Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

49. On The Boat

Lili knew the history of the Countess's reign over Cambridge Falls well enough to know that there would be screechers manning the boat, which was why the first thing she and Eternity did was stagger belowdecks, into a storage space filled with canisters of fuel. Hiding behind the cylinders in the gloomy space would give them a chance to hide, recover from the effort of using so much magic, and plan their next move. 

"I thought we agreed closets don't suit either of us," Eternity quipped.

Lili rolled her eyes, "this isn't a closet, it's just part of the belowdecks. And is now really the time for jokes?"

"Lili, my darling friend, it's always the time for jokes," Eternity replied, "do you want to know why?"

"Not really," the blonde grumbled.

"Too bad, you're head is propped up on my shoulder and you're still not moving right, so you're stuck here," Eternity said, "and the reason is, you never know what will happen. Sometimes, life ends up being very short. Almost as short as you."

"You're ridiculous," Lili scoffed.

Eternity smirked, "and you're just as crazy, that's why we're partners in crime."

She reached out and touched the bracelet that resided permanently around Lili's wrist. Lili's eyes caught a glint off the matching one worn by the pink haired teen. She smiled a bit, "well, you aren't wrong."

"Am I ever?" Eternity teased, then became more serious, "alright, you're the historian of us, and you spent more time studying all those old pictures then me. Where do we need to go?"

"The Countess's office, which is still part of the belowdecks, but above the level we're on now," Lili answered, "from there, it's a matter of searching the room for the scroll. I'm afraid there weren't any pictures of the office, so I don't know the exact layout."

"Got it. And what are the things we need to be worrying about?" Eternity asked. 

"The Screechers manning the boat, mostly. They're nasty and completely loyal to the Countess in this time period, so we definitely want to steer clear of them. We also want to avoid the witch herself, though she mostly uses the boat as a prison at the moment, so there's a chance we won't even see her. Oh, and we also want to avoid her Secretary. Not only is he devoted to her and a real awful person, but he's also one of the most disgusting men you could ever meet. We definitely don't want to meet him," Lili rattled off her list.

"Okay, anything else?"

Before Lili could answer, a loud noise, like a cross between a scream and a roar, shattered the quiet and blasted through their ears, followed by the boat rocking and the sounds of chains rattling slipping through the thin walls separating them from the rest of the boat. 

The blonde girl's eyes went wide, "the monster must be right on the other side of us."

"What?!" Eternity exclaimed in fright, "okay, I'm gonna call it and say that thing is on the list of what to avoid."

"Definitely," Lili agreed, "it's very dangerous. It's also an animal and it's scared of water, so it's very volatile at the moment."

"Great," Eternity sighed, "anything else?"

"Not unless she has any prisoners on the boat at the moment. If she does, though, they're bound to be townspeople from Cambridge Falls who have disobeyed her, not anyone actually malicious or dangerous," Lili replied. 

"So what do we do if we run into a prisoner?" Eternity asked.

Lili thought on it, "approach with caution. If we can help someone, great, but we can't let them find out we're from the future or the timeline could be ruined. We also don't want to scare anyone or be mistaken for an enemy. So as of right now, we're going to try and avoid everyone, and remember that my family and history will sort everything out here."