I lay on my bed thinking about it all. At around 2:45 in the morning, I made my decision. No matter
what, I won’t let anything happen to my grandmother.
The next morning, after talking to her, I got ready to go, with a few supplies. I couldn’t take money as I
didn’t know where I was going. I was ready to leave physically, but maybe not mentally.
It had to be done. I tied the string to my ankle and it seemed as though the air had bent, it disappeared.
However, I could still feel it.
Then, this weird sensation tingled up my spine, this, tugging sensation…pulling me towards the
trapdoor. I could fight it but I don’t know why, I seemed to drift towards it. I opened the trapdoor.
Just before leaving, my grandmother gave me her jade necklace. She said her soul will protect me from
most harm. Wasn’t that assuring, most harm.
After that, everything was a blur in my memory. All I remember was a swirling vortex with a lot of
heat, burning through my skin until I thought I would melt.
It stopped just as suddenly as it started. I felt dizzy. I was on solid land but it was as though I was
standing on a moving slope. Even before I could get my bearings, I heard this massive blast, of an explosion I
have never before encountered.
My first thought “run”, my second thought “hide”.
I looked around. I was on a floor with bricks. There were a few barrels around me I ducked into one of
them. Finally, I had a few moments to look around to see where I was.
Through a hole in the barrel, I saw… the Great Wall of China.
Okay, this was kind of expected, I mean, with my grandmother being very much into Chinese
horoscopes and incense sticks and all that. However, what surprised me most wasn’t that I landed in China but
that the Great Wall of China was being bombed with explosives.
I cautiously crept out of the barrel and realised that there were four people surrounding a boy around
my age. I ducked beside a group of blown up bricks to try to make out what they were saying.
“
Where is it?” bellowed a man. The boy cried out in an equally loud voice, “I’m telling you, I don’t
know! Stop pestering me. Do you do this to every kid in China?”All three of the men laughed in response. Wait
a second, all three? I thought there were… “There you are, you little eavesdropper!” I got caught! “Wait, where
are you?” A man said.
“
Huh?” I stared at him in utter disbelief. He was looking directly at me and… couldn’t see me? That’s
when my necklace started getting hot. I instinctively raised my hand to touch it. Thoughtlessly, out of the corner
of my eye, I couldn’t see my hands. I looked down. My entire body had vanished. I was invisible. This necklace,
it really protected me. I gave silent thanks to my grandma.
“
Hey, I thought there was somebody here.” That man said. “Surely I wasn’t dreaming! Okay, you three,
helps me find that busybody.”
While they were busy, I felt this strong urge to talk to the boy who was miserably tied up. So, being
invisible, I tiptoed towards him. The moment my hand touched his, I felt the string around my ankle tighten. I
couldn’t see myself though, you know being invisible.
Once I freed him, he too became invisible. I heard him in a state of panic beside me, “I’m…I’m
invisible but who freed me? How did these ropes undo themselves?”
“
Listen, you have got to trust me. Let’s get out of here.” I found his hand and dragged him behind a
nearby watch tower. My necklace burned again. Instantly, we were both back to normal.
“
You, you should know the answer these guys are looking for, but we mustn’t show them where it is.”
He said.
“
Um… I think we haven’t been introduced yet, who are you?”
“
I know you, and you know me, Sapphira. I am Tristan.”
“
How did you know my name?”
“
I felt the string around my ankle getting tense. So you must be the one who can help me get rid of
these goons forever.” he said.
I didn’t know why but I just felt that I could trust Tristan. “So what exactly are you looking for?”
He asked me if I knew about a workman named Yi Kaizhan in the Ming Dynasty.
I said that he was so great at math that he calculated 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass of the
Great Wall. The supervisor who did not believe it said if he miscalculated, everybody would receive punishment.
In the end, only one brick was left, behind the Xiwong city gate. However Yi Kaizhan said that the brick was
put there by a supernatural being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore,