Ellasyna [Ceaelie #1] | completed

x | Bloodshed

© Stephanie Anne and Dee Atkins

                  Chapter Ten

        My mind reeled as I flicked through the next few pages, eyes widening in shock, my fingers trailing over the jumbled words as I tried to make sense of everything. I took care in turning the pages back to where I’d been reading and followed the scribbled words eagerly, taking them in with my full concentration centred on them.

        Today as I was taking a hike through the woods I kind of stumbled across a large compound, and I swear it looked like a military base. There were guards posted outside, and no doubt inside too. I had no idea what to think, or do for that matter. I had no idea we had patrols and soldiers in Blowing Rock. I thought we lived in a quiet town where nothing out of the ordinary occurred. And when I confronted Sam about my discovery he told me to never speak of it again. He looked disappointed in me, and angry. And I didn’t know why. But I am going to find out.

        On the next page was a map of sorts and I hurriedly pulled it out to scan the area. A red marker had been used to mark certain places. Blowing rock was circled on the map and if I looked close enough I could see another space circled and coloured in with that same red marker. It was labelled, The Compound.

        I looked back at the journal and read some more, trying not to let my excitement get the better of me. How could I stumble across such luck?

        From further examination I have narrowed down the extent of the base. There are only ever eight guards on patrol outside the base, four at the front and four at the back. I am still unsure of the inside since I haven’t been able to sneak in yet. The whole building is made of some foreign metal I don’t know the name of and I am thinking it has something to do with the Ceaelie. Somehow I just know these people want to hurt them.

        At the next date it read:

        I overheard a conversation outside the base close to where I was hidden among the trees. The soldiers were grunting about their ‘enemies’ and I couldn’t help but wonder whether their ‘enemies’ were the Ceaelie or something entirely different. They said they’d secured the weapon that could annihilate them once and for all somewhere deep inside the base, but that they didn’t rank high enough to know where it was hidden.

        The entry stopped there, like pages had been torn out of the book. I flipped through the journal a couple more times, and I still could not find anything.

        Sighing, I decided I needed to think of a plan. I can’t go to the base tonight, I thought, placing the journal on the bed beside me. Tomorrow night. It was decided. Tomorrow night, I was going to observe the compound. But I knew I couldn’t do it without sleep.

        I awoke to the sun high in the sky, the window still wide open, and a breeze wafting through. I hadn’t changed into any sleepwear - I’d been too exhausted, the night finally catching up to me. My head throbbed with the promise of a headache, and bile rose in my throat at even the mere thought of food, something I had gone without and regretted deeply. I felt grubby and disgusting, and according to the time, I had another twelve or so hours before I was bound to leave for the compound in hopes of completing my mission.

        “But first, I need to shower,” I grumbled, making my way to the bathroom to wallow away in the steam and pressure of the water.

        I wasn’t sure if I was feeling nervous, or excited, or scared, but my mind was still reeling with what I had found the night before. I know where it is. I was finally one step closer to finding this damned weapon and going home. I can find it. With the help of Samanya, or the Commander, I would be able to seek out the weapon, locate it using my abilities. I can go home. Maybe I won’t end up like Kali after all. I had no idea where she had gotten up to in the mission - that part had been secluded from my family and I - but maybe she didn’t get this far. Maybe they found her, before she found them. She certainly didn’t find the cabin, otherwise she’d have taken everything. She would have gotten rid of the cabin itself no matter what it took.