Found (Book 1 of the Haven's Army Trilogy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 7

The next day during practice, Naomi called me and Kathryn over to a table she had set up in the clearing. Lee sat there, looking proud. Naomi looked angry.

"Dears," she said. "Do you mind?" (she probably didn't care if we minded or not) "Lee hasn't helped much but he thinks he has. Can you tell me: does this map make any sense to you?"

I looked at the map. It looked just like the one at school but it had pen marks all over with different routes. I looked over it for a second and hoped the Book would come out in me and I could make sense of the nonsense.

Then I saw it.

"It makes perfect sense!" I said. "Lee, you're a genius!" He looked proud.

"I don't get it," Naomi said. "It just looks like a bunch of scribbles to me."

"That's because it is," I say.

"And how exactly do scribbles work for an evasion plan?" Naomi asked.

Kathryn had finally caught on. "If we go random places, the Halo can't track us. They'll try to figure out where we'll go next but they can't."

"Plus," I added, "They don't know which special ones we have, so they won't know if we're done or not."

Lee pointed to the Shadow on the map and I saw he had written Falsely alert Halo of special one appearance. Then, he pointed to the Gear, one of our first stops, where he had written: They will go to the Victory while we escape.

"Yes of course!" I said. "Naomi, look at this." I showed her the plan and she seemed slightly impressed.

"Oh all right," Naomi said. "You're my only evidence that this will work so I guess we're going with it. Who will we need?"

"Everyone," said a familiar voice from the shadows.

Nathan stepped out. "Once we leave the Hunt, we aren't coming back to the Shadow. For a long time."

"What do you suppose we do, then?" Naomi asked.

"We won't even be here," he continued, ignoring her. "We won't be in Haven."

Lee cocked his head in question.

"We're going to the real world."

******

"What in Haven is that supposed to mean?" Naomi asked.

I was seriously confused too. The real world? This WAS the real world. We were there so it must have been real.

"Well the Founders had to come from somewhere, right?" Nathan asked. "There are worlds outside of Haven. We're going to the original homeland of the Founders."

Naomi pondered for a second. "I don't know how I let you people talk me into this."

I smiled.

"Well," Kathryn said, "Let's do this."

*******

Within a week we had finished all the preparations.

That night, Kathryn and I decided to say goodbye to Ronnie in the morning.

When the morning came, we trudged through the forest to the trapdoor. The morning was foggy and I felt dewdrops slowly seeping through the cuffs of my pants. All too soon, we were there. We opened the trapdoor and slipped inside.

As we walked down the halls, our wet shoes squeaking slightly on the metal floor, we heard voices from Ronnie's room, so we headed that way.

When we turned the corner, we saw the door was ajar. I peeked in and saw Nathan and Nina sitting on chairs across from Ronnie.

"You've come so far," Ronnie said. "I can't believe...we're actually starting all this."

"Well we need to," Nathan said. I was surprised to hear his voice slightly choked up. I wondered why. "Otherwise Haven will..."

"You may come in."

I jumped. Kathryn pushed open the door and walked in. I followed. When we came in, Nathan put his head down.

"Sorry to interrupt," I told Ronnie. "We just wanted to say goodbye."

"That's very kind of you," Ronnie said. "Will you be staying? I can go get more chairs...."

"That's alright," Kathryn interrupted. "We'll just say bye and leave."

"Well," said Ronnie with finality in his voice. "Goodbye. I will miss you immensely. Good luck saving the w...Haven."

I could tell he meant it.