Chapter IX: Protect The Secret

Mr. Graham was dying on the floor, suddenly the man in the black raincoat came up to him and said:

-Dad, you're okay. -What happened to you?

-Colbert, he did this to me... the darkness is very close... we can't let him near the guard... please, there is an envelope in the drawer over there, leave it in the Rowell's mailbox-

-of the Rowells? -Why there?

-there is where the guardian is, you must already foresee who he is... fast, I have no more time left, I leave everything in your hands, you know what you must do-

Mr. Graham dies, Colbert sheds some tears, then looks for the envelope and leaves. While the boys were locked in the room, they observed that they were standing on some kind of bridge, but it was only halfway down, you couldn't see the bottom and where that piece of bridge ended, there was something that looked like a podium. When the young people approached, they realized that this kind of podium contained a puzzle of those runners, everyone started to look for a clue but nothing, then Emma approached the puzzle and started to move the pieces to see if she could solve it, after a few minutes she didn't get to anything and suddenly the bridge started to shrink; the young people were scared, that's what Aiden tells them:

-Hey, guys, we need to calm down," Hobson says, even though he is afraid:

-if you are right we should look for some quick clue, otherwise I think they will never find our bodies-

-Don't be so dramatic, Hobson," answers Lenz, "or that it was the end of the world.

-Hobson is right, we have to do something or we won't get out of here anymore," says Madysin.

Madysin notes that on the podium there is writing, Aiden cleans it up and looking at it in detail it only said C.H. the young people were not surprised because they knew right away that these were the initials of Crowlhan Horwich, so they were where they started, again the bridge was reduced more and more and Emma asks the others if they had any ideas, to which Lenz tells them:

-Let me try - Lenz looks at it and after a few seconds he says - I think I can solve it

-Seriously?-says the others

-yes, this looks just like a new application that I downloaded, look it's called squash puzzle, I'm on level 80-

-Well Lenz, I can't believe I'm saying this," says Emma, "but we trust you, go ahead.

Lenz gets down to work, after a few minutes he solves the puzzle, making the podium come down and the other half of the bridge appear, opening the door to the next room. Once in this room, the young people were amazed with what they found in that room; there was what looked like a type of laser or blue current that passed through the whole room, from the walls, the ceiling grid until reaching the end of the room, there was a statue of what seemed to be some kind of owl with its wings open almost as if it was going to fly. As the young men approached, they noticed that the wings had 4 cylindrical grooves each, they also noticed that the light or blue current passed through that wall which meant that the next room was on the other side; Hobson noticed right away that the pillar that held that statue had a slot identical to the necklace pendant they used as a key, he asked Aiden to try to put the necklace in that slot, when Aiden took it out of his pocket he noticed that the bottom part of the necklace shone almost as if that blue light that passed through that whole room was calling him, everyone was surprised and when he inserted the necklace in that slot, bingo! A small compartment was opened, in this one there was something similar to a piston and the capsule that contained a paper that said

"Congratulations on making it this far, to the Machine Room. Protected by the legendary bird Ikaru, the guardian of all knowledge. It is energy that moves us, it is energy that is needed, only with the six pieces Ikaru will serve as a guide, for having arrived here one of the pieces will reveal to you... the next one is where the little one observes the others, where the gift to create is born...

C.H"

Everyone was amazed to hear the clue, and when Aiden closed the compartment, a door suddenly opened in the corner of one of the walls, which seemed to be the way out! Once there the exit became narrower and suddenly it seemed that they had reached a dead end, but Aiden noticed another lock, when he opened the small door everyone else asked him where they had gone out and he answered that apparently they were in the high school kitchen; one by one they went out and when they closed the entrance Gladys Homsergt appeared (she was a fat lady and a little old, besides she looked bitter) telling them:

-Aha! What are you doing at this hour in high school? How did you get here, I didn't hear you come in-

-Aaa... this... we were coming to prepare a surprise for Miss Prochet - said Emma

-yes, she is our favorite teacher or not, guys- said Madysin

-so they come to me with that excuse, don't look at my face, I know all the students hate Miss Prochet even I don't like her uhhhsss; I'll go tell the principal-

-wait Gladys... please help us- says Lenz

-but this is serious, my little sugar pot-

-Wait a minute, do you know each other?

-Yes, we watch a soap opera together on Fridays, the one about love for two," answers Lenz. Everyone was shocked, as well as it was strange and hard to believe, Lenz explains to them that he is not to blame, he found a super fan of the soap opera and since then both of them see it together, the others almost laugh but they restrained themselves, this one told them that later he would explain to them with more details and then he addressed Gladys saying:

-Please Gladys help us, I'll do anything-

-um, whatever, okay, I'll help you get out of here, but on one condition.

-thanks Gladys, you're the best. -What's the condition?

-You'll help me in the kitchen for three days and... I'll get the recliner three nights in a row.

-hey!... it's not fair that's my favorite seat-

-Come on, Lenz, I don't know what that is about, but we don't have time to accept the condition that we get out of here," Aiden says.

-Okay, okay... I accept-

After that, Gladys tells the kids to get into some waste barrels so she can get them out. As she was walking down the exit corridor with the barrel cart, Director Raimondi suddenly approaches, looks at the barrels and asks her what she's doing, and where she was taking those barrels to, which Gladys explains:

-my chocolate heart -kissing it on the mouth- I'm just throwing out the leftover food left by the students you know... a and by the way my little chocolate cake is waiting on the counter for you my love, enjoy it-

-Okay...this one I'll go for it, be careful when you leave-

The kids inside the barrels almost threw up when they heard that, except for Lenz who wondered why I was calling him my chocolate heart or bonboncito. Outside, Aiden thanked Gladys for her help and left them alone, telling her not to talk about what they heard him say to the director or he would turn them in. The kids went home and Hobson told them he would keep the piece in his house where no one would find it, and he wanted to analyze it because it and Aiden's necklace stopped glowing when they left the room and it seemed so strange and mysterious.

The next day, Aiden was having breakfast to go to class and Mrs. Rowell told him that there was a letter for him in the envelope, he asked her if she didn't know who it was from and she said it was weird, it just had the initials C.H., plus it said "read urgently" on the back of the envelope. Quickly Aiden goes and reads the letter, it says:

"Dear Aiden.

If you are reading this, you are probably in a better place, in another world. Maybe you will be surprised who wrote you this letter and him because it has the initials of Crowlhan Horwich, I know that you and your friends would have seen me as that innocent old man who owned the library and I do not blame them, I fell asleep at the desk every time, it is that that wood is so warm and comforting! You should try it, but that's not the important thing now, the important thing here is that you are the Guardian of the secret, the Guardian of Horwich.

Now you might ask yourself if, as I knew, I really knew since you walked into the library with your friends and they asked about the book, now the answer to that question my friend is simple: I have been waiting 90 long years for the ultimate guardian to appear and also protecting the entrance, if I know, I don't look 90 years old, " that's because I met Crowlhan Horwich, an amazing person by the way and he gave me a little elixir that only made me look a few years younger. Now, I know you're stunned because you don't understand about the guardian and the secret and why it's so dangerous, but that's not for me to know, you'll find out later. The reason I have written this letter is because the darkness is closer than you think and has already come for me, you must protect the secret, do not let it fall into their hands, not those of Palk, for now stay with what you know, later you will know and know more, protect your mother and the city. In my room there is a chest that only you can open... don't let Palk find it, otherwise he will know that you are the guardian. A word of advice: always remember to see the world with the eyes of your heart, not with those of your mind. One last thing, there is one person you can trust, he is my successor, my son... he will help you to protect the secret you can trust, you will know who he is when you see him...

Goodbye Aiden, goodbye Guardian, see you in another world...

Love Mr. Graham".

Aiden was stunned to read that letter and to know that that old man who looked so down, was more than just a librarian, he was the gatekeeper and knew more than he was saying. Now he knew that he had to protect the secret at all costs from Mayor Palk, besides having more doubts like what was Mr. Graham's relationship with the mayor, did they know each other for a long time? But even more importantly, and that intrigued him more, who was Mr. Graham's son?