Chosen

Chapter Seven

"Hey! Hold up a minute!"

I stopped and turned around to see Kai running up to me with a grin. "Where ya headed?" he asked.

"Home."

The streets were full-on dark. Empty. He and I were the only two out. I assumed he was on his way back to his house as well.

"Oh, are ya busy? You got plans? Or are ya just-"

"No, just going home." I added, "Like I was told," under my breath.

His grin came back. "I'm goin' to the distillery. Do ya wanna come with me?"

I heard a little about the distillery. Not where it was or anything like that, but just that it had housed some wild parties that some of the sailors talked about when they came into the library. It didn't seem like my kind of place, so I never asked about it. In fact, I wanted to decline Kai's invitation and lock myself in my house, but the encounter with Liam had left me feeling raw. I'd have done nearly anything to take away the sting.

So I told Kai, "Sure," and let him lead me to the end of the road, past the palace and the white marble fountain, and straight to tiny stone building I'd seen earlier.

Kai rapped on it with his knuckles, and then we waited for someone to answer. Metal scraped as the heavy locking mechanism turned. The door cracked open a few inches, and a wary set of eyes peeked through. "What's the password?"

"Password?" Kai snorted. "Aw, come off it, Freddy. I don't need a bleddy password. Ya can see it's me. Lemme in."

Freddy the gatekeeper paused to think a little too long for Kai's taste. He mumbled a curse under his breath and pushed the door in, waving me in behind him. "Ya alright there, Freddy?" Kai asked the guard who was standing with his back against the wall.

"Fine enough, but you could have waited one more second before crashing in like that."

"Sorry. Ya were takin' a million years though. I was never good at waitin'."

Freddy plopped down onto his chair and let us pass.

The room was small with only Freddy, the bare walls, and a staircase descending into darkness. Kai jogged down it without hesitation, leaving me no choice but to go after him.

At the bottom was a wide arched tunnel sparsely lit with braziers. As we walked farther down it, I noticed smaller tunnels branching off of the main line. We turned down one, and then another, but despite the many twists and turns, Kai seemed sure of where we were going. One of the hallways we passed housed rows of heavy wooden doors similar to the one on the exterior of the building. Each of the doors contained an intricate lock and a barred window. Curiosity made me stop to give the hallway a longer look. "What's down there?" I asked Kai.

"Prison cells," he answered without bothering to look.

"Prison cells?" I spluttered, my voice climbing an octave.

"They're empty. Still better to have them..." He shot me a sidelong glance. "In case a need arises."

"Does a need arise often?"

He laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed as he grinned again. "Relax, Cohen."

Our destination was a door larger than the rest. Kai didn't bother to knock. He turned the handle trusting it to be unlocked, and the door gave way to reveal a room lined in barrels and jars. Several rough hewn wooden tables were pushed together at its center. Lining it were boys on stools, each with a cup in hand. Kai's appearance was received with welcoming shouts and the raising of glasses. When they realized that I was standing behind him, the adulation died down and a dozen pairs of eyes swung to me.