Regardless, I can experience those things another time. Once this chapter of my life is over, I wonder, will I miss it too?

-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 22nd Entry

AxEl stood infront of a pallet of drinks. He handed off the chilled bottles to any one who came. Gave them a smile, it was the perfect way to build trust. Anagen was receiving more attention than him, in truth, as some of the miners openly flirted with her.

“Oh, sorry, there’s people waiting behind you. If you would just, please take this,” she said as she offered the bottle to the miner in front of her. The group moved away and a new one entered.

A crowd was forming around the drinks and chatting. An optimistic mood had taken place and was persisting. AxEl slowly shuffled towards Anagen, picking up a few more bottles.

“Are you sure this will make up for yesterday?” AxEl asked.

“Keep smiling and handing it off, and it will,” Anagen replied. AxEl listened, considering his own idea the previous day hadn’t gone as well. A hand appeared in front of him and he placed a bottle in it, before freezing at the face of the person he was handing it to.

“You’re back, again,” she said as she took the bottle and popped the cap off of it. AxEl rose slowly, considering carefully.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he said. She shrugged.

“LenA.”

“That’s your name?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s custom to give your own, you know?” she said as she took another swig of the soda.

“I’m AxEl,” he said. Condensation gathered on the bottles as he waited for her to finish her drink. She didn’t move from her spot for the entire time, to the ire of the waiting people behind her.

“What possible reason have you to search out Tonguewisp?” LenA asked him.

“They’re…personal,” he replied. She shook her head in response.

“I don’t bother with secrets or other, AxEl. If you’re going to be asking such a hefty secret, you should understand that I need a particularly worthy reason for it,” she replied.

“It has to do with someone I’m looking for. I think they might be harvesting it and it’s linked to this town,” AxEl answered. He prayed that the woman wouldn’t inquire further.

She seemed to tap the glass bottle against her arms a few times before shrugging. “Truth be told, it’s an open secret of Minahret anyways. No one would be the wiser if you were to take a few leaves of the Tonguewisp growing underground. Plenty of people do it, though we try to keep the number low,” LenA answered.

AxEl released a breath. “Do you know which entrance they use?”

“It’s an old one by the abandoned part of town. Find yourself a torch, some equipment and an able mind, and you’ll be able to guide others down to where the Tonguewisp stones are.”

She handed back the bottle and AxEl placed it in the pallet.

“That’s as far as the information I’ll reveal goes,” she added, then held out a hand for AxEL to shake. He put it together and she pulled him closer, glaring.

“Cross me, you cross our entire town. We’re not forgiving folk for foreign betrayers,” she whispered to him, then walked back and finally let the stalled crowd forward. AxEl, Nook and Anagen cleared out the pallets of soda after a few hours, before regrouping back at the house with the information they’d been given.

AxEl and Nook took turns to shower while Anagen waited for the lot of them to gather. Over dinner, which was a meal of chicken and rice that she’d ordered from the local restaurant, they spoke.

“And she told you that up front?” Nook asked, incredulous.

“Yeah, she did,” AxEl replied.

“It’s suspicious. Do you think the miners themselves are dealing out the Tonguewisp. It would be pretty obvious if they were. They know the pathways, the location of the plant. And they could easily hide what they’re growing from the police if they wanted to.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Anagen shook her head, taking a bite from her meal.

“They’d be caught instantly. We were in town for a day or two and we saw them taking it.”

Nook still held to his theory, however. It fit too perfectly for him not to.

“If everyone’s using it, why is it so hard to convict them? Couldn’t they get the information out of one of the miners and bust the entire drug ring?” AxEl asked.

“It’s more of a matter of using versus producing, AxEl. They use it, but they’re not distributing it or producing it, so the police leave them alone,” Anagen explained.

“Then who’s producing it?” AxEl asked.

“That’s what we’re going to find out. Tonguewisp only grows underground, know what that means?” Anagen asked.

“They need to enter the caves!” Nook asked. Anagen nodded, satisfied.

“Exactly. They can’t have their own labs for growing it. It’s the same reason Firewire only grows near heat sources. We need to stake out the entrances, including the one that LenA told us about.”

****

Perched upon a hill near the entrances of the mine, Anagen, Nook and AxEl waited. The sun had set past the horizon, and they were getting less visible by the moment. They overlooked the entrance, as well as an impressive amount of the town of Minahret.

There were a few sheds scattered around the base of the hill that held the mine entrance, but AxEl had snuck over there and found no one through the windows. There were no lights on and no sounds coming from inside, so he’d given the signal that they were safe.

The night stretched on, and the chill of the night weighed on him. Sometimes he’d hear the chirp of a bird, the knocking over of a stone, or something else and be brought back to the present. He kept his hands clenched as a feeling came over him.

When would they arrive? Would they even arrive this night? It was only the first day, after all. Should he have placed some of his agents here instead? But then a sound came, a rock slipping down the hill.

AxEl darted his eyes over, holding a Prophecy pill in his hand before realizing it had just been a small wild cat. He sighed, tucking away the pill in his pocket and noting what Anagen and Nook were doing. Anagen was trying to read in the dark, squinting at the barely legible letters while Nook seemed to just be stacking stones.

“Stop that,” AxEl said, annoyed. Nook raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“What?”

“The stones. If they fall over, someone might notice,” AxEl whispered.

“Tsk, fine,” Nook said, then began deconstructing his tower.

AxEl dared to look at his phone and noticed the time approaching midnight. Nook was barely keeping his eyes open, opening and closing them in tired motions. Anagen yawned silently, putting a hand in front of her mouth.

AxEl only grew more agitated. His heart beat faster and his anticipation grew. But no one came.

“Where are they?” AxEl asked.

“I… don’t know?” Anagen replied.

“Maybe they had all they needed to last a few days?” Nook offered. Anagen shook her head.

“This is the biggest of their production sites I know of. They’d need to return here often. If not to gather more, at least to preserve the security of it,” she said.

Nook returned to stacking stones, now that it seemed no one would be coming back. Then he stopped as he held one in his hand.

“They’re not using this entrance,” he said.

“Then they must be using the other ones?” Anagen asked.

“No… The houses. AxEl, did you actually go inside them?” he asked.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Were there beds? Tables, stoves, anything?” Nook asked.

“No. Just tools and shelves,” AxEl answered.

“But why? It’s the middle of the night. Aren’t those storehouses for the tools? At least someone should have come to put away the tools,” Nook explained.

“And yet no one did,” Anagen noted. AxEl stood up and dusted off the dirt that clung to his clothes.

“Then that’s where we’re going to search,” AxEl replied. He stomped and they followed him, all the way to the first house. Even with his strength, AxEl found opening the door to be a chore.

He pulled out a Firewire cigarette and set to smoking it, Once he was done, he kicked the ashes away and put out the cigarette. AxEl felt the chill receding and saw a dull grey glow bouncing off of the surface of the door.

He tackled the door and it gave way easily, snapping off of its hinges. He set the door down as gently as he could, but the sounds still seemed so loud after hours of silence.

“Still just tools here,” AxEl said. He walked over the wooden floor, feeling it creak beneath his feet. They started to search around, throwing the pickaxes, rope and helmets to the side to search the place. AxEl became more annoyed the more he searched.

He slammed at the back wall in frustration and heard a hollow sound in return. AxEl looked at the wall, the seemed as wooden as the rest. He felt at it until his hands started running over something smoother.

He picked at it until it gave way and ripped it out.

“It’s tape,” he said, and Anagen shined her phone’s light on it to confirm.

“Made to look like wooden planks,” she said. On the wall was now a groove. AxEl ripped apart the rest of the bits of tape, revealing a section of the wall to be removable. He grabbed a chisel from one of the shelves and pulled the panel out, revealing a doorway that led into the mountain.

Bewllan crystals were set in the door, lighting it as it extended further back. AxEl heard the sound of something skittering and looked behind them, finding a shadow in the entrance. When it grew closer, he found it belonged to the same cat that had been annoying them earlier.

“There’s nothing telling what we’ll find inside,” Nook said. Anagen nodded.

“We should be careful if we’re going to explore this. This will be our only chance,” she said.

AxEl’s attention was still squarely on the feline that had followed them, however. He ignored it and rolled his shoulders around in their sockets.

“Let’s go.”