Amarynth/Chap. 5: In The Drawing Room

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Haven whimpered and pulled her legs close to her torso as she scooted out of reach of the wolf. Blood mixed with saliva splattered Haven as the wolf struggled to get fully under the bed. Fear seized her as she stared transfixed on the snarling wolf. Was this a shadow? 2

A pair of hands roughly grabbed her elbows and yanked her backwards toward the back wall. She started to thrash wildly but the grip did not slack. 3

The wolf managed to get its entire body under and was now crawling with remarkable speed toward her. She could even smell the horrible stench of death lingering in its breath before she was jerked away and a small door slid shut before her, blocking access to the wolf.4

"It didn't bite you did it?" Trey asked from behind her. She had to twist her body to see him in the dim light. 5

"No." She answered quietly in return. She could hear him sigh in relief after she spoke. 6

They were in a room Haven had never seen before. It was smaller then any other room in Trey's house and it was littered with dust. White paint was peeling on the walls where old portraits and paintings hung. An old fashioned fireplace, with inscriptions above its mantle, which looked as if it hadn't been used in ages, was in the back of the room. Other then a hardwood rocking chair the room was bare of any furniture.7

"Where are we?" Haven asked quietly. She climbed to her feet and noticed the small trap door Trey must have pulled her through to get to the room. She could hear the wolf scratching at the door.8

"An old drawing room." He answered after a moment. "The wall that held the original door had been knocked down and a new one was built. But the builders forgot to add a new door so they just built a trap door so we could have a room to hide in if anything happened." 9

Haven nodded and decided to ask another question. "Who was that?"10

To her dismay he didn't answer. He merely shuffled over to the fireplace and pretended to be reading the inscriptions. Haven flinched slightly when Trey let out a yelp of surprise. To Haven's astonishment he had fallen in to the fireplace and was now trapped there for the pokers had lined themselves so they resembled themselves as the bars of a cage.11

A soft pop filled Haven's ears and the same cloaked woman appeared before the fireplace. She had her back to Haven as she bent down to sneer at Trey. Haven could only make out a few words but they were only insults. The lady spun around so quickly to face Haven that her hood fell. The woman didn't look too much older then either Trey or Haven, she was somewhere in her early twenties or late teens. She had tan skin but it was covered in red tattoos along her neck and cheeks. The tattoos looked odd to haven for they were not of objects and figurines but were the markings of a language Haven had never seen. 12

The woman's crimson gaze made Haven's stomach churn uneasily. She had horrible feeling that this wasn't a good person to come across. A small voice in her head screamed at her to forget about Trey and find a way out of the house. Another voice overpowered her thoughts when she noticed that the woman was holding the chained book. It yelled at her to do whatever she could to get the book back. 13

"Your name is Haven, is it not?" The woman asked, after what felt like years to Haven. The woman's voice had an icy tone to it that Haven hadn't noticed earlier. 14

"Y-Yes." She stammered her reply. She cautiously glanced over to the fireplace and could make out Trey trying to speak but nothing was coming out of his mouth. 15

"You were able to open the book of History." The woman said as she stepped forward, Haven hastily recoiled and pressed herself against the wall. 16

"I-er-read a lot of books so I might of. But I really don't remember ever opening one with the title 'Book of History', unless; you count the school book for history class." She didn't mean to ramble as she spoke but she tended to when she was scared or nervous. 17

The woman had an agitated look on her face when she pointed to the book in her other hand. "This is the book of History." She hissed. "And you managed to open it when the chains are cursed. How were able to do so?"18

"I don't know. They just broke and it opened!" 19

The woman groaned and absentmindedly pulled a black strand of hair from the messy bun it was pulled back in. "They can not just break." Haven heard her mutter. 20

"Did he open it?" She asked in a forced calmness and pointed back to the fireplace where Trey was. 21

Haven shook her head in reply as the voice in her screamed at her again. 'Get the book! Get the book!' It continued to repeat itself as the woman drew close once again. 22

"You do not know who I am, do you?" She asked. "I am Noria, the head of the secret police." She added before Haven could voice her response to the earlier question. 23

"Secret police?"24

"Yes. The secret police make sure artifacts of magic and hybrids don't come in contact with earthen blood, like you, terrible things happen when the humans of Earth find out about magic." Noria stated coolly and even surpassed an odd smile. She started to speak again but was instantly cut off by a loud bang followed by the screech of a structure collapsing. 25

The pokers were now sprawled on the ground and the fireplace looked as if it had just collapsed. A large serpentine creature as gray as the rain clouds maneuvered from under the wreckage and fluttered its leathery wings. A gust of wind emitted from the wings and would have easily sent Haven off her feet if she wasn't pressed against the wall. Noria on the other hand was not against anything so she easily toppled over. The beast’s green eyes met haven’s gaze and she finally recognized it as a dragon.26

Her heart began to pound as it came ever closer. She had never seen a dragon before and had always thought they didn't exist but now one was coming toward her! 27

"T-Trey?" She called out. She was scared and wanted to find her friend to make sure he hadn’t been the dragon’s snack. It had come from where Trey had been trapped. Her heart seemed to calm when the dragon nodded. 28

"Why didn't you tell me you where a d-dragon?" She asked but then felt foolish. It was a stupid question to ask. Even if he did tell her she wouldn't have believed him. Why would anyone believe a boy that said he was a dragon? The dragon inclined its head and motioned for her to get on its back. 29

Haven nodded but instead ran over to where Noria had fallen; she was now climbing to her feet. She grabbed the chained book, Noria had dropped it when she got knocked over, and smiled up at the woman. Finally the voice in her head had calmed and was now telling her to go to the dragon. 30

"Nice to meet you, Noria, but now Trey and I should be going." she said hastily before moving back to the dragon. She clambered on to its back as Noria yelled out something angrily. 31

It only took a matter of seconds for the dragon to rise up to ceiling. Haven braced herself for the collision but it never came. Somehow they had flown right through the ceiling as if it wasn't even there. 32

She looked below her and could see the blinking lights of Central County.33