Words of Fate

Chapter 5

Vivian's POV

 Luca takes a small step to the side and looks past us and deep into the darkness. I watch as he swallows hard and reaching behind him to pull a gun out that I hadn’t noticed before. I take a step back staring at the deadly weapon. I look at Ari in fear and she mirrors my terrified look.

"Who's there?" Luca calls out and suddenly we hear something racing through the woods. The body of a deer comes into sight for a second and it barely misses running into Luca. I'm still paralyzed with fear when I hear Luca's gun shoot off and it takes a minute until everyone catches their breath and calms down.

"You were keeping a gun on you!" I scream, though it probably isn't the smartest idea to scream at a stranger with a gun.

"Calm down, I have it to protect us."

"Protect us? You could have shot one of us!" I don't think I could raise my voice much louder than it already is.

"Admittedly I haven't had much practice with a gun" Luca's voice remains steady and he still has the gun in his hand.

"Give me that" I disarm him, taking the gun safely out of his hands.

"I can't let you have my gun" Luca make a move to take it back but I dodge him.

"Back up and don’t you dare touch me. I'll guard, I was taught how to shoot when I was a kid. You get us to where we're going and I'll give you the gun back." I snap. There's no way I'm going to allow him to pry this gun out of my hands and I think he finally realizes that because he sighs and mumbles out a "fine.”

The rest of our way down the path is silent and nothing happens apart from Arabella mentioning how tired she is or how much her feet hurt. When we reach where we have to start walking off the trail Luca insists that I must give him the gun back and even though I pose a bit of an argument I reluctantly give him the gun.

"We just have to walk a few minutes this way," Luca tells us. I don't know how he knows where we're going. I can't even see any clear signs of a path but somehow Luca does. The trees and thick and Ari keeps forgetting to hold branches back for me so I've been hit at least ten times by branches she send whipping back at me.

"We're here," Luca announces and Ari and I both give him a confused look because there's nothing around us.

"So where's this city you were talking about?" I ask, knowing this is clearly a trap.

"Well, we need to get ourselves there first." Luca smiles as he pushes leaves off of what seems to be a panel with a key slot. 

We watch curiously as Luca walks a few feet over and peels back a piece of what appeared to be bark on a tree and pulls out a key. He walks back over to the panel and unlocks it using the key. It flashes green and he replaces the key where he got it before punching in a passcode on a keypad and hitting what I assume is an enter button and the light turns a steady green. 

We continue to watch Luca until he pushes the red button on the panel and what I thought was just a large tree in front of us opens up and Luca gestures for us to get in which we hesitantly do and he squishes in with us. There's a dull light in the top of this elevator like machine.

It closes and we start to descend, I'm quickly getting panicked because of how small the elevator is and when it beeps and opens again I'm the first to step out. I'm intrigued when I look around and the walls are all concrete and there are bright lights that go both ways.

Luca walks over to one of the walls and presses a bunch of buttons and puts up a finger signalling for us to wait a minute. After a minute or so we hear the sound of strong metal vibrations in the distance. Less than a minute after that a cart comes up and screeches to a stop in front of us. Luca just laughs at our surprised expressions and gestures for us to follow him as he gets into one of the four seats. He takes a seat in the back leaving the two front seats to Ari and me.

She gets in first and into the left side seat so I follow and get into the right side seat. An almost robotic voice comes out of the cart and welcomes us to Aceria and ensures us that we will enjoy our stay. Somehow it knew our names and knew it was our first time here which confuses and worries me.

There's a sound like air leaking and an over-the-shoulder restraint comes down onto us and locks into place. The fact that I won't be able to move concerns me a bit but I heard it lock into place behind us too meaning the same thing happened to Luca which calms me down. He wouldn’t lock himself in too if he had ill intentions.

The cart lurches forward and picks up speed until everything around us is nothing more than a blur of grey with the occasional bright fluorescent glow from the lights on the walls It actually starts to get enjoyable after a minute or two on it. 

After what seems to be at least five minutes the cart slows to a stop and the restraint unlocks and rises again allow us to get out. Luca springs up and gets out before us, he comes to my spot offers me a hand up which I slowly take getting used to being on my feet again. Arabella seems to be a bit sick after the ride but she still tries to act good spirited.

"Now one more elevator ride and we're there" Luca leads us over to an identical elevator as the one before and punches in a code again, this time though, the inside of the elevator is much larger so I'm not worried about being squished this time.

"We don't usually use the elevators. They're only used for people who are leaving Aceria or people who need to come down here to get some food supplies during the winter months. We have tons of rope ladders and bridges that are used to get from house to house." Luca explains.

When we get into the elevator this ride is a lot calmer though I'm anxious to see Aceria find out if it's even a real place or if we're being tricked. The ride this time takes noticeably longer than the first one, though if we're going up high into the trees it makes sense for it to be longer.

When the elevator finally dings and opens I'm surprised to see that we're in a small room with couches and bean bag chairs that seem pretty modern. There's even a glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I walk over to the door and open it leaving Luca and Ari behind and I'm once again surprised to see that we truly are up in the trees and that the ground it quite far down. There's a rope bridge in front of me, one to my left and even one to my right. I look at the place in awe, it looks like something that would've been in one of my storybooks as a child.

"If you don't mind I'd like to follow me once again to the West dining room where Cecilia will be waiting for your arrival" Luca starts walking when we both give him a nod.

"She's pretty easy going and will most likely just welcome you and send you to bed in one of the guesthouses. She may put a few guards outside of it just to ensure you aren't a threat to us but once you earn her trust you will be able to walk around freely." Luca either really likes talking or he was ordered to tell us all of this, I get a feeling that it may be a little bit of both.

We reach what must be the West dining room because Luca stops in front of a tall wooden door and opens it for us before telling us to have a good night and mentioning something about finding Dylan. Arabella seems to be hesitant so I force myself to be the confident one and I walk into the room. Seeing only one table with anyone sitting at it that’s the one I walk towards, the woman who must be Cecilia sits with a guard on either side of her.

"Welcome, Vivian and Arabella. Please take a seat. Did Luca not come in with you?" I shake my head as I take a seat and Ari takes a seat beside me.

"That boy, I swear he can't spend more than two minutes away from Dylan." After I hear her say this it somehow makes me more comfortable, she seems to at least have a sense of humour.

"Anyway, I hope you two got here alright. I have a long history with both of your families and I trust that you will stay here the night even if it's just simply out of curiosity. I can tell the both of you are tired and need rest before we talk about anything important. I'll have Sawyer take you two to your room and after breakfast tomorrow morning we can talk about why you were chosen to come here. Is that alright with you girls?" Cecilia looks at us both and I nod once again knowing that even if I did try to stay up to hear what she had to say chances are Ari would fall asleep and I’m not confident that my mind would form proper responses to Cecilia’s words.

"Well then, I'll see you two in the morning for breakfast goodnight girls"

One of the guards who I'm assuming must be Sawyer walks over to the door and opens it for us as we stand up. We follow him out and close the door behind us, Sawyer takes us only three bridges over from where the dining room is before he stops and opens a door for us, I flick the light on and the room light's up it's a simple but nice room. There's a bed, couch, a short bookshelf packed with books, a desk with two boxes neatly wrapped sitting on top and there's a bedside table that has a clock on it and there's a pack of water bottles beside the bed.

"The room should accommodate you well for the night, if you need anything I'm stationed outside until breakfast between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning," Sawyer tells us politely before closing the door.

"I thought Luca was lying but I'm actually starting to like the idea of this place. If we're meant to be together why not do it safely? There’s definitely a lot I want to find out in the morning but Aceria doesn’t seem like too bad of a place to be" I smile at Arabella while I walk over to the desk with the boxes on them. I fiddle with the tags and realize that one has my name and the other has Arabella's"

"We each have a gift here," I tell her softly as I hand her the smaller box that has her name on it.

"Should we open them?" She asks.

"Well, they have our names on them so I don't see why not,"

I walk over to the couch and take a seat, I pull gently on the bow made of ribbon and it falls to the side, I slide the lid off and I pull out a compass, I instantly recognize it as my father's compass. I have no idea how they would have gotten this unless this is where my father ran off to. What if it was? It would make sense, wouldn't it? But I don't think I could see my father with a man. I must be too tired to let my thoughts continue because somehow they don't keep pressing.

"What did you get?" I ask Arabella who has moved beside me and looks close to tears.

"My grandmother's necklace. She went missing when my mother was a child. I don't even remember what she looks like all I can remember is her always wearing this necklace in every picture that I've seen of her."

"I got my fathers compass. Cecilia said she knew our families. They must have come here at some point."

"Maybe, do you mind if we just go to sleep, the faster we sleep the sooner we get answers to our questions and I'm incredibly tired anyway." Arabella looks into my eyes softly.

"That sounds good," I tell her before walking over to the light and flicking it off. There are lights outside so I can still see well enough to make it over to the bed to lay down.

Before I fall asleep my brain distantly realizes that this is the first time Arabella and I are sleeping next to each other. Even though I’d normally be awkward and try to stay as far away as possible somehow with her I feel comfortable and safe. I don’t think I have any problems with being fated to Arabella.