Down End Road

Alexander Griffin

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Three hours later, we were on a plane to Maine.

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"You know, I hear they do really good Lobster here." Maverick said, licking his lips as we passed a lobster buffet. Distracted with Myra's behaviour and the way her hair bounced around her shoulders, I just hummed out a response.

"Stop drooling, your just torturing yourself. Besides, when are you going to buy yourself Lobster."Ally quipped, a playful chide in her tone. Flipping her dead straight hair over her shoulders she skipped forward to conspire with Myra.

"You know maybe after we've saved the portals you could... take Myra to dinner." Maverick casually suggested, a little too casually.

"And why would I take just Myra to dinner, alone at a nice restaurant." I asked, gritting my teeth and scowling.

This time Maverick scoffed. "It's clear you two have something going on between you, like sheesh, being in the same room as you guys is getting hard, like the tension is thicker than cornish clotted cream." Maverick dramatised. "Thanks for introducing me to that creamy goodness by the way." He added.

"That's just... whatever Maverick. Why don't you take Ally out or something." I threw back.

Maverick scowled at the floor kicking a rock. "Can't, she's got something with that no good Jason guy." He pouted. I rolled my eyes, like that was ever happening. All she and him ever did was flirt, she may have liked Jason in the past but right now she was crazy about Maverick.

"Whatever mate. Create as many excuses as you want, its none of my business." I brushed off. We continued the duration of our walk in silence until we happened upon the hotel we were supposed to stay at. It was around 9 in the evening and we all needed some rest before we set out on our mission tomorrow. Myra more than the rest of us.

Just as we were about to step through the threshold Maverick pulled me back unexpectedly. Giving him a quizzical look, I waited for him to tell me what was happening.

"Look, Myra isn't exactly in the best frame of mind right now, and worst case scenario her dad is no longer with the living. I just need you to promise me, that if she breaks down, you are there for her." He asked.

My face scrunched in confusion. I looked him dead in the eye. "Always Maverick, I will always be there for her." I asserted.

"Good, but thats not all." I rolled my eyes. "I also need you to look out for yourself. You have this... habit, of compartmentalising everything you feel and keeping it tucked up in a little box in your mind. I know it hurts you when people you love are hurt but... just be sure to look out for yourself. Kay buddy?" Maverick asked.

I scowled at him for knowing me so well, but gave a begrudging nod as my promise. His lips split into a cheshire cat grin. It was so very familiar that it almost brought a smile to my face.

"Two rooms, both separate beds preferably." Myra asked the clerk, a tense impatient coil in her muscles. I had never known someone who could fit as many weapons as Myra did, on their person. Beneath her sage green blazer, she carried two swords, one switchblade, a gun, extra bullets, a dagger and two vials of medela concentrate.

And that hadn't even begun with what was underneath her sage green slacks and black combat boots. She looked like a lawyer slash warrior, one who scared the crieky out of everyone who laid their eyes on her.

The secretary had a skittish look in her stare as she struggled to maintain eye contact. "We have two rooms right across the hall from each other." The lady squeezed out, before hurriedly shoving the keys into Myra's hand, who gladly pocketed them and marched onward.

That was definitely... odd. Usually... annoyingly, Myra would chirp out at least several thank you's and said have a good day. "Either you have rubbed off on her so much she's become a total grouch or something's way up." Maverick whispered, announcing my own thoughts.

Leading us up the stairs, I noted the hotel was barely holding itself together. Rustic was indeed accurate, charm was not something I would associate with the place. Myra threw a key our way, not looking back, before she jammed her own into the lock of, presumably, her door and burst through.

My brows furrowed. Ally looked nervously at us, then at the door, with a pained expression she stepped inside and looked at Myra who was busying herself with unpacking her arsenal.

Our weapons weren't what you would call modern. Most of them had survived through the roaring twenties and been passed down through the generations as keepsakes. Any and all new weaponry was given to the Order of Washington first and foremost, leaving the rest of our society to deal out whatever's left.

The tinkle of a bell alerted us to the bell boys presence as he carted our luggage through the halls. The Persian rug moved against the rusted wheels, creating the awful screech of grinding metal.

Tipping the door towards us, I hid Myra and her questionable carryons behind the thin wood. "Your luggage sir," the boy said. He couldn't be much younger than us, sixteen maybe. Nodding my thanks, I dismissed him with a tip.

Me and Maverick piled into the room with the luggage cart. Myra's gaze was solely transfixed on the row of lethal metal objects in front of her. I willed her with my stare to look up, to look at anything else than those weapons. To tell me what she was thinking.

The silence that stretched between us felt eternal, until finally, her gaze strayed as she eyed me sideways with an irked scowl. "Stop that." She muttered angrily, marching over to the luggage cart and unzipping her bag. I watched her tear into her neatly folded clothes as she tore through the bag, looking for her suit.

Harris had managed to snag us the official combat suits for the order of Hamilton's official members. Though I couldn't summon a single idea as to why a research based sector of the society would need combat suits, it appeared that they hadn't been used once.

The suits were black two pieces. Kevlar coated us in shields around our internal organs and the tops of our legs and arms. The bottoms were like tracksuit bottoms and the top was a standard lycra-leather-type material, that would protect us enough.

Myra dragged hers out from the bottom of the bag and hung it on the closets door knob. She tied her hair back and looked toward me. She froze. Even if it was just for a moment in time. She froze. Before continuing with busying herself.

"Um, vital question, whats the actual plan?" Maverick asked. Mischief evident in his cat like grin. He could always laugh in the face of danger.

He laughed at danger, and I roared at it.

Myra pulled out a long white and blue tube before extracting and unrolling its contents, settling it on the small desk in the corner of the room, before dragging that same desk to the middle. "Miss Wilson, said that Hope island was here," she informed, pointing to a small green blob off the coast of the town. "She thinks that the Shifters took the hostages there." She swallowed thickly, which didn't go unnoticed by us.

"She said that they would take them their to see if the Queen would come and open the door for them, apparently they're smart. So don't underestimate them. Our main objectives is opening that door and getting the hostages to safety." Myra drilled.

Ally gave her an incredulous look, "but the only person who can open that door is the queen." She reiterated. I had always had my suspicions about what she was, but now I knew for sure. She wouldn't have brought us here if she wasn't the queen, because if she wasn't she would have torn the country apart looking for her.

"Just leave the door to me." Myra answered cryptically. Realisation dawned on Ally but she kept her lips, wisely, shut. "Once we find the hostages you three need to get them to safety, I'll go to the door and open it."

"I don't understand this whole door thing, the Order of Hamilton has their door shut all the time, why isn't it causing the end of the world?" Maverick queried. Myra pursed her lips.

"Thats different, they open the door all the time, and I think the land knows that it can open the door anytime it wants, because it isn't locked. I think the Order of Adams sealed their door shut with some kind of, gel from the portal." Myra answered. "I think they did it so that only the queens DNA can break the seal." Myra furthered.

We all stood in a contemplative silence, absorbing the information. "I think that the shifters are going to try and protect that door at all costs, they don't trust humans because someone from the Order of Adams shut the portal a long time ago." She said. "They are going to try and stop us by any and all means necessary, so be careful and go for the neck." Myra warned.

The rest of the night was spent planning everything down to a T. When the humid air turned cold, the stars replaced the haze of dusk we all headed to our room, the anticipation of a future fight coursing through our veins, until its buzzing hum lulled us into a deep sleep.

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Hey guys, I know its been a long story, but I am finally getting to the end and am so happy, I would just like to say in advance thanks for sticking with the story. Love you all, book junkies. Xxx