The Quest of The Sword

Chapter 3.3

Her parents were dead. Her mother had left her with a mission. She had no one. She was all alone.

No I'm not

She was crying with her head on Diane's lifeless body. She felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Chase. His misty gray eyes were sparkling with unshed tears. He pulled her into a tight hug. He was the best support Zara could have. He was her ray of hope.

"You have something to do", he softly whispered in her ears and let her go. Zara gave him a nod and went rushing upstairs to her parents room. Diane hadn't specified which locker but she knew. Diane's study desk actually had a secret locker that only Diane and Zara knew about. Diane had told Zara about it when she was little when she had found her lying beneath it trying to figure out something. Zara knew exactly what she had to do.

She dived under the table and started to unlock the slab of wood under it. It needed a password. Zara knew the password perfectly well. 12498. Zara had figured it out when she was 11. She punched it in with the help of some dials and heard the lock click open. The slab of wood was big enough to keep a sword, but why would her mother need it?

"Chase, help me with this," she said and Chase rushed to help her. He picked up the slab and kept it carefully on the floor. The slab was hollow inside and just as Diane had said, there were two envelopes in it; one blank and one with the Nathaniel Thornheart on it. Zara picked it up and tore open the envelope with the boxes. Each of the boxes was stamped with a symbol on it. One symbol was shaped like a tornado and the other had symbol shaped like a rock. She gave the one with the rock shaped symbol to Chase and kept the other with her.

Zara opened the box and inside it was a small neck chain with a sword shaped pendant. The pendant was perfectly detailed and the most beautiful piece of jewellery she had ever seen. The hilt of the the sword had topped with a small diamond and the miniature blade was stamped with the same tornado symbol.

"What is this?", Chase asked, confused.

"I don't know, Chase. I wouldn't have believed my mother some other time but since she's lying dead downstairs, this has to be serious!", Zara angrily said.

"I'm sorry".

"Anyway", she let out a breath. "We have to get it to that Thornheart guy and I want answers."

Chase took the opened envelope from Zara and looked inside of it. Like Diane had said, there was a chit with an address on it.
" 17 Wood Street, West Cliff? That place is like a ghost town".
Yes, it was was.That area near the beach was completely deserted. No one would even live there. How could they find someone there? Zara was about to say something before she heard a sound coming from downstairs. Voices. Someone was in the house. Before she could do anything, Chase clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her inside the closet. The house was so eerily quiet that she could hear the voices clearly.
"I saw someone come in", said a male voice.

"Let's search 'round the house", said another male voice. Zara's heart was thumping inside her chest. She was scared.She looked up at Chase; she could only see his eyes because of the darkness inside the closet. Chase was looking through the small openings on the closet door. She could tell by his eyes that he, too, was scared.

"No need. We got what we came here for. Let's get out of here.", said the first voice. " let's get rid of the bodies"

"But-", the second voice protested but was cut off by a sharp "No". Relief seemed to wash over Zara. Chase looked down at her telling her to quietly come out of the closet following him. They heard the front door close with a bang and they slowly came out of the closet. Zara started to walk out of the room but Chase caught hold of her arm pulled her back.