Destiny (1)

I blinked dizzily, and jumped to my feet. I was fairly alert, considering that I had been unconscious. Wondering where the heck on Earth I was, I spun round. Okay, I attempted to spin round. Instead, I overspun somewhat, and put out my hands to steady myself and prevent myself from toppling over. After cursing loudly, my heart almost jumped out of my chest as a deep voice spoke.

“Hey, kid, watch the language,” a middle aged guy strolled leisurely a few steps towards me. Baffled, I shook my head.

“Who are you?”

He smiled, infuriatingly mysterious.

“I am a force provided to guide you on your way. I am a spirit, existing only among few…”

I stamped my foot, frustrated. “Will anyone just give me a straight answer for once?”

His smile widened. “Later, perhaps. I see that you will get your answer eventually. For now, I have a test, to prove that you are worthy of your title.”

“What title?”

“You’re the undergrowthist.”

I felt myself become stunned.

“Huh?”

“Oh, it’s a rough translation from Latin.”

I let that sink in, and I couldn’t help but wonder who this guy was. His bronze skin seemed to glisten in the non-existent light, and his black eyes looked like a bottomless pit of mystery. His close-cropped hair was so dark, it seemed to ripple in its intensity.

“Ok.” The guy’s piercingly judging eyes stared into me, daring me to go further. “What test?”

He approached me further. “Glad you asked. I have a riddle.”

“Um, that’s it?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

We both stopped, and glared at each other. Okay, okay. I glared. He just smiled infuriatingly, and cocked his head slightly.

“So what’s the rest of it?”

“I will read you a riddle, and the answer will be a code, and you will have to write that code out for me in vines.”

Something clicked in my head.

“So that’s why Ash said it was locked with a code only one could open! Because it can only be opened by the… Undergrowth… ist,”

I hesitated, saying that last word, because it sounded so made up, which it probably was. Then realised that he probably didn’t even know who Ash was.

“Oh, I know about your friend, Asher.”

I was stunned, for the second time in five minutes.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

I was shaking, but I couldn’t decide whether it was from anger, confusion, or irritation. Or possibly fear.

“Look around, Fay. We are inside your mind. I can see your thoughts, they’re floating around here, everywhere. Can you see them?”

I looked around, and all I saw was white everywhere. “No.”

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” he mused, as if all this was normal.

“So, this isn’t real then? Since this is in my head,”

“No. It is real.”

“Oh, for goodness sake!”

He smirked, which just made me more frustrated. “Do you wish to hear the riddle now?”

I took a deep breath, clearing my anger. “Yeah, okay.”

He took a few confident steps towards me, and I found that his figure was hard to focus on. It seemed to flicker at the edges, like a malfunctioning screen.

“The first number is often mistaken as prime, the second is the first digit of pi

thirdly this number adds the rest up to ten, and finally take the last and one before, minus them,”

“The last one kind of lost its rhythm,” I laughed.

“Don’t take this lightly. If you get this wrong you will be blasted into oblivion,”

I gawked at him. He shrugged. “Safety precaution.”

The air in front of me shone brightly, and I could practically see it vibrating. Almost immediately, a pen and a pad of paper fell to the ground. “In case you need it,” he said, sat down and crossed his legs. Gazing at me expectantly, he began twiddling his thumbs, absent-minded.

Shaking my head, I bent down and picked up the pen and paper. This is ridiculous, I told myself, but then again, I didn’t really want to be blasted to oblivion. So what did he say? The first is often mistaken as prime. The whole thing was basically a maths problem. Thank God I liked the subject. Well, that's easy. When I was first taught about prime numbers, everyone thought that one was a prime number, because it could only be divided by one, only it only has one factor, so it’s not. The second is the first digit of pi. Okay. Pi is 3.14159… that’s as far as I know. Yeah, my teacher had taught me a rhyme to remember it. Never mind, I only need the first digit. Three. Scribbling furiously, I made multiple notes. The third, oh, I could barely remember it.

“Can you repeat it please?”

The guy shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, can’t. Not allowed.”

I turned back to the paper and wracked my brain, massaging my scalp. It was something about… adding up to ten? One add three was four, so add six is ten. I hoped I was right, and I added six to my pad.

Okay, ahem, and finally take the last and one before, minus them. Six minus three is three, so the code should be: one three six three. All I had to do now was write it out in vines. Easy…?

I squeezed my eyes shut, and prepared myself for the uncomfortable feeling of my ears popping. Sure enough, there it came. I imagined the sequence winding round in vines, throwing in a few dahlias, since they seemed easier now.

I opened my eyes, and thank goodness, it turned out to be right.

“You done?” The guy said.

“Yes,” I crossed my fingers behind my back hopefully.

He smiled, yet again, and replied, “Well done, Fay Thorwood, and here is the ancient book, aka the Scripts.”