by Jamie Davis
“The Hunters are mostly gone nowadays,” Quinn said. “I’m trying to bring them back, and better than they were before.”
“Given what I’ve seen you do in the short time since I met you, I wouldn’t bet against you.”
Quinn liked this little ghost miner. If she was going to be trapped down here in the dark for a while, there were worse people she could’ve been stuck with.
Quinn rubbed her legs until the ache disappeared and then stood and studied the room. “Upwood, what’s down that way?” She pointed at the far end of the chamber.
“It’s a passage to a special place, but it’s protected, Quinn. You don’t want to go down there. It’s dangerous.”
“Why, what’s protecting it?”
“Oh, I have no idea,” Upwood said. “I can’t leave this area. I guess it’s because this is where the cave-in killed me.”
“So, you just hang around here by yourself? That must be horrible.”
The little ghost shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I tell myself stories, and when there’s no one here, I think I kind of hibernate like bears in the wintertime.”
“When was the last time you had anyone down here to talk to or haunt or whatever it is you do?”
“Oh, let’s see. It would have to be just after the war between the states. There was a glassworks nearby that mined here for silica. If there was any light in here to reflect, you’d see the stone lining the walls sparkles. It’s just about the prettiest sight in the world.”
“Wow, that was over a hundred fifty years ago,” Quinn said. She looked at the only exit from the chamber. “So, how do you know there’s something dangerous down there if you’ve been stuck in here all this time?”
“Because a few years later, a guy who went down there came running back out bloody and screaming. He didn’t stop to tell me what it was that did that to him, but he was pretty big and strong, so I figure it must be even bigger and stronger.”
“When was this?” Quinn hooked a finger over her shoulder at the cave in. “When those guys opened the tunnel again?”
“Oh, no, way before that. This guy and some friends came in here. They couldn’t see me like you can. They talked all about how they’d survived the ‘Great War,’ and now they were going to get rich because they’d found a map leading here.”
“You said one guy ran out screaming. What happened to the others in his group?”
Upwood shrugged. “I guess whatever chewed up the big guy got the others. Lots of screaming and then nothing. Like I said, dangerous. Much too dangerous for a little thing like you, missy.”
“Hey, I’m taller than you. Besides, I’m pretty dangerous when I want to be.”
Upwood shook his head. “Suit yourself. Do me a favor before you go in there and die?”
Quinn bit back a snarky answer, feeling sorry for the lonely ghost. “Tell me a little bit about the world outside. I haven’t seen a sunrise or sunset in so long.”
She smiled, glad she’d held her tongue. “Sure, although I think things are a lot different than you’re used to. We don’t use horses and carriages to get around anymore. We have cars. They’re a sort of wagon driven by engines. They go much faster, too. Oh, and we can fly now, as well.”
Upwood chuckled. “Now you’re just pulling an old miner’s leg. How do you fly? I don’t see no wings growing out of your back.”
“I don’t mean people fly. We have machines like the cars, but they have wings and carry people all over the world in just a few hours.”
Upwood stared at her for a long time and then smiled. “I can’t tell if you’re kidding.”
“Cross my heart,” Quinn said, drawing a big X on her chest with one finger. “Hope to die if I’m lying.”
“Dying’s what ye’ll be doing once you go down that tunnel.”
“That was over a hundred years ago, too. The ‘Great War’ you said they mentioned? I think it was what we call ‘World War One.’”
“There was more than one?” Upwood asked.
Quinn nodded. “Two, and a Cold War that wasn’t a war at all, just a sort of staring contest.” She pointed at the opening. “That happened so long ago that anything that killed those men must be long dead.”
“You might be right. I can see I’m not going to convince ya otherwise. I’ll remember your name to tell it to the next fool who comes through here.”
“You do that, Upwood. Who knows? Maybe if I die in there, I can come back as a ghost and keep you company for a while.”
The old ghost smiled. “That would be mighty nice.”
Quinn reached into her jacket and pulled out her Bowie, then waved at Upwood and stepped toward the chamber’s remaining exit.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinn swallowed hard as she left Upwood behind. Her mind wound through a variety of potential creatures that could be waiting ahead, each worse than the last. At last she stopped and took a deep breath, examining the passage around her.
The old mine tunnel had been lined with worked blocks of stone on the walls and ceiling. Thick wooden timbers supported the walls and roof every ten to fifteen feet.
With no sign to indicate what sort of guardian waited for her, she glanced back the way she’d come. There were no bones of the vanquished or dried bloodstains on the floor, nothing to indicate anything dangerous. Quinn wondered if Upwood had been telling her the truth.
It didn’t matter. Quinn couldn’t go back the way she came, and she also couldn’t wait for the miners on the other side to open the gap again. Her only option was to keep going and try to find the Crystal Well before anyone else. Maybe she could smuggle it past them while they were searching for it. At least she could take it and hide it somewhere.
Quinn kept moving in the curving passage as it hooked to the right. She soon reached an area blocked by another cave-in. She was about to turn back, thinking she’d missed something, when a flicker of a breeze brushed her face.
At first, she thought it was a cobweb. It took a second to realize it came from the direction of the second cave-in.
She climbed up on the pile that had spilled down into the passage from the roof. The dirt and stone had broken away from the roof and timbers to fill the tunnel. Pieces of the thick timbers used in the rest of this area jutted from the pile.
Pulling herself to the top, Quinn found a narrow gap in the stone a few feet across and only about eight inches high at its tallest point.
Twisting her head so she could see through to the other side, Quinn spotted a large circular chamber. The roof seemed to be domed, although she couldn’t see the top from this angle. One thing she could see were the four skeletons in rags lying at the base of the cave-in on the far side. She figured they were the companions of the screaming man Upwood had seen.
She didn’t see anything dangerous in the room. She also didn’t see any other exits. Maybe the room opened at the top to somewhere outside. With her face pressed to the opening, she could feel fresh air moving past her.
She stared at the bodies, surrounded by dirt and stone. It could have been the cave-in that killed them. The man Upwood had seen could have been partially buried on this side of the pile and severely injured. His companions might have been screaming for help because they were trapped on the far side. They could have died from lack of water and food. The gap at the top of the rockslide could have opened later.
She pulled at the stones around the tiny gap, letting them tumble behind her. It didn’t take much work to widen the gap enough that she figured she could wriggle through.
Quinn listened before she went through, trying to slow her breathing enough to check if there was something on the other side. She leaned forward with her ear to the opening and strained to hear anything at all. There was nothing but the faintest whisper of the air rushing past her head.
She pulled her head out of the gap and stared at it. Then she said, “I’m not going to find out what’s going on by staying here. I’m supposed to be scouting, so that’s what I’m goin
g to do.”
The pep talk helped her feel a little more confident. Quinn ducked her head and shoulders and pushed the top half of her body through the gap. Once she was through to her waist, she grabbed the end of one of the buried timbers and pulled herself the rest of the way.
The loose dirt slid beneath her as her legs came past the opening, and she rolled down to the bottom. She landed between the four skeletons.
Quinn froze, fearing they’d animate and attack her or something. When nothing happened, she sat up and slid on her butt out from between the dead treasure hunters. Only then did she look up and take in the ceiling of the domed chamber for the first time.
The first few feet were worked stone with carved runes spaced evenly around the room as if marking off intervals on the circle. It was what was just above the initial layer of stone that caught her eyes.
The carved stone ended, and the rest of the dome above seemed to be made entirely of glass, cut in facets like a fine crystal wineglass. A chain as thick as her arm hung down from the center of the dome, with a long metal arrow or maybe a spear suspended horizontally from it like a pointer. It swayed a little from the air moving through the chamber.
Quinn had been using her night vision, but that had its limitations. She needed to see this room better than just in shades of gray and green. Pulling out her phone, Quinn switched on the flashlight and gasped. The glass dome magnified the light from her phone a hundred times, filling the room with a brilliant glow.
The chain was made of gold, as was the arrow suspended from it. Both gleamed in the reflected light.
Quinn stood and moved carefully around the remains of the four men. She walked to the center of the room and held her phone up so it shone into the middle of the glass dome. The etchings she’d thought were purely decoration in the glass turned out to be the lines that created a stylized map of the world above her.
She took it all in. This had to be what Gemma wanted. It wasn’t what she’d expected. A well was a hole in the ground, wasn’t it? Still, the magnificence of the space left no doubt in her mind that this was the Crystal Well.
One thing was certain, now that she’d found it. There was no way Quinn would be able to hide this from anyone who made it this far. There was no smuggling this out of here to keep it away from Gemma.
As she stared at the magnificent sight, Quinn spoke aloud. “I wonder who built it?”
“People long gone now. Killed by invaders from across the sea by war and disease.”
Quinn spun. Upwood stood a few feet behind her. He didn’t glow like a ghost anymore. He looked like a normal, albeit short, person.
Quinn glared at him. “You lied to me. You knew what was in here all along.”
“I’d hoped I could convince you to just wait with me until the others reopened the passage. Then you could’ve escaped.”
“Where’s your simple miner’s accent?” Quinn asked. “You sound a good deal more educated than you did before.”
Upwood smiled. “A necessary subterfuge. As was this getup.” He looked down at his clothes and they faded into mist, then reformed into floor-length robes.
Quinn glanced at the skeletons. “And them? I suppose you’re the big baddie who killed them? The thing I’m supposed to be frightened of? You’re just a ghost. A lying ghost, but a ghost all the same.”
“I’m a good deal more than that. I’m the guardian of this place, the one who must protect it at all costs until it is needed to fight those from beyond.”
Quinn knew this was headed for a fight. If she could stall, maybe she could find out what Upwood really was. She was pretty sure he wasn’t a shifter.
She pointed up at the dome. “How’s this oversized upside-down bowl going to fight anything? It’s just sitting here gathering dust.”
“Do you see any dust anywhere? This place is as pristine as the day it was created. It’s the way it was intended to be.”
“You’re right. I didn’t mean any harm. It’s just a figure of speech. I’m not here to corrupt anything. I’m here to protect this place, just like you.”
“You’re lying.” Upwood floated across the floor, growing until he towered over Quinn, his shoulders and head extending into the dome.
“No,” Quinn said, holding up her arms, hands outward in surrender. “I haven’t lied to you. Everything I said earlier was true. I’m the leader of a new Huntress clan formed in Baltimore. I came here because someone else wants to find this place. She’s working with a faction of the Fae who wish to see the return of their kin from the netherworld.”
At the mention of the Fae, Upwood spat on the ground. He leaned over her and said, “No Fae I know would think of such a thing. They hold all the power in the world. Why would they give that up to share with their evil cousins from below?”
Quinn shook her head. “Things have changed since you were last outside. The magical world has been surpassed by technology.” She held up her phone, which was still filling the room with light. “Like this device. With it, I can do any number of things that would seem like magic to anyone from the past.”
“Bah,” Upwood said, dismissing what she said with a wave of his hand. He shrank back down to his normal size. “Magic? Like your flying machines and such? I find it all hard to believe.”
“And yet here I am, holding the evidence in my hand. I told you, I haven’t lied to you even once. I am the Huntress, and a powerful mage is using those shifters outside to dig their way in here so she can claim this place for herself. I just don’t know what she wants to do with it when she gets here.”
Quinn stopped, thinking about Gemma’s mission. What could she possibly want with a giant glass map?
“Upwood, what does this place do? You said it was vital to some eventual battle. I assume it’s with demons from the netherworld. What did you mean? Why is this place called a ‘well’ when it’s not a hole in the ground?”
The old man cackled. “You think a well has to go down. Between dimensions, up and down doesn’t matter.” He pointed at the dome. “This can foretell the location of the battles to come. It will allow those who must fight to plan ahead and be where the demons will strike next.”
“It’s a gateway, then?”
“That and much more. The Great Mother Spirit gifted it to those who lived here long ago. She told them to protect it at all costs. Thus, my ancestors have stayed here all these years, living in peace with all our neighbors. Then the others came. They arrived in their big boats, bringing people who had no appreciation for the gift of the Mother. Soon after they arrived, our fellow guardians began to sicken and die, spots covering their bodies as they burned with fever.”
Quinn thought back to her history classes in high school and nodded. “Smallpox and measles. It swept through the defenseless tribes, killing thousands.”
“My grandfather and grandmother, along with me, were the last of the guardians. We knew we would soon die. My grandmother gathered the last of her strength and coupled it with that of my grandfather, spending it all to give me the ability to remain here until it was needed.”
Upwood raised his hands, looking around. “As my grandparents passed, they called out to the Mother to protect the well. She answered their final prayers and covered the temple with a great hill of stone and earth. It was buried and forgotten for hundreds of years.”
Upwood slid the spear or arrow free from the end of the chain. The golden shaft and head glowed in his hands. Quinn’s supernatural senses tingled at the power within the weapon.
The old man lowered the spear until it was pointed at Quinn. “Now I must cleanse this place of intruders, as I have always done.”
Quinn shifted her feet, backing up. She couldn’t decide if he planned to run her through with the weapon to kill her or use the powerful magic she sensed around her.
She tried to decide if she could reach him with her Bowie before he released his attack, whatever it was. When an explosion shook the room, Quinn thought at first it was the beginning of s
ome spell from Upwood. Then she saw the look of shock and confusion on his face.
“What was that?” the guardian asked. He glared at Quinn. “More of your companions, trying to break through to this holy place, no doubt.”
“I told you, I’m not with them. Why won’t you believe me? I’m the Huntress, foretold by prophecy, or at least one of them. For all you know, I’m the one you’re holding this place for. Maybe you’re supposed to help me so I can assist you in defending it from those who would misuse it?”
Another explosion rocked the room. This time, dirt and stone shook loose from the rockslide blocking the entrance. Quinn’s silver Huntress amulet grew ice-cold as another explosion sounded and more of the dirt around the entrance cleared. The room filled with dust.
Quinn doubled over, coughing to clear her throat. She looked at Upwood, frozen into immobility by indecision.
Forcing herself upright, Quinn moved in front of the old guardian. “You have to do something. I don’t know who or what is out there for sure, but I can guess. Whoever it is, it’s powerful, maybe more powerful than either of us can face. Is there another way out of here?”
“I must stay and defend the temple.” Upwood held the golden spear pointed at the entrance.
Quinn tugged at his arm. “No, you must live so we can come back better prepared to stop them. Is there another way out?”
Upwood stared at her, wide-eyed. Another explosion shook the room, and more of the cave-in at the entrance cleared. He looked at the entrance, then back at her, and he finally seemed to understand her words.
He pointed at the far wall, then pulled on her hand. “I have a place we can hide. I think you’re right. We must be careful in light of the powerful magic out there. Come.”
Quinn nodded, glad he was finally listening to reason. She followed him to the far wall beneath one of the overhead sections with the carved runes in the wall. Upwood shifted the golden spear to one hand and raised his empty hand palm up, moving it in a circular motion.
