After Death (Editing)

Chapter 20

Gabriel sat against a wall staring into space.

"He seems like a cool guy so far, doesn't he?" I said

He smiled a bit, "Yes, I have a good feeling about him thus far."

"Yeah," I replied.

I sat next to Gabriel and he gazed at me. I was blushing because I had no idea why he stared at me like that. It wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, but it made me nervous.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him to prevent myself from thinking too much.

"I am so-so. Taking it one day at a time." He answered.

I nodded my head slowly, "That's good."

He finally stopped looking at me so much and focused on a spot on the floor. "How do you feel about all of this?"

I sighed, "Very stressed out, honestly. I am not used to this kind of responsibility and pressure, that's for sure."

He chuckled, "I don't think anyone would be used to that. It is not every day that you have to save the world."

I laughed but tried to keep the noise down. "If everyone had the pressure of saving the world, we would be screwed, majorly."

He bumped my shoulder and said with a grin, "What happened to your faith in humanity?"

"It left as soon as I was born. My first words were, mommy people suck." I answered in a high pitch voice at the end.

He slapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes watered as his body trembled with silent laughter. He shook his head, "Lilianna you are certainly something else."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Thank you, I think?"

He chuckled lightly, "Don't worry it is all good."

"I hope we find the parts of the cup. I am so sorry for dragging you into this." I said.

"I know we will. Don't worry about dragging me into this, I made a commitment and I will see it through." He sighed, "Isn't funny how people are? They are always there for you until they aren't."

"I am sorry about Celeste too."

He frowned slightly, "It is not your fault, she was always a snake, but I never knew."

We sat in a pleasant silence. That was ruined when I heard a faint buzzing and something lightly tapping the door. I didn't think it was human, it was probably Atticus in his fly form.

I opened up the door a bit and he zipped right in. By the time I turned around, he was human again.

"So what did you find?" Gabriel asked with a little excitement in his voice.

Atticus twined his  hair around his freakily long finger. "It is in the west wing guarding by three people. It is also protected by a glass case."

Gabriel smirked, "You know what have we have to do right?"

"Time to be a stiffy again," I breathed out.

"Come let's go. Try to act as natural as possible, please. " Atticus whispered.

We quietly came out of the closet and marched our way to the west wing. Atticus in front with Gabriel and I trailing behind him. A guard passed us and gave us a suspicious look. Atticus gave him a nod and we did the same.

We approached this room that had three guards across the door.

"Good day." Atticus greeted them in a gruff voice.

A guard replied, "Good day sir."

"We are to replace you all." Atticus said.

The female guard looked at her watch. "It's not time yet. We have at least another 20 minutes."

"Celeste said that you all could come off early. We were supposed to give you that message and take your place." Atticus answered.

"Okay." The female guard said and practically ran off.

As they left the other female guard looked back at us and glared. My veins became ice with her sharp gaze. I really didn't want to get caught, I couldn't.

We took the same positions that the guards had. Once they were out of sight Gabriel whispered: "How are we going to get it?"

All of us were looking straight ahead trying to look like a guard as much as possible. We had about 15 minutes until the actual guards came so we needed to out of the castle by then.

"You and Atticus should stay out here and I will go and get it." I told Gabriel in a hushed tone.

The door wasn't locked so I could easily go inside. The room was large with no windows. In the center of it was the half of the cup. I got lucky by the door not being locked, but the glass casing around the cup was secured. I didn't know how to pick a lock so I did the next best thing. I elbowed the thick glass and smashed it into a tons of tiny pieces. I slipped the cup in my pants and hurriedly walked out.

"I have it. Let's go." I murmured.

We didn't run but marched as fast we could.

"Stop right there!" Someone shouted.

I didn't look to see who it was, I was scared. I picked up my feet and started running out of the castle. Gabriel and Atticus did the same, I made sure not to leave them behind.

As we started running off, about 10 guards came behind us. One of them got so close that they were able to grab my arm, but I kicked him with force and I heard his body fall to the marble floor with a loud thump.

I held Gabriel's hand and we transported just outside the castle. Atticus did as well but by himself. As soon we landed on the ground we were surrounded by about fifty guards holding up guns. My heart raced as I looked up the barrel of a gun. I dropped on my knees holding up my hands to show that I was unarmed.

One of the guards sprayed some sort of clear mist. I saw black spots and my breathing slowed down significantly. I was battling to stay conscious. My eyelids shut and I welcomed a familiar friend, darkness. 

A/N: Chapter 20, it felt like yesterday that we were at chapter 10. Thank you to everyone who has supported the story so far. What do you think is going to happen to Atticus, Lilianna and Gabriel?