100

Impossible

By the time Akari and Dean woke up from their love play and took a nap, it was already deep into the night. Dean and Akari quickly and quietly got dressed in black clothes and with Akari's wind magic, they left through her window and flew over the city.

There were still some people out on the streets, as the all the pubs were open and the women and men of the night were still working. The red lantern alley was the only place that was lit up brightly. As if it was welcoming wandering travelers into their nest of pleasure and warmth.

Akari landed them on top of the Redcorner Bookstore. Their soft steps hardly made any noise as they landed on the roof.

Akari followed Dean as he quickly found a hidden door.

"It's an illusion." Dean whispered to Akari as he waved his hand in front of the illusion. "Only a high power mage can create such of an illusion."

Without her mage eyes, the hidden door would have just seemed as if nothing was there. But because of Dean and her mage eyes, they saw right through the illusion and slowly opened the door.

To Dean's surprise, there were no other magic barriers that was set up. Who ever placed the illusion on the door, must be really arrogant to think that it would be enough of a barrier to keep people out.

Dean and Akari slowly made their way down the stairs. The top floor had four bedrooms. The closest bedroom to her right, Akari could feel a presence breathing softly and steadily. Her nose recognized the old man's scent as she came close to the door.

Dean took out several sleeping incense as Akari lit it with her fire magic. Dean quickly place the incense under the door. Each door that they passed, Dean placed another sleeping incense under the door.

When they reached the stair again, they quickly and quietly made their way to the first floor. They kept to the walls as they moved to the back of the bookstore, where Akari last saw the mysterious woman. They finally stopped in front of the bookshelves and one by one pulled out the books to see if there was a hidden lever to open the hidden door.

Dean and Akari quickly worked together from opposite ends of the bookshelves and met in the middle. When the last book was pulled out and pushed back in, still nothing happened.

"There must be a hidden lever somewhere." Akari whispered. "She couldn't have just disappeared into thin air!"

Dean kept looking at the shelves that met together. If it wasn't a book that was the key to open the hidden door, it must be something else. His eyes kept going back to the corner shelves. Why was one shelf made thicker than the rest? Why did this one shelf hold less books then the others?

Dean reached out and felt the inner side of the wooden shelf. When his finger ran over a slight bump, he hooked his finger and brought the lever down. With a soft click, the left bookshelf opened slightly.

"You're a genius!" Akari said as she smiled.

Dean lead the way as Akari followed behind.

"Should I close the door?" Akari asked.

Dean turned around and saw that on the inside of the hidden door, the latch was a visible latch that they could quickly undo if they needed to get out of there.

"Yes." Dean told her.

Akari closed the door tightly and soon they were surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, the hall was lit up in with a luminous pearl. Dean handed one to Akari as he held the other pearl.