Chapter 13: Dale's Lockets

A Chapter by Mathew Nicolson

They hadn’t followed far, when the two men stopped outside a building.

“It’s in here,” the man in black said.

“Excellent!” the blonde man said, half bouncing. “Your work has intrigued me for so many years!”

“I can’t really call it work, there’s little progress,” the man in black sighed, unlocking the door.

“But, I’ve seen your reports, they’re phenomenal!”

“Indeed. If you’d kindly step inside…”

He held open the door for the blonde haired man, who stepped inside. He then went in, and closed the door. The lock clicked back as it closed.

“It’s hard to tell…” Billy said, hiding in an alley with Paul and Anonni. “Since in that… vision, you don’t really hear the voices, you feel them. But I think that’s the man I heard.”

“Let’s go then,” Anonni said. He took off the sword and laid it in the alleyway. “Someone stay here with the sword, I’ll go and unlock the door.”

“I’ll go with you,” Billy said, leaving Paul to look after the sword.

“Don’t mind me…” Paul muttered sarcastically. They didn’t. Anonni and Billy walked towards the door. Anonni searched in his pockets, and pulled out a small metal wire.

“I’ve studied locks in your world, they’re fairly similar to ours,” he explained.

“Would it not be easier to just knock?” Billy asked.

“Knock? Why would you want to knock?” Anonni asked, while beginning to slide the metal wire into the lock.

“At the moment we could just pretend to be looking for something, to get closer and find out if they have the Locket,” Billy said. “We don’t want to go in all violent yet.”

“I see your point,” Anonni said without stopping with the wire. “But why knock?”

“To let them know we want to speak to them!” Billy cried.

“Oh! Is that how you do it here?” Anonni exclaimed, finally stopping with the wire. “Most fascinating. In Meadous, we have the genius system of disguising doors as walls, and only people you want to enter the home know where the door is.”

“What if someone wants you without knowing your home?” Billy asked.

“There are windows…” Anonni explained. “Anyway, since you seem to be the expert, you can knock.”

Billy did so, and knocked four even beats onto the door.

“What do we say?” Billy said through clenched teeth.

“I’ll handle it,” Anonni said.

After only ten seconds, the door unlocked and opened. The man in black they had only recently seen emerged.

“You don’t have an appointment,” he said in a dull tone. “How may I help you? It can’t be urgent.”

“I’m afraid it is,” Anonni said with a hint of authority in his voice. He stepped past the man and walked into the doorway. “It can’t wait, not even minutes.”

“Excuse me sir-”

Anonni ignored him and continued along the corridor. “Come on Billy.”

The corridor was badly lit, and Billy found it quite creepy. He could easily see it was well kept; the corridor smelt of paint, and there was no dust or dirt to be seen.

“I must insist-” the man shouted, getting stern.

“And so must I!” Anonni shouted. He very quickly gained dominance. The man sighed, and admitted defeat. He looked almost a different man, as if he had aged twenty years.

“What is it you want, sir?” he asked.

“Do you have a strange locket?” Anonni asked. He knew immediately he’d asked the right thing. The man’s eyes opened wide for a split second, and he made a tiny gasp.

“I have many lockets, in my trade,” he said calmly, brushing away his sudden fear. “Describe it…”

“It’s triangular…” another moment of fear. “And, it has a chain,” the fear stayed. “And it’s coloured gold,” Anonni finished. The man relaxed.

“Gold? You’re sure?” he asked. Anonni looked at Billy, who nodded.

“Definitely gold,” he answered.

“Oh, well I’m very sorry, we have no gold ones,” the man said, now smiling slightly. “If you’d kindly-”

“The description seemed pretty close,” Anonni interrupted. “I want to see this locket of yours. It is possible it was somehow painted since I last saw it.”

The man relaxed once again. They had tried painting it; it always reverted back to the original colour. That mystery had had them stumped for ages. But it paid to be careful, so he said, “I don’t think we have the locket you’re looking for. Why are you looking, anyway?”

“I just want to see it,” Anonni said, ignoring the question.

“Hm.” He was slightly intimidated. There was little choice.

“Alright,” he said finally. “I’m Dale Gray,” he extended his arm. Anonni looked at it, confused.

“I’m Anonni Strèkalinski,” he said.

“And I’m Billy Jackson,” Billy said.

“Now, the Locket,” Anonni demanded.

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