The Book Of Fate

Chapter 2: The Thief

THEO

"This is a map, Will," he said in disbelief. "A map for The Book of Fate... Holy- But there's something wrong,"

At first sight, the map seemed to be like any other. It showed an Island named Airais. It had a simple coast in the shape of a half moon and then to its west, there seemed to be another type of coast in the shape of a half-moon but this one seemed to have many nearing little patches of land. As if somebody had bitten that part of the island and left the crumbs right there. All around the map's borders were words written in a seemingly ancient language; Theo felt the familiarity of those letters, he had seen them before in one of his father's journals so if he concentrated enough he'd be able to decode them. However, what threw him off were the Xs. Yes, plural. All over the island were X's marked in different spots; west, east, north, south, middle, everywhere; not only that but the compass at the far left of the map was inverted: south pointing north and so on.

Before he could take a better look at it he heard his fellow orphan calling him and William in an agitated voice. Theo hid the map inside his buttoned up loose shirt, gave the pendant to Will and made him promise to keep it all a secret. The young boy nodded solemnly and held Theo's extended hand.

Miss Gateway never knew of William's disappearance, though they both had an earful from one of the orphans. Nevertheless, they kept their secrets hidden from everybody else... until night came.

While Theo took a cold shower with some other boys, he talked about The Book of Fate. Maybe Theo wasn't all that responsible or collected, but he was an amazing storyteller; the rest of the orphans would gather around him to hear the tales of his father's adventures, not caring whether they were true or lies. Many were skeptical about them and pretended not to be interested, but Theo had observed the way they went very silent and edged their bodies to his voice.

"Rumor has it that during ancient times the Book of Fate, also known as The Book of Life, was where the Fate and Gods wrote all who were going to die and how," Theo started as he scrubbed his body, the other boys inched closer. "But in one stormy night amongst them, the book fell to earth and was lost to the humans. The first man who found it was King Depharious III. He found out that he couldn't write on the book's pages, no ink, paint or burn would last enough; so he couldn't defeat his enemies with it. But he figured out a way to read people's fates and erase their time of death. He used that power to rule for four generations,"

"The eternal King," One of the boys mumbled. It was a name that went down in history as the King and human that lived the longest in the world. Like a world record.

"Exactly, but of course the neighboring countries were bound to get wind of it, and the rumor of the book that could tell you your fate was too tempting for them. Chaos broke out, kingdoms broke truces and death swept over the lands," Theo continued splashing water around to give more weight to his words. "Endless wars sprung up to get the book, kings whose greed was incommensurable commanded their armies to get that book... The last time the book was heard of was during the Trefor War four hundred years ago,"

"Until my father found it," he added finally, whispers followed his claim. "It was before I was born; he said it was hidden in a place where up was down,"

"Bull, he should've taken it," one of the more skeptical boys said as they dressed up.

"Maybe he did," Theo wished and then noticed that the map he had hidden amongst his clothes was gone.

"If he had maybe he wouldn't be dead," Kevin suddenly said as he leaned on one of the wardrobes.

"And I wouldn't be here which means that you wouldn't have to put up with me; what a shame," Theo snapped back as he rummaged through his stuff.

"Looking for this?" Kevin smirked with a familiar piece of leathery paper on his hand. He had taken the map.

"Kevin, give it back," Theo warned as he glared at Kevin.

"How odd that you acknowledged your father's death, you're usually like 'NO, HE'S ALIVE, HE'S THE BEST, HE'S SO AWESOME!'. What's so awesome about a father who dumps you? You need to get over it, Theo, you can't be here forever," He was being comprehensive, sensible, very unlike Kevin. Theo knew that bullying was Kevin's way of 'helping', it was like shock therapy, but Theo despised every word that was coming out of his mouth; he was not willing to understand.

"Give the map-!"

"No," Kevin cut him off. "I'm going to keep it tonight, and you're going to sleep in here,"

Theo's mind didn't really work like most boys. Some people would've fought for the map, even if it meant getting your nose broken and a preaching from Miss Gateway, others would've surrendered the map and tried to understand Kevin's intentions; but Theo thought different.

The tension in the air could be cut with a knife; everybody was waiting for Theo to attack. But he shut his mouth. Kevin was bigger in size, and even though Theo knew he could take him out in a fight; he wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble with the other orphans around them. And besides, he never slept in his bed, he usually slept on the rooftop –when he ever did- and sneaked back in the house an hour or two before their waking up hours without anybody realizing, most times.

He was going to steal back his map.

Theo sat back in his bed. The other boys went to mind their business.

"I still think it was a bit harsh, to tell you that about your father I mean," the boy who slept in the bed beside him whispered.

"That's Kevin for you," another said

"He does that because he loves~ you," the boy in the bed next to him teased. They snickered.

"Tough love?" Theo joked and received nods from the other boys.

The night deepened and somewhere during that time Theo fell asleep; he woke up and it still was dark. He looked around sheepishly and his eyes focused on the silhouette of a girl entering the small dorm through the window. He though shadows were playing tricks on him again, like that one night with the storm and giant spiders, but when the wooden boards creaked slightly below her weight, he knew it was the real deal.

She didn't seem to notice him wide awake. So Theo laid very still in his bed and watched her secretly.

The girl moved like a shadow, the silver color of the moonlight tainted her black straight hair with silver highlights. Swiftly, she checked the wardrobes and chests but she didn't seem to find what she was looking for. The orphan's rarely had anything valuable in their possession so thieves wouldn't usually think of climbing a three stories high orphanage to get into the boy's room.

The girl moved to the beds and Theo closed his eyes just enough to see the direction she was moving to. She was coming to him. Upon seeing her better, Theo was completely taken aback by her appearance... she was exotic.

She was definitely foreign. She had high cheekbones for a small face and a small body, her nose was small and slightly flat, and she had slanted black eyes just like a cat's.

He felt her check under his pillow in a way that would've been impossible to notice asleep, and then he heard the smallest frustrated sound coming out of her mouth.

She made sure to check his bed well, but didn't find anything. Theo had the strongest feeling that she was looking for the map.

The girl moved to search other beds until she, indeed, found what she was looking for. She took the map from Kevin's bed and jumped out from the window like jumping a rope.

Instantly, Theo followed her.

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