Aloveen Rising

11. Water Flows

Ethan woke up so early the birds had not started singing yet and the sun was barely showing above the trees, he got up and went outside. To his surprise, Nate was already up sitting on a log looking upset.

"What's the ish jellyfish?" he called

Nate looked up "Chee Z ran away"

"Oh." Ethan bit his lip thoughtfully "Well he was a wild animal, he was never going to be happy just sitting around."

Nate shrugged and Ethan looked into the distance on a hill there was what looked like a wood cabin

"Nate, what's that up there?"

Nate followed Ethan's gaze then stood up,

"I don't know, it looks like a cabin let's go have a look around"

"No one lives out here, do they?"

Nate shook his head "No way, it's probably an old rescue cabin or something."

They stood there for a moment then raced down the track laughing and pushing each other out of the way. They tripped over tree roots and sticks then finally they reached the bottom of the hill.

Nate panted heavily "This hill did not look that big," he took a deep breath and looked up.

"I need to run more," Ethan panted as he tried to remember the last time he'd trained,

Nate nodded "Me too" he looked around "I was wrong this place doesn't look that old"

"Clearly, it even has a balcony. What kind of cabin has a balcony?" Ethan wondered

Nate did not answer but took a few steps forward, they climbed slowly trying to catch their breath but also just enjoying the walk, the birds finally awoke and started singing to each other. The sun rose a little and started to sting the back of their necks, Ethan wiped a line of sweat from his forehead.

They climbed the steps and it became obvious that no one had been here in a while. The thick layer of dust crunched under their feet and it covered all surfaces, the paint on the door was still bright but it was peeling. Ethan tried to open the door but it would not move.

"It's locked," he unnecessarily pointed out,

Nate smirked "I figured that out myself Captain Obvious"

"Well what are we going to do?" he demanded

Nate scratched his head thoughtfully, took a step back then he nodded to himself and slammed his shoulder into the door. There was a snapping sound and the lock fell to the floor.

Ethan stared at him in shock "How did you do that?"

Nate ignored him and stepped into the cabin; Ethan hesitated then followed him in. Three things instantly stood out to Ethan as he looked around, a large leather diary with a gold spiral binding, a laptop and a locked safe. There were other things in the cabin of course, several cupboards and some wooden furniture with a bed in one corner and the two desks in the other. Ethan strode over and examined the book, someone had handwritten the seventy-three pages of information and that someone had put a lot of energy into drawing an intricate border around each page they had written on. The lines crossed and formed little pictures but every page had a different pattern.