Breathe

Chapter 20 - A Step In the Right Direction

We slammed the door open. Knowing that they would be sitting there with the door unlocked, waiting for us, I lifted the book high so that everyone could see it.

"We found something," I said, slightly out of breath.

"I hope it's worth leaving without permission, Adair."

Walking into the room, I dropped it onto our coffee table and opened it up. Then, I showed them it: the ridiculous amount of info that this little book contained. "Look," I said, pointing at the pictures of a root, "this is one of the main materials used for the X.Q. virus. And here." I turned the page to show the devil flower: a pale green rose-looking flower that had long, thin spikes all over its stem. "This is what gives the gas its color. It's also what causes the production of melanin to decrease and is known for its fatal effects." I looked up at them. "Tell me that this wasn't worth going out alone."

"Who gave you this?" I looked at Dani. Her eyes were narrow. "You couldn't have just walked around and found this lying somewhere. Someone must've given it to you."

"Someone did," Phil chirped, "it was some girl. We've never seen her before, but she looked friendly. She told us that her 'Auntie' told her to give this to us and then ran away."

"So you just took it? Just like that without questionin' it?"

He looked at Axel and shrugged. "She looked friendly enough. Looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly. Anyway, if either of us were to die, it'd be my first—I opened the book. Al just read it." He looked at me. "And I'm sure he can tell you all about the things in it. He knows English, after all."

"The book's in English?" Chris asked, eyes wide. Then, looking at me, he asked, "You can read English?"

"I've been reading books in English for a while, so I'm literate in it."

"That's believable," Esmae murmured, "you always did like reading."

Phil pat me on the back. "Anyway, we should let Al finish looking through the journal. I'm sure once he's read it all, we'll be a lot closer to our cure. We could finally end this civil war! We're almost there—just need to push it through until the end."

"What do you think we should push for?" she asked. She looked at me. "Any bright ideas?"

"We should definitely go back to the house and see if we can find any more info," Phil chimed in, fists pumped, likely pumped himself. "That house seems to be a goldmine for anything X.Q. virus-related, especially since we found more info about it before. If we can get back into the room—and Al, you know what room I'm talking about—we might strike gold again and it'll fill in any questions that Al might come across." Like everyone else, he looked at me. "Don't you agree?"

A little hesitant, I stated, "We don't want to take unnecessary risks."

He gave me that annoying puppy face.

Sighing, I murmured, "But it wouldn't be a bad idea."

He perked up again.

"Then it's settled!" he merrily cheered, throwing his hands into the air. "We'll go on a mission tomorrow—it's for sure now!"

"Hey, no one agreed to it!" Dani exclaimed.

"Yeah, Dani's right!" Esmae agreed, "Who made you king of anything?"

"Chill, chill, chill—it'll all be a-okay." He threw them a smirk and threw a thumbs up. "Trust me. When have I ever been wrong?"

"This afternoon in class," Esmae murmured, "you told the teacher that cows ate worms so that their milk would become chunky and turn into butter."