The Second Chance (Open Novella Contest)

Chapter Eight - Nothing Much Happens. It's a Miracle.

"Who do you think P is?" Eva asked.

"Don't know, don't care. They gave me food. I like them."

"Hmm." Eva picked up the other piece of paper. She watched as an Asian and African-American boy swirled into smoke. The key was a rusty bronze and slightly more elegant than the first. It had a small green stone in the center of the handle similar to the first and a loopy design to it. I was beginning to get a bit worried. Two keys had already been found and we were no closer to finding one than we had been at the beginning.

"But seriously," Eva said, studying the swirly handwriting on the note, "Who do you reckon P is?"

"Like I said, I have no idea. Probably a girl. Boys, from my experience, write more sharp and straight with less loops. Girls write with more flourish."

"If you say so." Eva said glumly, staring down at the floor.

"Oh, sorry." I said remembering how she'd mentioned that she couldn't read or write, "I didn't mean-"

"That's okay." Eva's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. "I know."

The following silence was awkward. I started trudging forwards again. I heard Eva's footsteps slowly start to follow me.

"Honestly though, I have no idea who this mysterious P is."

Eva snorted. "Another competitor?"

"Who would try and help someone else, when the price is getting very painfully destroyed?"

Eva gave me a 'look'. "You, idiot. And probably me too." She sighed. "Maybe they weren't trying to help us." Eva added, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Maybe the seeds were poisoned."

I spat out my seed. "How dare you! I like pomegranates!"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It was just an idea. You didn't have to spit it out. That was your idea. And it was stupid."

"Hmph." There was a beat of silence. "That boy knew your name." I noted.

"And?" Eva raised an eyebrow. Which annoyed me, because I cannot raise an eyebrow to save my life. I made a grumbling noise.

"And would you care to explain how?"

"No. Not particularly."

"It wasn't exactly a question Eva."

Eva muttered something I couldn't catch in an exasperated voice. "I'm not explaining." Eva said, her voice catching with emotion, "Not now, likely not ever."

We dropped quickly into silence after that, wandering along with no sense of time or direction.

We trudged along, running into the occasional trap, although Eva thought quickly and we managed not to die. I will say this. Despite the fact that Eva can't read, write of do maths for the life of her, she was excellent at improvising, logic and thinking on her feet. And she kept her head with much more ease than I did. I dropped down behind Eva after what I gauged to be roughly an hour. Although I was probably wrong.

"How do you stand it?" I asked Eva, "Not knowing what's happening in the living world? Not knowing how much time has passed?"

"I don't." Was the only response I got from her. Navigating the maze was difficult, the few times we tried. Once I turned around just in time to see a dark grey wall slide across my path. Another time, a left turn carved itself out of the wall. On the fourth time, Eva threw the compass over her shoulder, snapping at me, "If you're so desperate, do it yourself." I caught the compass and stared at it, stopping dead.

"What are you doing? Why did you stop?" Eva snapped, turning around, looking incredibly annoyed.

"This is the same compass as last time, right?" I stared at the compass, studying every last inch of it.

"Duh." Eva was obviously beginning to get exasperated. "Why?"

"The needle," I said, "Was bronze before, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, it's not now."

Eva came and peered over my shoulder. "What?"

The needle was a shining silver.