Wings of Paper - Chapter 10

The New Plan

Every bone in my body ached. My back stung like I had been attacked by a whole swarm of wasps. My shoulder throbbed and overall I could feel the events of the past few days catching up to me. 

I awoke a dark room on a canopy bed, something that greatly scared me. Who had put me here? I found that I was in a room in a castle. 

After a while of banging on the doors I realized that I was locked in. There were a few windows, which I peered out of. I appeared to be on the edge of a cliff overlooking the fictional world. The cliff was extremely steep which would make it impossible to scale. 

Taking advantage of the time to myself, I bathed in a large washroom. My skin was glad to be cleaned and I felt amazing afterwards. 

I found some bandages in a cabinet in the washroom, which I used to rebandage my shoulder and my back. I also found a wardrobe, which surprisingly had t-shirts, hoodies, and jeans. I dressed quickly even though I had nothing to do except explore. 

The bedroom was empty with the exception of the bed, so I had little items to use to my advantage. I had no idea where I was, only that I was probably in Sadie’s kingdom, maybe even her castle. And I had created this castle after all, which gave me an idea. After a few minutes of sitting on the bed with my eyes closed I finally stood, ready for this challenge. 

I pried two floorboards upwards and pulled some pins and ribbons from inside. I found a hole in the stones and pulled it open to discover some spare daggers. I pocketed all of this before approaching the lock on the wooden door. I brought down the hilt of the dagger repeatedly on the doorknob until it snapped and fell to the floor. The door swung open into an empty stone hallway. 

I was quiet as I crept down the corridor, I still wasn’t sure where my friends were. 

Down the hallway on the left was another wooden door, almost identical to mine. I could hear movement inside, something that sounded suspiciously like banging on the walls. I repeated the action with my dagger and Alex’s face met mine. 

She was freshly groomed as well, though she carried none of the items I did. 

“Luke?” Alex cried out, throwing her arms around my neck. “You’re alive! I thought Dee killed all of us, or at least imprisoned me.” 

“No, she knocked all of you out and then threatened to destroy everything I’ve ever cared about. She said it would be more fun to watch us suffer from afar, but she didn’t injure any of us.” Alex pulled away from me, her eyes meeting mine. I was just as confused as she was on why Dee had spared us. 

“Let’s go find the others,” Alex suggested. 

“Here, this might help.” I handed her one of the pins and her fingers gripped it tightly. “I think we’re in Sadie’s castle,” I continued as we made our way down the corridor. “I also think we’re trapped in here, which means we need to find a way to escape.” 

Alex and I stopped in front of the next door and she immediately set to work picking the lock. “Where’d you learn to do that?” I asked her. 

Alex shrugged. “As I’ve told you many times before, I took up many hobbies to attract my parent’s attention. It never worked.” The lock clicked and Kenzie opened the door. Her face was set in stone, she wasn’t expecting us to open the door. 

“I thought you were Dee,” Kenzie said, her voice filled with bitterness. Then she slapped me across the face. I gaped at her, wincing as new pain filled my cheek. “That’s for leaving us behind, you idiot. You really thought you could control us long enough to get yourself killed? Great idea.” 

“Hey, I did control you,” I protested, but Alex held up her hand. 

“Now isn’t the time to argue. We need to find our friends and get out of here before Dee destroys something else.” Alex crossed her arms, but Kenzie didn’t apologize, simply nodding her thanks to Alex for opening the door. 

Sammy was practically livid when we found him, though not at me. His muscles were tense and he seemed to be in pain. “Where’s Sadie?” His voice was thick with worry. 

“She’s locked in one of the other rooms,” I told him, attempting to pat him on the back. He swatted my hand away. “Relax, man. She’s probably fine. It’s Sadie, after all. She’s a tough girl.” 

“I took an oath to protect her,” Sammy argued, trying to force me out of his way so he could find her. I had to admit that the boy was strong, but he was also stubborn in all the wrong ways. Loyalty shouldn’t have taken over his life like it was. “I am held to the oath of my life, now get out of my way.” 

“Hey, Sammy, calm down,” Alex said, grabbing his hands before he could pull away. “We get that you’re worried and you’re devoted to Sadie. But protecting her isn’t your entire life. It’s okay to find something else you enjoy as well. Live life to the fullest.” 

Sammy nodded, but I knew he was ignoring the message. Right now his only focus was Sadie’s wellbeing, not his own. We would talk more later. 

“Are we in Sadie’s castle?” I asked as we continued down the corridor. 

“You mean Sadie and I’s castle,” Sammy corrected. “And it appears that we’re in the royal wing of the castle, so yes, yes we are.” 

That was as much talking as we needed to do. 

We found Hiro at the next set of doors. Alex opened the door and Hiro sent a glance our way. He was sitting on a window seat at the far side of his room, gazing longingly out the window. “Oh, you’re here,” he said, monotone. 

I figured we could talk more once we found Sadie so I didn’t push it. Hiro seemed quieter than normal, but he was probably just worried about Dee. 

There was only one set of doors left in the corridor. But when we opened the doors, the room was empty. Sammy was not pleased and immediately commenced a search of the entire room. 

Alex and I hung back at the doorway while Kenzie and Hiro looked around. 

“She was definitely here,” Kenzie announced, emerging from the closet holding Sadie’s old clothing in the air. “And the bathtub is still wet at the bottom, so she hasn’t been gone for long.” 

“That doesn’t explain where she went,” Alex sighed. She turned to Sammy. “You said this is Sadie’s castle, correct?” 

Sammy nodded, not even correcting Alex. 

“So you’ve been here before, you used to live here. Was there any secret passageways Sadie could’ve used?” Alex was peering at the walls searching for an escape. 

I guess Sadie could have climbed out the windows, but the glass wasn’t broken or moved in any way. Besides, the windows here only lead to the courtyard in the center of the castle, and there were little ledges to be used for climbing. 

Sammy thought for a second before facepalming. “Of course!” he exclaimed. 

He made his way over to the bed and got on his hands and knees before crawling under it. His voice was muffled as he spoke. “This wing is for royals visiting from other kingdoms, which rarely occurred. Sadie and I found a network of trapdoors and tunnels under most of the rooms. They all lead to a cave in the base of the cliff with a lagoon in the middle.” 

“So Sadie probably escaped,” Kenzie clarified. “And she’ll be waiting for us in the lagoon.” 

“Most likely,” Sammy said. “C’mon, we should hurry.” 

“What’s the rush?” I asked, but slid down onto my hands and knees as I crawled underneath the bed. Sammy had unlocked a small clasp on the door and was lifting it up. 

Luckily the room under the bed was spacious enough for me to comfortably slide my body down over the edge of the trapdoor. My feet found the rungs of a ladder and I descended quickly. 

I found myself in a dark tunnel with absolutely no light. I could hear the soft murmur of Kenzie and Hiro in conversation and the trapdoor slammed shut. 

Someone snapped and a tiny orb of light appeared in Sammy’s fist. “The lagoon is this way,” he announced and turned to our right. We followed behind him, stumbling over tiny divots in the ground. But none of us were elves besides Sammy which meant we couldn’t control the light like he could. 

“You should really install some torches,” Hiro muttered. 

“We’re under a centuries old castle, any installations could shake the structure,” Sammy replied. “Sadie and I discussed it many times but because we were the only ones who used the passages we didn’t need too - we’re both elves.” 

“You two seem to be troublemakers for royals,” Kenzie noted. 

“Sadie knew she wouldn’t be queen unless her brother ended up dead, so she decided to make the most of life,” Sammy explained. “And for the record, Prince Erick knew about these passages, he chose to ignore them.” 

Erick was Sadie’s brother, and it surprised me a little that a rule-abiding boy like him would have any interest in secret tunnels. 

“Here we are, just ahead,” Sammy announced a little while later. I was glad, my feet burned with every step. If I ever got home I would take up hiking to prepare for unexpected journeys like this one.

The underground lagoon was beautiful for a cave. The stalagmites and stalactites were coated in bioluminescent flowers that gave off a soft blue glow and the scent of chocolate. In the lagoon itself the water was crystal clear but algae painted rocks blanketed the bottom of the pool. The algae was the same color as the flowers, and it gave off the same glow. Small holes in the sides of the walls let beams of sunlight streak through and illuminate the cave. 

There was a nook in the wall next to the passageway we had just appeared from, it was filled with blankets and some towels. 

Sammy caught me looking. “We spent a lot of time here, and I prepared in case we had to hide from the witches. There’s food stores hidden all around, though most are probably outdated because I haven’t updated it in a few months.” 

He was gazing around with such awe that I had to remember that he had probably spent a good piece of his childhood here with Sadie. 

“Sammy?” a voice called out from behind one of the stalagmites. “You’re alive!” Sadie stepped out from behind the rock form, brushing off her pink dress. She ran at us, flinging herself at Sammy in a hug. 

“I’m here,” Sammy whispered to her as he held her in his arms. I looked away and happened to meet Alex’s eyes. Heat rose to my cheeks and I had to look away from her too. 

“I thought Dee killed all of you and spared me because of my innocence,” Sadie sobbed, wiping away her tears. “I was coming here to gather some stuff before escaping through the holes.” She pointed upwards to where the windows were. 

Sammy scoffed. “You couldn’t climb that.” Sadie crossed her arms and Sammy rolled his eyes. 

“Look this is touching and everything, but what exactly is our plan,” Kenzie interrupted. 

“First thing is first, we need to escape,” I said. “Sadie and Sammy know their way around the castle best. I think everyone else is gone, which means we just have to unlock all of the doors and such.” 

“I know a place,” Sadie smirked, earning another sigh from Sammy. 

I didn’t envy the position of a bodyguard, especially one with a charge so exuberant as Sadie. Sammy’s job definitely wasn’t easy. 

“Are all of us uninjured?” Alex asked. “We need to be in top condition to fight Dee again.” She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t exactly eager to fight Dee any time soon. My face burned with shame as I remembered our failure in vivid detail. 

“I mean we’re not dead,” Hiro remarked. “Isn’t that good enough?” 

“Wait, didn’t you get stabbed in the side?” Kenzie realized, her eyes growing wide as she took in Hiro’s frame. He was definitely in pain, I could tell by his grimaced expression and slight tilt to the left. He was hurting. 

“I’m fine,” Hiro argued. 

“Let me see the wound,” Kenzie said, reaching for him. 

Hiro pulled away, his eyes wide with fear. “I bandaged it already. Please just believe me. I’m fine.” 

He didn’t sound fine, but Kenzie gave up, giving an exasperated sigh. Hiro seemed to relax a bit, but I made a mental note to interrogate him later. He was lying about something, and I would find out what it was. 

“Hey, at least we didn’t completely lose,” Sadie pointed out, changing the subject. “We managed to live, just like Hiro said.” 

“I wonder why Dee let us go,” Alex said, tapping her lip with her finger. “It just doesn’t make sense. She wants us dead, so why not just kill us while we’re down. Luke was helpless to stop her.” She sent me a pitying look and I glared back at her. 

“She said something about not being an accident that I told her she was. Basically, because I refuse to make her a hero she wants to destroy the entire world until she’s the only thing left,” I explained. 

Sadie wrinkled her nose. “What an attention hog! I’m not the main character and I haven’t destroyed anything.” 

“Yet,” Kenzie mumbled. “Time will tell.” Sadie stuck out her tongue. 

“Well Dee’s also nearly impossible to wound, and Sadie can get injured,” Alex pointed out. “Luke’s sword went right through her and she pulled the knife out of her head like it was no big deal.” 

“Maybe if the rest of us had been there to help, we could’ve taken her down,” Kenzie said. Great, she had to bring that up. “Luke, why would you leave us behind? We’re your team, not your escorts. We’re here to help.” She crossed her arms and took a seat on the ground, the rest of us sinking to the ground beside her. 

“I thought maybe Dee would spare you,” I said, avoiding Kenzie’s death glare. 

“Yeah, well she didn’t. She doesn’t care for any of us,” Alex said, her voice holding the same bitterness as Kenzie’s. I couldn’t say I didn’t regret abandoning my friends. Especially because Alex had been sentient during all of it. “You can’t give in to her and she won’t hesitate to kill us. You won’t abandon us again.” 

“Or what,” I said back, starting to get irritated. Did everyone really have to keep bringing up my mistakes? I already suffered through them once. Did I have to experience the scorn again? 

“Look, Luke, we’re not trying to make you frustrated,” Sadie said, her voice calmer than the others. “We’re angry, and we have the right to be. Just because your imagination power thing is great doesn’t give you the right to use it on us.” I nodded, but I wasn’t really paying much attention. 

I knew I would be upset if someone basically controlled everything about me, so the reaction of the others seemed reasonable. But I knew I had made a mistake, why did they have to keep rubbing it in? 

“I won’t do it again,” I lied. If I needed to, I would ensure none of my friends died, even if it meant forcing them to turn back. 

The others seemed to believe me, and Hiro spoke next. “So, we need a plan on how to kill Dee. Any ideas?” He waited, a false smile plastered on his face. No one answered, we all knew that this was no easy feat. 

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. “There’s an old warlock who lives in the mountains,” I announced. “He’s incredibly skilled with magic, maybe he can get us a potion or spell that will weaken Dee enough to deliver the final blow. Besides, he’d be able to help us travel quicker.” 

Hiro shook his head. “That won’t work.” 

“Why?” Alex interjected. “It seems logical. What’s wrong with that plan?” 

“The warlock is dead,” Hiro turned to me. “I assume you’re speaking of Master Athens.” I nodded. Athens was a wizard character who I had created in Hiro’s story, and he was the owner of one of the diamonds Hiro was looking for. But if Athens was dead… 

“How do you know?” I asked. “Athens was strong, and he lived closer to Sadie’s world than yours. The Darkness wouldn’t have reached him yet.” 

“Dee killed him at the beginning,” Hiro explained through gritted teeth as he drug his sword through the dirt, forming small lines. “When the Darkness first appeared I sought him out to find the Ancient Texts in hopes we could find a solution. He gave me the scrolls but then he was attacked by some mysterious force. He begged for me to run and I did. Dee had her sights set on him from the beginning, she knew he was strong so she killed him while he wasn’t expecting it.” 

Athens was dead, which meant my one hope was gone. I wished I had created more heroes or willful characters, but now it was too late. 

“Any other ideas?” Sadie asked, still sounding chipper. But I could tell that her hopes were sinking too. We all knew it was a long shot that we would be able to kill Dee. She was powerful. Too powerful. 

It was almost as if we needed a secret weapon, something Dee wouldn’t expect. The most helpful would be something I could create that would bring her down, something relatively quick to create. That reminded me of the ribbons that I had created in my room early. I pulled them out of my pockets and began passing them around. 

“What are these?” Sammy asked, scowling at the red satin. 

“They’re ribbons,” Sadie exclaimed, looping hers around her finger. 

“Not just any ribbons,” I clarified. “Tie it around your wrist so it’s with you. The ribbon will shift into a sword once you need it, but for now it’s less bulky.” 

Sammy seemed appeased by the idea of a weapon, as did the others. I carefully knotted the ribbon around my own wrist, although it hardly seemed necessary. We wouldn’t need a sword unless we could escape this wretched place. 

Wait, a sword! 

“I know what we can do!” I declared, turning all eyes back to me. “You know the volcano, right? Mount Hope? Well there’s a forge in the very center of it that I created for Arya’s story so she could create a blade from dragonfire. But if we create one using the lava of the volcano, it might be able to destroy Dee.” 

“How is this sword any different from the rest of them?” Kenzie asked me, skeptical. 

My eyes practically lit up as my plan grew in my mind. “Mount Hope is different from normal volcanoes because the lava is formed from starlight. The key word there is light. Sammy and Sadie’s light magic had been the most effective, obviously because of light versus darkness. So a sword crafted from starlight is probably our best bet.” 

The group was silent for a little while. 

“It … might work,” Alex admitted. “And I don’t normally say that for just anything.” 

Kenzie seemed to be pondering it as well. “I hate to say it, but Luke’s suggestion might be the best choice we have. Nothing else works against Dee.” 

Sadie and Sammy nodded their agreement, but Hiro was quiet. 

“What do you think, Hiro?” Alex asked. 

He met my eyes. “I don’t think we need anything special to defeat Dee.” 

Kenzie snorted. “Are you kidding? Last time we ended up unconscious and only alive because Dee seems to think we’ll die some other more painful way. We need any ‘special weapons’ we can get.” 

“I think we can defeat Dee without any light infused weapons,” Hiro repeated, not taking his eyes off of me. “Light isn’t the solution. I think that hope is.” 

“That’s ridiculous.” Sammy rolled his eyes. “Hope never solved anything. No, we have to be logical here. Light beats Darkness, it makes sense.” I was torn between trying to think through Hiro’s idea. Ours wasn’t a guarantee, but his seemed senseless to pursue. We couldn’t obtain hope easily. 

“We have all we need,” Hiro continued. “It’s just buried deep inside of us.” 

“Then we would've killed Dee last time,” Alex argued. 

“We have to search,” Hiro said, sounding more desperate now. “I know it sounds like nonsense, but the Darkness is consuming the world and unless we do something to stop it we’ll die too. We have to be fast, which is why we can’t waste time on a sword. Just believe in yourself and we can win.” 

It certainly did sound like nonsense. The failure of our humiliating defeat burned brightly in my mind, a constant reminder that we still were weaker than Dee. 

“I think our best bet is to create the sword,” Kenzie said at last. “Sorry, Hiro.” 

“It’s fine,” Hiro sighed. He didn’t sound fine and again I made a mental reminder to check up on him later. The last thing we needed was Hiro to ditch us. 

“First thing is first,” Alex said, standing. “We need to get out of here.” 

Sadie smirked, something that made my insides churn. “I have just the secret passageway.” Sammy’s groan made me feel even worse. If Dee didn’t kill us, Sadie would.