by Holly Hook
I realized that Xavier couldn't see the limo, which still looked to be a couple of miles away. “Yes,” I said, glad to change the subject.
He had seen...he had seen...
There was no way he'd want much to do with me now. I had destroyed all of it because I couldn't hold back. Sure, the man had wanted to shoot us and I'd acted in self defense, but leaving the guy out there hurt was weighing down on me. I wanted to bring him out and set him in the parking lot so someone would find him, but seeing their servant with bite marks on his neck would only alert the Dark Council to our presence. We had the Underground to protect. The man had chosen to serve the Dark Council—right? Some of Thoreau's Bound people hadn't chosen to serve him, as I'd learned at my house when I first met the mayor.
“How far?”
“Over a mile,” I said.
“I think I hear the car,” Xavier said. “We can watch from here and see what gets out. We've got a building we can duck behind if we need to.”
The wind kicked up and a few raindrops hit me on the top of my head, even though all the stars shined overhead. The streetlights that were illuminating the tourist traps all went out as if in anticipation of the arrival.
“Alyssa,” Xavier said.
“Yeah?” We walked behind one of the tourist traps, a gift shop that advertised T-shirts. I lost sight of the coming limo, but I could hear it crunching the dirt road. The dirt changed to the smooth sound of tires on gravel. It had reached the main driveway of the tourist parking lot.
“I heard some tourists right before you found me and now they're all gone.”
“I know,” I said.
“But there's still a bus here. Unless that green one I saw before the lights went out is an extra they have here all the time?”
It took a second for what he said to sink in. “Oh,” I said.
“Exactly,” Xavier said. “I've been lying out there half the day. When tours are done, they bring them around past where I was lying. This last group didn't do that.”
“Oh,” I repeated. “This might be bad.” The green bus didn't look like the others at that station. It was almost as if someone had come in and taken advantage of the tourists that had been waiting...the last I had heard them, they were across the ruins, far from this part of the attraction, going further and further from the parking lot. “Do you think the Dark Council has something planned for them? Like human sacrifice?” Meanwhile, the limo was getting closer. It would park in the lot, which was a couple hundred feet from us, because there was nowhere else to park. We stood at the corner of a building. We were far enough away to not be seen unless the being inside had very good senses.
“I don't know,” Xavier said. “Tour groups have been going through here all day. The guides I've seen and heard took off a couple of hours ago. I thought the place had closed already but then these two shady looking guys showed up when the sun started going down.”
“Maybe they're not real employees,” I said. I could imagine servants of the Dark Council sneaking around here after the real employees left. “We can't talk about this now.”
I dared to peek around the corner of the building. The limo was parking in the distant lot, lights still off. It remained still for a few minutes as if waiting to make sure everyone was gone and then I noticed movement.
The tour guide—the one with the name tag—approached the limo with purpose from between a couple of buildings towards the end of the row. He did not have any of the tourists with him.
Yes. They must be servants of the Dark Council. It made sense now. The late tour. The mystery bus taking advantage of the impatient people. The night tour that didn't make sense. These two guys had set up some ring to rope in innocent people to use for whatever evil they had planned. Maybe the rite to release Leon's energy needed a blood sacrifice. Maybe the Dark Council just wanted to have some snacks for their shindig. I sniffed the air. There was no whiff of the tourists. They had vanished, probably to somewhere under the ruins.
The tour guide opened the back limo door for whoever was inside. An older-looking man got out, clothed in a golden silk robe with red trim. Despite his age, he stood tall and with confidence. He was balding, but his long black beard was neatly combed and his mustache flowed into it. The guy looked like an ancient Chinese emperor.
“What do you see?” Xavier whispered.
The old man showed no signs of detecting us. He greeted the fake tour guide with a nod and the two shook hands. The wind changed again, blowing in our direction from the limo, and the burning oil smell got stronger than ever, so much that I wanted to gag. Something was seriously wrong here. The dread feeling still coming from under the ruins didn't help matters.
I was facing an ancient being, one possibly older than civilization itself. This was someone who people twelve thousand years ago might have worshipped, right along with Thoreau.
“It must be Gaozu,” I said. “Whatever he is.” A horrible thought crept into my mind but I shoved it away. “I don't know what we're up against but I don't think we'd survive it.”
The two men walked in the direction of the ruins. Their quiet footsteps mixed in with the distant cries of the injured man who I was caring less and less about. These two guys deserved to be hurt. They had led unsuspecting tourists to their demise and probably made some money off the deal. “We need to follow them and see where they're keeping the prisoners. We have to save them. I'll carry you.”
Xavier hesitated. “I can walk.”
“No. I'll carry you,” I said. He was afraid of me, scared now that he'd seen the part of me that I was getting less and less good at suppressing. I was once again destroying things. It was all my fault. “Whether you like it or not, we need to stay quiet and human footsteps aren't very silent.”
He sighed and waited for me to pick him up. He dropped the rifle to the ground—what good would it do against beings like this?—and handed me my sword. I swept him up in my arms.
Following Gaozu and the tour guide wasn't that difficult. They walked along the catwalk, both as noisy as any average Normal. Gaozu remained silent and he sounded like any Normal when he moved. He made no sign that I was following behind him, carrying Xavier in my arms. My battle partner smelled like adrenaline. He smelled like the scared man I had left behind and I hated it. Things had changed and not for the better.
Gaozu's robe shimmered in the starlight as if he were made of some celestial power. The tour guide walked in front of him, playing his role, and they were walking past the same ruins the guide had stopped everyone at first. Xavier and I followed, sneaking through the pure darkness. My gray vision had snapped into place without my realizing it, sharpening every detail and etched animal on the T-pillars. The wind switched directions a lot, and when it blew from us to Gaozu, he didn't show any sign that he smelled us. Whatever he was didn't have the best sense of smell, but the atmosphere around him was tense like it wanted to open up. More sprinkles landed on my head from the open, clear sky. He was having some strange effect on the air and I wondered if he could make it rain if he wanted.
It reminded me of the stories Dad's grandfather used to tell him about--
The catwalk ended up ahead. But instead of stopping, the tour guide led Gaozu off the catwalk and onto the dust. They kept walking around a fourth set of ruins, making a large circle around them. The tour guide ducked and fiddled with something on the ground. He had no flashlight but seemed to be moving from memory alone.
I stopped. “There must be some entrance to the underground here,” I whispered.
Gaozu must not have the greatest hearing, either, because he didn't glance in our direction. The tour guide leaned down, pulled at something that I couldn't see thanks to the hilly terrain, and then the two of them ducked down and vanished into the earth.
I broke into a run, Xavier in tow.
“Let me down,” he said.
I did. “Fine,” I told him.
“Don't be snappy,” he said.
“You've been snappy
to me,” I said. “Now it's my turn.”
We ran together and I kept my sword raised high in case someone came back out of the ground. I wondered how the tour guide had convinced his victims to head underground. They had been going in that direction. I sniffed again, but no trace of the burning oil smell remained. It would be horrible below. I could only pray my sense of smell would dull and get used to it.
We left the catwalk and circled around the half-excavated ruins to the spot where Gaozu and the tour guide had vanished. The ground here was smooth, worn down by centuries of farming and animal feet. There was no sign of where they had gone in.
“Great,” I said, panic rising inside of me again. Those people down there were doomed unless Xavier and I got down there and freed them. “Look around.”
“I can't see like you can,” Xavier said.
“Sorry,” I said. I was being a jerk to him and driving him further away, but we couldn't worry about that now. That was something we'd only have to do if we survived this. I got on my hands and knees, setting my sword down, and I pounded on the ground again and again, listening for any hollow sound. They had hidden the entrance to the underground very well, so much that not even scientists studying this site could find it.
I pounded...and pounded...while Xavier got down and tried to help. But at last, after I was about to give up, I hit a part of the ground that made a very faint hollow noise.
“I found it,” I said, sitting all the way up and eyeing the patch of ground. It looked just as dusty and smooth as the rest of it...except for a tiny indent in a barely exposed stone. “I found it!”
“I still can't see,” Xavier said.
“There's a handle here,” I said, hooking my fingers underneath the indent. “They don't want anyone to find this. I bet the regular employees here don't even know about this. They probably walk over it all day.” I had barely found it with my enhanced senses.
And when I pulled, the ground rose a bit in a four-by-four ring, exposing pure darkness below.
“I think I see,” Xavier said. “I'm not sure if I'm ready for battle. I think it's best if we go down there and stay out of sight as much as we can. We should really take the coward's way out and see if we can snatch the body, as much as that thought gives me the creeps.”
That was the least of our worries. “I agree,” I said, not sure how we were going to accomplish that. “But if we run into Thoreau, we kill him and get our parents back. We can't forget about that. How strong are you now?”
“A little less than average,” Xavier said. “I think I've absorbed most of those calories into my system. I might feel a little stronger in the next few minutes, but after that it's as good as it's going to get.” He drew close to me like he was unsure of something, and then he turned away. “Let's get down there,” he said. “If we survive, we need to have a serious talk.”
“If we survive,” I said, feeling as if I had died already.
Chapter Seventeen
I lifted the hidden trapdoor all the way up. It reminded me of the concrete-covered ones in Cumberland that led to the Underground, the disguised ones that Normals couldn't find. A part of me wondered if Thoreau had gotten the idea from those, but he couldn't have. This was an ancient door with an equally old stone hinge. It had been here long before the Underground was even a thought. Maybe it had even been here for as long as the ruins, or nearly as long.
Xavier and I climbed down the ladder inside, an ancient stone thing with rungs carved into the rock. Xavier closed the door above us. My gray vision snapped into place. The tunnel went down...down...so much that I wondered how the tour guide had convinced anyone to come down here or even if they had come down here at all. I couldn't see the bottom.
“How far down?” Xavier whispered.
“A long way,” I admitted. “This is probably so far down that those radar surveys or whatever they did didn't find the chambers.” The dread was worse now, worse than ever. I wanted to scramble back up the ladder. I only had a sword to defend myself with. This old Gaozu guy seemed like he could manipulate the atmosphere.
But we had come this far, so I climbed down. A bit of Xavier's energy coursed through me, but it wasn't as strong as it had been after the good meal he'd had at the mall. We had a sandwich wrap between us. I wasn't sure if I could lend any strength to Xavier and I wasn't going to count on it.
The stone ladder was hard to grasp and we headed down...down. I couldn't make out the bottom yet and I thought we might be headed into a void, but then I realized there was a faint black fog hanging around us. It was as if the dread itself were taking on a real form. It sent a sensation of black pulses through me like some Shadow Wraiths were nearby.
“I don't like this place,” Xavier said. “We should head back.”
“We can't now,” I said. The memory of all those Wraiths closing in on me and Xavier filled my mind. If they appeared again, there would be no building for us to jump from.
“We have to,” Xavier snapped. “I can't Transpose in a place like this. It's full of evil magic, and not just Dark Magic.”
“I'm not leaving those people,” I said, aware that by going down here, I was forcing Xavier to as well. “You're going into one of your moods again.”
The fog cleared—or more likely, I got so close to the floor that it seemed to. The dread feeling remained as bad as ever. I reached the floor and a hallway made of very old brick stretched out in front of us. My gray vision snapped into existence. The bricks were little more than a bunch of rocks packed very tightly together with a minimum of shaping. The people who had built this hadn't had very many tools, probably just some primitive stone ones.
“I know I am,” he said. “You don't understand. It's not something I can control.” He glared at me as if it were all my fault.
“Then what's doing it?” I asked, sniffing the air. The oil smell was still there, but very faint, and the hallway split into two ahead with both ways curving out of sight. Which way had Gaozu and the guide gone?
“I can't tell you that. It would complicate things.”
“Then let's go,” I said, angry that he wouldn't share this vital piece of information. “We need to hurry. There's no time for this.” I grabbed Xavier's hand and he flinched as if my touch were hurting him.
“Leave me alone,” he muttered as if he were talking to someone else. Xavier seemed so distant, so...gone.
I would ask about it later. I guided Xavier along, smelling his adrenaline which threatened to mask the burning oil smell. I couldn't believe it had diffused so fast down here.
A tiny bit of light flickered down the right tunnel, then vanished. I was playing a game of hot and cold again, so I guided Xavier down that one.
“It's pitch black down here,” he complained.
“Not to me,” I said. If anything, my senses were sharper now that I had taken what I needed from the bus driver. “There's nothing near us.”
“There might be,” Xavier said.
I checked, but no wraiths bled out of the cracks between the stones. The black fog remained, blocking our view of the ancient ladder, but I caught no movement inside of it. This was the sort of place Shadow Wraiths would love and it felt like they were around, ready to spring out at any moment. I could fight one or two of them, but it was terrifying when just the touch of one could sentence you to become one of them.
We followed down the right tunnel. The light flickered again. It was yellow. Electrical. The tour guide still had the flashlight. That told me that Gaozu must not have the vision that I did. The more I learned, the better.
The tunnel remained as stony as ever and some of the rocks became mixed with animal skulls as we walked. I hoped they were hunted animals and not sacrifices, and that I wouldn't see any Normal or Abnormal skulls in here. Low voices echoed towards me, but they sounded like they were from another building, like a muffled argument you'd hear from another house. They spoke in a language I didn't know. A faint breeze blew against me. There was some larger opening f
arther down the tunnel.
“We're coming up on something,” I said.
The light came a few more times, then died, only to be replaced by a faint, fiery glow up ahead. A sense of doom crept up on me, stronger and stronger, but I forced myself to keep going, to take step after step.
The hallway curved again, and before me, a very large chamber spread out and my color vision returned.
“Whoa,” Xavier said as we stopped and stood in the dark hall, taking in the scene.
The only thing that had stopped us from being spotted was the fact that we still stood in the dark. The chamber must be the size of Xavier's entire underground home, even though I wasn't sure how large it actually was. The black fog was gone here, allowing me to see the entire thing.
I had expected a dome, but this chamber was more like a giant room in a large cave, with huge stone teeth hanging down everywhere as if it had been here for not thousands, but millions of years. They dripped with moisture and a cave smell that reminded me of Dark Mages filled the air along with the burning oil and a hint of sewage. The floor was flat and carved. I spotted the tour guide out in the chamber, trying to light a torch on the wall with a simple lighter. Other tunnels broke off from the main room and lots of other torches already burned low on the walls, as well as around a dark symbol etched into the floor in the center of the room. I sniffed again, catching a hint of the old man I'd been sitting next to on the bus. There were prisoners in here and I had the feeling the Dark Council wasn't going to let them go soon. Or ever.
“The tour group is here somewhere,” I said.
“You smell them?” Xavier asked, sounding normal again. “Or do you hear them?”
