Chapter 55 - The Great Escape

Kerri was lying down on the grass with Sitara, staring up at the clouds in the sky.

“Think hard,” Sitara told her. “The key to that thing has got to be somewhere.”

“Why are you so sure that the key’s going to be in the most obvious place and that the reason I wouldn’t be able to find it is because it’s too obvious and that I’ll ignore it?”

Sitara shrugged. “That’s the way Driscoll thinks. But then again, he’s full of weird ideas, so who knows? Maybe he chucked it somewhere in our realm. I’m just saying it never hurts to make sure.”

“Our realm? You mean the Human Realm?”

“No. It’s what the Sterling calls the O.R.”

“Oh.” Kerri’s hand reached up to her necklace—or rather, Arik’s necklace. She had decided that as sweet a gesture it was, she was going to give it back to him when she saw him again. If she saw him again. She sighed, running her thumb lightly over the indented carvings of Arik’s initials. A.D.

She missed him.

She reached behind her neck and unfastened the necklace and held it up with her fingers up in front of her, watching the sunlight glint brightly off it. She sighed and looked at her wrist, at the ugly metal casing.

Then she noticed the slit that the key was supposed to inserted in to unlock it. She held up the thin sliver of silver with Arik’s initials in it and then looked into the slit of the metal casing and saw little convex patterns inside.

Would it fit? She wondered as she pushed the piece of silver into the metal cuff. It sprang open and dropped down to the grass.

“Oh my God,” she said excitedly, sitting up.

“What is it?” Sitara asked her, her eyes still closed.

“I found the key.”

Sitara’s eyes opened. “What was it?”

“The necklace Arik gave me.”

“Driscoll must’ve taken a copy of it when you were unconscious and made the cuff then.”

Kerri closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of her magic rushing back into her, the Mark at the back of neck glowing brightly and heating up. “Ah. I feel strong again.” She sighed.

“Don’t!” Sitara cried when Kerri was about to do some magic.

“Why not?”

“Give the magic a little time to settle down,” Sitara said. “If you do anything now the result’s going to come out like ten times stronger than it should.”

Kerri lay down again and snapped the cuff back on her wrist. “This is going to be useful later.” She put the necklace back around her neck, already feeling the magic draining from her.

Thanks, Arik. I knew you’d help me get out of here.

***

It was late at night when someone tapped Kerri on the shoulder.

“Wha—” she mumbled.

He shushed her. “Be quiet.”

She frowned and opened her eyes. That didn’t sound like Ty. She looked around the room and saw nobody. Great. This place was making her insane.

“I’m Mick, a friend of Drake’s. I’m here to bust you out.”

“Where the hell are you?” Kerri whispered fiercely. Beside her, Ty rolled over in his sleep.

The voice shushed her again. “I’m a spirit. You can’t see me. Yet. Now are you coming with me or what?”

“I suppose so,” Kerri said.

“Okay, this is going to feel weird,” the voice warned her before touching her on the arm.

“Wha—whoa,” Kerri yelped as she felt herself melting away and becoming invisible. “Hey, I can see you now.” She looked him up and down. “I can also see why you’re Drake’s uh, friend.”

Mick winked at her. “Let’s go. Be quiet though, just because they can’t see us doesn’t mean they can’t hear us.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room.

Once they were outside he took something out of his trouser pocket and unrolled it. It was a sketch of the building.

A very bad sketch. “Who the hell drew that?” Kerri asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Mick shot her a look. “Your Mate.” He stuffed the sketch back into his pocket. “Come on. This way.”

“Where’s Arik?” she asked him.

“At the Sterling.”

“Does he know you’re here?”

“No.”

She stopped and Mick was comically thrown backwards when she refused to move. “What?”

“I decided to get you out of here one night earlier.”

“Why the hell would you do that?”

Mick shrugged. “Felt like it. Besides, it would surprise Arik and all the others.”

“How do I know that I can trust you?”

“You don’t. Take a risk, Kerri.”

Kerri narrowed her eyes. “What’s the name of Drake’s ex? The one with the creepy hair?”

Mick laughed. “That’s easy. Kelvin.”

Kerri raised her eyebrows.

“His name is Kelvin,” Mick protested. “He just likes people calling him Kelly.”

Kerri grinned. “Fine. Let’s get out of here.” She grabbed his arm. “Wait, can we bring someone else with us?”

Mick frowned. “I don’t know—”

“Arik won’t mind. I’m sure.”

“Well…”

“Please?”

“Fine, fine, but hurry.”

Kerri dragged him all the way to Sitara’s room and knocked on the door.

“Sitara,” she whispered.

Sitara was reading a book. She looked up, frowning.

Kerri nodded at Mick and he took hold of Sitara’s arm and made her invisible.

Sitara looked from Kerri to Mick.

“Who’s he?” she asked eventually.

“Our saviour,” Kerri said. “Come on, let’s go.”

“But…I can’t just…leave.”

“Oh, yes, you can. Come on,” she prompted. “Think about Joshua and all your friends. And freedom. And happiness.”

Sitara finally relented.

They were about to pass through the last wall—Kerri thought passing through walls were cool—when suddenly the alarms went off.

“What’s going on?” she asked Mick as Sitara’s eyes widened in fear.

He groaned. “I forgot that there were also spirits at the C.E. who can see us.”

“Go through that wall,” she ushered them towards the wall. “Go, go, go!”

“It’s no use,” Mick said as they went through the wall. “The spirits can still come and get us.”

“I have a plan,” Kerri said.

Once they were through the wall, Kerri told Mick and Sitara to stand back and quickly slotted the piece of silver into the cuff. It snapped open and as the magic rushed back into her like raging water that flowed through a broken dam, Kerri spread her palms wide and let the heat spit at full blast out of her hands.

Fire coated the whole building and it went up in flames. Beside her, Mick and Sitara spouted fire at the C.E. as well. After a while, Kerri motioned for them to stop and brought her palms up and towards the sky, thrusting with all her might. The ground shot up and encased the C.E., still in its flaming glory.

Kerri wiped the sweat away from her forehead, exhausted. “Let’s go.”

It was raining hard, but she didn’t care, because she was going home.

***

“Thanks again, Mick,” Kerri called after him.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he called over his shoulder before going into Drake’s room.

Kerri turned around and put her hands on Sitara’s shoulders. “Go to Joshua,” she said softly, smiling.

Sitara smiled suddenly, pulling Kerri into a hug. “Thank you, Kerri,” she whispered in her ear before shifting away.

Kerri turned and faced the door that led to Arik’s room. She took a deep breath, unable to keep the grin off her face.

Honey, she trilled, I’m home.

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