Going over the narrow ledge to the tunnel was a little dicey. Michelle almost lost her balance with Shelly on her back. She got safely to the entrance to the tunnel, though, and stopped to make sure Nohea had made it.
Nohea seemed to have no problem and they started down the long tunnel through the mountain. Michelle had to hunch forward to keep from conking her head on the tunnel’s low ceiling. It was almost dark outside now. The deeper they went the blacker it became. Like running blind underground.
Michelle let go of one of Shelly’s legs and grabbed the diamond from her pocket. Squeezing it gave her added strength. Her pregnancy made her more tired than usual, and she was panting with exertion.
Since the tunnel was formed from rock, Michelle could hear Nohea’s crunching footsteps behind her. She didn’t hear Omar, but he was catlike and graceful, not making a sound, although she knew he must be right on their heels.
Finally through the tunnel, they emerged into the huge claustrophobic underground basement. Here there was more light and Michelle and Nohea let the children down. Michelle had run on the beach with the children and they were fast. They held hands and sprinted for the stairs leading up into Omar’s mansion.
Chapter 34
Heather was so tired and scared. Her struggle to breath was unrelenting and she almost felt like giving up. Forcing the life giving oxygen into her lungs and then pushing it out again became the single mantra she concentrated on. Rinse and repeat, endlessly. Each minute seemed like an hour had passed as she labored. She was wheezing with the effort.
She looked at Mike lying on the carpet right next to her, and was furious with herself for being so weak, to even think of giving up, remembering their glorious wedding. She wished she could smile at him, he looked so sad, but it was impossible. Her whole body was paralyzed.
Heather was fatalistic. If she didn’t get some relief her chances of staying alive were dismal. Omar had warned that she would be the first to be tortured. And this fight for breath was exactly that. Her chest hurt so much. She had never felt such agony.
She tried a pep-talk. She and Mike would have a wonderful life together, maybe even children someday. Almost dozing off while fantasying, thinking of their glorious plans for the future, she blinked hard to stay awake. Even that small eyelid muscle was hard to move, but if she let herself pass out, she didn’t think she would wake up ever again. Right now sleep sounded so wonderful, delicious to just let go of the struggle.
Tiny gold sparkles were in her vision, and there was darkness in the corners of her eyes, indicating her low oxygen level. She knew she was in serious trouble through Mike’s eyes. Her fingernails and lips were almost blue.
Then something glorious happened. Heather took in a full, deep breath, of oxygen. She hadn’t realized her lungs were shutting down and she couldn’t take a full breath until right at that moment, when she could. She started smiling, facial muscles able to move again, and she panted hard to take in as much wonderful, splendid air as she could.
Mike had been staring at her face continuously, as if it would be the last thing he would see before his own death. She had seen his fearful expression when she started wheezing. Now he grinned back at her.
“The spell died. Or Omar did,” Heather said. “And you know what, Mike? It felt just like when Michelle zapped us out of the spell Omar laid on us in Mexico.”
“Yeah, when she used the diamond, Abigail, to give us energy. But how could she do it now? I had to hold her hand to receive the energy.”
“I don’t know how,” Heather said, laughing with happiness, just to be able to move again. She stretched her whole body. It felt so good. “But I’m sure it was her.”
Heather and Mike watched Rod get up and rush over to the professor, who hadn’t moved.
Vincent opened his eyes wide when Rod slapped him hard on the cheek. “Hey! That hurt.”
“You scared me, Vincent,” Rod said.
“I was just resting my eyes,” Vincent said.
They both started laughing.
The reprieve from Omar’s horrible spell was making everyone giddy with relief. Added to that, they all felt wonderful tingling vitality throughout their bodies, like they could run a marathon or swim for miles.
Heather and Mike stood up. They grabbed each other and held on tight for a while. Hugging away the fear.
The professor stood up. “It was an okay nap, I guess. Now I feel like I could tackle anything.”
“Isn’t it great?” Heather said, turning to Vincent. “Michelle zapped away Omar’s spell and gave us tons of energy. She did the same thing for Mike and me in Mexico.”
“But where is she?” Vincent asked. He turned to Rod. “You got a message from Guy. What did it say?”
Rod nodded and picked up his cell phone from off the floor. He turned on his voicemail and they heard Guy’s voice. “Michelle has the children. They’re on the stairs leading down to the beach. We need to meet at the Jeep and go get them.”
He checked the time the message was sent. It was about thirty minutes ago. A lot could happen in that period of time.
Rod tried to call Guy at the Jeep, but there was no answer.
“We gotta go,” Rod said, turning and heading for the front door.
No one had been paying attention to the other people in the room. There were two witches and a handyman who did maintenance work around the mansion. They’d been standing there passively watching the people lying on the floor.
One of Omar’s beautiful witches moved and stood in front of the door protectively, like she was guarding it. She obviously meant to prevent them from leaving.
Rod went over to her. “I’ve never smacked a woman in my life, but if you don’t get out of the way, I’ll use force and make you move.”
They all gathered at the door behind Rod and the witch, probably feeling overpowered, finally moved out of the way.
As they exited Omar’s mansion, each of them felt as though they had left an enchanted and suffocating evil place, as if it was haunted by a malicious spirit.
“Whew, what a relief to get out of there,” Heather said. “I know where the stairs are to the beach. We should go check there first.”
“Show us,” Rod said.
Heather pointed at a small gate across the road, about a half block away.
Rod sprinted to it, climbed over the guardrail, and went the few feet down to the top of the stairs. He scanned below, but couldn’t see anyone.
He looked up and shook his head. “No one’s there. I’ll go down a ways. I can’t see the entire beach from here. You all wait. Call Guy again. Maybe they’re already at the Jeep.”
Rod rushed down the zigzagging stairway. A strong salty breeze buffeted him. When he got about half way down he had a good view of the entire beach. It was deserted.
“They’re not on the beach,” Rod shouted up at the group. He started back up. That’s when he saw the dark gaping hole going into the mountain.
“There’s a tunnel.” He shouted. “We should check it out.”
“Wait. Before you do, I’ll run to the Jeep,” Mike called back. “See if they’re already there.”
Darkness had nearly fallen. If they hadn’t been so worried they would have appreciated the lovely view over the ocean. Stars were twinkling above and a silver moon was shining on the water.
Mike took off for the Jeep. When he got through the thick vegetation where the Jeep was hidden, he saw Guy, standing on the roof.
“I tried to call,” Mike said, as Guy climbed down. “You didn’t answer.”
“My damn cell died,” Guy said.
“We checked out the stairs. Looks like we lost Michelle and the kids again. They aren’t there.”
“Where’s Omar? Maybe he’s got them.”
Mike shook his head. “I sure hope not. There’s some kind of tunnel going into the mountain. Rod thinks we should check it out. See if they’re hiding in there.”
“Go, go,” Guy said urgently. “I’ll wait her
e.”
Mike nodded and took off again. Pumped with sizzling energy from Michelle’s spell, he decided to make a quick detour around Omar’s mansion, just to see if he could spot anyone. He was as stealthy as possible, staying near the undergrowth.
When he reached the back of the mansion, he saw the handyman hauling Samson out of the brush. Damn, Mike thought. Now we have to watch out for that big lug as well as Omar. The handyman would surely free Samson from his restraints in just a few minutes.
And when were the police going to come back? Mike wondered. They couldn’t have just given up.
Mike backed up and made it back to the stairs in less than a minute.
He just shook his head when he reached the overlook above the beach. They all understood Michelle and the children were still missing.
Everyone was frightened. They kept peering around with intense paranoia, not knowing when Omar might show up. Omar had gone out the front door of the house while they were still under his spell, so he had to be somewhere around here. He couldn’t use the Humvee or the helicopter to get away.
If he found them they didn’t want a repeat of what happened before. Heather had almost died.
Rod came back up to the top of the stairs where everyone was waiting.
“I didn’t go all the way through the tunnel,” Rod said. “But I heard noises while I was inside. From the direction the tunnel went, I think it might go straight back to Omar’s place.”
“Wonderful,” Heather said dismally.
“We’ll have to check it out together,” Vincent said. “Safety in numbers.”
Rod led everyone down the stairs single file because the steps were narrow, and made sure they got over the rock ledge that led into the cavern safely.
The rounded top of the tunnel was low and everyone except Heather had to stoop. They all turned on their flashlight apps so they could see and started trudging forward.
“This is so spooky,” Heather said. “It’s dark, and my phone is about to die. Good-bye light.”
“Anyone here have claustrophobia?” Rod asked.
He heard several “no’s.” Then Vincent said, “Um, a little bit. Tons of earth in the mountain above us could crash down through this rock ceiling.”
“To me it feels like some creepy fun house, where the spooks and phantoms are going to jump out at you at any moment,” Mike said.
They kept going.
“Shhh, I think I heard something,” Heather whispered.
They all stopped and listened. They were about half way through the tunnel. There was a bit of dim light shining up ahead at the end.
“It sounds like someone is talking,” Rod whispered. “I can’t make out any words.”
Everyone was straining their ears and did hear indistinct echolike noises.
Vincent said, “The sounds bounce off the rocks, causing a lot of distortion.
“We better hurry,” Rod said, and picked up the pace.
“Was that a scream?”
Chapter 35
Michelle, finally through the tunnel, held Shelly’s hand and sprinted through the underground basement. Nohea and Ivory were right behind her. They had to dodge around various furniture, chairs, desks, trunks, and several couches along the way, fearing Omar was close behind and gaining.
Pausing and glancing back when they were about halfway to the stairs leading up into the pantry and kitchen, Michelle saw Omar just entering the basement. In the dim light his eyes were glowing with that scary yellow light.
He didn’t hurry, behaving as though he had all the time in the world.
Michelle took off again even faster. If they could get up the stairs and into the pantry, they could lock him out.
Omar probably wasn’t rushing because it would be terribly uncool, wrecking his perfect performance of masculine composure. Michelle knew him well enough to understand he hated losing that meticulous persona more than anything. Total control in any situation was necessary for his fantastically inflated ego.
She almost laughed as she finally made it and ran up the stairs. Grabbing the doorknob, she almost face planted into the wooden door with her reckless momentum, expecting it to open.
It was locked.
Oh, no, Michelle thought, banging her shoulder frantically into the door, hoping she could get through it by brute force. It didn’t budge an inch. She tried it several more times.
Nohea had unlocked it when they were searching for the children down here earlier. Now her shoulder was injured and the door had definitely been locked.
She looked around from the top of the stairs. They were trapped.
That nasty evil smile was back on Omar’s face. He was an extraordinarily handsome man most of the time. Now he was just plain scary, with his eyes lit up with that spooky light. It reminded her of how cat’s eyes lit up and glowed in the dark.
Once again, she wondered if he was really human. Perhaps the flaming eyes was just an illusion he could project, like a magician might use a frightening trick. But the more terrifying idea was that he really was a dark, unearthly, and malevolent sorcerer.
Michelle took stock. She had the diamond, Abigail. She had an obsidian knife cursed with a deadly spell. Lucifer would fight to the death for her, not that she’d ever put Lucifer in harm’s way.
And with her were two children with psychic abilities. She had to keep them out of this deadly confrontation though, even if they wanted to help her. Either she or Omar could very well end up dead. The kids couldn’t be involved.
Would the diamond and knife be enough against Omar, who hated her now that she was having Rod’s child?
For that matter, she wondered if Omar would try to kill her baby, just to derive vicious pleasure from hurting her and Rod, whom he also despised.
Omar had gone to extraordinary measures to get the children, traveling all the way from France. It was risky for him because he knew the police would be delighted to incarcerate him again.
Omar wouldn’t harm the children physically after all his trouble getting them. But he probably had fond fantasies of killing her. After all, she was trying to thwart him by taking away his psychic kids.
As Omar came closer, Michelle went down the stairs slowly to meet him, heart pounding. Yeah, she had to admit she was royally frightened.
She handed Lucifer to Nohea and said, “Take care of the children. What happens next won’t be pretty. Try to keep them from seeing it.”
Then, to her surprise, she heard heavy footsteps and noises from above. There was a scraping sound as the hidden door panel inside the pantry in Omar’s mansion moved. Someone was definitely coming to check out the basement.
She glanced back over her shoulder, hoping it wouldn’t be Rod and her friends. They would be in serious danger if they entered now and tried to interfere just when Omar seemed to be gearing up for an attack.
She paused for a moment, waiting as the door opened.
To her horror, Samson almost filled the doorway. Now she, Nohea, and the children were sandwiched between two deadly foes.
Michelle swiveled back to look at Omar and saw him raise his eyebrows, nodding at Samson. It was some kind of non-verbal command.
When she glanced back at Samson she saw his revolting gaze riveted on her. He made a loud inarticulate noise, like a growling scream, barreling down the stairs toward her. His frown was even more threatening than usual because his whole face was a bright red color. She had no idea why, but thought he might be wearing some kind of strange war paint. She’d always suspected Samson was a little crazy.
Michelle backed away and dodged sideways to avoid the big guy. Samson’s giant fists were clenched, ready to club her over the head, when he seemed to trip on the last step into the basement. He fell hard. He didn’t move.
“What just happened?” Michelle said, perplexed, not really expecting an answer.
“We put him to sleep,” Shelly said complacently from almost right beside her. The girls had run to her when they thought she was in dan
ger.
“You used Suck, suck, suck?” Michelle asked.
“That’s too slow,” Shelly said.
“It’s another game,” Ivory said. “But it’s harder to wake up from.”
While they were talking, Omar had been stalking ever closer.
“Girls, I want you to stay back here with Nohea. I have to go talk to your father,” Michelle said. “Why don’t you all go up the stairs into the kitchen?”
“I want to stay with you,” Ivory said.
Shelly nodded, “Me too.
Oh damn, the girls seemed adamant about not leaving. And Omar was coming closer. There was no time to argue.
She turned around and started toward Omar. It felt like she was walking down the plank of a pirate ship to a fatal plunge into the sea, as she slowly continued on.
She wondered what that black stuff was that puffed around Omar. It almost covered the boots he was wearing. It looked smoky and dark, like a thick swirling cloud. Where could it have come from? It wasn’t fog, but it looked like fog, only thicker. It wasn’t coming from the tunnel because it broiled only around him, seeming to expand with his every step.
Maybe it was another of Omar’s magical tricks to scare her, as if she weren’t truly scared enough already. Or worse, maybe Omar really was an inhuman demon or some kind of sorcerer from the bowels of hell.
She pulled the diamond out of her pocket. When she was about twenty steps from Omar, she held it up.
The fog or whatever that stuff was around Omar seemed to whirl around angrily when she focused the diamond on Omar’s chest, churning and growing in volume. She saw the black cloud was creeping toward her, too, like some deadly poisonous gas.
It rose up into a swirling dark funnel around Omar. The only part of him that was uncovered was his face, with those awful yellow eyes.
Although Michelle had successfully used the diamond in the past to immobilize him, now it seemed like the forces in the diamond couldn’t penetrate through the heavy fog surrounding Omar. He kept coming.
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