The Air Out Of [Wattys2018 shortlist]

32

ELLIE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS FINALLY HER CHANCE TO FLIP THE SWITCH WHEN AVINE HAD RAIDED THE PALACE, so instead of doing her rightful duty in protecting the Queen, she chose to oversee the process then slip away halfway through. She had never been more thankful for such an easy excuse in her lifetime. In fact, just as Jett rushed to the Queen's quarters to make sure Luphoria would be safe, she knew that it was her cue to leave.

Of course, it couldn't have been that easy. The door was bolted three times over. Ellie's parents worked as bankers, but as soon as she saw how well the door was sealed, she instantly knew that it was more secure than the most reliable bank on earth. Jett's office was more secure than a compound building that stored millions of dollars.

She was still attempting to reach the vents lined up at the ceiling when Brea chose to approach her, with a slight tap on her shoulder, Brea motioned Ellie to turn in the opposite direction and stay in safety. "Ellie, get out."

"What?" She was too concentrated to bother to listen to Brea who was pacing just below her. If only Jess or Scar were here to lift her with their newly acquired sorcery-like skills. She used all the force within her to jump, and when she did, she made sure to grasp the framework of the metal shutters, as smoothly as she could muster, she pushed the lid open and slid the cover inside. Her fingertips were starting to turn pale yellow from the effort it took her to stay hanging, but she continued to attempt at lifting herself upwards.

From below, Brea rolled her eyes as she watched Ellie hanging by the tips of her fingers, calmly, she rested both her palms on either sole and pushed as hard as she could. Ellie was momentarily taken aback by the sudden push of force, but used it to her advantage anyway and managed to crawl upwards. Once she was secure, however, she shot a tiny glance at Brea and spoke "Thanks. What were you saying?"

"I would be careful." She nodded before turning on her heel and running off.

Ellie only gave a small shrug as she returned the vent cover to its original place and began to make her way through the slimly fitted gateway, she thought about how much easier it was that Covia was practically submerged in water. Because of this, she would find herself easily sliding into the compressed space as if she was covered in olive oil.

Soon enough she finds herself directly above the oddly familiar office of Jett. The warm, neutral tones only seem to set the tone to fill in the void of emptiness waiting to spiral out of control. It looked daring. A mindless jump, and whoever knows that wherever she might land wouldn't even set off an alarm.

Just because you're in water doesn't mean gravity won't affect you, Genius. You're still going to fall right through, not slowly descend into the room.

"Oh my god." Her hands began to shake as she lifted the grill like object and poised herself. Then she jumped. No regrets.

Fortunately for Ellie, she landed with a slight thud on Jett's synthetic maroon carpet, which in her case was made from polypropylene, one of the softest of its kind. Slowly rising from her crunched position, she made her way to the button whilst dusting off a few specks of dirt from her military suit.

Her mind was racing. Maybe there weren't any alarms because Jett would simply assume that the Avinians would raid his room, or the fact that the only logical way in was the vent in which no one would bother enter.

Or that there was nothing to hide.

So if she touched the box-like cover, an alarm wouldn't go off, besides the second one that would most definitely go off if she didn't complete the sequence in five minutes. This had to be the most complicated thing she had ever faced.

Cameras.

Brea would take care of that, she thought. A camera was the last thing she needed to care about in a dimly lit room in between a feverish war.

So, she quickly scanned the Queen's ID. click. Then reached for the strand of Aspyn's hair. She stuffed her hand in her pocket only to come across a pocket of air. It was missing. She definitely knew it was on her suit, it had to be. Just where? Ellie was still in the midst of searching all her pockets and zippers when she heard footsteps surround the door.

Jett.

Instinctively, she ducked under his desk making sure that everything looked untouched, and most importantly, no signs of an intruder. Quietly, she raked the rolling chair and pulled it closer to her. Jett's desk was, in fact, massive, and could very easily conceal her. That alarm though, that was a problem.

Except, it wasn't Jett at the door. At first, she heard pounding. Jett wouldn't have locked himself out, and if he did, the vent would be where he would go, so when the entire door began to be set on fire, Ellie thought she really wouldn't make it out.

The door didn't burn. Like she had said earlier, it was more secure than a building that stored millions - even billions of dollars. She had closed the vent on the outside, luckily, to its original position, so they wouldn't think of coming in through there.

Then suddenly, a taunting voice began to speak through the door.

"Jett, I suggest you open that door. The fumes we've just set out will have you passed out in less than five minutes."

Avinians.

Ellie was screwed.

Then she saw it. The strand of hair. Lying on the ground. She stumbled on her way to get it but was eventually able to snatch it from the ground, but just as she turned to clock it in and flip the switch, she noticed the timer for the first time ever.

00:02

Oh no.

00:01

She leaped towards the switch but already knew that she wouldn't make it in time.

00:00

Lights blared from every corner, and just to help the aura, a noise blasted from the heavily wired stereos as well. It felt like a police crime scene, and Ellie happened to be the in the middle of it all. Not 'happened', she was the sheer cause of it. And there was no getting out.

The Avinians, by that time, had already left as soon as they said their piece about Jett having to unlock the door or going to be exterminated by the concentration of the fume. But the actual Jett, of course, hadn't ignored the sound.

Just outside, Ellie could hear a more frantic set of footsteps and the clanking of the keys as the metal scraped against one another. Jett would find her for sure, and that would be the end of it.

But suddenly, she found herself being lifted off the ground and being thrown into the vent, the lid shutting on its own, and although the only reasonable explanation she could think of was Brea had come to her rescue, she knew that Jess was the one lifting her.

Soon enough, Jett had entered only to find that there was no intruder, or at least, said intruder had escaped. Brea had disabled the cameras.

She was still making her way down the vent to join Jess who was motioning her to hurry up when the Avinians began to corner them. From every single direction. Although she would've climbed back up that vent, she knew from experience that it was a dead end and if someone had bothered to chase her down, she would be as good as dead.

So, she let herself fall to the ground and stood near Jess. The two shared a small hug before facing their circumstances.

And it wasn't just them.

Clusters of three to four people being surrounded by a web of Avinians with guns pointed at their heads, some shuddering, others, like Scar looked like they were ready for a battle. This was a recipe for failure.

But, when Jett and Aspyn had finally accepted defeat of finding her as the intruder and left the room, the battle had officially started. As shown by the slight parting of Avinian warriors. Not a gap big enough to make a run for it, but enough for a singular unit to pass.

Avine headed straight for Aspyn.