Destined (Completed)

Chapter 8

I wake up and yawn while stretching my legs as much as I can. Freda and Kyle are both snoring and they are in the same position, with their right hand on their wand.

As I get up, I try cleaning my cape as much as I can. Since the tent didn't protect us completely from the rain, the ground became mud during our sleep and our clothes are now soaked.

Going outside, I curse when a ton of rain immediately falls on my hair. I pull the hood over my head and sigh. What am I doing? I can't possibly go and explore the area, I have no powers. The grass hides the morning sun, so it still seems pretty dark.

Suddenly, I have a thought: I do have something to defend myself with, the sword!

I go back inside the tent, take the sword and when I'm about to go explore, I hear Kyle talking.

"Ila? Is that you?" he asks. I turn around and see him with his eyes slowly opening.

I don't have any time for this. "Yes."

He makes a movement, raining his arm as to take my hand. "I'm so sorry..." he cries. "I shouldn't have told him where you were hiding... I thought he was going to take you somewhere safe, away from all our troubles... I'm sorry..." he says and tears roll down his cheeks.

"It's okay. I'm fine." I reassure him.

"No... it's not fine. Freda told me not to tell him anything... but I wanted to help you... I'm your big brother, after all... he said that he was going to help you... he lied!" he cries harder.

I kneel next to him and continue playing my role. "Don't worry, Kyle," I tell him, brushing his hair.

He calms down and lays back down. "I'm so sorry... I should've been braver... I should've fled with you and Freda when you asked me to..."

"I'm fine, go back to sleep," I say and his breathing becomes more regular. It breaks my heart to see him like this, vulnerable. He must've been half-dreaming to mistake me for this Ila.

After making Kyle go back to sleep, I can finally go explore. I walk through the grass, looking at the different insects. One has red wings and a large head while another makes some noise. I am about to go back to the tent when I see a castle, just standing there in the the middle of the tall grass.

It looks welcoming, so I approach it. I stop at the entrance and knock twice on it. I am not thinking about my actions, because I know I'm in a dream.

The doors don't open, but something falls at my feet. As I take it in my hands, I see it's a giant broken key: it's missing a half.

"Seriously?" I ask the door. "You don't have another key?" I rant at the door.

On this note, the doors open and I back away.

"This is way to weird for me to go alone," I mumble, running back to the tent.

The twins are already up, the tent is in Kyle's bag and they are fighting.

"You were supposed to stay awake! You had the last shift!" Kyle says, pushing Freda's shoulders.

"I wasn't supposed to watch her. You like her, so keep an eye on her next time!" she replies.

I clear my throat and both their heads turn to look at me. I wave at them with a shy smile.

"I'm right here, no need to worry," I state. "I found an open castle and a broken key. I can guess with my little human brain that it's where the Book is, no ?"

"Let's move, human." Freda grunts, taking the key from my hand and stomping away.

"Actually, it was that way," I tell her, making her even angrier.

"You both are set on annoying me today," she mutters before walking to where I pointed.

"You gave us quite a fright, Sadie," Kyle says as he walks next to me. "We thought a centaur had captured you and all."

I avoid his stare and bit back a smile. "Nope, I'm right here. I just wanted to explore a bit."

"Where is this castle, human?" Freda pesters after five minutes. "I don't see it at all."

"Give me the key," I say and she does.

The castle suddenly appears and we all jump back in fear.

"It must be a forgotten magic, one that the ancients didn't pass on," Freda tells us. "The door is open, let's enter."

As we pass the front door, it closes on its own. I frown before going after Freda who is observing something written on the wall. I put the broken key in the pocket of my cape.

"It's the old prophecy," I hear her say to Kyle. "Do you think she could be the..." she immediately stops when she notices me. "There is only one door, it is quite obvious we have to take it."

I turn around, looking at the indoors of the castle. It seems really small from the inside: there are no windows, a single door, the walls are made of rocks and the floor of wood.

We push the door open and a gush of wind takes us by surprise. It's powerful and it makes us fly.

"Take Kyle's hand!" Freda shouts at me, as she takes my own.

I obey and we hold on to each other, waiting for it to stop. It soon changes, it's attracting us towards the door.

"Oh, hell no! This looks like a horror movie!" I yell, raising my feet and moving them as if I was swimming.

"What is a movie?" Kyle asks and I stare at him with a look that makes him shrug. "What? I'm curious."

"If we make it, I'll tell you," I promise. "But right now, we gotta find a way to fight this!"

"We can't!" Freda tells me and I snort. "No, really, we can't fight this! The ancients themselves enchanted this, we can't conjure the spell!" she explains, making me sigh.

"Awesome! So, we are just going to go wherever this thing is going to take us?"

She nods and I stop fighting the wind with my legs. We are immediately drawn to the door, which engulfs us and leaves us in the dark.