by Lola StVil
“Fuck,” she shouts. “Mel, Rye, do something.”
She takes the Ballow out with a swift stomp as Mel and I both run to Ya-Ya. I get down on my knees and run my hands over one of her legs. Mel does the same on the other one. I can’t feel anything to suggest where she’s hurt, and I assume it must be on Mel’s side, but Mel is shaking her head.
“I don’t feel anything,” she says.
“This isn’t going to work,” Sunday says. “She doesn’t need a healer. She needs anti-venom. You guys go on. I’ll take her back to the cabin and have Nexus fix her.”
“You can’t go off alone, it’s too dangerous,” I say.
“We don’t have a choice, Rye. If we don’t get her to Nexus quickly, she’ll die. And we can’t afford more people missing if another creature attacks. You and Sailor have to be present to get the gem, you might need Mel’s healing skills, and Jinx and Aziza are needed in case you guys get swarmed again.”
I know he’s right and reluctantly, I nod my head.
“You’re right. Go,” I say.
Sunday moves his hand in the air, but nothing happens.
“Shit. I suck at portals. Can someone make me one?” he says.
I step forward but when I move my hand, it doesn’t work either. Aziza tries and still nothing.
“I guess portals are off the table then,” I say grimly.
“I guess so,” Sunday agrees. “Good thing I’m fit.”
Sunday scoops Ya-Ya up and holds her against his chest. He sprints away from us, heading back the way we have just come.
“I can’t believe one of those tricky little fuckers got past us,” Aziza says, shaking her head.
“I know,” I say.
“What if that wasn’t the only one?” Jinx says, nudging Sailor. “You should probably strip. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Do you always have to threaten girls with death to get them to strip for you?” Sailor smiles at him.
He laughs. “Nah, but you’re special.”
She just shakes her head.
“We have to keep moving,” I say.
We start walking again. We have been walking for about half an hour when the tunnel widens out and we’re in a clearing. A trapdoor sits in the middle of the floor. Sailor nudges me and points to it and I know immediately what she’s showing me. It’s the same as the one in the tunnels beneath the school. We’ve found the Soul Gem’s location.
“Let’s do this,” I say.
I pull out a small glass test tube that Nexus gave me earlier. Sailor reaches up and plucks a hair from her head, wincing slightly as it comes loose. She puts it into the test tube, and I hold my hand out to her. She pricks the end of one of my fingers with her dagger, and I squeeze a few drops of blood into the tube. I cover the top with my thumb and shake it around until I can see that Sailor’s hair is fully covered with my blood.
“Keep us covered, guys,” I say. “We have to find a hole small enough for a single hair to fit inside of. This could take a while.”
Sailor and I move to the trapdoor. I look around the chamber as we move but I can’t see anything that could put us in immediate danger. We get to our knees on either side of the trapdoor and begin to scour every inch of it. I give up trying to see a pinprick-sized hole and I run my fingertips over the trapdoor. I soon feel a tiny anomaly on the surface and I pull my finger away and squint at the trapdoor. Sure enough, I see the tiny black dot of a hole.
“There,” I say to Sailor, pointing.
She nods her head and I pull the hair out of the test tube. On the third try, I manage to slot it in. The ground shakes slightly beneath me and then there’s a clicking sound as the trapdoor unlocks. We get to our feet and I pull up on the ring in the center of it. Sailor stands by, ready to reach in and grab the Soul Gem.
I lift it up and orange light spills out. I see an orange gem that’s oval in shape. Sailor reaches in and grabs it. As soon as her fingers touch it, she makes a pained sound and falls backwards.
“Sailor,” I shout, going to her side.
I throw myself down beside her. Mel runs over to us, but Sailor sits up and shakes her head.
“I’m alright,” she says.
She pulls her top down a bit and shows us her tattoo. A bright orange oval shape sits on a flower on one of the tree branches beside the first one. I examine the tree and notice that when the seed first implanted itself in her the tree looked completely dead with four crows on its branches. Now where the gems sit, the tree looks like it is gaining life and only three crows remain.
“We did it.” She grins. “It just stings a bit as it embeds itself, that’s all.”
I get up and help her back to her feet.
“I can’t believe you flashed your chest for them but you wouldn’t strip for me,” Jinx says as he walks over to us with Aziza.
“Yeah, life’s a bitch, isn’t it?” Sailor smirks. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
I check my watch and my jaw drops.
“Guys, time moves differently down here. We’ve been down here for three hours,” I say. “We have to hurry.”
Getting out won’t be anywhere near as hard as getting in. It’s just a matter of rushing through the passageway and up the staircase. We start towards the passageway. We’ve barely gotten going when I feel my chest starting to feel tight and heavy. I look around and the others are rubbing their chests too.
“It’s wearing off. The potion,” Jinx says.
I pull out the bottle, not at all happy about the small amount that’s left.
“Everyone takes a little sip. Hopefully it’ll buy us enough time to get back out,” I say.
I hand the bottle to Sailor, who takes a little bit and passes it on to Aziza. By the time it comes back to me, there is just enough left for me to take a sip.
“We need to run. That will barely buy us half an hour,” I say.
The team set off running, and once more I’m awed by Sailor. She easily keeps pace with the rest of us, and something tells me she’s hanging back to stay with us. I have a feeling she could outrun any one of us. I guess being the Paradox has its advantages.
We reach the gate and push through it. Mel closes it behind us and we start up the staircase. We come to the bend where Sailor fell and it’s just a straight run from here. I can feel the potion wearing off though. I can’t keep running and I slow to a walk.
“Rye, what is it?” Sailor demands.
I just shake my head. I don’t have enough air to explain. I wave my hand upwards, telling her to go on, but of course she ignores me. The others have realized something is wrong and they’re all turning back. I must have gotten slightly less of the potion than them with going last, but it wasn’t by much and they’re wasting time fussing around me instead of moving.
I force myself to start climbing again, knowing it will be the only way to convince them to start moving. After a few more steps, I start to see dots of light dancing in my vision and I know I don’t have long before I pass out. The others are starting to feel the effects now too as their own potion wears off. Sailor is affected more than the rest of us. Paradox or not, she’s still human. She’s coughing and spluttering, and she falls to her knees.
I reach down and grab her hand. Jinx grabs the other one and we haul her to her feet. I’m half dragging her now and it’s taking everything I have just to keep moving, and the gate isn’t even in sight yet.
“Shh. Listen,” Mel hisses, barely able to get the words out.
I strain my ears and I hear it. Footsteps. We’ve got company. And none of us are in a state to fend off an attack.
CHAPTER TEN: INVISIBLE SURPRISE
I try to raise my sword, but it’s too heavy. I can see Sailor fighting to pull her dagger out, but instead, she slumps forward, landing on the stairs. Jinx and I try to pull her up again, but it’s no good. Neither of us have the energy left to do it. Mel takes one more step and then one of her knees gives
way and she falls to the floor too. We’re going to die here. On a fucking dusty staircase. After we’re supposed to have done the hard part and be in the clear.
A voice drifts down through the darkness.
“Hold on, guys, we’re coming.”
I feel the dread within me change to relief. The voice is Sunday’s. A few minutes later, he’s there above us with Ya-Ya. He has a bottle of the potion in his hand. He goes to hand it to Mel, but she pushes him away and points to Sailor, who is barely conscious. Sunday kneels on the step beside her and pours some of the liquid into her mouth. She swallows and I hear her take in a great big gasping breath. Sunday hands the potion to Mel again. She drinks this time and passes it to me, then Jinx. I look around for Aziza, but she’s not there.
“Where the fuck is Aziza?” I snap, jumping up.
“Nice of you to notice I’m missing,” she croaks from below us.
Sunday jumps down a few steps and then stops and a second later he and Aziza join us.
“When we got to the cabin, Nexus gave Ya-Ya the anti-venom,” Sunday explains as we walk back up the stairs. “As she was administering it, she saw Ya-Ya’s watch and made a comment about it not working. For some reason, I checked mine and it said the same as Ya-Ya’s. That’s when Nexus realized that somehow, time works differently down here. She gave me the potion and told us to come find you guys.”
“You left it to the last second,” Jinx points out.
“I wanted it to be dramatic.” Sunday grins.
“And I’m fine by the way. Thanks for asking,” Ya-Ya says.
“Well obviously or you wouldn’t be here,” Aziza says.
Ya-Ya rolls her eyes.
“Ever the sympathetic one I see, Zi-Zi,” she says.
“Would you have it any other way?” Aziza grins as we step out into the light of the day.
“Nope.” Ya-Ya laughs, wrapping her arm around Aziza and giving her a quick squeeze.
“Hopefully some of the Boundless will still venture down there not knowing we beat them to the Soul Gem. The airlessness might just finish a few of them off,” Mel says.
“Not much chance of that,” Sailor says, pointing back over her shoulder.
I have to do a double take. The gate is gone, replaced with the same dirty whitewashed walls as the rest of the alley.
“Let’s get back to the cabin and chill out for bit,” Mel says. “And we can give Sailor her surprise.”
I raise an eyebrow.
Jinx laughs. “And now you know how I came up with that on the spot.”
“It was true?” I say.
Mel laughs and nods her head.
“Yeah. We figured Sailor deserved something nice after what happened to her.”
“You really think I would be dumb enough to lie to Adam? Dads of teenage girls all have inbuilt lie detectors in their brains. Trust me, I know.” Jinx laughs.
“Speaking of your dad, check your cell phone,” I say to Sailor.
She pulls it out.
“There’s a text, but he only sent it five minutes ago,” she says.
She taps out a reply and then she turns to Jinx.
“I believe you owe me a story about Mandy, the worst hostess ever,” she says.
“Indeed I do.” Jinx grins. “So picture the scene. This happened a year or two ago. Mandy was pretty hot, and I’d taken her out on a date as you do. She invited me back to her place after it, and I thought well duh, of course. Anyway, we get back to her place and she tells me her parents are out and we have the run of the place. We go in, and one thing leads to another you know. So we’re doing the deed when all of the lights go on.”
“Her parents came home early?” Sailor gasps.
“Worse.” Jinx laughs. “Turns out it wasn’t really her house. Her neighbors were away and she figured we could sneak in there. One of the other neighbors saw us but didn’t recognize Mandy and called the cops. So there I am, butt naked, cops pointing guns at me, trying to convince them I wasn’t robbing the house. They saw the funny side eventually, but I figure that officially makes Mandy a worse hostess than you. At least you had pizza.”
Sailor is laughing along with his story and I can’t help but notice how her eyes sparkle when she laughs, and how the sound of it makes me want to join in.
We reach the edge of the forest and Mel opens up a portal and we all step through it and come out into the cabin. Nexus jumps up to greet us.
“I can’t believe you didn’t think to mention how time worked down there,” I say.
“I had no idea,” she says. “Seriously, what time is it on your clocks?”
“One thirty,” I reply.
“Yeah. The real time is just after eleven. You would have had more than enough time to get in and out in three hours if it wasn’t for the time thing.”
“What caused it? Some sort of enchantment?” Mel asks.
Nexus crosses to Sailor. She takes hold of her top.
“May I?” she asks.
Sailor nods and Nexus pulls her top aside slightly and studies her tattoo.
“Nope. That was the effect of the Soul Gem. This one has powers revolving around time.”
“So time is going to be all shot to shit for me now?” Sailor asks.
I laugh at her not-so-delicate expression. Nexus looks quite amused too. She shakes her head.
“No. You’re not powerful enough to use the powers of the time gem until you have all the Soul Gems. All of you just need to reset your watches and you’ll be fine.”
Nexus left to follow up on a lead she was being very guarded about. The rest of us are sitting around the table eating lunch that Sunday and Mel went to the diner to grab for us. No one seems to be showing any ill effects from being down in the tunnels to get the Soul Gem, and Sailor actually looks better than she has since her spell in the hospital. It’s too good to be true to think that things might be starting to work out for us, but for now, we’ve earned a small victory and we haven’t lost anyone doing it, and that’s something to be celebrated. The team are in good spirits, laughing and joking, but Sailor has gone a little quiet.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, touching her hand.
She looks up at me and smiles and nods her head.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just thinking about something,” she says.
“About what?” Sunday interrupts.
“I didn’t want to say anything because I know you guys think I’m being paranoid, but you need to know,” she says.
“Go on,” Mel encourages her.
“I honestly think Raven is leading the Boundless,” Sailor says.
This gets a mixed reaction from the team. Ya-Ya’s mouth drops open, and Aziza laughs softly and shakes her head. The others just look at her in silence.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit two-faced to accuse her of that after you were all cozy with her in the hospital?” Ya-Ya says.
Sailor shakes her head and frowns.
“No, I don’t. What I think is two-faced is dating someone just to try and get information from their daughter. What I’m doing is called keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Have you ever heard of that?” Sailor asks.
“Yeah, but it sounds like an excuse to be a bitch to me,” Ya-Ya says.
“Oh shut up, Ya-Ya. Hear her out,” Aziza says.
“So you think Raven is leading Boundless too?” Ya-Ya says, glaring at her.
“Of course not,” Aziza says. “But my reasoning for that is a little bit more sophisticated than thinking she can’t possibly be evil because she has good style.”
“Why are you so sure it’s not her?” Sailor asks Aziza.
“Honestly, Sailor, I just think it’s too convenient. The one person in town you want to hate being the leader of the Boundless is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”
“But what if I hate her because of that? What if it’s my Paradox side sensing her darkness?” Sailor counters.
“Okay, let’s imagine that could be true. Why are you so sure it’s her?”
“Several reasons,” Sailor says. “First, she just always seems to be there you know. She was there when I had my episode. She was there at the hospital.”
“She was there because she cares about your dad,” Sunday says.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Sailor says. “And this morning. There was no way my dad was going to relent and let me out of his sight today. But Raven spoke up and convinced him it was alright.”
“So now she’s the bad guy for helping you?” Ya-Ya says.
“What if she wasn’t helping me? What if she thought she was sending me into danger?” Sailor challenges her.
“The trouble with that theory is if Raven is a part of Boundless, she wants the Soul Gems for herself. Surely she would have argued to keep you indoors so she could get to the gem before you,” Jinx says.
“She couldn’t retrieve it though, could she? Not without a hair from me, which granted she could get easily enough, and Rye’s blood. Maybe she thinks it’ll be easier to have me get them and then she can take them from me,” Sailor argues.
Jinx raises an eyebrow and shakes his head.
“What?” Sailor demands.
“I just think you’re clutching at straws, Sails,” he says. “You don’t like her, so you’re making the evidence fit your theory.”
“There’s something else,” Sailor says. “Before my sedative kicked in, I was lying on my bed and I heard her in my dad’s bedroom on the phone. I couldn’t hear everything, but I heard her saying something about getting it before it was too late. What else could she have been talking about?”
“Literally anything,” Sunday says.
“Name one thing that makes more sense than her being talking about the Soul Gem,” Sailor says.
The whole team start talking at once.
“Anything with an expiration date.”
“A resource for class that we need before our exams.”
