THE KEY (book one)

|ten|

It's been an hour already. Luke parks the van in an alley a block down from the museum. "Luke let me know when you're in." Levi orders grabbing a small gun from behind him. He looks up at me and holds it out.
"Your gonna need it." He speaks a little low this time. No questions asked I take the gun, and tuck it away in the lower pocket of my pants. Phoebe grabs a gun and a pen.
"What's the pen for?" I ask frowning.
"It's not an actual pen it's a laser able to melt the glass. I made it a while back." She says proudly admiring her work.
"Alright I'm in, it's show time." Luke says looking back at us. Phoebe opens the back doors and jumps out then Levi. Here goes nothing. I jump out and close the doors behind me.
Drew pulls into the alley and parks the motor cycle.
"You guys ready?" He asks while redoing his little man bun. I swallow down the lump that has grown in my throat and nod.
"Guys here are some walkie-talkies. Just put them in your ear and press on it to communicate." Luke says handing out the black ear pieces.
I stick it in my right ear and turn it on.
"Let's do this!" Phoebe yells and begins to walk out to the street. I turn to the boys and sigh.
"That's the sprite!" Drew shouts sarcastically. Levi gestures his head to where Phoebe is and I turn and jog to catch up to her.
She walks at a steady pace pulling her hair up into a ponytail.
"Are you nervous?" I blurt out and she glances at me.
"Of course I am, but not as nervous as I would be if we don't find The Keys. Then it's game over for everyone." She has a point. We only have seven more days left to find the keys. I follow her turning left, then walking all the way down to the end of the street.
"This is it." She says, we stop in front of a brown revolving door. My stomach sinks looking at this place. After my father died I never came back here.
"You okay?" Phoebe asks.
"Yea... it's just been a while." I avoid eye contact and walk in. It looks the same as before. Beige colored walls, still huge, filled with people and has a sort of lint smell. I watch as a class of six or five year olds walk in a line, observing the different types of rocks in the glass casings.
"Errana Paxton is that you?" I turn my head to an old familiar voice; Mrs.smith. She has to be about sixty-five now. Grayish hair, olive skin with freckles, average height, and dark brown eyes. A smile grows on my face and I walk over to hug her. It's either she got shorter or I got taller.
"The one and only." I say still smiling, it's nice to see a familiar face.
"It's been a while I haven't seen you since... you know." I agree cracking my knuckles.
"Yes I know. I just thought I would come back, bring back some memories." I say looking around.
"I see you brought a friend as well." She says glancing at Phoebe.
"Oh yes this is a friend of mine, Phoebe."
A stranger.
Phoebe skips over with a huge smile.
"Nice to meet you." Mrs. Smith says forcing a smile, she was never the one to like jumpy people.
"Tell you what you and your little friend get free admission." She says walking behind the front desk.
I turn to Phoebe and she gives me a two thumbs up. Mrs.smith prints out two tickets and hands them to me.
"Thank you so much Mrs.Smith."
I say as innocent as possible. She smiles and sends us on our way.
"Let's go Phoebe." I say handing her a ticket. We make our way to the back of the museum and start to look for the stone.
"We're in." I say pressing on the walkie-talkie.
"Okay let me know when you find the Key." Levi replies.
"Found it!" Phoebe yells standing next to a large group of people.
"Shhhh." I say and speed walk over to the group.
"This is one just came in today. Made up of minerals found centuries ago." A female tour guide goes on and on about the science of it all, as I'm standing here planning to steal it. That explains a lot on why The Vipers would take it and sell it.
"Erra the fire alarm is right next to the bathroom." Levi says.
"Go, go pull it now."
My heart jumps, it's go time. I speed walk over to the bathroom and spot the fire alarm. Without hesitation I pull it down an walk into the bathroom. Right away the sprinklers turn on and the unforgiving sound of an alarm blares through the speakers. The screams of scared children and worried adults fill my ears.
"Phoebe go now." Drew cuts in.
I watch as Phoebe gets down on her knees and pulls out her laser.
"Erra watch my six." She says through the walkie-talkie and I do.
A red laser blazes out of the pen melting the glass.
"Five seconds Phoebe." Luke warns.
"Shut up!" Phoebe snaps sticking her hand in the opening of the case slowly and snatching The Key.
"Okay let's-" she starts but is cut off by gun shots. My first instinct is to grab hold of my gun. Phoebe ducks down behind a large glass casing, and holds onto her gun too.
"We need you guys." .
"We heard, we're coming now, Okay?" Levi says.
I swallow my fear and walk out the bathroom, to face whomever is shooting.
"Erra what the hell are you doing?
"Get down now." Phoebe whispers trying not to yell. I snap my head to look at her then duck down, and crawl to where she is. Gun shots go off again.
"Do you have the north key?" I ask in a panic. She pulls it out her pocket and sticks out her tongue. I exhale in relief, and turn to see who is shooting. Three tall built men in black suits walk our way with large guns in their hands. I can't help but notice that one of them have a tattoo of The Viper gang symbol on his right hand. He's tan with short black hair and a half grown beard. My heart freezes and I turn back around.
"One of them are apart of The Vipers." I whisper to Phoebe. She stops loading her gun and snaps her head to look at me.
"You're kidding?" She asks peeking her head out.
"Damn it." She presses on her ear piece.
"Levi we got Vipers. Where the hell are you guys?" She asks grabbing her gun. Gun shots go off once more. Phoebe huffs out turning around and firing her gun. I hear one of the men groan and the shooting stops.
"Erra the boys are taking forever let's do this." And with that she runs out and starts shooting.
"Phoebe!" I yell jumping up and shooting as well. I notice one of the men laying on the ground with a pool of blood around him; he's dead. A part of me is glad, but another part upset I don't understand why. The man the Viper tattoo aims to shoot at me, but his gun as no more bullets. He looks at me for a spilt second then charges at me with full speed. I attempted to shoot my gun, but of course mine ran out as well.  I quickly toss it to the side and ball up my fist. He charges at me and I slide to the right. He throws a punch with his left hand and I duck. Then he throws one with his right and me not thinking quick enough he knocks me right in the face. Not stopping there he grabs onto my shirt and throws me into one of the glass casings. Small glass shatters around me. One large piece cuts into my side below my right rib. Excruciating pain instantly fills my body and I holler out. Taking a deep breath I slowly push myself up to my feet not ready to give up, and he's not ready either. I throw my first punch getting him right in the jaw. Then another getting him in the throat this time. He chokes stumbling back. Jai's lessons were actually good for something.
"We're trying to find another way in." Levi speaks through the walkie-talkie. I walk over to the man, the wet floor squeaking under my boots. Gripping onto his shirt I ask without question.
"Did you kill my father? Vernon Paxton." I yell tugging on his shirt. He says nothing, so does the expression on his face. Not even a second later he viciously knocks his head against mine sending me to the floor. He gets down on my level and wraps both of his hands around my neck.
"I've killed a lot of people I don't mind adding you to my list." He says, his voice deep and full. Nothing like the voice I remember. He presses his hands down on my throat. I groan and try to gasp for air finding it hard to breathe. My heart's  beating uncontrollably. I wrap my hands around his wrist and try to pull his hands off but his grip is firm. He presses down harder and I begin to kick my legs. My vision is beginning to get blurry and my breathing slows; this can't be it. I'm not dying today. With that thought a sense of relief fills my body and the man on top of me falls to the side. I quickly sit up and gasp for air to see Levi in fronted me holding a gun. He walks over to me and holds his right hand out, I sigh and take it. He pulls me up and begins to walk towards the back emergency door and I follow him holding onto my rib. Out the door now I spot four officer mobiles and one male civilian laying dead on the ground. I stop in my tracks in shock. Levi notices and stops too.
I look at him in shock but he doesn't say a word .
The "I have to do what I have to do" look is plastered on his face. My heart sinks and I know it's not the time but I start to think about their lives. What if they had a family they had to go back home to. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I feel someone hits my shoulder.
"Let's go!" Phoebe yells running past me, and without thinking I starting running too.
"Luke's right around the corner!" Levi yells out running behind us.
I roll my eyes and speed up, ignoring the pain in my body.
Spotting the van I hit it and run to the back pulling the doors open and jumping inside. Levi gets in last and quickly closes the doors.
"Lets roll out!" He yells and Luke pulls off.
"We got it?" Luke asks. I look at Phoebe as she pulls out the stone out and holds it up.
"We got it." She says grinning ear to ear then hands it to Levi. He takes it and puts it in his jacket in a box.
"Erra you're hurt." Phoebe points out. My tank is soaked in blood, and the pain from my rib comes back to play.
"Here put this on it." Levi tosses me wound spray and I quickly treat it.
He killed those innocent people. The City police where there. The Vipers where there. What did I get myself into.
                       XXX
The rest of the ride back is dead silent. Phoebe is asleep with her head on my shoulder, and Levi is reloading one of the guns. I check my com for the time; eleven forty-five. The van stops and I softly shake Phoebe awake. She groans and rubs her eyes.
"We're here?" I say slowly getting up. Levi is quick to get out first leaving the doors open.
"I'm gonna stay with Luke." Phoebe mumbles rubbing here eyes. I nod stepping out the van and closing the door behind me. Levi opens the door and pushes it enough for me to walk in behind him.
"You should wrap that up before it gets infected." He orders.
I'm still upset about what he did, he didn't have to shoot those men.
"What was that for?" I blurt out clearly irritated.
"What?" He questions walking up the steps.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, the police...that man!" My voice grows louder with every word, he stops walking and snaps his head to look at me.
"Yea... what about em? What'd they mean to you? They had a job to do and so do I." He's getting angry.
"Levi they were innocent." I try to calm my voice, but my blood begins to boil.
"Yea and so are you and Phoebe! And if they would've got in there they would've shot both of you dead! If you want to be apart of this you can't take things to heart." He explains. I hate that he's right.
"This was some game. Sometimes you have to take risks even if that means getting blood on your hands." His voice gets cold. I frown and shake my head.
"No-" I start but he cuts me off.
"No what? You're telling me you were just gonna let that man kill you in there. I gave you a gun for a reason, not to play with it! So can't you just thank me and get over it."
"I can protect myself." I snap back and he scoffs.
"Okay I'll remember that the next time someone has their hands around your throat, or whatever the case may be." He spits out coldly walking up the steps and through the other door.
I get this deep pit in my stomach, and water fills my eyes. I wanna punch him, but I know he has a point. I quickly blink them away and stomp up the stairs. Inside now without even looking around I go in my room and slam the door.
I just want to go home. The thought of my mother comes into mind. I wonder if she's home. If she's looking for me. I lie down and rest my eyes allowing the tears to escape. If getting blood on my hands means I can seeing her again, getting justice and saving the city, then I guess that's just what I have to do.
XXX
It's one o'clock in the morning and I'm just leaving the showers. I put on my under garments and slip into oversized black shirt. Grabbing my towels I walk out into the hallway to see Levi in the gym. My heart freezes for a moment, remembering what happened earlier today. There's no going home which means I'm stuck here might as well make a mends.
I open the gym door and walk in. It's bigger than it looks from the other side of the glass. Levi's laying down doing bench presses on the far left side of the room. He groans setting the bell bar back on the hook.
"Thank you." I say loud enough for him to hear me.
He doesn't react quickly; like he knew I was standing here. He sits up and wipes his face with his shirt.
"You should be sleeping." He says. His normal voice is fairly low and raspy.
"I- I know...I couldn't sleep." I stutter. It's freezing in here. He stands up and walks over to me. He's wearing a white muscle tank, black cargos and no shoes.
Shaking his head he begins to chuckle, I never thought I would hear any type of laugh come out of his mouth.
"What?" I ask frowning.
"You're lips they're turning purple." He says standing in front of me now.
I know that's not what he was really laughing about.
"Yea I know, I'm freezing." I explain setting my towels down and pulling my damp hair into a bun. He just stands there and looks at me.
As soon as we make eye contact he clears his throat.
"You didn't have to thank me I was just being an ass." He admits looking everywhere but my eyes.
"I know."  I say picking up my towels.
"Goodnight." With that I walk out the gym before he can respond, and go straight to my room.