"Wait! What are you walking away so quickly for?" Eliza asked. "Don't you get it? It's him! He's your destiny!" She said with an obvious delight.
"Don't you get it? We're screwed." I snapped at her. "He saw us. And a few others probably did too."
"So what? We didn't do anything wrong. We were just standing there."
"Didn't do anything wrong? Being here is already a crime. Stepping foot on that first step in the staircase was already a crime." I said. "We have to go. Now!"
We hurried to the foot of the hill and stopped. We looked around before staring at each other.
"Do you remember the way?" I asked.
"How would I? I was only following the butterfly. You're the one with a good sense of direction." She defended.
"How would I? I was only following you following the butterfly." I reasoned. "We're dead."
"What are we going to do?" She was starting to panic.
"Let's head eastward. Let's continue going east until we reach the edge. Then, we follow the edge until we reach the staircase."
"But that will take hours! Days even!"
"And whose fault do you think this is?" I lost my temper. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say that."
"No. You're right. It's mine. Let's do it."
"It wasn't just your fault. I shouldn't have accepted that butterfly." I said. "Anyway, what's done is done. The only thing to do is get out of here. The sun's setting. Let's just find a place to hide for now. Come on."
I grabbed her hand and pulled her along. We ran eastward. The buildings didn't look familiar. It only meant one thing: it wasn't the way to the stairs.
"What if we find the vehicle road first? They deliver items to the magic shops below right? We can just jump on a delivery truck and escape from here." Eliza suggested.
"That's a good idea but it's risky." I said. "Every vehicle gets checked in and out of a floor to prevent any dangerous weapons and illegal items from being circulated. In their case, they might check them for magical items that would be too dangerous for the normal people."
We ran further east and arrived at the edge of a forest. It was dark and we had nothing to use for illumination. We decided to follow the edge of the forest southward. We kept running and stopped in front of a big gray castle. It was a stupid idea. I knew. But I also knew we would never survive on the streets. We pushed the gate open really slowly and went in. We walked east and came to a garden. We walked through the garden in quick steps. The moon was our only source of light. Then, all the lights in the castle turned on almost at the same time. We froze.
"Everyone's back. Come on."
We ran and saw a few small cottages near the vegetable fields. We ran to them and snatched a few clothes, two brown jumpers and faded shirts, that were left to dry on the clothesline. Okay. We weren't stealing. We were just borrowing them. Then, we proceeded to the back side of the castle and finally found the stables. We went and collapsed on the hay on an empty cubicle. Thankfully, the horses didn't make any sound when we invaded their home.
"Oh my gosh, Ernie!" Eliza exclaimed, recalling that we left without saying anything to the truck driver.
We stared at each other and chuckled. Then we burst into laughter.
"I can't believe this is happening. We're in Phantasia." She said.
"To be more specific, we're lying in hay in the horses' stable in Phantasia. It doesn't really sound amazing to me."
"I know the situation's not really good. But still. Being here seems dreamlike."
"Yes. But it would have been great though in better circumstances." I said.
"Someday then. Let's come back. Not by sneaking in, but by actually being allowed here." She held out her pinky finger. "Promise."
I sighed. "It's a promise."
The night got deeper and Eliza was sleeping like a child beside me. The hay was warm but a little itchy. I couldn't sleep. I thought of what was waiting for us the next day. Will we ever escape? Will we get caught? Is this all a dream? The questions kept repeating in my head. I also wondered what my family was doing. Were they worried? Were they looking for me? I shifted to my right and stared at nothing. The fresh clothes we borrowed from the cottage smelled of flowers blooming in the sunlight. We only wore them in case someone found us and we could pretend to be people working in the castle. But it seemed like it was going to be a peaceful night. I kept replaying on my head how we were getting out of the place. Sneaking out was bound to be harder than sneaking in. The castle appeared to be filled with people already, what more in the morning? We just had to wake up early, I thought. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but to no avail. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake up early and the castle would be swarmed by people in the morning before we get the chance to sneak out.
My eyes dozed off a little, but the light crushing sound of dry leaves being stepped on alerted me. I opened my eyes immediately and listened carefully. There was someone in the stables with us. I got up cautiously, and did my best not to make any sound. I crouched a little and slowly peeked around. Nobody was there. Then, someone giggled. I was shocked for a second. The giggle came from behind. I turned around slowly and stared at the wall. I walked to the wall and pressed my ear against it. From the other side, I could hear someone talking softly. I didn't catch what the person was saying though. His words were too low for me to hear. I decided to go check it out. I walked to the end of the row of cubicles where we were hiding and turned right. I stopped beside the first cubicle and saw a young boy talking to a horse in a distance.
The boy looked younger than me. He was innocent-looking, like a little child who just got the chance to explore the world. He was caressing the horse's head with his delicate white hands. The horse seemed to be enjoying it. It closed its eyes at every stroke it received. Then the boy suddenly turned his head to my direction. I was so surprised, I couldn't react immediately. I just stood there, watching him. He looked just as startled as me and bowed his head as if in embarrassment. He regained his composure though and spoke first.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" He asked in a soft voice.
I snapped out the shock and cleared my throat. "I work here." I simply said. "And you? What are you doing here?" I asked while slowly walking towards him. I stopped about two meters away. A safe distance.
"I couldn't sleep so I came to visit my friend." He said, and then looked lovingly at the creature.
"Your friend is a horse?" I asked. "Don't you have any normal friends? I mean, human friends?"
"Just a few, but they're all sleeping right now." He said. "How about you? Why are you in the stables in the middle of the night?" He started to look suspiciously at me.
"I was brushing the hair of one of the horses, and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already this late." I lied.
"Oh, did I wake you up? I'm so sorry." He reminded me of my younger brother.
"It's alright, but it's getting late. You should go back to the castle." I urged him.
"Okay." He walked to the exit but paused for a while. He turned around and called to me. "My name's Jacob by the way. What's yours?"
I couldn't tell him my name. "Mila."
He smiled and then walked away. I let out a sigh of relief. I thought we were going to get caught. It was so fortunate it was just a young boy. I headed back to the cubicle where Eliza was sleeping.
"Do you lie all the time like that?" A voice asked out of the blue. I searched for the source and found someone leaning against the wall. It was him. He straightened up and walked to me. He stopped just a few feet from me. "You said your name is Mila. Is that even the truth?"
"What do you want?" I asked in an impatient tone to hide the panic. "More importantly, who are you? Why are you in the stables?"
He smirked. "Aren't I the one who should be asking that?" I heard the warning behind his words.
"What do you mean?" I said calmly, though my heart was beating so fast. "I work here. I have the right to be here."
"Oh, really?" He asked. He knew I was lying, but he was teasing me. "That's odd. You look a lot like the person I saw earlier at the stadium. Maybe I'm mistaken."
"Of course you are." I said. "Now, excuse me." I turned away from him and walked briskly. He was faster than me though and playfully blocked my path. "Now what?"
"There's no way I'm mistaken. I have a pretty good memory."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I snapped at him. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself? How can you harass a weak young woman in the stables in the middle of the night?"
"Aren't you exaggerating? I'm not harassing you. I'm simply trying to find out the truth."
"Well, I already told you. I work here."
"Okay. I'm sorry." He raised both his hands in front of his chest as if to surrender. Then, spoke again. "So, where's that friend of yours?"
Hah. A psych war. As if I was going to lose. "I don't have friends. I don't need one, especially if they turn out to be someone like you."
"Lying is a bad habit you know." He said before stepping away a little. "This is your last chance." The wind started to get stronger. Hay got scattered on the floor and the walls creaked. "Who are you and what are you doing in Phantasia?!"
"Kira?" It was Eliza. She probably woke up due to the commotion and came out.
The strong wind stopped and silence filled the stables.
"You better explain to me now, before something terrible happens to both of you."