by JH Terry
XV: Pete’s Cellar of Surprises
Tom did as Akemi had instructed him to do. He did it within the darkness and as quietly and quickly as he was able to. He put into his bag two long-sleeved shirts, two pairs of pants, four pairs of thick socks, and an autumn jacket. He wore a pair of blue jeans, a long-sleeved plaid shirt with a grey long-sleeved shirt underneath, thick white socks, and sneakers. He placed the cross his father gave to him safely around his neck and buttoned his shirt so that it could not be seen.
“That should be it,” said Tom to himself. Looking to his clock he saw that it was already twenty past two. “I should hurry.”
It was already twenty-five past two as Tom quietly walked out of his room, closing his door as carefully as possible. He could hear his parents snoring in their room, a sure sign that they were in the deep sleeping phase. As he walked through the corridor to the stairs, Tom walked past his parents’ room, with its door slightly open. He looked onto his parents, especially his father with a flashlight in his right hand and a feather, to experiment if tickling would awaken Tom, in his left. Tom smiled, and thought, “To think, that even such simple memories as this would seem so important to me now, when before they were just a passing phase of life.”
Tom tiptoed down the stairs, stepping only in the places where no creaks could be heard. This was easy for Tom because he had practiced this before in other adventures. He went into the kitchen and saw something that startled him. It was Peter and Kate with their own baggage.
Looking to Peter, Tom asked, “What is with the baggage?”
“I’ve come along on the trip, willingly of course,” said Peter.
“But I haven’t, of course,” said Kate.
“What are you doing here?” asked Tom of Kate.
“Keeping an eye on my brother, who seems to be helpless to your requests. When we come back mother shall hear of this, and that woman,” said Kate as she pointed towards the living room, which was so dark that nothing could be ascertained as being in there, “whatever her name is, shall suffer.”
“It’s Akemi,” said Akemi at the kitchen door leading into the living room, now able to be seen, “and be quiet.”
“Or what?” asked Kate.
“Or I shall give you the pleasure of dying,” said Akemi without any sense of humor, showing the seriousness of her statement. Kate stopped her nagging, but wore a pout upon her face.
“Why are they here?” asked Tom. “And what exactly are we going to do?”
“First, get some food and place it within your bag,” said Akemi, “but not too much. As you and the others do so, I shall tell you of what we shall be doing.”
Tom, Peter, and Kate searched through the various cabinets and refrigerators in Tom’s house.
“Ill,” said Kate.
“What is it?” asked Peter.
“You eat porridge?” asked Kate of Tom.
“Yes,” said Tom truthfully.
“I mean really, porridge is the nastiest thing ever. No one likes porridge anymore.”
“Maybe everyone else does not like to eat porridge, but I like it a lot, as do my parents. It isn't the nastiest thing ever to some of us,” said Tom slightly annoyed.
“I just thought that you did not know,” said Kate with a look of disdain.
“At least it is better than your avocado banana nut pie,” muttered Tom.
“What?” asked Kate. “What did you say Tom Reed?”
“It is my own personal business, Kate,” said Tom. “I was muttering to myself, not to you. So if you do not mind, get yourself a life and stop intervening with mine.”
Kate seemed slightly embarrassed, but she soon continued with her search for food. Akemi smiled at what Tom had said. She then said as she looked to Tom’s old refrigerator placed on one side in the kitchen, “Your refrigerator is a unique article, Tom.”
“How do you mean?” asked Tom as he put a bottle of cold sparkling mineral water into a special compartment on the right side of his bag.
“I mean that it is a portal to Reilly A. Pete’s cellar beneath us,” said Akemi as she was concentrated in turning her sword on its tip upon the kitchen floor.
“But the frig cannot move, Akemi,” said Tom truthfully, “we have tried to replace it several times, but each time we have failed. That is why the other frig is in the garage. One time some construction company had the tenacity to ask us if they could use dynamite since they were so frustrated. It is something they have been puzzled about for years. They do not know how it could stay on so tightly, but they cannot wait till we leave and they can have a try at that dynamite. They have promised us a lot of money for it, but since we live so close to the Wilsons, with whom we are very close, Mom and Dad decided not to.”
“What a pity,” said Kate. “If you had moved we would have never been in this predicament. Perhaps if you had never been born I wouldn’t have had to wake up in the middle of the night to see where Peter was going.”
“No one asked you to come over,” said Tom. “Believe me, if you were not here it would be a joy just to sit down and stay as a vegetable for the rest of my life, having to be fed by others for my being alive.”
“Oh, and I wish I could be the one your life depended upon, then you would not use such a brazen manner at me,” said Kate.
“Believe me, one look at your face and my vegetable status would be gone in a wink. I would move my eyelids just not to see your face, even run in the opposite direction to get out of the same room as you.”
“That would be cool,” said Peter.
“Which part?” said Tom with a smile.
“The running away, with me right after you!” Both Tom and Peter laughed as Kate was red in the face.
“I’m leaving,” said Kate. “I do not have to take this harassment any further.”
“Quiet down,” said Akemi, “you’ll awaken Tom’s parents, besides, you cannot go.”
“Why not?” asked Kate. “This is America, you know, not England. You British think you own everyone, that you can have whatever you want whenever you want it, but you are wrong, you know. I am American and when I say I am leaving, I am leaving, and that is right now.”
“Then I guess that you can go back to your house with the evil black creature outside, who shall rejoice in eating your limbs, sucking your blood, and gouging out the jelly of your eyes to put in its morning tea.”
“You’re bluffing,” said Kate genuinely scared.
“Perhaps, but I think you should go outside, I shall enjoy seeing what he will do to you, especially knowing that you are Peter’s sister.”
“What does it matter that I am Peter’s sister? Should it not matter that Peter is Kate’s brother.”
“Well, Tom and Peter are best friends, and your Peter’s sister, therefore that is the order of things. However, do not worry, what he has in store for Tom and Peter is a lot worse.” Peter gulped. “Believe me, you do not want me to tell you about that little story right now, if you want to have an easy trip to Altium.”
“How are we getting there?” asked Tom. “The frig cannot move, no matter what anyone may have told you. I guess you just wasted your time in that department.”
“Ah,” said Akemi, “but appearance and reality are very different things, Tom. When the moonlight is shining directly at the refrigerator’s lower part, near the floor, and the light switch is depressed, a certain device allows the refrigerator to move forward.”
“But how can it do that?” asked Kate. “There are no tracks to move it along.”
“There is no need for any tracks, since it is powered by something greater in power than any man-made invention, The Ruby of Quarduiz.”
“What is that?” asked Peter.
“It is a gem we need to get before our friend Norbis does. It is one of eight that fit onto the Diamond of Quarduiz. Unop, the evil presence in my land, Altium, created the diamond over two thousand years ago. He created it as his supreme source of evil. Once the
rubies and diamond are placed together onto it, it shall give Unop enough power to drive all of those in all of the worlds under his power and into a reign of evil that no one shall be able to stop.”
“Why hasn’t it happened yet?” asked Tom.
“It hasn’t happened because of two things: the occurrence two thousand years ago by one of Unop’s sons, Unopicus and the Cross of Dena. While Unop was a young man he went to a soothsayer, or a predictor of the future, who told him that one day one of his four sons (Pietrice, Groonter, Droonter, or Unopicus) would betray him and work with the side of Dena to try to destroy him. Pietrice, the eldest, was evil like Unop. Pietrice was so evil that he later killed his younger twin brothers Groonter and Droonter so that everyone would accept him as Unop’s rightful successor and see that he was stronger and more evil than the other two. Groonter and Droonter were twins who shared a gift between them – the gift of seeing into the future. Many went to them to have their futures foretold, but Groonter and Droonter were unable to forecast their own future. However, Groonter and Droonter were art lovers, with a slight love for evil tendencies, but were inside ultimately good. However, neither Pietrice, Groonter, or Droonter were favored by their father. The favored one was Unop’s youngest son, Unopicus, the most innocent of them all.
“Unop liked Unopicus because Unopicus was innocent and naïve. He looked to Unop with no hatred or evil in his heart, nor did he look with any moral tones. He looked to Unop as his father, nothing more nor less, which made Unopicus feel that everything evil in his life that he had done would never affect the relationship he had with Unopicus. However in time this would be proven to be wrong.
“One day, as legend has it, that when Unopicus was a young man at university, as he walked back to his lodgings after a full day of tiring lectures, he tripped over something shiny in the ground. He dug around the object and cut his finger, thus allowing the surface of the object, the Cross of Dena, to mix with his blood. This gave him the knowledge of truth and wisdom that was in the cross. It was then that Unopicus realized his father’s evil plans of vengeance that had been clouded by the blind familial love he had for his father.
“Rather than hurt his father, Unopicus went to the icy mountains of Elitomy, a province in Altium, to seek divine wisdom upon his quest. For eight years he stayed there, living a life that included fasting everyday. Then, exactly eight years after he began his fasting, the image of Dena appeared to him. Dena told him that he was the one chosen to defeat Unop once and forever. Unopicus, with his pomp attitude from talking to Dena, left his makeshift camp in Elitomy and went to Denia, where his father was creating his plans.
“Unopicus travelled easily through Denia. At this present time it is filled with mists, but was not at that time. At the Juditmon Mountain, Unopicus met with Unop. As he was walking up the mountain coming closer and closer into Unop’s view, Unop knew that this was the child that was to try to defeat him, the child who had betrayed him, the one foretold to him by the soothsayer. He never fathomed that all of those times he spent nurturing Unopicus as a young child that this betrayal would be inevitable. There Unop stood, his heart hardened with this change in his son’s loyalties.
“However, as he walked up the mountain, Unopicus realized he could not carry out his task, to Unop’s lack of knowledge. He loved his father too much to be so disloyal. Therefore, as Unopicus came to embrace and ask his father for forgiveness, Unop, not knowing this, sent upon Unopicus a slight surge of energy from his palm to disable Unopicus from coming any closer to him. However, the energy hit directly upon the Cross of Dena Unopicus had worn upon his neck. Due to its metallic properties, the energy surge was even more powerful than Unop had predicted, paralyzing Unopicus. Seeing Unopicus’s eyes filled with horror and accusation, Unop understood his error. He rushed over to Unopicus and for a few moments sat there with Unopicus when, upon that mountain, Unopicus died in his arms.
“Angered, Unop destroyed the crops of Denia, driving the people away. He killed the soothsayer who had told him of the one son who would destroy him. He hated himself, and in order to complete his misery he destroyed the land of Denia that he held so highly and turned it into the misty abyss that it is today so that no one would dare to come into it nor would they be able to surpass it.
“For centuries he stayed like this, his mind encompassed by his own guilt and his hatred of all. That was until he noticed the voices of the small organisms in the water droplets of the mists. They talked of the prophesied, and how Dena promised to them their freedom. Unop grew angered by these voices. He growled and sneered at the creatures for their stupidity for believing in Dena. However, soon he began to believe that he was not to blame for his son’s death, but Dena was. Dena, who had told his favorite son to defy him had caused upon Unop this misery. Unopicus was only an innocent, naïve child whom Dena had moulded into a monstrous form of the son whom Unop had once held in his arms so fondly as a child. Just as the small organisms had been corrupted by Dena so had Unop. Dena and his good! Unop believed that they must be crushed, destroyed, annihilated before they could cause any more damage.
“For centuries Unop gained his evil forces and created his own brigade of six Bluoids. Through horror, persuasion, and death he gained control over his enemies, those prophesied by Dena. However, in later years, Unop felt that the threat of the prophesied was over, driven away with only his son being the culprit. However, he did not stop his terror campaign against those in succession of this place, only he dimmed it as he saw fit.
“Now, everything is set into place, except for the loss of two rubies and the Cross of Dena. Only when he has found these can Unop use it with the other gems to completely control the worlds with his evil. Now, there are two rubies that Norbis had in his cellar or on the grounds of Sudbury High when he was still the human Reilly A. Pete.”
“How do you know that?” asked Tom.
“It is how Pete was able to travel to Altium before he became Norbis and what drives all of the natural energy within the cellar and Pete’s other domains. However since he was transformed from Reilly A. Pete to Norbis, he does not remember his previous life clearly, a way for Unop to fully control him. For the past century Norbis has searched for the rubies and cross, but it is up to us to get it before he does tonight, for there are probably a few places that he has not searched, which is to our advantage.”
“How?” asked Kate. “Just because he has searched in so many places, it does not mean that we have, which may take us a century just to figure out where it is. Therefore, if anything, he is in a better position than we are.”
“We have Tom and Norbis has not found the rubies yet, those are our advantages,” said Akemi.
“Actually, I count only one advantage, me,” said Kate.
“How are you an advantage? If anything, your mouth is a disadvantage,” said Peter.
“A human woman’s intuitions are always needed in such a matter as this, therefore with my help we shall find the rubies,” said Kate confidently.
“Oh, wow?” asked Peter.
“As long as you keep your voice level to a minimum and your remarks to very few, I shall have no problem with your intuitions,” said Akemi. “Now, we had better get down into that cellar before Norbis comes.”
With that, Akemi stood near the refrigerator, which already had the moonlight at the bottom. “Move away from the refrigerator,” said Akemi to Tom, Peter, and Kate. They did as Akemi dictated to them.
Akemi then depressed the light switch. Just as she did, she quickly moved her hand away from the switch and walked backwards a safe distance from the refrigerator. Then, with green light filling the kitchen from underneath, the refrigerator began to move as if it were gliding upon the air right above the floor. Soon the refrigerator had moved from its place by thirty-six inches.
“Let’s look,” said Akemi.
Looking behind the refrigerator they saw a geometrical pattern of a spiral sha
pe of a diamond with a diamond centre on the floor. The largest had sides of twenty-four inches in length and twelve inches in width. The smallest diamond, two inches in length, 1 inch in width, was a bulge in that shape. The other diamonds were defined by the rising of their shape like a mountain. In total, there were 12 diamonds formed in the pattern. Through each diamond, a greenish glow shone.
Akemi walked closer to the shape. She said, “Go into the living room and keep far away from the door. It is best to stand next to the wall away from the kitchen.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Tom.
“Open this doorway,” said Akemi.
Tom, Peter, and Kate left into the living room. Being there, Akemi could not hear what they were saying.
“What is she doing?” asked Kate.
“Opening that doorway,” said Tom.
“I do not trust her,” said Peter.
“I can’t say I completely trust her either,” said Tom, “but so far she has helped us, whatever her gain is. At least she does not want to place her sword in our bellies. If she did she would have done so already. She needs us. That is why we are safe. Just as long as she needs us we will be.”
“And what about when she does not need us anymore,” said Peter.
“Let us hope that the time is not soon, and if she does we need a plan,” said Tom.
“I think that you two are wrong,” said Kate. “She is not bad at all, actually I am beginning to like her.”
“Like her, why?” asked Peter.
“She is like me, very meticulous and understanding.”
“Understanding of herself,” said Peter.
“If she is not so bad,” said Tom, “then how does she know how many items Norbis still needs to acquire?”
“Perhaps she is a spy,” said Peter.
“A woman spy!” exclaimed Kate. “That is so mysterious.”
“I do not think so,” said Tom. “We should be with her to find out what this entire thing is about. At least we should watch her in case she does something funny or tries to hurt us. We must work together if we are to make it through this.”
“You are right,” said Peter. “Are you willing, Kate?”
“All right, but I do not believe she is as bad as you think she is.”
“It is settled,” said Tom as they saw Akemi push down upon the central circle.
The green light began to shine brighter than before. Akemi ran over to the three as the pattern began to open up. She quickly came into the living room.
“Why are you running?” asked Kate as Akemi stood next to the others.
Suddenly very small, but dangerous, shards of green glass bounced noiselessly around the kitchen. However, they were safe within the living room due to the inability of the glass shards to travel as far as where they stood.
“That was why,” said Akemi. “Those slivers of glass can pierce through your skin cutting to the bone. We could have easily been killed.”
Peter gulped. “Looks like if it were not for you Akemi,” said Kate, “we could have been hurt back there. Thank you.”
Sensing that there was something wrong, but not showing it, Akemi said with a slight smirk, “My pleasure.” Once everything was still around the kitchen, Akemi said, “We can return to the kitchen now.”
Once everything was still around the kitchen, Akemi, Tom, Peter and Kate walked carefully over to the hole within the kitchen’s floor. The only thing that could be seen was a greenish light on another similar diamond on the floor below and a steel ladder going down from the kitchen into the cellar.
“I’ll go down first,” said Akemi.
“Why must you always do everything?” asked Kate. “You may have a trap set up for us down there. I do not think it is right, I believe I should go down first, my intuitions tell me so.”
“Then I guess your intuitions are quite wrong, because the only danger that is prominent is my sword in your belly!”
“Kate, there is no need for any mistrust,” said Tom. “Akemi, you may go down first.”
“Thank you, Tom,” said Akemi. She went first down the steel ladder and soon was down upon the cellar floor. She called, “Come down as well, it seems to be safe. Follow my path and do not step on the diamond on this cellar floor.”
First Tom came down, followed by Peter, and finally Kate. However, after Kate came down something peculiar happened. The ladder rose up to the ceiling too high for them to reach it and the diamond above closed. Only a greenish light shone above them from the area where the diamond was.
“What did you do?” asked Peter of Kate as they could hear the refrigerator returning to its original position.
“I did nothing, only what she told us to do,” exclaimed Kate.
“Sh…” said Akemi as she placed her hands firmly upon her sword. Tom could see by her face that something was wrong. Sensing that trouble was evident Tom grabbed upon the most useful weapon he had - a bottle of sparkling water. Peter looked at Tom in a strange manner, but looked away, knowing that Tom used sense in all of the things he did. Seeing Tom with the water bottle Kate began to smirk, thinking to herself how stupid Tom was acting, especially to think that a water bottle would be of any use at all.
Suddenly, a thin green light shone from each of the four corners of the room at them. Peter became frightened, Akemi took her sword out of its scabbard, Tom grasped his water bottle, and Kate stood dumbfounded. Seeing it Tom could discern that they were actually not lights but the reflection of the green light above upon a shiny object. What that object was Tom did not know, and felt as if knowing about it was not something he favored at the present moment of time.
“Are those side lights?” asked Kate. “If they are they are not that good.” Tom looked puzzled at her comment, but looked back to the green lights.
Then, out of each of the corners the sound of metal scratching stone could be heard and the green lights were lifted up into the air at an angle towards them.
Akemi then whispered to Tom, “When I tell you to, depress the middle diamond on the pattern on the floor, and get Peter, Kate and yourself out. Do not worry about me, I shall reach you soon enough.”
“Will there be any glass shards in this one as well?” asked Tom.
“No,” said Akemi.
“How do you know that?” asked Tom.
“Just trust me when I say so,” said Akemi. “As with your head problem of this morning, my intuitions and natural abilities tell me so.”
Tom nodded his head in agreement, but he did not feel entirely sure of Akemi. Tom whispered to Peter and Kate, “When Akemi says so I will depress the diamond and we have to go down the portal.”
“What about the glass?” asked Peter.
“Akemi’s intuitions tell her that there are none,” said Tom unsure of Akemi’s intuitions as were the others, but they knew they had no other choice than to go down the portal. To Kate, Tom said, “Do you understand?”
“Yes, fully,” said Kate, “but why do you get to depress the diamond?”
“Just do as I say Kate,” said Tom.
“All right then, but do not expect any sympathy from me next time when we are in the reversed situation.” A look of irritation came upon Tom’s face, but he did not let Kate’s bickering deter him.
As Tom was talking to Peter and Kate the bright lights came closer towards them. The greenish light first distinguished their black robes, long enough to cover their feet. They walked with a silent, slow, calculated footstep, as if they could take their time with this catch.
Once they were two yards away from the diamond pattern, Akemi said, “Now!” However, despite her instructions, Tom was to disobey her.
Tom depressed the diamond causing it to open without any shards of glass coming out of it.
“Looks like her intuitions were right,” said Peter.
“Go down,” said Tom to Peter and Kate. Peter went first, followed by Kate, but once Kate left Tom stayed along
with Akemi leaving both him and Akemi with the four black creatures.
“What are you doing?” asked Akemi. “Leave now if you do not want to die.”
“I am not leaving you here to die fending for yourself over me,” said Tom, “Besides, I have a plan. Bend down.”
“What?” asked Akemi surprised, as the four creatures were now only one and a half yards away.
“Do it,” said Tom. Smiling, he said, “Trust me.”
Akemi did as Tom told her to. Tom shook his water bottle, causing the tension of the gases within to increase. Once he felt it was shaken enough and as the creatures were only a yard away from him and Akemi, Tom held the bottle above Akemi and him and opened the bottle slightly spraying the four creatures and the surrounding floor, causing the creatures to run into their corners.
“Of course,” said Akemi, “the sparkling water’s gaseous properties cause them to be slightly blinded, enabling us to escape.”
“Actually was to let them slip with the water on the ground, preoccupying them for only a few moments, but the result is even more effective. Let’s just hurry before they regain their sight, and their anger.”
Tom and Akemi opened the diamond pattern in the floor and travelled down through the portal en route to an unknown place. As they were traveling the pattern closed, leaving the four black creatures howling and trying to remove the sparkling water from off of their faces.
