Arturo concentrated on the force that was pulling them up and made it disappear all at once. The rock platform began to fall straight down, centimeters away from the big tower.

Their hair fluttered like crazy, the wind blew in their ears so hard it made them deaf for moments and hit their faces in a way that made it hard to keep their eyes open. All three screamed, somewhere between excited and nervous.

The skyline was slowly ascending, the tips of other buildings passed the height of their heads and continued upward, while the ground approached them fast and menacingly. Soon they began to make out the people and trees below.

—Arturo!— Liliana shouted.

—It's all right!— he assured.

The platform below their feet slowly separated from the tower. When they had about thirty meters left, Arturo began to decelerate rapidly until they stopped centimeters from the ground. Inertia pulled them down, but they managed to hold on and avoid hitting the surface. From there they continued in the direction of the ship parking lot, while avoiding people and vehicles inside the castle. They flew over the buildings and passed over the gates quickly until they approached the launch pad, but Tur's ship was already beginning to rise. Arturo picked up the pace, but the ship was gone before they had a chance.

—Follow him!— urged Erica.

—He won't get away from me!— asserted the mage.

In a few seconds they passed over the last walls to get out into the street. From there they flew over the cars a few meters above the ground. They had to dodge traffic lights and signs, always keeping an eye on the First. To their good fortune, Primanoni was so dense that no ship could fly very fast inside.

They followed Tur's ship without much trouble through several streets, taking care not to be seen. Suddenly Tur caught a less populated area between several skyscrapers and rose. The mage had to stick to the buildings so as not to lose sight of them. Finally, after several minutes of pursuit, he came to a stop on a small, lightly traveled street.

From there he began to descend, directly towards a parking lot. Arturo left the rig nearby, they got out and hurried to hide behind some bushes. Soon Tur emerged alone from the parking lot and calmly began to walk down the sidewalk. Erica wanted to go and talk to him right away, but then the noni got a call.

—Yes, it's me— he answered— no, I haven't told her anything. Don't worry, Erica doesn't know a thing... yes, of course. I'm nearby, I'll see you soon.

Then he hung up and continued walking. The children froze behind the bushes.

—Tur is hiding something from us!— they thought at the same time.

They looked at each other's faces, still surprised. The First began to walk away, Erica looked at him, dismayed, then at her friends, and smiled. They understood that it was not going to be as simple as going and questioning him.

—Let's follow him— said Erica.

Liliana and Arturo looked at each other. They didn't like something there, but there was no other way. They followed Tur down the street, hiding wherever they could. The First walked down the sidewalk as if nothing had happened, without an escort or weapons, as if he were just any noni and not the most important politician in the world. He looked so relaxed that it didn't look like he was going to do anything out of the ordinary.

They continued on for two blocks. The noni suddenly stopped in front of the battered door of a small, poorly attended shop. After examining it for a moment, he entered. Immediately the children approached and pressed their ears to the door. If Tur spoke to anyone, they did not hear him, but they did feel a sudden sucking howl, a rather loud snap of wind.

Then, slowly, they opened the door and poked their heads in. The place was as dirty as it looked from the outside; the tables were small and gnawed and deformed with age, the floor had a few holes in it, some places lacked lighting, and the waiter was an old, grumpy noni with a grim face. When the children entered, he looked at them with suspicion, almost with contempt.

—What do they want?— he growled.

Tur was nowhere to be found, it was as if he had vanished.

Arturo stepped back a little, intimidated. Liliana immediately began to analyze the old man's behavior to get around his bad mood and Erica just prepared to punch his face when she felt she should. Liliana prepared to speak, but Erica did it first.

—Where is he?— she demanded to know.

Liliana put a hand to her temple. The last thing grumpy old men like that wanted were rambunctious, petulant young people. She could already see him kicking them out of the place.

—Pfff!— he shrugged, as if Erica was a fool for asking that question— What are you talking about, you stupid huma? Get out of here, I don't need kids like you making a fuss in my restaurant!

Erica puffed out her cheeks for a moment, offended.

—This shit is not even good for a garbage can!

The old man was startled, first surprised, then offended, finally angry.

—How dare you come and say that to ME!— he jumped down from his seat and approached Erica, brandishing a fat, trembling index finger.

Erica prepared to stop him with her chest and possibly hit him, which she had been expecting for a while, when Liliana stepped in to defuse the conflict.

—Come on, come on, let's not fight as soon as we meet. We didn't mean to disturb, did we, Erica?

She looked at Liliana, then at the noni. She understood that Liliana was doing that for her, that's the only reason why she stopped imposing herself.

—Sorry— she said between her teeth.

They both looked at the old man, but he didn't seem very willing to accept.

—No apology! You get out of here immediately! Get out! Go away!

—But sir — Liliana tried to stop him with her hands —sir, we need your help. Can't we talk it out?

—I don't care! Leave this instant or I'll throw you out myself!

—I'd like to see you try— Erica pleaded.

The noni rolled up his sleeves, showing his red muscles. Erica put a hand on Liliana's shoulder to tell her to back off, but Liliana still held out hope that she could settle the matter if they would just talk. It seemed that at any moment blows were going to break out, when suddenly Arturo spoke up.

—Hey, I know what happened to Tur— he said.

The girls poked their heads around the sides of the noni and found him behind the bar.

—What are you doing there?!— shouted the old man.

—I'm sorry, but I was very curious and you were busy— excused the mage— Come, look at this.

—No, no way! I won't let you in!

The noni wanted to grab both girls by the shoulders, but at that moment Liliana pulled out Brontes and ran her blade across the owner's neck. He immediately collapsed on the ground, asleep.

Erica stared at her, surprised. Then she looked at Liliana.

—It's the best thing for everyone, don't you agree?

Erica nodded, although at that moment she didn't fully understand what her friend meant. Liliana had simply concluded that knocking out the bartender was better than letting him be a victim of Erica's rage.

They both approached Arturo and looked where he pointed; towards a safe more or less hidden behind the bar, barely one meter tall. It was practically empty, except that on its back wall the metal was deformed into a helix and sunk beyond the limits of the box itself.

—A bridge!— observed Erica— This old man's got a bridge like it's nothing!

—So that's a bridge— commented Liliana.

—You haven't seen one before?

—No. When we were captured in Mother, we were transported in wagons without windows— she explained— we never saw the bridge.

—The question now is: where does it lead to— stated Arturo.

—It doesn't matter, Tur must have gone this way— concluded Erica— Let's go.

Without waiting for their answers, the girl crouched down in front of the safe and climbed in. The suction of the bridge was enough to pull the rest of her body out. Round and round she went, for a moment all was darkness, but in the distance she heard the clinking of chains. When she could breathe again, she found herself on her back on the floor. She immediately spun to give her friends room, assuming they would fall in the same place.

She found herself on the second floor of a large hall, with wide corridors built in the shape of an 8. Some people were standing at the intersections and doorways; they were guards. More importantly, they were dressed in black and white suits, with masks that barely covered their faces; they were the same suits Erica had seen at the chained ones meeting the first time she arrived at Nudo. That could only mean that these guys were followers of the Chainer.

Where she stood the guards could see her, so she quickly rolled toward the slitless railing to hide. Meanwhile, her friends appeared from behind. With her timitio she grabbed them as soon as they emerged from the spiral in the wall and grabbed them to prevent them from being seen. She immediately signaled them to be quiet.

—This must be one of the Chainer's lairs— she explained in whispers.

Liliana and Arturo looked surprised.

—This confirms our suspicions— uttered Arturo— Tur and the Chainer are have some kind of relationship. Now the question is what that relationship is.

Liliana turned red.

—Do you think they are lovers?— she asked.

Erica and Arturo stared at her in disbelief. Liliana realized she had been wrong.

—It must be some kind of business— explained Arturo— but sure, why not, they could be lovers too.

Erica held back a giggle, but it didn't last long, for an alliance between Tur and the Chainer could only mean bad times.

—Maybe we should leave— suggested Arturo— if they are allied and find us, I don't know what they could do to us.

—No, this event will not happen again— Erica observed— we still don't know if the Chainer himself is here, maybe there are only servants. Let's find out what mysteries Tur has.

Liliana and Arturo looked at each other, smiled and then nodded.

—As you say.

—Lead on.

Erica was surprised for a moment. She had expected complaints and arguments, not that they would give in so easily. However, having seen them prove their loyalty time and time again, she realized that being surprised to see them like this had no place anymore. She told herself that of course they would follow her, they were the best friends in all of the worlds. She felt a little better to have them both with her.

Calmer, she shook her head and turned to lead the way. They moved forward hidden to one side of the room to look down the long hallway that followed around the bend. Erica counted four guards posted in pairs. Their backs were against the wall, facing the rest of the hall. They made their way to the other side, but there were six more guards around.

—That's too many to go unnoticed— Erica observed.

The boy poked his head over the railing to look at the guards. There were two others in the middle aisle. None of them were doing anything, just waiting there, staring at the walls. Then he noticed the ceiling, rather plain and unadorned. It had no paintings or hanging teardrop lamps, it was not a ceiling to be seen, it was simply a top. Then he had an idea. He turned to his friends to explain.

—It could work— Erica guessed, surprised— not bad, Arturo.

Erica put her arms around both of their waists, stuck her back to the surface and pulled her timitio out from behind her back in the shape of hundreds of tiny legs, like an army of insects. The timitio scaled the wall upward, taking the teens with it. They glided smoothly upward and then stuck to the ceiling to advance upward.

The room was large and high. The ceiling was not brightly lit, for as Arturo had indicated, it was not meant to be seen by anyone. Therefore, none of the guards looked up at any time, or so they thought at first. The timitio sticking in the ceiling kicked up a good amount of dust, not so much to draw the attention of the guards below, but enough to get up Erica's nose. The girl felt like sneezing, tried to hold it back, at least cover her nose and mouth with her hands, but they were busy holding her friends.

—What about my timitio?— she thought.

Just before she sneezed, she covered her nose and mouth with her timitio. Her shriek was muffled. Unfortunately, when she used her parasite on her face, she had to pull it out from behind her back. The small claws of timitio that held her and her friends loosened from the ceiling and dropped them. The three fell through the hole connecting the two floors of the room and landed on a table filled with food, shattering it completely.

Erica lay still for a moment. Her friends in her arms, the shattered table under her feet and the people around her covered in pieces of food. The clattering noise of a plate as it finished rolling on the floor was all that could be heard for several uncomfortable seconds.

—Amh... that wasn't so bad— Liliana encouraged her.

Then one of the closest chained ones stood up and pointed at them.

—It's her! It's the brika our master has been looking for!

—Catch her!— shouted another.

—Don't let her escape!

Erica, red with shame, jumped to the ground and fled, gliding away like the wind.

—It's not my fault!— she yelled, overwhelmed.