The Search

Chapter Two

"Noah." Violet's voice.

My eyes had probably been shut the entire ride of the elevator. Then again, I wouldn't know, because I was later informed that the whole light shutting thing was 'just a technical problem'. What scared me out of my wits was just a little technical problem. Okay.

I opened my eyes expecting brightness, but boy was I wrong. The lighting was so dim I could barely see a thing. Violet's dark eyes stared at me as if I'd fallen from the sky.

"What?" I asked.

"You screamed the whole way here," she replied. "Don't worry, I won't take any man points off for that."

"Where are we?"

My eyes had finally became used to the dimness. I looked around and saw a scene that could've come out of a horror movie. Violet and I were huddled in the corner of a small room, or a metal box, for what it seemed. It was messy and had two large windows on either sides, with vines and cobwebs hanging from the sill. In the middle of the room was a chest, and beside it stood two metal staircases: one going up, and the other going down. Squinting, I saw that those stair cases went more than a couple of floors both up, and down.

"Look," Violet pulled out a small slip of paper from the pocket of her jeans, and handed it to me.

I took the slip of paper and read it in my head. It seemed to be a letter:

Dear Noah and Violet,

I know you both are really scared, but you need to work together to find the exit, and complete the search.

Here are a few tips you should know.

'There are 100 floors in this tower, but getting to the bottom does not mean you have found an exit.

-You started on floor number 50. I suggest you keep track of how many floors you pass because the floors aren't labeled.

-The two large windows each face a tribe of warriors. They are currently at war. I advise you not to approach either side unless you have a good reason to do so.

What you see on your current floor is the same on every floor. The items in the chest are the same, but you may only have one of each item at once, so the other chests would be locked if the old items are still with you.

Good luck. I will be able to talk to you every 12 hours so save your questions.

From,

Nancy Granter, Promiser.

I folded up the note and stuffed it in my pocket. Then, I looked up at Violet.

"Well?" Violet said.

"Seems like we should explore, but we need to work together, so maybe we need to get to know each other. After all, we just met."

"Okay, lets play break the ice. You can go first"

I bit my lip and thought of a question.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Canada. Toronto." She waited for a response. "You?"

"Long Island. It's in New York."

"Okay... hmm." She thought for a moment.

"How old are you? I'm fourteen."

"Me too."

We played a few more rounds, and I stored this information in the back of my mind:

-From Toronto, Canada

-Fourteen years old

-Birthday is April 16ᵗʰ

-Artist

-Loves lasagna

Okay, okay. I'm not sure why that last question was relevant but at the time, I thought it was a great question.

"Okay, now that we are practically best friends, lets go check out what's in that chest." She pointed over at the rusted old chest beside the stairs.

"Alright."

We pushed ourselves onto our feet, and slowly walked toward the chest. When we were close enough to touch it, Violet turned to me and said, "You open it."

I knew that I'd been relying on her this entire time, so I decided not to complain. I brought my fingers toward the lock and the chain snapped. We were both so startled we took a step back. I held myself together and lightly pushed the chest open. There wasn't much excitement.

Inside the chest had two full canteens of water, a dagger, two backpacks, a sealable plastic box, matches, a journal and pencil, two watches with multiple functions, and a cord of rope. We looked at each other and began packing. I took canteen and put it in my backpack, along with the plastic box, and the rope. The watch was tight on my wrist, and the dagger was strapped to my belt. I let Violet take the journal and pencil so she could help keep track of the floors, and she rolled her eyes when she saw I took the dagger.

"Let's figure out how these watches work," Violet said, after we had everything packed and on our backs.

"Okay. Its already turned on so lets not worry about that." The 4 other buttons said talk, see red, see blue, and timer.

"Well, the timer seems pretty self-explanatory. I wonder what these three are." Violet pushed the talk button, and a hologram of me popped up from her watch. We both gasped and stared at each other with big eyes.

"This is so cool!" I said almost shouting. My hologram repeated what I said.

Violet giggled and pressed the see red button. This time, a hologram of a crowd of people marching popped up. They must have been the warriors. Each of the warriors had spears and helmets lined with red feathers, and were chanting, but it didn't allow us hear what.

The see blue button did a similar task as the last button, only the warriors were dressed in blue, and carrying bows and arrows. I pressed the see red button again, but on my watch.

Looking and comparing both scenes, I heard Violet gasp. Coming into focus on both holograms was a tall metal tower, and I immediately figured out what Violet was thinking. She looked at me and started up the stairs, journal and pencil in hand. I followed and kept an eye on my hologram. The warriors were getting closer and closer to the tower.

They were getting closer and closer to us.