When we finally got to the bakery, Joshua met us with a grim expression. His eyes darted around the street before he let us in and locked the door. Then he closed the blinds on the big glass windows. Why was he acting so strangely?
Ava and I stood in the centre of the room, uncomfortably, as Joshua ran out to the back without even saying a word to us.
I started to chew on my lip nervously and Ava shifted her weight from foot to foot. She was obviously as nervous as I was.
Suddenly, Joshua entered the room followed by an unfamiliar man.
He was very tall with green sparkling eyes and dark, carefully styled hair. He was wearing black trousers, a black shirt and a long coat that almost brushed the floor. My eyes were drawn immediately to a silver lightning bolt ring on his right hand.
Everything about him made alarm bells scream inside my head and I had an urge to turn and run out of the door.
“Good day Blaise and Ava. I assume you received our letter?” the man spoke with a deep silky voice and his green eyes glittered with amusement.
“Yes. And who may you be?” my voice sounded smaller than I had intended and it caught slightly at the end with fear.
“Oh I apologise. I forgot my manners. My name is Marlon Viven of TSM.” I frowned at his formality.
“What’s TSM?” asked Ava.
“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you hear but everything shall be revealed once we have gone to a safer location to talk. So if you follow me, everything will be explained.” Marlon shot us a dazzling smile.
I didn’t trust him one bit and would definitely not follow him. My heart pounded as I tried to think of a way out of the situation. Could I just run or would he stop me?
“No.” I replied bravely. Joshua raised his eyebrows at me then walked over to us. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. I wanted to move away but I was frozen.
Then I heard something in the back of my mind. I focussed on it and found a familiar voice.
“It’s ok Blaise. Marlon can be trusted.” Joshua’s voice spoke softly. But he wasn’t speaking; it was like he was inside my mind and I instantly felt like I could almost trust Marlon.
I managed to pull myself away from Joshua but I didn’t dare look at him in the eye again. I wasn’t sure what had happened but if Joshua said Marlon could be trusted, I believed him. Especially as angry Magicians were probably after me.
“Fine we’ll go with you.” I muttered whilst I grit my teeth. I was going against my instinct and I didn’t like it.
“Good, follow me then.” Marlon nodded to Joshua and he looked down at his shoes in reply.
We walked to the back of the bakery and out into a little stone courtyard. Marlon went up to the furthest wall and brushed his fingers along the bricks. I gasped at what happened next. Behind Marlon, a perfect square hole formed that seemed to have no end. On the side of the hole was a metal ladder that descended into darkness. Marlon waved his hand over the hole and bright lights started to glow.
“After you.” Whispered Marlon. I looked at him accusingly and Ava did the same. Did he think we were stupid? For all we knew, we were about to go into a trap.
He sighed and started to climb down the ladder into the hole. Next went Joshua then me and Ava. My feet hit solid ground and I found myself in a tight tunnel that was illuminated with a soft yellow light. I looked around to find the source of the light and saw hundreds of balls of light above of us, just like the one Amber had.
The hole closed up. If this was a trap, there was no way out now.
Marlon set a quick pace down the tunnel and we followed single file. We kept twisting and turning in the tunnels and I had no idea how long we had been walking. My feet were aching from walking so long in the never ending tunnels.
Finally, we came to a large wooden door. Marlon gestured that we should open it. Ava looked for the handle but there wasn’t one. She brushed her fingers on the wood and the door swung inward.
