James Linniad and the Golden City by Caleb Baker (best fiction books of all time .txt) 📖

Chapter Two: Two Darks to One Night

"What?!" Alice's voice sounded throughout the entire room. 

James and his friends were sitting in his bedroom. He had just told them about what he heard down stairs. It seemed as though the group did not approve, or better put, understand. Lucas sat cross-legged on the floor, as if waiting for more to the story. Nathan sat next to Juliet on the windowsill, both of them deep in thought. Alice was sitting on James's bed next to him, her mouth gaping, and still expecting an answer to her open-ended question. 

"Look," James began, seeing Alice's face, "at this point, I don't know anymore than you lot, so don't ask me."

"Well, it's not as if we can ask your parents," Lucas said. 

James could see Juliet shaking her head from the corner of his eye. Turning to face her, he said:

"What do you think?"

"It's completely ridiculous, you probably didn't hear them right," Nathan said, thinking James' question was intended for him. 

James scowled, now his brother was saying he was ridiculous, he knew what he heard. 

"I think it makes perfect sense," Juliet piped up, "I mean, look outside, it's snowing pretty hard out there."

"Really?" Alice said getting up to inspect the business, "the weatherman didn't say anything about a storm tonight."

"Coincidence!" Nathan exclaimed. 

"What your problem, mate?" Lucas yelled, "if James said he heard something, then he heard something!"

"So you're telling me you honestly believe all of this?!" Nathan was now yelling, for some reason he was very angry. 

"Well, I do," Juliet said calmly, "I believe James, I don't think he'd lie about something like this."

"It's not about whether he's lying," Alice said suddenly, "it's about whether or not we believe what his parents were talking about. I mean this whole Prophecy thing does sound a bit far fetched."

Juliet looked at James with a concerned face. Her eyes looked saddened. He knew she was trying to help, and somehow his thank you to her was relayed telepathically and she got the message. 

"You're right," he said to her, "the whole idea is farfetched. But why would my parents just make something like that up when they were alone together. That doesn't make sense."

The room went silent. The matter wasn't close to being solved, but for the moment James felt as though he closed it. Until Nathan spoke again. 

"Look, James, I believe what you said, about mum and dad," he acceded, "I just don't know about everything else. What if it is true? Where do we even begin?"

"He's right, we don't even know where to start with whole thing," Alice said gently as she looked directly at James. 

Lucas was taking his time coming to a conclusion of his own. He looked like he was racking his brain for answers. 

"I think we have to just tackle one thing at a time," he finally said after a minute of concentration. 

"So what's the first thing we do?" Juliet asked. 

"I don't know. . ." Lucas said perplexedly. 

"See! We can't come up with a solution because we all have a hard time believing this!" Nathan exclaimed. 

"That's not it at all!" Lucas retorted, "stop being a prat and just try to be imaginative for five minutes!" 

Nathan quickly quieted down, although he didn't take his eyes away from Lucas for a full minute. He sat with an astonished face, rubbing the pendant around his neck.    

Juliet was right, the weather outside had picked up drastically from what it was just hours ago. The light flurry had turned into chaos compared to an hour ago. James's mind was racing, he was trying to think of what the prophecy was, but his thoughts kept turning to what they were supposed to find. Chests full of treasures was all he could imagine however. 

"What are we supposed to find?" James said accidentally out loud.

Every head in the room perked up to his voice. 

"I was wondering the same thing," Alice said, "it has to be in the castle." 

James's eyes widened. 

"What makes you think that?" Lucas said. 

He took a more comfortable position, laying on the floor and leaning on his elbow. James tried to think of an answer himself. He knew Alice was right, it had to be in the castle. If it really did exist, whatever it was, it was here. 

"So, hold on, can we just go over again what mum and dad said?" Nathan asked. 

James looked at his brother, he gave the impression that he didn't care about the situation at all, like it wasn't important. 

"Why are you so against this?" James asked him. 

"I just think your all acting stupid," apparently Nathan had no problem sharing his opinion Lucas eyed him warily, "think about it, what are the chances that we are all together in this castle during a snow storm that's said to be the 'first storm of the Winter Solstice'," he made quotations with his fingers as he said this, "What are the chances that there's  a Prophecy about us, just the thought is absurd."

James couldn't help but agree with him, the chances were slim. Things like this don't happen everyday. 

"But that's why it's so special," Juliet said, "it's just so crazy and random, that it must be true."

"That's no reason to believe in anything," Nathan said quietly. 

"Yes it is," Alice retorted, "look at history, has it taught you nothing," nathan rolled his eyes, "people in the Middle Ages took to believing in religions just at the thought and hopes that they might actually be true, however ludicrous the ideas, granted the clergy basically talked them into it. But still, they believed because there was no reason not to."   

Alice had a point too, James thought. Perhaps this was all true, perhaps there was something to find in the castle. He just had to believe it, no matter how ludicrous the idea. 

"Okay. . ." Lucas began slowly, "say this is all true. Say everything your parents said was true. Say we can all have imaginations for a minute," he was now looking at Nathan who stared cautiously back, "what are we going to do about it? Are we going to just sit here and debate whether its real or not, or are we going to act?"   

Suddenly everything went black. In an instant the entire room was enveloped by darkness. The chamber erupted into chaos immediately. James heard a loud thud on the floor next to him. He nearly fell off of the bed himself. Juliet shrieked so loud that he thought the glass window behind her would burst. Lucas let out a groan of pain, Alice doing the same. 

"Everyone relax!" James bellowed into the dark, "I'm going to look for a candle!"

He slowly stood up, careful not to step on anyone. He remembered that he left a candle on his nightstand from the night before when he was doing some midnight reading. As he took his first steps he felt a large mass with his foot, realizing this was Alice after she said a plain, "excuse me."   

He reached the nightstand after his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The window let in some light so it made scanning the room easier. However, Nathan and Juliet still sitting on the the sill was not helping. The book of matches was lying next to the candle, and once he lit one the bedroom was illuminated with a glowing light. He lit the candle and the light became stronger, sending distorted shadows across the room and everyone's faces. Juliet let out a gasp like she hadn't been breathing since the lights went out. Alice had fallen off the bed and had landed on Lucas which was where the yelp of pain originated. 

"What happened?!" Nathan cried from the corner of the room, he was now standing. 

"The lights went out," Lucas said. 

"Well, thank you for being so blatantly obvious, Lucas," Nathan said, "but I was really asking why the lights went out."

Lucas chuckled a little, making Nathan frown. 

"It's the storm," Alice answered Nathan, "it must be getting bad out there."   

The door opened making everyone in the room crane their necks to see who it was. A faint hue of orange outlined the door and it flowed a little into the bedroom. James's father's face peeked in from the other side, smiling as he did. He had a hand clasped to a candle much like the one perched on James's nightstand. 

"We thought you lot would like more light," he said casually as he stepped into the room, followed by his wife. 

"Thank you so much!" Juliet released as she jumped up from the sill and ran to grab a candle. 

Juliet was deeply afraid of the dark, to the extent of needing a nightlight in her bedroom at the age of fifteen. He thought it was cute, but to a point. He also thought it was something she had to get over. She ran back to the window and sat down upon its sill once more. 

"Your very welcome," Dave said, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. 

Mary began handing out candles to the rest of the company, all the while being greeted with thank-yous, and a grunt of approval from Nathan, who earned a stern look from his father and complied with a thank you. James and Lucas both looked at each other, smirking. 

"Do you know why the power went out?" Alice asked, although she had already answered that question. 

"Some snow built up on one of the power lines and it snapped," Dave said seriously, "we won't have power for awhile, but I kind of like it like this, don't you?" he added to Mary. 

She nodded fervently, her dark red hair bouncing and sending a strange shadow onto the wall. There was something strange about her. She seemed distressed, but she was hiding it very well. 

"I knew it," Alice said quietly, but loud enough to break James's concentration on his mother.  

"If there is anything else you need just let us know," Mrs. Linniad said as she began to depart the room. 

She left behind that same strange flowery smell as before, this time stronger as if she had sprayed a new batch on herself. Dave left a few moments after her, but not before saying good night, and wishing sweet dreams upon everyone. There was an odd juncture in which no one spoke, James took this time to think.     His mother and father were definitely up to something. They knew something that he and his friends did not, and he had a strange sensation that they were going to find out what it was sooner than later. 

"What are we going to do about this," James announced while his mind was still fresh with his recent thoughts. 

No one answered him. His company merely stared at him, expecting him to speak more, or perhaps thinking of answers themselves. 

"I say we find whatever this thing is," he continued, "this is something we have to do, because I know what I heard, I know it's true. The Prophecy exists, and we have to find it, or at least whatever it's talking about."

Again no one answered him, he didn't expect them to. He was just talking to fill the silence, but he meant every word. He did believe in the Prophecy. 

"You are completely right," Juliet said, coming to James's aid, "this is worth looking for. And even if we don't find anything, then at least we tried."

"But we have to believe," Lucas spoke with so much enthusiasm, "Juliet said it best, this is worth it."

James couldn't help