Everfall Main

Chapter six

I walked into cappa's looking fatigued, holding a town history book, a map, and the box.

"Someone got hit by a bus today," Fin said as I took a seat

"I stayed up all night trying to figure something out," I said

"That explains it," Fin said

"Figuring what out?" Monty asked

"Well, yesterday Mason told me about how a long time ago, sailors used the stars to know where they're going, like coordinates, so I thought, coordinates and then it clicked, in the box, we found a key, engravings if 1920 and a compass," I said while laying the objects on the table, "and I took a look at the compass and realized there are only two points on it, North and east, south and west are missing but probably on purpose so could figure it out, the coordinates are 19 north, 20 east"

"And if we check the town map," Azara said while I lay out the map

"It leads us the right to the Everfall morgue," I said

"This turned into a horror movie real quick," Fin said

"Well, then let's go," Monty said while getting up

"How are we just going to walk into the morgue?" Azara asked

"Who said they have to know we are there?" I said

"What on earth will we find in the morgue that will help solve a mystery?" Nala asked

"Are you...scared?" Fin said mockingly while making ghost noises and laughing at Nala

"Shut up, let's go," Nala said playfully pushing Fin

We all got onto our bikes and rode to the morgue, when we got there we put our bikes on the rack and walked to the gate, there was a sign hung up next to the guard room saying "out for lunch" so we jumped the short fence and quietly walked up to the room where the ashes are kept. There were large metal lockers the height of the roof and the full length of the room and the room seemed to go on forever.

"Where is Fin?" Azara asked

"He was here a minute ago," I said looking around

"I swear I saw him just now," Nala said

"Guys...over here," Monty said

We walked out of the first column of lockers and into the third column where Monty was calling from, when we got there, we found Fin was standing facing a locker, almost froze, it was almost unbelievable to see Fin like this, I walked up to him and realized why he was like that, the locker he was looking at was labeled "Sadie Nolland"...Fin's mom. Fin dropped a single tear that rolled slowly down his cheek, he fell to his knees and put his face in his hands, I knelt and assured him he isn't alone, everyone came over to hug Fin, Nala helped him up and hugged him again.

"I just wish I had the locker key so I could hold her again," Fin said while wiping his tears away

"A key?" I said in a whisper

"A key!" I said a little bit too loud

"Shhhhh!" Everyone violently shooshed me

"Sorry, I just realized something," I said getting up and pulling the box from my bag

"Ohh, the key!" Azara said realizing what I was thinking

"The key in the back of the box must be for one of these lockers," I said

"How are we supposed to find which locker the key belongs to" Monty asked

"We are going to have to go through the whole room until we find our locker," I said "we are going to be here for a while"

"Let's get on it," Fin said with a small smile that still managed to give us some hope

I smiled back at him and we split up to start the search for the locker that the key can open.

"I feel like we've been in here for ages" Monty said after an hour of searching

"My back is killing me," Azara said, "can't we take a break?"

"We do need a break but just five minutes," I said

"That's all I need," Fin said flopping himself on the floor

"Wait what's that? Monty said while getting up and walking towards a pile of boxes

"What's what?" Fin asked

"Over there behind the boxes," Monty said, he moved the boxes out of the way and dragged an old rusty locker from behind them, the tag on the locker said 'Edward .C.'

"Try the key!" Nala exclaimed

Suddenly, there was a vigorous banging from the other side of the door

"The guard," we all said looking at each other

"Hey! Who's there!" He shouted knocking even harder

"Good thing I locked it," Monty said catching the key I threw to him, he put the key in and turned it, the turn was followed by a click and the locker door swung open, and the banging on the door kept getting louder.

"I'm calling the police!" The guard shouted and walked away

"We better hurry," I said

We all looked inside the box and saw a stack of papers.

"They look ancient and all dusty" Fin said looking disappointed

"Grab them and run!" Nala shouted

"Run where?" Monty asked

"Over here!" Azara said from the back of the room, there was a small metal door that went back to the corridor they came from, the guard had left the door open so we ran through the door and he was at the gate watching the police car approach the corner.

"Jump the fence!" Nala said in a hushed scream

We all ran to the far end of the fence and jumped, we grabbed our bikes and ran in the opposite direction from the police and the guard. When we were about to round the curve, I looked back and saw the guard ushering the cop inside the building.

When we stopped at the corner or Cappa's to catch our breaths Mason was just coming out of the cafe, he looked at us perplexed as he walked over.

"Why are you guys running?" He asked

"We are running from the police" Fin said while throwing himself on the grass

"The police?" Mason looked even more confused now

"I think you should take a seat before we tell you," I said while he helped me into cappa's.

***

After I inspected the room, I noticed the only thing in the room that looked messed with was a rusty locker, I took a second look at the locker and realized what I had to do, I took out my phone and dialed a number I never thought I would use.

"Hello" the voice on the other end of the line was hoarse and scratchy

"We have a problem, the book is gone," I said lowering my voice

"What! Who took it?!"

"All I know is there was a bunch of kids"

"So you are telling me, you lost years of classified information to a group of kids! You know what, you are a moron, just get the book back, do whatever it takes" the line cut.

***