“You are going to die,” I said to Raghav in an ominous tone.

“What the hell did I do?” his brow creased up as he wrung his hands.

“You came here,” I replied darkly.

“I was looking for you!”

“Who told you to follow me?”

I was just concerned that you weren’t there today, and I thought I might look for you! I didn’t follow you!”

I took in a deep breath, but it didn’t help in calming my nerves. “So you were worried about me and came down to a hidden city?”

“I was looking around when I tripped on a trapdoor in the sand. I came down to find a lift and emerged in this underground cave. There were people around, but they all looked so small. I walked through them, looking for your face. They just started panicking and ran away. What did I ever do to them?”
I sighed. “It isn’t you, Raghav. It isn’t your fault that they would like nothing better than skewering you right now.”

“Wow, that helps,” he took his head in his hands. Then he gazed up at me with those unfathomable dark brown eyes of his, that held secrets so different from mine, and yet that of a worried child. “What am I supposed to do?” There was a quiver in his eyes, and his face looked much paler than I had seen before. I didn’t know whether it was because of not being under the sun, or because of his fright.

I tried assessing the situation. “The dwarves will not let you out of here. They can’t let the word get out that we exist, so they will probably want to eliminate you,” I explained to him.

“Again, that doesn’t help. I need to get back home alive,” he said.

“Then we have to escape,” I said with a finality that surprised myself.

“Are you sure you can’t negotiate with the police? I am already down here illegally, but escaping would make me even a bigger criminal in their eyes. They could shoot at me. I don’t wanna die!” he looked like a five year old.

“They are out for blood today. They cannot allow you to return, not after you know about us. We have to escape,” I told him.

“Are you going to come with me?” he asked. I could see the hope in his eyes. He was looking up at me like an elder sister. Something erupted in my heart, something that made me feel a little warm and fuzzy. This little kid, not even a dwarf, taller than me, and looking to me for protection and help.

I smiled warmly as I tried to contain the happiness and pride surging through me. “I’ll get you up to the surface, then I’ll return,” I assured him.

We went out of the classroom, sneaking through the corridors and ducking around the windows so that the police didn’t see us. I could hear the sirens outside, and the policemen deliberating and quarrelling on what to do.

A sudden announcement rang out through the building. “If you want to live human, come out of the building and surrender right now.” Raghav looked at me with pleading eyes. He didn’t know what kind of cheap tricks the police could try. And after I had seen my father’s reaction to me going to the surface, I was pretty sure that the policemen were not going to show much mercy. “You have two minutes to decide. Come out and surrender, and we will spare you. If you do not respond in any way, then we will infiltrate the building and hunt you down. Two minutes,” the announcement continued. I shuddered as I imagined them ‘hunt him down’.

Raghav pulled at my elbow. I turned around to see that he was trembling. Worry lined his face. “Do you know where you are going?”

I realised that I had been leading him to the main door out of habit and cursed under my breath. I led him in the opposite direction, towards the secret teachers’ kitchen, and kicked open the door. Before I could kick open the other one Raghav put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to face him right in the eye. “Calm down, Melga,” he whispered to me. My heart continued thudding away in my chest, but I took a few deep breaths for his sake. The panic surged through my veins and all I wanted to do was run far, far away, away from all my worries, but I had a responsibility. I had to be calm and composed. He was depending on me. Our lives were depending on me. No pressure there, right?

I turned back around and slowly turned the handle. I peeked out a little bit, opening it only an inch to see that there was still one guard standing outside. Whistling nonchalantly and not looking my way. I pulled the door closed and turned to Raghav. “We have company.”

“Well, how do we get rid of it?”

I grinned. “I know exactly what we can do.” I rushed to one of the cupboards of the room and rummaged through the snacks that lay around. I found the thing I was looking for, the Halimens. They were small bite sized snacks that were also sometimes regarded as multi-nutrients, but they were delicious. they were of dull orange and yellow colours, a bit like puke, but that didn’t stop dwarves from munching on their chocolaty richness. they were in the shapes of boomerangs, and once in a while had a rock candy in the centre. There was just one major flaw about them.

If you heated up the Halimens even a little bit, they would start emanating a horrible smell of rotting garbage and sewage. It attacked your nostrils with such an intensely terrible smell that you could just belch out the contents of your last three meals. I learned that through experience. People even kept them in refrigerators in hotter areas if they lived in cities closer to the core.

I took a bunch of halogens in my hand, popped them into the microwave and heated them up a little. Then I fished them out, they weren’t smelling yet, and cranked open the door a little bit to throw them out in the direction of the policeman, but there were two now. Then I closed the door and waited. A minute later I heard gagging. A smile appeared on my face as I peeked out. The disgusting odour of the ot halimens immediately reached me as I saw the two policemen rushing away from there. The stench didn’t allow me to revel in the glory of my feat as I closed the door and turned to Raghav. “Ok, now’s our chance. The coast is clear and we can escape.”

“Are you sure?” his brow was lined together.

“Unless you count the stink as an obstacle,” I shrugged and opened the door.

We rushed outside and immediately covered our noses with our hands. The stench was unbearable, and reeked in despite the fact that we had shut our nostrils. We rushed away from the odour, the horrible smell that spread around the school. We had to run past at least ten building to finally stop smelling it, but it had been instilled in our memory.

“Where now?” Raghav gagged.

“Follow me,” I said, as I made eye contact with someone on the streets. The policeman glared at me dead in the eye, picked up his radio transmitter and spoke into it with his deep voice, “The human and a dwarf accomplice are on street 15, number 24. All backup requested to come immediately.”

A chill ran down my spine as he stared daggers at me, and I grabbed Raghav’s hand and ran. We stumbled through the maze of the streets, the sirens getting closer, as I led him towards the walls of the cavern. We finally arrived at the rocks and dead ends, and I turned right towards the lifts.

I sneaked a glance at Raghav. He was running at top speed, his breath coming out in short bursts, his face pale with fear. “Will we get caught?” he asked me, sounding desperate.

“No,” I said with conviction. “We will get out of here alive.”

We soon reached the lift, and then I saw the dark panel next to it. “Darn it! They stopped all the lifts!” I had completely forgotten about that, and I wanted to just bang my head on the unyielding doors and die. But wait, the car lift was still working. I dashed towards it just as a police car appeared from one of the streets. I could see Raghav’s face convulse in fear as he followed me to the hooked lift, and I looked up and down. But there was no car close enough for us to use. Another car appeared and the first one was very close. In a few seconds the policemen would come out and surround us. We had to take action, and fast. I turned to Raghav. “Do you trust me?”

He gazed at me back in the eye, and i felt some feeling of understanding pass between us. “Yes,” he was breathless.

“Good. Now jump!” I yelled, as I leapt and grabbed onto one of the hooks about to curve and go up with the car lift. The next hook was farther away than my feet, and I struggled to find purchase.

“Seriously?” Raghav yelled as he leapt and grabbed onto the hook below me, and both of us ascended towards the ceiling with the policemen fanning out below us, watching us with expressions of utter disbelief and devastation.