The Chronicle Keeper (Formally - Destiny)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | nolan

Split-second reflexes had me grabbing Aislin's hand and running back down the hallway, away from the kitchen door. I had no idea where we were going. Just anywhere away from everyone who was after us. I could almost acknowledge what a criminal might feel like, except I had done no criminal act to speak of, or worth noting for that matter.

"This way." I whispered. Without hesitating, I tugged Aislin to the left. I was not going to wait to find out if we had been spotted.

Weaving our way through hallways, I could have been lost and not even known it. Everything looked the same. One metal walkway looked no different than the next. I was starting to panic, but kept a calm look. I couldn't let Aislin know I had no idea where I was going. That wouldn't look very good on my part.

"Hold up, Nolan. I need to catch my breath." Aislin pulled hard on my hand, freeing her own from my grasp. Stopping, I turned to watch her bend over, gasping for air.

Tuning into her, I watched her body quiver with exhaustion, afraid I would lose my own adrenaline rush. But it was hard to ignore the jelly-like feeling in my legs. As bad as I wanted to stay and catch my breath, I knew we had to keep moving. Looking over my shoulder, there wasn't much choice. We had come to a "T". That only left two options, seeing as I wasn't going to head back the way we had come.

"Let's take this way. We need to keep moving. Come on, Aislin." Pulling her toward me, I caught her off balance. Keeping my pace, I wasn't going to let her become too comfortable with our current situation.

"Hold on. I think I heard Lady and Belle." It was her turn to catch me off guard, as she forced her body weight to rein me in. But hearing Lady and Belle's names, I almost made it too easy for Aislin to stop in mid stride.

"Where?" I asked.

"Back this way. Follow me." Aislin said, pulling me to follow her. Without much resistance, I followed her, but stopped shy as she turned back down the hallway we had just come from.

"Are you crazy?" But before I could continue on with my rant, she cut me off.

"Trust me. Otherwise I am going by myself." She countered. Great. Now I really did not have a say in the matter.

"Alright. Lead the way." I didn't want to argue and waste valuable time, so I stayed with her.

Backtracking our current progress hurt my conscious. I didn't know anyone who backtracks goo progression. Especially when running for your life on a ship out at sea. Just doesn't feel logical to head back towards the place or person you are trying to escape from. But apparently who was I to make these decisions.

"There they are!"

Aislin and I both froze, looking up ahead to see some of the crewmen. Kill me now. I thought. I knew this was going to happen. How come I didn't insist and force her to keep following me. We would have been just fine. Now look what we were up against. The crazy and insane part of it all, Aislin was still dragging me towards everyone we were trying to avoid at all costs. Could she not see or hear them? The closer we came, the more I felt my stomach in my mouth. Almost literally.

Almost on top of them, surely to collide, I was ready to throw not only myself but Aislin as well, over the side of the metal railing. Thankfully, I didn't have to, as I was jolted into a tiny and narrow hallway. Room for only one person at a time. How come I hadn't seen this hallway the first time we had ventured down this hallway, I wondered. Probably because I hadn't been looking for it.

"Do you even know where you are going?" I asked breathlessly.

"Kind of." Was all Aislin could manage. I felt the strain it took her to force those words. We were both ready to faint from dehydration. If it hadn't been for that swim in the sea, we might have been fine. But now we both needed water, desperately.