Myth

Chapter 5 : We are here

The rest of the week passed quickly and it was finally Saturday. I had been waiting for this day as soon as I had heard about it, I was more excited about Saturday than I had been about my birthday. I was not sure what I was supposed to pack exactly, and so I only took the most obvious; a swim suit. Soon, I heard someone knocking on the door. It was Ethelios. "Are you ready?" he questioned, sticking his hand out towards me. "You bet!" I replied cheerfully, placing my hand in Ethelios'. "Bye bye honey, see you when you get home," my mother shouted from the kitchen. Ethelios gripped my hand as we made our way to the group's signature, beaten up car that I had seen the other night. By my judgement, they did not need to drive a lot or perhaps quite the opposite depending on the age of the car. It just fit eight people, and I began wondering how all of us were going to fit inside when I realized that both Mira and Konstantin were not present. Ethelios took the wheel and we started off to Marcus'.

We drove for hours through tight winding roads that I had never known existed, we passed through strange muddy forest roads that seemed like they could go on forever, and we went over shaky homemade bridges that made you feel as if you would simply slip off and hit the churning water below. But Ethelios kept his focus on the road and we finally made it to this large piece of land that was elevated about another two hundred feet above levelled ground. It was so heavily forested that you could not see through. "Were here," Nina stated, looking towards the top of the abnormal growth of land, though, I failed to see what she was looking at. The car slowed to a crawl, and two people appeared from amidst the trees, it was Mira and Konstantin.

Mira and Konstantin smiled at us as they walked up to the flattest most vertical part of the cliff face. Mira passed a small object to Konstantin and he forced it into a tiny crevice that was around my eye level, and at Konstantin's chest. He twisted the object, which I had concluded to be a key, and a miniscule crack ran up the rocky flat. He twisted the key again and along the crack there grew a few centimetres difference, again he twisted and the rock split further apart. Konstantin let go of the key and stuck his hand in the newly created space, he pulled on the side nearest to himself and I found what he was opening to be a door. Each muscle in his body was flexing considerably to pull the great door wide enough for the car to get through, yet his face was as relaxed as ever. A vast dark space was revealed, and the car lurched into it.

The inside of the rock face turned out to be a hidden garage, but the term hidden would be describing it quite loosely. It was more concealed or even covert. The eggshell white paint was peeling and there were a few gizmos and whatnots lying around the interior. I was surprised that the car did not pop a tire. Clunk! The handle of the door sounded as Ethelios opened the door for me. "Thank you," I said in return for his kind gesture. "You are very welcome," Ethelios responded, looking pleased.

Once outside of the garage Konstantin shut the door and locked it, and it once again looked like a regular cliff face. "Come along Evelyn, Marcus cannot wait to meet you," Mira said, her hands digging into the foliage. I responded by turning my body away from the illusion, and begun walking her direction.

"Here Evelyn, put your hand here and your other, yeah there you go," Mira stated.

"May I ask you a quick question?"

"Of course, ask away!"

"Are we climbing to the top of this?"

"Yes, we are, but don't worry it's not that bad."

"Well, that's a relief," I concluded.

The path to the top was very obscure. It was dotted with roots, vertical rock faces and a constantly muddy terrain. It was a good thing Konstantin was behind me, for I took a couple of spills, quite a few tumbles and a number of falls on the way to the top. Luckily, he caught me every time. It seemed to take hours to reach the top, but in actuality it took twenty minutes. We had finally reached the summit.