Page 20 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

From more than just Hook.

CHAPTER6

Time dragson as I move through the maze of halls. It must be one of those magical things Hook told me about this place because I’ve been moving through them for what feels like forever and getting nowhere.

Every hall looks the same. Every cove, chair, painting, and floor is similar. Every door and bedroom is laid out in the same way.

At the start, I followed Hook and the direction he was going in. But I soon lost him, and then the halls split off in multiple directions. And that left me with picking random places to go.

Even then, I still ended up in what looked like the same hall with multiple twists and turns.

I slump down onto the nearest chair in the hall I’m in and try to come up with another way to find Hook’s office. This blind search was getting me nowhere fast.

Where could it be?

I barely get a moment to think before I hear movement down the hall from me. Moving quickly, I duck into the nearest cove.

Hook’s voice travels down to me, along with another. A voice that sounds familiar.

Cash.

I move to the edge of the cove, trying to get closer while remaining hidden, but even then, their words aren’t as clear as I’d like.

What I can make out from their conversation are the words‘Arden’and‘meeting’. But what I really hear from that is that they’ll be leaving this place and the confines of the strange shield soon and that I’ll need to be ready by then.

A bubble of excitement flutters through me as they move further away, their voices soon disappearing.

As silently as possible, I quickly follow after them and hope that I don’t get caught. But my quick-thinking plan soon falls apart as I soon lose them in an attempt at caution and get lost in the maze of halls once again.

Before I give up hope, I follow the long hall to my left and take a sharp right. It leads me to a hall similar to the one my pretty prison is on, except for one slight difference. While there’s the same double doors that lead to what I’m assuming is a bedroom just like mine, there’s also a single door beside it, unlike my dead end. And something in my gut tells me to look inside.

Knowing that feeling has never led me astray, I move toward the room, glancing quickly behind me to make sure no one is silently following or watching me.

Once I’m at the door, I make a silent wish to whoever is listening that this works and then turn the handle.

Just like I had hoped, the door is unlocked and opens to reveal the thing I’ve been searching for all this time.

An office.There are intricate designs on the large ornate black desk and expensive looking furnishings spread out across the entire room. I doubt this could be anything other than Hook’s office.

A small rectangular window sits to the left of the desk revealing the dark night and moon outside, reminding me I haven’t got any more time to waste.

A flutter of excitement bubbles up through me once more as I move further into the room. Only to look behind the desk and wince.

Dozens of boxes sit beside a wall of wooden shelves. While plenty of tiny, hidden spaces fill the rest of the room. So many places a tiny trinket, such as a bracelet, could hide.

But maybe I’ll get lucky and find it laying on a surface, just hidden from the eye to see.

With my slip of hope, I move to the large ornate black desk first and look under the stacks of papers and around the strange objects spread out across it.

An expensive-looking gold and black pocket watch catches my attention. There’s a strange symbol around the face of the old watch with a marble set in the center.

The more I focus on it, the more I hear the tick as it grows louder, echoing throughout the room until it’s all I hear. Everything else around me grows silent and calm as I’m pulled under its spell.

Time seems to slow and stop as I find myself falling into a lull with the promise of peace.

But just as I’m dragged further into its grip, something in my chest flutters and my power ripples beneath the surface of my skin, quickly dragging me out of the haze I was slowly falling under.

I throw the strange watch under the papers on the desk and step away from it before glancing around me. Nothing looks any different.

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