was pulling her before had died down, and she felt totally on her own.
She followed the guided path down the hallway, which led her onto a rickety wooden bridge with brass chains on either side. She held on for balance. While she couldn’t let go of the fact that she was in some ancient castle, this bridge brought back memories of the fun house from the Dutch Fair. Despite feeling the similarities of the wooden bridge, she couldn’t help but forget that she was on a mission to find the North Tower. Nothing could stop her, not even her sappy memories of the past. She wouldn’t, and couldn’t let her mind go there.
She clutched the bone slab tight as she crossed the long bridge, not wanting it to fall beneath her. Her body was surprisingly stable as she walked along; she even got the courage to look over, despite her fear of heights. As she peered down she saw a moat that surrounded the castle with florescent like eels swimming around. At that moment, a neon yellow eel jumped out of the water and snatched an owl that was flying low in the sky above it. She began to move even faster to get out of the line of vision of the eels. She didn’t want to take any chances with those creatures.
As the bridge came to an end she saw multiple paths; it was like a maze. Looking up in the distance she saw many cupolas and wondered which one was the North Tower.
Looking down at the slab, she followed the red line that appeared to bear left. She flipped the slab around and around, making sure she wasn’t reading it upside down.
Feeling confident with her decision, she began to walk down the desolate path heading left. She felt the temperature swell as she walked through a long hallway of stained-glass windows. They didn’t let in much light, just enough so she could see a step or two ahead of her. She put her hands out in front of her body so as not to bump into anything or anyone, but as the walkway grew darker, her vision became clearer, and she felt like a bat navigating through a cave. She put her hands down and her motions grew quicker and she no longer felt that she needed to protect herself from bumping into anything.
She looked into the stained glass as she passed and saw two red dots staring back at her. She stopped to try and figure out where they were coming from. When she moved, they moved and when she stopped, they stopped. She stepped closer and closer to the glass to catch a glimpse of her reflection, and then, for the first time, jumped back. The shining red dots belonged to her. They were her eyes, and while she could not see anything else in her reflection, her eyes shined back at her with immense power and determination. She didn’t recognize this person she’d become and knew she had to find her way to the North Tower, and fast. She needed help making sense of this person, or “thing,” she’d turned into.
She followed the directions, which led her across another long walkway, through several doors, across another large foyer with silhouettes of angels on the ceiling, up a small dumbwaiter passage and now, she found herself climbing up an endless spiral staircase. Her pace slowed as she tried to catch her breath, huffing and puffing as she trudged along. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and she couldn’t take one more step. Peering over the metal railing she looked up to see how much farther she had to travel before reaching the top, but the journey looked endless. She saw no end in sight, so she sat down.
All of a sudden, the alarm of her purple Swatch Watch started beeping. She looked down and it was flashing an error code. She fumbled with all the buttons until she got it to silence itself. She tried to get it back to the time and date, but failed. It was as if the world didn’t want her to know what day it was, and how long she’d been sleeping for. It was a small piece to the large puzzle she was desperately trying to figure out.
Feeling hopeless, she took the watch off and threw it off the edge of the banister, waiting to hear it fall and break into pieces. She waited and waited but it never hit the ground. She realized how far up she must be. She looked over the balcony and saw her watch miraculously travelling back towards her from the depths of the stairwell. Confused and frightened, she began blinking her eyes as if she were seeing things. It was coming at a fast pace and then stopped as it got to her level and hovered there, waiting for her to take it. She saw a string attached to the watch and a small white note dangling from that string. She reached out and grabbed the watch, clasping onto it as if it were a family heirloom. She pulled the string towards her as the note travelled closer. The outside read her name in small script letters. She opened the note and began to read:
One mustn’t discard outside personal property in this castle. You never know who might pick it up and you never know what clues it could give our enemy.
The ominous note ended abruptly and wasn’t signed by anyone. Taken aback by this, she folded it and stuffed it into her pocket as if it never happened. She felt as if she were being followed or watched, and that scared the crap out of her. Her adrenaline kicked in and she started bolting up the remaining steps.
She reached the top and saw five identical doors, each thick, tall wooden doors with iron bars on them. Her head flipped around as she looked back and forth between all the doors and then back to the slab. She saw an X marked on the map over the third door and headed over to it, slowly looking behind her as she walked towards it. The tower was silent and the only sounds were those of her breath and her feet tiptoeing closer and closer to the large arched door. As she neared close enough to the door to touch it, she felt scared out of her mind. She couldn’t bring herself to knock on the door and wasn’t sure if she was making the right decision. She had been creped out way too much for one day and wondered if coming to the North Tower was a huge mistake.
She took a few steps back and stood there, contemplating her next move. Her body and breath grew still and silent as she stood there, debating her decision. Feeling in her heart that she had made the wrong choice, she quickly and quietly started turning back towards the steps. As she put her foot out to walk, the force came back and propelled her body in the direction of the third door.
Figuring it was a sign; she lifted her hand, and began knocking softly on the door. She waited.
But nobody came. She lifted her hand to the door again, and this time knocked louder, figuring that Matilda, or whoever was inside, just didn’t hear her first knock. She listened and it was as silent as before. No sign of life at all in the North Tower. Next, she lifted both of her hands up and was about to pound loudly on the door when she felt a strong and cold boney hand tapping her on her shoulder.
Chapter Three
Rachel wheeled and was startled to see a girl standing there, in the shadows. She screamed and then said, “Who are you?”
The girl stared back at her, silent at first, shaking her head as if to say, how dare you ask who I am.
“You came all this way to see me and now you’re asking who I am?” the girl muttered.
“Matilda?” she asked, looking at her, realizing she was the spitting image of Benji in girl form.
“Um, yeah. Isn’t that why you’re here knocking on my door?”
Surprised by her rudeness, Rachel decided to put down her defenses and wait to see what she would say next.
Looking down at her watch, Matilda said, “You’re late! The first session has already begun—and you can’t miss it.”
Matilda reached out and grabbed Rachel’s hand and dragged her down the winding staircase. In the distance Rachel could hear loud bells ringing, and then, after a moment of silence, cannons going off.
Matilda took her by the hand and pulled her through a large foyer, which opened out onto a vast balcony with columns and marble steps going down onto a giant
