Winds Of The Apocalypse (37 page)

 
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"So which one of us is supposed to open this one?"
Casey asked the others after she and May returned to her room. She decided on the way that she will not share her near burial by cockroaches and warned May not to say anything cuss she knew that her brothers will beat themselves up for it.

'I'll just tell them when it's all
over.' She decided to herself.

‘If I’m still alive.’

"I think I am." May whispered almost inaudibly.

"The hell you are." Casey growled, looking down at the box. It didn't matter to her that mere minutes ago the girl had rescued her from what would have been a gruesome death, she still half believed that May was the cause of it and she refused to trust her.

"C'mon Casey, let her try." Colin encouraged.

"Are you still taking her side you idiot? There is no way in hell that I am letting her near this!" Casey looked at her friends.
"You first." She said stubbornly, offering the box to Colin to try but as expected all of his and then the others tries were utterly useless.

"Casey. It might be our only chance. Let May try." Morgan said faintly after he too failed to open the
lid of the silver oriented box.

"Great. This is so fucking great." Casey mumbled, handing the box to May unwillingly. "Well?" She snapped at the fr
ightened girl. "Do it already."

May smiled almost apologetically and easily pulled
open the lid of the silver box.

Casey snatched the box away from May as soon as the lid popped open and grabbed the bluish shard that was inside without even a simple 'thank you'. She connected the little piece to the fi
rst one which they already had.

The two little pieces glowed in a faint blue light as the two became instantly one, merging on their own in Casey'
s shaky hands.

"What is the last riddle?" Jon and
Morgan asked almost in unison.

"One second." Casey said as she let out a little laugh and, handing the reattached pieces to Morgan she extracted the old scroll out of the box, unfolding it carefully as she did to the first one and reading out loud the words that sprea
d over the second ancient note.

"The color of rain, priceless possession, you need the te
ar but it is under protection."

Casey paused.

"Ok…" She reread the riddle. ”Yeah…No…I'm lost."

"I'm not." Morgan chirped happily. "Hand me my bag." He said, pointing at its
general direction by the table.

Casey frowned but did as she was told anyway. She reached for the ratted bag and handed it over to Morgan with great confusion, searching the answers to Morgan’s weird
actions in her brother’s gaze.

Morgan groaned as he pulled himself up to a sitting position, pulling the bag over to himself and t
houghtfully roaming through it.

"Aha!" He declared triumphed as he pulled out one of Mrs. Kafka's little
prized glass figurines.

“
Here.” Morgan smiled brightly as he presented it to Casey. "Transparent as rain and looks like a tear." He repeated the riddle, sounding utterly proud of himself.

Casey's eyes widened in shock as she understood exactly what she w
as holding.

“How did you….?” She looked up at Morgan. "Fuc
k Morgan! How did you get it?!"

S
he demanded and Morgan smirked.

"Well, I initially took it as a souvenir before she chased me, at the beginning of the ye
ar when I broke one, remember?"

Colin la
ughed.

"Now that's what I call 'dump luck'! Who ever knew that your k
leptomania will come in handy?"

“This is not kleptomania!” Morgan said, offended. “This is just settli
ng the score with the old hag.”

“And apparently saving all of our lives in the process.”
Casey said almost to herself as she took the crystal from Morgan and examined it.

“But why would Kafka have it though?” She shook her head. “What does she h
ave to do with the apocalypse?”

“Maybe she got it
in the auction?” May suggested.

“What au
ction?” Casey stared at her.

“Of the last owners estate…You know…After he died.
For charity reasons.”

Casey shook h
er head, they were truly lucky.

She looked back at the crystal statue, it really did look like a tear drop, semi round with a little tip a
t the top, it was quit pretty.

”It does seem to be what the riddle is talking about. “ She said carefully. “But how can a box be inside? “ She asked the others, frustrat
ed. “It’s too small, isn’t it?"

"I have a thought.” Morgan said, reaching for the cry
stal. “Hand it over.”

"Oh no.
We are in trouble now, Morgan is thinking again.” Casey laughed, handing the crystal back to Morgan.

"Funny."

Morgan raised his hand and threw the tear drop on the floor, smashing it to a million pisses. ”Oh! Morgan!” Casey screamed but a mere second later the glass shard had vanished from the floor and in their place another silver box stood before them, it’s ruby sides almost glowing in the bedrooms semi dark light.

"Good job buddy!" Colin cheered the really proud looking Morgan; he practically p
uffed his chest out with pride.

”Yes, yes, don’t let it go up to your head.” Casey said as she crouched down to pick up the box,
her gaze seems somehow puzzled.

“Casey?” Morgan asked, Casey looked in deep thought for a moment and
then she turned to him.

"It just accord to me…Don’t you think that it's a little weird that the riddles seemed to be written for us?
Or really about us?" She asked no one in particular.

"I mean, why would Utopia want us to be the ones with the power to find it? Let alone make us the ones meant to open the boxes…Really…Why would she make a weapon for us to use to destroy her?
Why did she make the crystals?"

"She didn't.” May piped up and all eyes were turned to her blushing slightly frightened face expre
ssion.

”What?”
Casey asked.

”She didn't make them." May said more bluntly. "And she didn't make out the riddles ether. She stole them after she
killed its previous guardian."

"I knew it!" Casey declared triumph, glaring at May. "Why didn't you tell us that before?" May
blushed. "I didn't know if I could trust you." Casey's mouth practically fell open.

"You couldn't trust us?!" she let out outraged but before May co
uld answer Jon stepped forward.

"So who created them if not Utopia?" Jon asked, it was new information for him too, he never knew that there were natural enemies to the apocalypse but him and his siblings. And he didn't want Casey to kill May be
fore he could get some answers.

May shrugged.

"No one really knows, they were created centuries ago and just like you were born into the prophesy you were meant to find them."

"Cool." Morgan smiled, looking at
the last box in Casey’s hands.

”Cool?! Is that what you have to say about
all of this?!” Casey exclaimed.

“How about terrible?!
awful! Horrid! You like having this fate?!"

“No…” Morgan stuttered. “You just have to admit…It is a little…Fun.” He concluded with a small voice, afraid of the beast
that he had awakened in Casey.

“Fun…?” Casey whisked, smoke practically coming out of her nostrils.
“You…I…God if you weren’t near dead…Fuck! Just open the god damn thing already so we can get this mess over with!” She trusted the box into Morgan’s hands who unsuccessfully attempted to pry it open.

“Nothing…” Morgan looked at Casey, “It’s not meant for me.”

"You know…”Colin tapped his lip.”Mrs. Kafka always did hate Din…"

"And me
!” Morgan stated. Casey nodded.

“And you.” She agreed. “I hate you too right now but you already opened one box. It has to be Din; she always hated him for daydreaming in her c
lasses."

"She always hated him for showing up drunk and daydreaming in her classes but that doesn't help us. Din is locked in the chamber with the rest of the apocalypse captured souls, and we have no way of getting him out
of there." Toby reminded them.

"Then we have to find a way to get him out of there if we want everything and everyone back to normal…Including him." C
asey shook her head. "But how?"

"I might have a way."

A sudden voice came from the door and all teens snapped their heads up.

“Lisa!” Casey jumped, surprising even herself at how genially happy she was to see her. “You got away!” She e
xclaimed and Lisa smiled sadly.

“I did, for now. But I’m afraid that I don’t have a lot of time until they are on to me so, I wish to know that I did bring Utopia to her end before she ends me and I have a plan about how we can get Din out of the chamber safely, with his body of course.” An
uneasy silence swept the room.

Lisa had practically presented them her death sentence but she still wanted to use her last breath to fight, Casey felt guilt
y, she had truly misjudged her.

“Ok, tell us what you
want us to do.” Casey decided.

"Mind you, it will be dangerous." Lisa w
arned and Casey grinned at her.

"We already faced dangerous, any kind there is out there I think and I am not afraid anymore
. Whatever it is, we’ll do it."

Lisa nodded. “I see you developed some spunk while I was away. All right, here is what you need to know.” She took a deep breath. “I can only get one of you into the chamber to search for your friend provided you want to get out of there with him and we will only have
about twenty minutes to do it."

"Why?" Ca
sey questioned. “Why only one?”

"And what will happen if it takes more than
twenty minutes?" Morgan added.

Lisa looked at him, her expression said that sh
e was expecting this questions.

"Think of the chamber as a program
with a self-distract mechanism.

In order to get Din out of the chamber safely I will be over righting Utopias security of the lockdown so more than twenty minutes in and
the room will become a vacuum.

A black hole, sucking everything in its path to Utopias real dimension and trust
me, you don’t want to go there.

If you think that what is going on now here is bad, hell is w
hat awaits you in her kingdom."

"So basically…The end of the worl
d as we know it?” Colin gulped.

Lisa smiled.
"No, Just the end of your world.”

"But why didn’t she do it herself already?" Colin asked, puzzled. "Doesn't she
want this world?" Lisa nodded.

"She does, but her own world is a nightmare. She seeks to escape it, not to just sustain herself in it. She w
ants control over this planet."

“Oh, splendid.”
Colin muttered dryly, Lisa ignored him.

“So….Which one o
f you is up for the challenge?"

"Me." Toby stated in a 'Don't-argue-with-me' tone before anyone else could even think to ope
n their mouth to say something.

"I have to save him.” He told the others, a dark cloud lingering behind his eyes. “I am responsible for him being in there in the
first place, I have to do it."

“Ok…You go. “ Jon agreed, looking up at Lisa. “You’re not telling us everything, are you?" Jon asked her and the a
pocalypse slowly nodded at him.

“You might get stuck in there with him." She said to Toby. "Din will get out but you might stay in there in his place. Are you sure t
hat you still want to risk it?"

Toby closed his eyes momentarily, he didn't say anything but when he opened his eyes again th
e answer was clear to everyone.

He wasn't going to back down from it no matter what it took and his friends knew it, trying to convince him otherwise
would be just a waste of time.

"Ok." Lisa said, concluding the conversation. "Th
en we should really get going…"

She looked at Morgan. “We can’t take yo
ur body with us…Too dangerous.”

”I am not staying here.” Morgan pulled
himself out of the bed, standing up shakily.

“May can stay here with the b
ody.” Casey quirked an eyebrow.