The next morning was also a morning I wouldn't forget.
I had gone to bed by ten the previous night. Samara, surprisingly, had slept early, and thus, I lost the chance to tell her about the plan. Which I wasn't sure I was going to do, anyway.
She woke me up the next morning. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Samara nearly jumping up and down, which was a strange sight for someone like Samara. But then again, everything seemed like a strange sight when I woke up.
Today was different, however.
"Amy, I think I know what the password is!"
I shot up from my lying position, almost hitting my head against the bunk bed. "What?" I gasped.
"Yes!" she squealed in excitement.
No, no, no. She'll surely tell the colonel. If it's what I think it is, all the planning we did would fail. Everything would be over.
This can't possibly be happening.
"That's...great, Samara!" I tried sounding enthusiastic, but in reality, I was covering up the overwhelming sense of dread washing over me.
"C'mon," she tugged my sleeve. "I'll tell you all about it in the sector!"
"I'm coming," I'll tell her. She hurriedly walked over to the door and left, closing it shut.
I'd never felt so doomed in my life. After a miserable attempt to freshen up, I shuffled out of room fifty three and walked slowly to the Decoding sector, as if my snail-like pace would save me from what Samara was going to tell me.
I walked into my sector with it's blue lighting reflecting off the printers and the floor. I took a deep breath. Maybe I was worrying too much. Maybe the password Samara thought of was wrong.
I took my usual seat next to her and she turned towards me excitedly.
"Hey. You ready?"
I sighed, giving a fake smile. "Yes."
"Okay." She tapped her fingers on the table. "Amy, what's the first letter of fragments?"
I gulped. Anna had asked me the exact same thing.
"F," I said.
"And that's the sixth letter of the alphabet."
She knows the password. She knows it. We're doomed.
"And?" I enquired, as if I didn't know what she was talking about.
"The first digit of the password is six," Samara said. "The second letter is R. That's the eighteenth letter."
"Oh," I interrupted quickly. "Then we can't know the second digit."
"No, wait," she told me. "One plus eight is nine. Nine can be the second digit."
"Are you sure..." I asked, trying to make her doubt.
But she nodded. "A hundred percent. Okay, then A is the first letter. So the next digit is one. G is the seventh. Seven. M is the thirteenth. One plus three. Four. E is the fifth. Five. N is the fourteenth. One plus four, that's five. T is the twentieth. Two plus zero. Two. S is the nineteenth. One plus nine. That's ten. So we add one and zero again. And therefore, the last digit is one!"
I knew it was over. As she read the whole password out loud once, hurricanes of worry tore through my head. What was I going to do?
"Six, eight, one, seven, four, five, five, two, one," she finished.
"Samara, are you sure?" I asked miserably.
"Yes, Amy. My gut tells me this is it."
"I'm glad we figured it out," I lied.
She nodded. "We need to report it to the colonel. He'd be glad we did it! Maybe I finally wouldn't have to work in this rotten excuse of a sector..."
She continued, saying something about a promotion, but I could barely register her words.
I need to get to the other world before the colonel. Or else I'd never find my father. Never.
We had to change the plan. Completely.
"Amy, c'mon. Let's go to the colonel's office," she pulled my hand, standing up, and I reluctantly got up with her.
"Samara, wait," I tried again. "Maybe we should go over the password again. It might not be correct."
"Amy, I've been going over it the whole morning. And hey, even if it isn't correct, it's worth a shot, right?"
I sighed, remembering that I had thought of the exact same thing.
I finally gave in. "Okay then, let's get going."
I didn't know where the colonel's office was, so I was surprised when we left our sector and started walking down the corridor towards the dormitories.
Samara opened the door for me, and I stepped inside, followed by her. She walked over to the male dorms and was about to open the door when I stopped her.
"Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing? Why are we going to the male dorms?"
She grinned mischievously. "It's time you meet your male counterparts. They're dying to be with you."
When my eyes widened, she laughed. "Geez, Amy. The colonel's office is here. Why else would I come to the male dorms?"
"Oh—oh." I could've sworn my face was red as a tomato.
I wasn't accustomed to Samara making jokes, and she was definitely amused by my expression.
"Wow, guess I'm in a good mood, huh?" she said, as she pushed the door open.
It was the same as the female dorms: the hallway was marked by numbered doors for the men. Samara, however, went to stand before room one, and she firmly knocked on the door.
"Come in," I heard the colonel say, and I realised that 'room number one' was actually the colonel's office.
Samara pushed the door open. I was about to follow her, but she raised a hand. "It's better if you let me handle this."
I nodded. Fine by me. I didn't want to see that sorry excuse of a leader, anyway.
She shut the door. Their conversation was inaudible, so I stood there, trying to understand how difficult things were going to be now.
If the password is correct, I thought, there would be no stopping the colonel. He'd be more powerful than ever. No longer stuck on earth, he'd bring his complete army and destroy our world the way he destroyed his. And I'd never find my father.
There had to be a way I could fix this...right?
C'mon Amy, think.
Just then, the door opened and Samara walked out of the room, a big smile on her face. When she shut the door behind her, she said, "I told him. He said he's going to ask someone from the RG to test it. If it's correct, then we'll be going back to our world."
"RG?" I asked.
"Roaming groups. The last sector."
"Oh...alright," I nodded, giving her a forceful smile. "So...till then?"
"Till then, we have the day off."
I wasn't sure what Samara was going to do for the rest of the day, but I needed to think. Think like I'd never thought before.
I escaped to my dorm, quickly shutting the door and sitting down on my bed. I held my head in my hands. I could've stopped Samara. I should've stopped Samara. But no, I just let her walk over to the colonel and ruin our plan. I even accompanied her to show support.
I clenched my fists, mad at myself. What was wrong with me? Why didn't I stop her? I got up, stomping my foot in frustration. Ugh. Why did I have to be so stupid?
Amy, amy, amy. Stupid Amy.
Stop.
I waited for a second or two, then took a deep breath. Amy. Calm yourself. There's no point in regretting now. What's done is done.
I slowly eased my hands, staring at the mark my nails had made on my palms. I don't have the power to stop the colonel from getting back to his world...but I need to find my father.
So I have to get there first.
Alec had said he'd try out the password in his free time. But we had that discussion only last night, and today he was probably busy in his sector, so he wouldn't have tried it out yet.
But the colonel sent someone to try it. If the password is correct, the colonel will want to go back ASAP. But I have to get there first.
So the first thing to do be done was to check the correctness of the password.
Which meant...all I could do was wait. Wait till the password is verified. When it is, we go with our plan, and quick, before the colonel reaches there first.
But Heather needed time for those cameras...
No. There was no time. She had to figure it out soon. Very soon.
I rubbed my palm with my thumb. If this plan doesn't work, I'd never find my father.
You will find him. Just have faith. You can do this.
But what if we can't—
Stop. No what ifs. No buts. It'd simply have to work. That's it. And I had to talk to my friends to let them know.
I was tired of going to the Assistant and the Weapons sector again and again, so I decided to tell Anna to inform the rest.
I called her, let her know of everything that had happened and instructed her to tell the others.
And yet, I was restless. How will I get to know when the password gets verified?
The colonel would announce it, probably, I told myself. He can't be going to his world alone.
If he doesn't announce it, Alec will try it anyway. So by tonight, I should know if the password was correct or not.
Thus, today had taught me a new lesson: waiting was difficult.
As each second passed, the uneasiness grew. Restlessness was unbearable. I really want to do something, anything, but what? I was helpless. Wait. Wait. Wait. It was all I could do.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
I knew for a fact that my wait would only last till tonight, but I was going crazy. As each second ticked by, I felt worse and worse. Trying to use my phone to distract myself was useless. Nothing was working.
Tick. Tick. Tick. The hours passed.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
At exactly five PM, a voice boomed throughout the place, in every room and in every sector. I hadn't known that there were speakers around here, but if there were hidden cameras, the speakers could be hidden too.
It was an announcement. The announcement I'd been waiting for.
Attention. The following sectors will implement closure procedures immediately: Decoding. Assistant. Recruitment. Training. Roaming groups. The members of said sectors will accompany us to Dasrean shortly. The said sectors have three days, including today, to complete closure procedures. We leave for Dasrean on the night of the third day.
Attention. The following sectors will implement...
At first, I hadn't understood it. Dasrean? What the heck was a Dasrean?
Closure procedures...which means these sectors weren't needed anymore.
If Alec had said that Decoding was a really important sector...and if that sector was no longer required, it meant that the password we had figured out was correct.
I didn't know if I should've been happy or not, but I sure wasn't. The said sectors have three days, including today, to complete closure procedures. We leave for Dasrean on the night of the third day.
Oh. Oh.
Dasrean was the other world.
This fact made me furious, first at Hale, then at Alec, then at both. They just forgot to mention the name of the other world? And I've been here for days! How could I not know this?
Ugh, forget that! There are much more important things!
Three days, including today. Which meant that, if we had to reach before them, we needed to leave tonight, or at most, tomorrow night.
It was good, in a way. We would be leaving earlier than I thought. Maybe my father would be found.
My father...
I was so close...so close. If I wasn't surrounded by the what ifs, buts and or elses, I would've been super excited. And yet, I had no idea where I would find him. Maybe Alec and Hale would know once we get to Dasrean.
So close...
We should leave by tonight, I thought. No point in waiting for tomorrow. The earlier, the better.
But those cameras...Heather needed time.
I had to talk to them. And I wasn't going to wait for dinner. I'd already waited enough.
With this new objective, I finally got up from my bed and marched over to the door of room fifty three. No more waiting.
I headed over to Anna's sector. She was just leaving, and her eyes lit up on seeing me.
"Amy! Did you hear—"
"Yes, I did." She was a little surprised by my firmness. "We need to talk. Now. Bring the others from their sectors. I'll be waiting at the refreshments table."
Moments later, I was pacing back and forth in the refreshments room, hands behind my back, the way my father did whenever he was engrossed in his thoughts.
The door opened and my friends quickly, quietly, filed in. I didn't want to sit. I had done that the whole day, anyway.
I turned to Hale and Alec first. "Dasrean?" I demanded.
"Oh, it's the oth—" Hale began.
"Yes, I know what it is," I snapped. "And you just failed to tell me this earlier?"
He ran a hand through his annoyingly gorgeous hair. "Sorry."
I looked at Alec, who shrugged. "Well, it's Hale's fault."
Hale opened his mouth to say something, but I raised a hand. "Nevermind. Guys, look, you know the situation. We need to reach Dasrean before the colonel."
Anna nodded. "I was thinking of tomorrow night."
"Why not tonight?" I suggested. "It's better if we leave early. We need all the time we can get to find my father."
"Amy," Heather spoke up. "The cameras..."
"Please tell me you figured it out."
She shook her head, and I sighed. "Heather, we need to do it ASAP."
"I'm trying," she admitted. "I'm new to all this, just like you, Amy. I'm still not sure how to disable the cameras, even if I've been working in the Surveillance sector. It's not easy."
"I didn't say it's easy," I told her. "Can't you hurry up with it?"
Heather threw her hands up in exasperation. "I just told you—"
"I don't care!" I snapped at her. I felt like I was losing it. "We need to leave by tomorrow night, Heather! The fact that you still have no idea of how to disable the cameras will ruin our plan!"
I could feel her heating up. "Are you listening to yourself, Amy?" she demanded. "Did you not hear a word I said? I'm trying. I didn't say I have no idea, I said I'm not sure—"
I clenched my fists. "It doesn't matter if you don't have an idea or if you aren't sure! I've been working so hard since my mother's death to find my father! And now, when we're so close, so close, you tell me you can't disable some cameras?"
Heather shot up from her seat.
"Heather, Amy, stop it," Anna interrupted. "Calm down and we'll sort it out."
Neither I nor Heather heeded her. "You know, Amy, we're all here for you. We—" she pointed herself and Anna, "—are doing this for you! We've left our houses and come to this miserable place to find your father! Despite all odds, despite all the possibilities of being screwed—" she pointed at Alec and Hale, "Alec and Hale are here for you! But you don't care. Now, the slightest hindrance from my side, even if it's not my fault, causes you to throw a tantrum! How ungrateful can you be?"
A silence heavier than the world's greatest burden ensued.
I let the bitter words sink in. I wanted to reply, to say something befitting to her, but I found I couldn't.
I bit my lip. Was it guilt that was settling down in me? Or embarrassment? I meet Anna's, Hale's and Alec's bewildered faces, and I shook my head. I didn't how to respond, how to react, what to say. I was at a loss for words.
"That's enough!" Anna spoke up. "Heather, Amy, sit down." When we didn't move, she ordered, "I said sit down."
Since I didn't know what to do anyway, I shuffled a few steps forward and took a seat. Wordlessly, Heather sat next to me.
"Arguing isn't going to help," Anna told us. "Stop. Just stop. Amy, Heather said she's trying. We will leave tomorrow night, no matter what. Okay?"
I nodded silently, still confused by the mix of emotions.
"Heather, can you figure out how to disable those cams by tomorrow night?"
"Hopefully," was all she said.
"Great," Anna replied. She turned to Hale and Alec, who were having a serious time avoiding the awkwardness. "Will you bring the weapons?"
Both of them nodded. "It'll be enough for the five of us," Alec added.
"Good," Anna answered. When no one said anything after that, she sighed. "Guys. We're in this together. If we split up now nothing is going to work. You hear me?"
Her words were followed by silence. I took some time, and just as Anna was going to say something again, I finally spoke up.
"Yeah."
I was still feeling as uncomfortable as ever. I needed time to process Heather's bitter words. I didn't have the courage to look her in the eye, for some reason I'd only find out when I would think with a calm mind.
"Well, then," Anna concluded, "We leave tomorrow night."
******
A/N: Hello, my lovely readers! How was this chapter? Are you excited about their plan? Will it work?
Whew! What do you think of Heather and Amy's heated argument?
And to let you all know, we have only 4-5 chapters left for this book to be complete! Thoughts? Do you think Amy will find her father? Tell me in the comments! EEK I'M HELLA EXCITED
Cheers, and have an awesome day ahead! :)