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"H-he's cracked the code."

My shoulders sagged with relief. "Finally," I muttered, brushing past Wesley and into the other room, Daniel not far behind.

I paused and glanced around curiously. The room was colour-themed grey and creamy white. Leaflets and pages of old newspapers were tacked up onto the walls. A solid oak desk was situated near a heavily draped window, pastels and notebooks scattered all over it. Bookshelves, weighty with numerous volumes and ornaments had been placed here and there. In the middle of the room was a small table, a single lamp upon its hard wooden surface. It's dim light flickered over two ink-riddled pieces of parchment that lay beneath it. One of the papers had the Chinese code scrawled across it, the other, the translation.

Mr Wang was leaning heavily against the table, but upon hearing me enter, he heaved a deep sigh and straightened up.

"W-what does it say?" I inquired, walking forward.

"Take a look," Mr Wang motioned towards the papers. "It doesn't even make any damn sense."

Leaning over, I picked up the notes and scrutinised them, my brow furrowing into a frown.

"Why doesn't it make any sense?" Daniel's voice queried curiously from behind me.

"Just listen," Mr Wang interrupted, his tone short and snappy.

I read the bewildering message out loud:

"Seeker of truth, facer of lies,
Wherein the sealed chest hides,
The blackest of magic, the cruelest of tricks,
The merchant's scroll will tell you why."

"What the heck?" Daniel murmured. He glanced over my shoulder and stared intently at the parchment.

Wesley shrugged. "I dunno why, but - but those words seem familiar, aye?"

"Uhh ... yeah," I responded slowly. "They do!" A sudden thought struck me and I nearly shrieked with delight. "Wait ... do - do you that maybe this could be a clue to helping us escape?"

For a moment there was an awkward silence.

Mr Wang suddenly burst out laughing. Peals and peals of loud laughter echoed around the room. His round belly bounced up and down. His shoulders shook violently. Tears began streaming down his cheeks.

I could feel my face turning red. "What?" I snapped angrily. "What's so funny?"

"Y-you!" Mr Wang finally gasped out as he wiped away his tears and tried to calm himself. "I can't believe you're dumb enough to think there's actually a way out of here!"

My mouth fell open as I glared, astonished and upset, at him. "And I can't believe you're dumb enough to think that there isn't."

"Hayley, it's okay, he's just messing around," Daniel placed a hand on my upper arm, trying to lighten the situation.

I shook him off, remembering his earlier reaction. Tears trembled in my eyes as I glanced from Daniel, to Wesley and then back to Mr Wang.

"Y-you didn't bring me here because you thought the code meant something, did you?" I choked out, addressing Daniel. "Y-you brought me here because you just wanted to get a good laugh out of it. You thought you could shut me up about this, didn't you?"

"Hayley, that's not fair," Daniel tried to rebuff me, but I cut him off.

"No, don't bother trying to defend yourself because it's not gonna work! This is the last time I'm ever asking for your help!" I cried, my voice started to rise.

"Hayley, frickin' calm down, alright?" Wesley shot out, the anger evident in his eyes. "You're being completely misguided in your statements!"

"What book did you swallow?" I seethed, my voice beginning to get raspy and sore. "I'm through with this ... with all of you!" As I said this, I narrowed my eyes furiously at Mr Wang.

Surprisingly, he just gazed back at me, his expression one of disappointment and sadness.

But I didn't care.

I stormed out of that cottage, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. I stomped down the dirt path leading towards town, my head throbbing and my heart pounding. I was a mixture of torn feelings. Half of me felt awful and extremely guilty at having lost my cool, but the other half screamed that I'd been right, that I shouldn't have let the guys take advantage of me in my vulnerability.

I knew they wanted to get out of this insufferable mess as much as I did, they were just too proud to say so. But I was determined that I'd set things straight ... that I'd find a way out, for all of us, once and for all.

Unfortunately, things like that are easier said than done. The moment I tried sneaking in through the back door was the exact moment Auntie Steph decided to use it to go hang out her load of wet laundry. Of course, we ran into each other. She wanted to know where I'd been, but I couldn't tell her nor think up a good enough excuse to explain my absence. This resulted in us having a major fight. I think every single person on our street must've heard us, it was that loud.

I ended up going to bed early, with no dinner. But I couldn't care less at the time.

For the first half an hour, I sat there, an angry expression on my face, thinking of every worst possible way Auntie Steph could die. Then I just sulked. Finally, I could take it no longer. I buried my face in my pillow and cried myself to sleep.

__________

"... The merchant's scroll will tell you why..."

The words, spoken softly and gently, rolled off my mother's tongue, transforming themselves into a beautiful melody as the notes carried through the air.

I gasped, gazing around at my surroundings in amazement.

I was standing in the kitchen of our old ranch, the place where I'd grown up. The smell of freshly baked bread and spiced cinnamon pie wafted it's scent throughout the house. I could clearly hear the sound of my Dad's axe ringing outside, indicating that he was chopping wood for the fire nestled cosily in our stove.

My mother, her deep chocolate brown hair tied up in a loose bun, lifted a kettle of steamed carrots off of the stove and tipped them into one of her special cooking bowls. She carried it to the kitchen table and smiled sweetly at a little girl who was sitting there, drawing a picture with a newly-sharpened pencil.

"What's that you're doing there, honey?" Mum asked.

"I'm drawing," the little girl responded absent-mindedly.

"What are you drawing?"

"A picture of you, Mummy, singing."

My eyes widened in shock when the little girl finally lifted her head to gaze at her mother.

It was me as a young child! B-but I'm me as well. Okay, there was two of me! One of me when I was little, and myself, right here, right now, as a teen. I shook my head, confused.

The minute I moved, however, the miniature version of me glanced up in my direction and let out a horrified scream.

Mum snapped her head up, her features contorting with fear.

"No, no, wait, don't be scared, it's just me!" I pleaded, reaching out my hands to try and calm them.

They both ignored me, though. Suddenly, I realised they weren't looking at me. They were looking at something ... behind me.

I turned around to see a massive wave of blackness start to engulf the house; a strong, howling wind rapidly pushing it forwards.

"What the ..." I began, but was interrupted by another scream from the little girl. I whirled back around to face them, but it was like I wasn't even there. They couldn't see me.

Mum snatched up the little girl and raced down the hallway, screaming my father's name.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Wait for me! Stop!"

But they didn't.

I tried to run, but found, upon examination, that my feet were glued firmly to the floor. I couldn't move a muscle.

A voice, that sounded very much like my mother's, began to sing, the whistling wind picking it up and shrieking out the words:

"Seeker of truth, facer of lies,
Wherein the sealed chest hides,
The blackest of magic, the cruelest of tricks,
The merchant's scroll will tell you why."

I dropped to my knees and covered my head with my hands, letting out a scream of anger, terror and confusion.

"Seeker of truth, facer of lies,
Wherein the sealed chest hides,
The blackest of magic, the cruelest of tricks,
The merchant's scroll will tell you why."

"Shut-up!" I cried. "Just shut-up!"

I began sobbing as I collapsed to the floor, the massive wave of blackness consuming me.

__________

I shot straight up in bed and gasped out in horror. My breath was coming out in pants, my whole body was shaking uncontrollably and I was bathed in sweat.

I lifted my hands to my cheeks and realised that I must've been crying for some traces of tears were still fresh and wet on my cheeks.

"Oh my God," I heaved out. I never usually suffered from nightmares, but this one was different. This one contained ...

"The code!" I exhaled sharply.

Springing into action, I kicked off a light blanket that'd been draped over me and hopped out of bed. I reached over to quickly switch on my lamp and glanced around anxiously. Where the hell had I put those damn notes?

I caught a glimpse of something small and white lying on the floor and whipped about abruptly. I couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped me as I saw the papers strewn across the room.

I must've chucked them on the floor while I was in a rage. I scrambled after them, relieved that I hadn't misplaced them, or even worse, torn them up.

Slowly, I retraced my steps back to my bed and slumped down, studying the papers carefully.

"Wherein the sealed chest hides," I murmured. "Sealed chest?"

My eyes widened as memory after memory of my childhood poured through my mind, threatening to drown it with the immensity. For so long, I had shoved such thoughts to the back of my mind, but now, I realised that in order to decipher the code, I had to relive my past. Somehow, this was all connected to my Mum.

"I need to go back to the ranch," I whispered aloud, glancing quickly towards the drawn window drapes. I gritted my teeth in annoyance as I noticed that it was dark out. I shook my head. My mother wouldn't have let that stop her, and neither would I!

I stuffed the papers into my pocket and dropped to my knees to look beneath the bed. I brought out an old, unused lantern and used the flickering flame of the oil lamp, that was sitting on my bedside table, to light it.

With my lantern in hand, I crept carefully across the creaky wooden floorboards to my bedroom door. I snatched a navy blue jacket from the hook near the doorframe and shrugged it on. My hand reached out and warily encircled the door knob.

CREAK.

The door swung open slowly, admitting just enough room for me to pass through it.

I peeked my head out to glance up and down the passageway. My ears strained to hear even the tinkling of a noise. However, there was nothing but silence.

Softly, I stepped out in the hallway and tip-toed towards the staircase leading to the lower level of the house. With baited breath I passed Teyla's room, then Auntie Steph's. Neither of them stirred, though, and I finally managed to reach the top of the steps undisturbed.

I lifted the lantern up, it's shadowy light illuminating my figure against the far wall.

I stared down, in dismay, at the long, winding staircase that met my eyes.

I reached out and ran my fingers along the finely polished banister. I knew what I had to do.

Keeping the lantern high above my head, so it wouldn't hit the railing and suddenly notify everyone of my leaving, I swung myself onto the banister and screwed my eyes shut tightly.

Well ... here goes.

I opened my eyes and even though every bone in my body was screaming for me to hold on, I felt the railing slip through my fingers as I let it go.

I whizzed down those steps so fast, I had to catch myself down the bottom so I wouldn't fall off. My breath caught in my throat and I had to pause for a moment to steady myself.

I lowered myself off of the railing and crept soundlessly through the lounge, the downstairs hallway, and finally, the back door.

I heaved a sigh of relief as the door clicked shut behind me. A rush of cool night air fanned my face and played with the strands of my hair as I scampered through the back garden. I headed towards the one-horse stable constructed at the opposite end of the yard and heard the welcoming whinny of our young roan mare, Opi.

"Hey girl!" I crooned, leaning across the stable gate to rub my hand along Opi's neck. "I know it's late, but do you want to go for a ride?"

Opi just snorted in response, which I took as a 'yes'.

Unlocking the gate, I stepped inside the stable. Locating a lead rope and a soft saddle blanket, I placed these on Opi as quickly and effortlessly as possible before leading her out of the stable and into the night. Her hooves click-clacked noisily on the cobblestone path that wound it's way through the garden. I nervously hunched my shoulders together as we passed beneath Auntie Steph's window on our way to the back gate.

As I swung myself up on Opi's smooth, broad back, I held up my lantern and scanned the surrounding area. I gazed intently back towards the house, and when I was finally satisfied that no one had awoken, I nudged Opi forward and we galloped off into the night.

A/N: I hope u readers enjoyed this & if so please do comment & vote, I'd love it so much!It makes my day! Thank you so much for reading.

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