myself, all of us will. And you know it." Garret cut in. "Jay, it's either you kill her or me."

I laughed. If I kill Avery, a new Keeper of Light will form, and the pattern continues. If you want the universe to be dark and only dark then, only the Dark Leader can actually, properly kill her. Garret's being unreasonable for this, but he knows it's a punishment that will haunt me for as long as I live on this earth. A new Keeper of Light will form and Garret will find him or her and kill them there. Avery and I are now just obstacles from him reaching his goal.

"I'm not joking. It's what I've been waiting for, all my life." His tone deepens.

"How bout this?" It's a risk. "I'll make you a deal," I can already tell I'm going to regret this. "Whoever finds Avery first, gets to decide..." Quickly, I search for words that won't back fire. "Gets to decide what to do with her."

"Is that a challenge?" His eyebrows pinch.

"Indeed it is." I straighten myself.

"Deal. And it starts in 3...2...1 GO!" He yells and automatically disappears, straight for the mountain with that god damn sword.

Instinctively, I run after him, but at a different angle of the mountain so we won't collide. Garret must have seen Avery run up the mountain. But who's to say she's not up there anymore?

The sun has set. Twilight covers us. It makes it more difficult to see the jagged edges I have to grab in order to climb. I look up, nervous that Garret is ahead of me, but I see no signs of him. The first thing I will do when I see her is embrace her, but only for a moment, because we won't have much time; then we'll run. I don't give a damn where, but I can promise that it'll be as far away as possible from here.

Garret will never get his hands on her. I grew up wanting to destroy and hate the light, now, I'm saving it and loving it. But part of me feels guilty for going against my best friend, after all we've been through. It's hard, turning against him and all, but I'd never be able to be in the same room as him if he killed Avery.

After all, I love her. And at this point, my only care in the world is to protect her.

~~

Avery's POV

"Avery! Avery! Wake up!"

My eyes are slammed shut. Mentally I'm awake and rested. Physically, I'm exhausted and weak. I don't care who's calling my name, what I really want, is to sleep.

"Avery! Come on!!"

Hands shake me around roughly until I finally open my eyes. "Alright alright! I'm awake!"

"Good, 'cause we gotta get going," the voice belongs to Julian.

"Julian oh my god!" I throw my arms around his neck. "You made it!" I release.

"So did you! Now seriously, we have to go. Garret and Jay are on their way up the mountain." He stands up straight and offers me his hand.

"What," I freeze at the mention of Jays name. "Jay, on his way up. Here?"

"Yes, Avery." He tugs at my arm to start walking.

"No, we have to wait for him, I want to see him!" I argue.

He sighs. "With Garret either right behind him or ahead of him, no way. Garret will kill you on the spot."

I hang my head. I know he's right. And that's the part that's devastating. It's the middle of the night, the air is brisk. My phone is dead thanks to the bitter coldness up here, so I can't tell if my mother called, or if Chantel is freaking out tha I'm still not there and she can't reach me. Is there already a search party for me? I hope not. I shake myself out of my thoughts. Infront of me is a train cart, steady and rusty.

"Julian, what is this?" I ask, as he walks towards it.

"A train cart. It's connected to tracks and it'll hopefully lead us away from here." He hopes in and offers his hand.

"Are you sure this is safe." I hesitate.

"No, but hey, what's the point of living if your don't take any risks?" He reaches for my hand and I'm forced to get in.

It's a small rectangular metal box. Julian sits facing me, and I'm on the outside of the entrance of the tunnel, it's just black in front of me, except for the outline of Julian's face. But inside the tunnel, there is no light. My heart starts to race as the dream of death and torture I had when I passed out in the fire, creeps into my mind.

I hardly notice that Julian stands up and grips to a wall of rock to push us into the tunnel. It's loud. Very loud. Metal rubbing against metal. The sound is painful to listen to.

The cart races down a hill, luckily we will be descending down the mountain. It picks up speed, and Julian is laughing and pumping is fist in the air. Like he's having the time of his life. My hair is sleeked back because of the wind, the cart takes plenty of twists and turns, but it still heads down. My eyes adjust to the darkness in a few minutes.

What was this cave used for? Mining? No, were too high up.

I start to think of Jay, the vampire who is risking his life to save mine. Will I have to leave town? Just to get away from Garret. Change my name, move to Africa and open a curry shop with my mother and Lexi? I clench my teeth shut because the thought is revolting. No offence to Africa or anything, I mean, I hear it's nice weather down there.

The cart begins to slow down, and my ears are ringing. Julian's loud, energetic voice is echoing the tunnel. A few more bumps and turns, and I finally see light. It's a very small hole of light that soon grows bigger. I begin to remember myself running for my life away from a light like this, running, hoping to wake up to Jay. I shut my eyes because they've already adjusted to the darkness and aren't prepared for this eye burning light. I shut them too right and block the noise of the metal tracks, that I hardly notice we've stopped.

"Come on. The worst is over. Now, was that so bad?" Julian is already up and out of the cart when my eyes adjust.

"No, it was fine." I say.

He offers his hand to help me get out and I take it again. I look at my surroundings, there's a fence a few yards ahead, thousands of trees. And dawn is just approaching.

"Where are we anyways?" I ask Julian.

"Not sure, let's go." He begins to walk.

"What?" I squint. "Over the fence, oh yeah that's a great idea."

I fold my arms is disgust, there's a fence there for a reason. I can barely imagine the amount of animals in there.

"Well, Avery, if we don't go now they'll be here and you'll be dead." He grins.

I roll my eyes and catch up to him.