Káel tried to hold Ray's gaze, but he wasn't interested in his wide-eyed victim, browsing the room again from his vantage point before locking onto Puff with a spark of mischief glowing in the gold of his eyes. "Well?"
Káel couldn't feel betrayed at the witch of a smile Puff wore, his heart fogged with plain disappointment as he couldn't risk glaring at Phantom's prompting nods.
Puff gave him a satisfied grin, and trotted towards the wall with a distinct, feathery hop.
"Don't mind him, he sometimes acts loony like that," Káel blurted, shifting to the side to get in front of Ray. "Let's go, he'll follow eventually."
His words went in one ear and out the other with Ray, the towering blond bumping past his shoulder as he curiously followed the dragon like a cat and yarn. He let out a short hum when the dragon patted a part of the wall with his soft paw, kneeling down to look at the spot with a gasp of realisation.
"Woah! I never noticed this!" he exclaimed pushing his fingers into the creases of the secret latch and trying to pry it open.
Káel released a sharp sigh, flipping Phantom the bird when his invisible plague started laughing, which did nothing short of confusing the man at the earthly gesture. He gave the empty corridors another cautious skim, before dragging his feet over to Ray and dropping into a defeated squat.
"Ooh so you knew about this?" Ray slipped a blade out of his sleeve and jammed it into the crease for leverage, but the latch surprisingly didn't budge.
Ray clenched his teeth trying to pry it open with all his might, jabbing at its resolute skin of stone with grinding barks from his sturdy blade. Trying to ignore the fact that he had a knife border lining a dagger stashed in his sleeve like a handkerchief, Káel grabbed the weapon and effortlessly popped the latch open, his eyebrows rising with a dead glance.
Ray gave him a weird look, then pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, shining the brilliant white light into the dark space. A grin latched onto his face as the light bounced right off the Ceptrum, causing its polished flesh to glow like a chunk of the moon had been stashed in the wall. "Heh, a Ceptrum, we're gonna have to be quick about this, don't want Tia catching us and ruining all the fun." Ray pulled off his right glove and dropped it beside him.
"What are you doing?" Káel sighed, moving over so Ray could shove his arm into the opening and grab the stone, a darker part of him hoping to hear a crunch.
Ray responded with a mischievous grin and closed his eyes in concentration, spending half a minute in that state before opening his eyes again. Everyone waited in tense silence for something to happen, and watched closely as Ray got up and stretched.
He looked down at the pairs of eyes glued to him. "What?"
"Well?" Káel said, giving the wall a side glance.
Ray looked at the wall then back at Káel questionably. "Well what?"
Káel scrunched his nose at the teasing tone. "What did you do?"
"Oh! I asked it for the password... just a sec." He thrusted his ungloved hand out to the wall, closing his eyes in concentration as a tingle of static touched the air. "Jasper"
Any curiosity Káel had slipped right off his face. "Jasper?"
"Jasper?" Phantom piped up, a mysterious excitement to his voice as he jumped to join Ray's side.
YOU ARE READING
COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)
Fantasy[Featured: EDITOR'S CHOICE] Káel didn't think his life could get worse after being abducted by an alien posing as a Russian exchange student. Until that 'one day' turned into three months, and he was forced to get cozy on a post-war planet fresh out...
