The Book Of Fate

Chapter 1: The Corked Bottle

THEO

Theo was woken up by a bucket of water to his face. As his damp clothes stuck to his body and tried to get the water out from his ears he couldn't help but hear the snickers coming from the rest of his roommates.

"Having sweet dreams?" Kevin, the oldest of the five orphans –both he and Theo were seventeen, but Kevin was way closer to eighteen-, said with a smirk. His right hand held an empty bucket.

"I was actually being chased down by Miss Gateway on her underwear and curlers, so thank you." Theo lied as he rubbed his eyes. The only thought of Miss Gateway was enough to shake him awake with an ominous feeling.

The other boys giggled and made gagging sounds, while Kevin, clearly not pleased with the answer and the mental image, scowled and threw the bucket at him. "Whatever."

Win.

"Quickly, Theo," another of his roommates said as he handed him his uniform.

Theo knew he was most probably in trouble. However much of a bully Kevin was he would never go as far as to dump water in anybody's sleeping face unless there was a proper reason. She was coming for them. He felt the chill down to his bones and prayed that his false nightmare didn't come true.

The room's door slammed open right before Theo could tidy up his shirt. Miss Gateway pranced inside the room filling it with the scent of smoke. Her murky eyes scanned every boy from head to toe with inquisitive air; she obviously stopped at Theo.

She didn't seem surprised, it was not an uncommon sight to see the young man dishevelled and sleepy in the morning; it was almost like a common routine. Nevertheless, the imposing figure of that big woman and the premonition of what was to come next was enough to both scare yet bore him to death every day.

"The boys at the Rose Orphanage are expected to abide by 3 rules:..." She preached like every morning.

"First: they need to have excellent manners; being able to know your place in society is unmistakably an important aspect that your future parents will look into. What is the second one?" She asked as she did every morning.

Respect the curfew. Theo knew the answer already. Another boy said it, but Miss Gateway's eyes were focused solely on him.

"Because we can't have any young boy getting into trouble under the Rose name. If they can't respect their orphanage's rules, how do we expect them to follow their future parent's? And third?" She said without taking her eyes off of Theo.

"Appearance." He muttered.

"Yes! A boy needs to be always presentable for every chance of a foster family there is. The boys of Rose Orphanage have to know how to be presentable in society, and since you're of the oldest batch the chances of you getting adopted grow slimmer with each year; you need to put some effort, boy..."

As she kept on talking about the importance of appropriate behavior in society and what not, Theo just tuned out of it like he always did. He wasn't interested in getting adopted, he had never been. Many families had tried to take him under their wings but he'd always refuse or ruin the interviews. The main reason was: he wasn't an orphan really, his mother had died but his father was alive somewhere.

Theo would spend most of his nights at the orphanage's rooftop looking up at the stars and remembering all the adventures his father had told him. He could spend hours and hours just thinking about the life of Treasure Hunters, the adventures, the freedom, and independence; the money. His father, Sloan Carson, was one of the most famous treasure hunters of his times; legend has it that he traveled south into the Doom's falls and disappeared there, never to be seen again. But Theo knew better, he knew that his father was still alive. There had to be a reason why he left him and his dying wife to venture out.