Freedom Bound

Chapter 4

The longer we walked the more the cold from the snow seeped in through my pants. Like before, I had to jog to keep up with Nix's long strides. Nix suddenly stopped and starting looking around again. Getting a little anxious, I asked "What is it?"

He jogged over to this giant bolder a few yards away. It must've been twice his height and eight feet wide. He motioned towards it, "Come on."

I stared confused at the boulder and then at Nix. He rolled his eyes at me then knelt down in the snow. He pushed some snow around then dug into the ground a little.

Slowly I made my way over to him and noticed that he was digging out what looked like a key pad. As soon as he cleared it all out he started punching a series of numbers in.

Suddenly I heard a large click and the side of the boulder opened up. Inside there was a long staircase leading down.

My jaw dropped. Laughing, Nix covered up the key pad again. "Come on."

Cautiously I looked down the staircase, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"I'm positive," Nix chuckled while starting down the stairs. I quickly ran down, trying to stay close to Nix. The sound of the door closing made me jump a mile. The stairs seemed to go on forever. Getting impatient, I asked "Where are we going?"

Nix glanced back at me, "You'll see."

Sarcastically, I mumbled to myself "Well that was helpful."

I heard Nix chuckle as we continued down the stairs.

When we finally reached the end of the stairs, Nix opened up a giant steel door. He stepped inside and held the door open for me. He shut the door tightly behind him.

It looked like a normal house down here. Directly to my right was an open living room and directly in front of me was a long hallway with numerous doorways.

Laughter echoed through the hallway. Suddenly a little girl with crimson red hair ran out into the hallway. She was being chased by another boy who appeared to be her older brother. The girl noticed us and squealed "Nix! You're back!"

Nix kneeled down and the girl ran into his arms. The other boy just smiled at Nix, then looked at me skeptically. Nix lifted up the girl and said "Arya, this is Lusa."

Arya looked at me with bright green eyes. She studied me like she was trying to absorb every minuscule detail. Then she smiled "Hi! I'm Arya!" She pointed to the other boy, "That's Ki! And Momma is in the kitchen!"

"It's very nice to meet you, Arya." I smiled sweetly. Ki observed me cautiously as Nix placed Arya down. She took off down the hall with her hair bouncing behind her.

My eyes wandered over to Ki. His hair was a striking blond and his eyes were bright blue. His eyes were almost hypnotic, it was hard to look away from them. 

Ki shot me a look then smiled to Nix, "Glad you're back."

Without another word, he turned and briskly walked down the hallway. "Well he seems friendly." I sarcastically stated.

Nix shook his head, "He just doesnt take well to strangers. Don't take it personally," He pointed toward the living room. "You can sit down there for a little. You seem tired."

I smiled "Thank you."

Slowly I made my way over to the couch and sat down. I rested my head one arm of the couch and dozed off for a little.