Behind Locked Doors

Chapter Twenty: The Warring House

“Justin… Justin, are you okay?” someone beside me asked in an irritated tone, probably Rolin. I gave a simple nod hoping she’d believe me. My vision was still a little foggy but not as bad as before.

“What happened after you went through the portal?” she asked.

“This isn’t story time Lin,” Derrick sneered. “We need a plan.”

“Don’t you think I know that.“

“Then you shouldn’t ask such an irrelevant question.“

“It wasn’t irrelevant.“

“Will you two just knock it off for once!” Alice yelled at them. Wow, you know things are bad when Alice actually starts talking, let alone yelling.

“Where are the lock picks?” she asked.

“In my bag… the guards took it,” Rolin said regrettably. So much for that plan. Looks like we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Are we going to die here? Don’t think like that, Justin. I thought mentally reprimanding myself.

“Where do you think they took her?” James whispered to no one in particular.

I cleared my throat trying to get my voice back, “I’m sure she’s fine.” I hope.

The guards returned to the small room about ten minutes later with no Dakota. Their faces were blank as they came to my pole and unlocked my handcuffs revealing a tender light pink ring around each of my wrists. Two of the guards took my arms and one stood in front of me leading us to the same door they took Dakota through. The door extended into a long corridor with a handful of doors on each side. I listened intently as we passed each door hoping to hear Dakota, no such luck. At the end of the hallway was a dark wooden door with a ‘w’ printed in red directly in the middle. They opened the door and pushed me in where I came face to face with Daniel Warring. Great.  The room’s walls were a dark shade of gray giving the room a mysterious appeal. Warring was sitting behind a large desk with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Take a seat,” he said gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk. I eyed him with suspicion but did as I was told anyway.

“What can you tell me about the konrope?” he asked.

“Her name is Dakota, and I’m not telling you a thing,” I said sharply.

His eyebrows raised, “She seems like a touchy subject.”

“We’re friends,” I said steadily. I knew he was trying to get under my skin.

“Best friends, according to her,” he retorted in the same steady tone.

“You’re wasting your time. You’re not getting a word out of me,” I concluded. Before Warring could say anything else someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he muttered. A guard entered the room and he rolled his eyes. “What now?”

“The konrope wants to talk to you, sir.”

He nodded. “Bring her in and take this one back,” he said gesturing to me. Before I could even stand up the guard grabbed me and yanked me through the door.

“Justin,” a familiar voice said. I spun around and met the big green eyes of Dakota. She gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes but I didn’t hesitate to pull her into a hug.

“I have to go,” she said pulling away from the hug. “I need to talk to him.”

“About what?”

“Don’t worry about it. Everything will be okay,” she said turning to leave. I made a grab for her wrist but the guard stopped me and kept pushing me forward. I looked back at the door and caught of glimpse of Dakota’s hair before it closed.          It worried me that she wanted to talk to him. What was she thinking? The guard brought me back to the room where Alice, Rolin, James, and Derrick were and handcuffed me to the pole again.

“Well, what happened?” Derrick asked after the guards left.

“Nothing really,” I shrugged.

“Did you see Dakota?” Rolin asked. I nodded and told her that she wanted to talk to Warring.

“She wouldn’t tell me why,” I said. No one said anything after that. We just waited quietly and kept our thoughts to ourselves. Thankfully the door reopened breaking the silence. This time Dakota walked through accompanied by Daniel Warring and his guards. I didn’t know what to think as the guards started unlocking our handcuffs.

“You’re letting us go?” Derrick asked Warring cautiously stepping away from the pole.

“For now, but come back again and I won’t be so easily convinced,” he warned looking down at Dakota.

“She’s not staying here,” James stated gently pulling Dakota closer to him.

“Don’t worry. She’s going back with the rest of you,” Warring said. My brows furrowed in confusion but I didn’t question it. On that note we started making our way back to the portal guided by Derrick.

“What did you say to him?” I asked Dakota as we rounded the corner.

“I told you not to worry about it. We can all leave and that’s what matters,” she replied coldly.

“You know you can tell me, right? Did you threaten to burn down the Warring House or something?”

“Just drop it, okay,” she demanded and walked back over to James and took his hand. I sighed, I’d drop it for now but sooner or later I’ll get her to tell me.