The Protagonists

Chapter Twenty-Three - Oliver

Three people ran down the hallway on the top floor of the Zentrale auditorium: a boy with dark hair and piercing, blue eyes, a boy with lighter hair and hazel-green eyes, and a girl with straight, flame-red hair and blue eyes. The two boys, Sam Lowe and Oliver Davis, sprinted down corridor-to-corridor in attempt to outrun the girl chasing them. The girl, Nana Dakota, was quick; however, no one could outrun Oliver, the quickest and the strongest on the team. "Oliver!" Sam called as he gradually started to fall behind.

What seemed like only moments before, the two boys were running down the street of Zentrale in attempt to somehow escape Iris and the initiation. Evidently, it didn't quite work because they suddenly had Nana, Iris's soon-to-be companion, was chasing them down the street, back towards the auditorium. She seemed to be losing breath as she ran down the quiet hallway, yet Nana continued to chase the boys, determined to catch them...for Iris.

"You have to keep running!" Oliver called to his less-athletic friend.

"I can't!" Sam called back as he felt himself start to fall back even farther. "I will have to stop somewhere!" Oliver nodded, frustrated that Sam couldn't keep up; sure, he was glad that out of the people he could run with, it was Sam, but Sam Lowe wasn't exactly the quickest out there. While Oliver was the athletic, active friend, Sam was the book-smart, adept friend-Sam just did not run.

Oliver quickly took a sharp turn into an unlocked room and waited for Sam to run in as well. "Close it!" He screamed, sprinting inside the dark, aphotic room. "She's right behind me!"

Both boys slammed the door shut, latching it immediately. Sam sank to the ground, having difficulty breathing-he had asthma, so crazily running away from Nana took a lot of effort from him. "Sorry...for not stopping...sooner," Oliver apologized between breaths.

"It's...fine," Sam wheezed, placing his hands behind his neck to help himself breathe. Oliver awkwardly patted his friends back in attempt to aid him; it seemed to have worked, as Sam finally stood up once he started breathing perfectly fine again. "Where are we?" He questioned.

Oliver flipped on the light switch, revealing the room they stood inside; they were standing inside what seemed like one of the technological rooms in the spy movies: numerous monitors, storages cases surrounding the room, and beeping noises coming from small speakers. An illuminated, red button sat on the desk, blinking rapidly; Sam felt engaged in it. "Sam, don't press the button," Oliver ordered, noticing his friend's attention towards the intimidating, dangerous-looking button.

"What does it do though?" He asked. Oliver rolled his eyes at Sam's childlike behavior. They looked around-Oliver kept a good, keen eye on Sam, however, making sure he kept far from the button-in search of some clue to where they were at. Oliver, trusting himself more than Sam, stepped towards the blinking button, searching for trace of some sort, leading them to where they were. "Oh, you can get near it?" Sam argued playfully, poking his head inside one of the storage cases.

"I wouldn't touch that," a voice warned from behind Oliver. He jumped back frightfully, holding his hands out defensively-his sudden, fearful defense surprised both him and Sam, since he was normally a tough, intimidating guy. "I am not going to hurt you." Oliver was met face-to-face with Nana, the intimidating girl that was chasing them down the hallway, yet again.

"How'd you get inside?" Oliver looked over her shoulder to see that the door was still closed and latched. He caught a glimpse of Sam's face-the poor boy's face was covered in fear and unease. Nana smiled slightly, noticing the evident fear on both of the boys' faces. "I am an Intellectual," she replied, glancing back at the latched, metal door. "I can travel anywhere at any time; it's what I do."

"How can we become Intellectuals?" Sam asked slyly. Oliver looked over at him curiously, wondering what on Earth-or in their case, what on Zentrale-his best friend was planning in his head.

Nana ignored the tone in Sam's voice and replied with, "You have to be able to travel through the tales." Sam's eyes widened and he looked over at Oliver, who had the same, shocked expression spread on his face. We've travelled, he thought, smiling. "You also have to have a ring."

Oliver's ecstatic smile quickly shifted to a disappointed, dejected frown; he, like Sam, just wanted to be an Intellectual, so he too could travel through tales himself. Before Sam could ask more questions, like he exceedingly wanted to, two others bursted into the room, breathing heavily-it was just as Sam was doing moments before. "Why aren't you two in the auditorium?" Nana bellowed, throwing her arms up in the air dramatically. "In fact," she spun around to face Sam and Oliver once again, "why aren't you two in the auditorium?"

"Well," the woman-she was much taller than the short boy beside her-crossed her arms and smirked, "we came here for an initiation. But the initiation we came here for cannot start unless the companion is on stage. And you," she accusingly jammed a finger into Nana's chest, "are the companion. I hope you know that Iris is looking for you."

Nana looked back and forth between Sam and Oliver and the two newcomers, torn in two. Oliver could tell how badly she wanted to "block" these four, but at the same time, she couldn't miss her own initiation. "I'll make the choice for you," the unfamiliar girl said slowly. As if in slow motion, her hand raised in the air in a "stop" motion and moved ever-so-slightly; that trivial movement was indeed relevant, for right away, Nana flew back-it was as if the girl had hit her, although she made no contact with Nana-and hit her head on the wall. The impact must have knocked her out, for she remained on the ground, immobile. The boy lowered his sunglasses and smiled halfheartedly; Oliver instantly recognized him, despite the differences in hair and eye color, as Joel. Sam must have as well, since he ran up to the boy and embraced him tightly. "You've got quite a nice...punch," Oliver remarked, looking at the girl-she was the same height as him.

"I haven't used these babies in a while," she muttered dramatically, kissing the palm of her hand. Then she looked up at the boy she was staring at. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Oliver!" She screamed, clinging to him immediately. "You're okay!"

"Sorry, but who are you?" Oliver questioned, gently prying the girl's body away from his. Her relieved, cheerful grin immediately turned to a dejected, perplexed frown. She let go of him and her hands fell down to her sides in grief. "Y-You don't remember me?" The girl questioned, her once-intimidating approach quickly turning to a nervous, timid one.

Oliver shook his head; he had never seen the girl in his life.