Blackbird

Chapter 15

A few hours later, Ilva streaks out, hair flying everywhere. She stops to straighten it out and then says to me, "How good are you at Maths?"

"Not bad", I reply, suprised. She was angry at me a while ago! But all of this is forgotten when she says, "Come with me". Curious, I follow.

"Where are we going?", I ask, "You've already been in there once, haven't you got the crystal?"

"No", Ilva replies, annoyed.

"Why not?" I ask, intrigued.

"Because I'm terrible at Maths, that's why." She snaps and I grin. She's not used to having to try again at something.

"Where are we going?" I ask again, "You've been in there once, they'll recognise you. Should we go in through a window or something?"

"Of course not, silly, we're going through the front door. That's why it's made for, isn't it?" She emphasises, striding through.

I follow.

Inside is ivory decoration up oak doors, marble pillars adorning every hall, and glistening house shields from every part of the globe. I wondered whether they had assassins shields too.

Ilva grabs my shoulder and motions for me to be silent. I quietly shuffle forward, limited of grace and intent on not falling over on the echoey floor.

It only takes us fifteen minutes to get to the top of the grand castle. Ilva knows where the glass cage is now.

She leads me through another final door at the top of a spiralling set of steps, and I stare.

It's dimly lit in this room, black curtains, black walls, black floor. This leads attention to the glistening bright crystals in every part of the room. I weaved my way through and whistle quietly. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Ilva's flawless planning makes sure that we aren't caught.

Yet.

Ilva coughs discreetly and I move my head up to look at her. She is standing at the end of the room, with another glass cage, but as other crystals have glass with only one layer, this cage had many layers.

In front of it, a pad of buttons and levers lay in front, along with a set of instructions. One glance at it shows me it is insanely complicated. No wonder Ilva didn't manage to get through to the sparkling ruby red crystal.

I glance at Ilva again, and she smiles and tells me,

"Crack the code."