Koran inspected the city, looking up and down and to either side.
“Hey,” Tyson said. “Look at this.”
Katie and Koran walked over to Tyson to see what he was pointing at. There was a sign by the gate with small, cursive-like words that read:
Our city was built before your time
To protect us from the outside forces
But soon we perished in our own crime
And nothing was left for us to hide
Enter now and look
At what we took so long to build
To hide what we took
Before it was too late
Read carefully as we warn you
You must leave before dawn
Otherwise you too
Will perish here forever
And become another pawn
Katie let the words pass over her lips silently as she read. When they all had finished, the doors opened inward, screeching as they did so and loudly hitting the walls before stopping.
“Should we enter?” Katie asked, her voice considerably steady despite current circumstances.
Koran looked once again down both sides along the walls. “I can’t see how far they go. This might be our only option.”
“What if we aren’t back by dawn?” Tyson asked. “Do we become ghosts destined to haunt this place forever?”
Koran thought about it. “We’ll leave a trail of our path so we can easily return if we start to run out of time.”
Tyson turned to Katie. “Are we really doing this?”
Katie didn’t answer.
“Katie!”
She jumped slightly and glanced at Tyson but maintained her composure. Katie shrugged and said, “I don’t see any other way.”
Tyson didn’t look convinced but said nothing. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get them to not walk through the gates. He didn’t want to but preferred it than being left alone.
Koran walked to the wall, tugged on some ivy until he had collected enough to leave a trail.
“This should be enough,” he said, handing the thick ivy to Katie and Tyson. “They are long and not too heavy. We can carry enough.”
No one responded, but each held an equal amount of the ivy. Koran led the way through the gates. It was considerably darker in the city than just outside it. When they had walked well into the city limits, the gates silently closed behind them and locked with a heart-stopping click, leaving them trapped inside.
17
The Jade
Koran swore loudly as he threw the now useless vine to the ground and kicked the stone wall in front of him. The wall was large and looked just like the ones that surrounded the city. Their only choices were to go left or right, each path leading to only more darkness.
He looked back at Tyson and Katie. Tyson’s face remained unchanged as ever in recent times. Katie looked horrified.
“We’ve got to get out of here, Koran,” she said, her voice shaking.
“No better time than to start now,” Koran replied. “Which way?”
It was Tyson who answered. “Let’s just go left.”
Katie and Koran looked at each other. They didn’t really have a better option, so they went on their way, Koran still taking the lead.
The city soon proved to be a vast maze, with large walls blocking their path often. It didn’t take abnormally long before they were able to go around the large wall. Still, the old buildings and abandoned houses were more than sufficient to act as barriers, and the three of them attempted to navigate around them.
There was a building with five pillars, seemingly standing in the heart of the city, though it wasn’t quite in the middle. It was distinctive enough that it was the first building that they saw.
At a slow jog, they continued making their way through the city, turning sharply, randomly or otherwise doubling back due to dead ends. None of them spoke, only the sound of their breathing and footsteps could be heard.
Every now and then the scenery would change from small and city-like to just thick stone wall tall. It was enough to make them feel like mice doomed to inevitable death.
Clumps of grass littered the stone streets as they fought through the cracks for air. Even though Katie could see the grass, she couldn’t understand how it grew here when everything else seemed so dead.
Twice they passed the same building and three times they reached what they believed to be the same dead-end.
“Is there any way out of here?” Katie asked as they passed yet another familiar building. “There must be some path we haven’t yet taken.”
A sound louder than a thunderclap struck the air and ran through the streets along with a cool breeze. It was the sound of a bell from a clock tower.
They looked around for the tower but were unable to see anything more than just a few feet ahead of them. A red number appeared on the ground, like a ghostly, faded figure.
“Seven,” Katie said softly to herself.
Reading her mind, Tyson answered, “I think it means we have seven hours left until dawn.”
“Sounds about right,” Koran added. “Let’s not waste our time just standing here.”
Katie shook her head to keep herself calm. “I agree; let’s keep going. There has to be another route we haven’t tried yet.”
With that, Katie took the lead and ran down a street she felt she now knew too well. Then she took a right as soon as she could. Then another right. Then a left. The scenery was changing. Ten minutes later, Katie was relieved to find that they had not yet covered ground that they had already traveled.
As Katie’s hopes gradually and swiftly rose, she turned another corner and to her dismay, they found themselves back in front of the original building with five pillars. Katie seemed hopeless, but Tyson was the one who looked furious.
“I give up,” sighed Katie. She was exhausted. “Let’s just enjoy the rest of the time we have here.” She sat on the ground.
