COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 11: The Impossible Request (Part 2/3)

          "Where are we going?" Phantom said, while Káel irritably weaved through the crowds of students rushing to class. Puff struggled to keep up with his speed walking, and was forced to break into a light bouncing trot, snorting and huffing at the lack of consideration.

          "Somewhere nobody will look for me," Káel growled, twisting his head up to glare at the ceiling. "Is Tia watching me?"

          "No?"

          "Good."

          Káel kept his brisk pace, constantly updating with Phantom on Tia's position, until he made it to the empty room.

          He fished the Ceptrum out of his pocket, and looked around for any unwanted attention, before sticking his hand out with the white stone and calmly saying the password. He touched its grainy surface, smiling as his fingers sank through the sand-like facade and quickly pushing through it to face the creepy blackened corridor.

          Phantom popped his head through with an attention snatching snap. "I thought you said-"

          "Shut up," Káel spat, storming down the narrow flight of steps and ripping the door open before it could complete its creepy swing. A strange comfort hugged his heart in the dark surroundings, squeezing a swift sigh out of his nostrils. "Rastastrill."

            A pitiful little orb of light formed in his hand and struggled like a fish being sucked down the toilet to rise to the roof. Eventually it gave up and dropped with exhaustion back into his open hand. His eye twitched a little with overwhelming disappointment as he tried again, this time getting a larger orb that couldn't even lift its shiny butt off his hand.

          "Rastastrill." A bright ball of light lifted from Phantoms hand and floated to the ceiling. He looked to Káel slowly, and cringed. "Sorry."

          Káel sneezed as he walked around the room looking for the most spacious area, and stopped when he came to the bare wall, tightly lacing his arms across his chest. "Show me how to get that cuff off."

          Phantom couldn't squint, so he did the next best thing, rising his shoulders and slowly pointing at Káel. "Don't you have school right now?"

          "Since when was that important?"

          Phantom looked around and sighed. "This is far too crowded, where's that other Ceptrum?"

          Káel held out the white rock questionably. "This one?"

          "No, look." He pointed at the snaking trails cut off by the bare wall behind Káel. "No shelves, there's another room." 

          Káel shrugged. "Maybe they just ran out of shelves."

          Phantom shook his head with a disappointed string of cross mutters, shoving his head through the wall with an unintelligible cry of success. He ripped his head out, spooking Káel with the sheer volume of his voice. "I knew it! There's another room! Classic Zalius." He scanned the dusty bookshelves and weapon racks, snapping for Káel to start on an especially grimy stack of torn books and armour on the floor. "It has to be around here somewhere, help me find it."

          After kicking away the pile without success, he turned to the robust and cluttered bookshelves. They were an utter mess, forcing him to lift out the heavy leather and iron bound books to create a neat pile, followed by shoving the old beakers, and other strange equipment to the sides in search of yet another shiny white rock. Some of the heavy books had seen better days, with the way they barfed out pages filled with detailed diagrams and mostly translated spells, piquing Káel's interest to explore their contents when he actually had the time. After multiple breaks for sneezing and coughing fits, he'd finally looked through every darkened crevice, but the rock hadn't shown itself.