The sleek car drove into an old book underground factory. Debris clung to the walls with dead leaves on the metal bar that hung above them.
The smell of dead rats and green foliages intertwined, creating a nauseous air.
Alistair and Kieran covered their noses while Caedmon led the way, his hands dipped into his pocket. He looked like he had grown accustomed to the stench as he didn't mind covering his nose.
He spoke up, his voice echoing through out the vast tunnel. It looked more like an underground packing lot than a factory.
" We are almost there" he said.
Kieran groaned in response but Allistair kept mute. If he dared open his mouth, he was going to puke.
Caedmon had brought them here saying the remains of the so-called Pevensie's project was carried here. Few files survived but none carried the real details of what was needed. They believed, the safe held the remains.
Caedmon pulled a large porcelain door open, it made a terrifying sound as if about to collapse. Allistair felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. Yes, he wasn't ready to die yet.
Allistair's breath hitched, it was a large factory, although old, everything felt new.
The walls were about to be eaten up by rodents but the machines worked properly as lights flickered on. The marble beneath was clean and well kept.
Caedmon opened a safe and brought out a thick stack of document.
" The Pevensie's project"
Alistair grabbed it, taking out a document, his eyes scanning through the content.
Kieran did the same while Caedmon hovered around them waiting for them to be done.
Allistair's gaze darkened with each passing second, his mother's name was there as the lead scientist.
" Calliope pevensie– lead scientist ( dead)"
His hands tightened, he never got to meet his mother during the day. When she came back, he was already asleep and couldn't keep up with her. The next day, she disappears into the thin air.
He had waited all night to meet her, to take a good look at his mother but nothing, she only seemed to care about her work more. His father was much worse, he had apprentices and made one of them take care of him.
He was like he was an unplanned affair. Never meant to happen but happened anyways. Because they lusted after each other and when the responsibilities came, they became so busy. So busy, that they forgot his existence.
He had to sleep with his father's apprentices in their homes because his father was busy and he couldn't sleep alone in the large house. And later, his uncle told him they were dead. First, Astharoth had sympathized with him, letting him in. Well, not until he got his eyes on his father's possessions and riches.
" Pevensie Monroe?" Kieran asked, his brows slightly lifted.
" He is your father?" He added as if shocked.
" Yes" Allistair said, turning to look at his bewildered expression.
" How? How did you end up as a writer? Your father, he was …."
" I know" Allistair cut him off.
Kieran's stare lingered for a while then returned to the name.
Alistair's gaze returned to his mother's name, her photo attached.
So, this was what she looked like? Brown haired just like him with those siren eyes. Sharp yet her voice was the sweetest. He could remember the late night lulabbies. The ones that sounded like an apology, the warm hugs, everything.
" The Pevensie's project was a medical discovery" he said out loud and Caedmon nodded.
Kieran for some reason didn't look surprised. He just dropped the document and exhaled.
" If it grants what it promises then I think your mother did the right thing. Destroy it" Kieran said with a serious expression.
" Except she didn't" Caedmon said, drawing closer towards the two, " that safe has this medicine"
" Free from all diseases? That's ridiculous! There are diseases even yet to be discovered" Allistair scoffed.
" Your mother saw the future, she created something that even the scientists in time to come can't come up with"
" Thia is bullshit. You couldn't have brought us all the way here for this lie" Kieran said with utter disdain.
" Kieran, with how strongly you oppose, someone might feel you already know more than you let on" Caedmon said with a smirk.
" Except i don't" Kieran deadpanned and Caedmon exhaled.
Allistair paused, his eyes caught sight of something.
Invention 1946, Pevensie's project. Subject: rabbit. Broken bone strengthened. Test confirmed. Very potent
" It was tested and it was confirmed after series of failures" Caedmon said.
" Why was it invented?"
" The diseases that had hunted mankind since 1660's made doctors look for a permanent solution. But they never succeeded" Caedmon answered, shaking his head in pity, his shoulders sagged.
" Until 1946?"
" Yes, your mother made thousands of wishes come true"
" Then why did she destroy it" Allistair asked and Kieran turned to look towards Caedmon. His gaze sharp.
Caedmon dipped his hand into his pocket awkwardly, forcing a weird smile, " Even the most brilliant inventions could turn dangerous in the hands of the wrong person" he paused for effect, his hands trailing underneath the safe as if in an attempt to grasp something.
He continued, " greed overcame the patrons and everyone who knew it's existence. I was but a teen then. A messenger for my father"
Allistair's brows furrowed at the last sentence. was it really him? That voice that had exchanges with his uncle?
The next second, Caedmon flung out a gas spray and targeted Keiran, pressing it so hard that Kieran fell to the ground from the toxin. Allistair was taken unawares as the fume invaded his nostrils, making him fall to the ground, his hand flying to his neck in a desperate attempt to breathe.
Keiran fell to the floor, choking, his face red.
Caedmon grinned, he slipped his hand into Allistair's pocket and took out the locket, triumphant.
" One more thing Pevensie" Caedmon said through the mask on his face, " never trust a merchant" he said and slid away lo
cking the thick porcelain door behind him.
The two men laid on the floor, their hands on their neck.