by Sara Clancy
“Vegas was fun,” Basheba giggled.
“So, what have we got?” Cadwyn asked, jerking his chin toward the scattered items.
Most of Basheba’s kit still looked useable. Whatever wasn’t already waterproof had been sealed away in Ziploc bags. The problem was, Ozzie didn’t know what most of it was. Very little of it was still in their original packaging. Cadwyn picked up a bottle of white powder.
“Yes! We should totally make fireworks!” Basheba popped her lips as she tapped a finger on the lid. “Boom!”
Ozzie dropped the bottle before scurrying back. “Why boom? What goes boom?”
It wasn’t comforting that both Cadwyn and Basheba broke into a fit of giggles.
“Nothing, yet,” Cadwyn said. Grabbing the bottle, he held it up for Basheba’s inspection. “I’m guessing this is the leftover saltpeter?”
“Yep.”
Mina’s brow wrinkled. “You carry around potassium nitrate?”
“I’m sentimental.” Basheba heaved the words with a deep sigh.
It only made Cadwyn chuckle more. “After the wedding, we went into the desert and set off some fireworks.”
“Started matrimony with a bang.” Thrusting her arms out, she flopped more against her husband.
“And you’ve been making some on your own,” he commented, studying the white powder again. “This is a lot more than what I left you with.”
Her blonde hair flopped around her as she nodded sharply. “Every girl traveling on her own needs the means to cure their own meat and blow stuff up.”
“Do you have more than one way to blow things up?” Jeremiah asked.
Basheba just popped her lips and smiled.
“Okay.” Clearing his throat, Cadwyn spoke with a tense serenity. “Later on, we’re going to have a long talk about not using potassium nitrate on your food. But, right now, Ozzie, do you remember where everything went?”
“Um, yeah,” Ozzie said.
“I think you should put it all back. Carefully.”
Ozzie took twice as long to put everything back in the old backpack than he had done to take it out, carefully plucking them from Mina’s scattered possessions.
“Are those wick fuel chafers?” Cadwyn asked, staring at a cluster of small silver tins. “Did you steal them from a warm buffet station?”
Basheba opened her mouth, and Cadwyn changed his mind, insisted that he’d rather not hear the answer.
“What exactly is our plan?” Jeremiah asked. “We can’t get far with just this stuff.”
Ozzie perked up. “I did manage to toss some of the scuba stuff down before the cult grabbed me.”
They all turned to him, and he shrugged.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he protested. “They were already around my parents. I only had a few seconds. And there was a pit right there—”
“Where, exactly?” Mina asked.
“On the edge of the parking lot.”
“I need more details, Ozzie.”
Basheba slid down Cadwyn, stretching out her leg until she could nudge her backpack’s side pocket with her foot. “Waterproof paper.”
Ozzie moved as fast as he dared to stow the rest of the items away before he used the paper to scribble out a crude map. My memory sucks! After a few questions, it seemed to be enough for Mina. She alternated between staring at the sheet and squeezing her eyes closed.
“What are you doing?” Jeremiah whispered.
“Shh.” She waved a hand toward him and started to work on the back of the sheet. “I’ve got to concentrate.”
A few minutes later, Mina grinned.
“There, that’s it, I think.”
She displayed the paper as if everyone would know what she was talking about.
Her smooth brow wrinkled. “Did no one else try to memorize the tunnels?”
“There are no maps of the tunnels,” Cadwyn said.
“Maybe not complete ones, but the historical records—” She cut herself off when she looked around the group. “A lot of the tunnels interconnect.”
“We can get to the pit Ozzie used?” Jeremiah asked.
A burst of laughter escaped her lips. “Oh, God no. Not without the gear.” She sobered quickly when Jeremiah scowled. “But the rapids on that side of the caves feed into an underground lake. Not the main one, but a smaller offshoot that I think we can get to. Not everything we need will wash up there, but some of it should.”
“Is there a way to get to Katrina’s body from here?” Cadwyn asked.
“You don’t know where she is for sure,” Jeremiah noted.
Cadwyn sucked in a deep breath through his nose and continued. “There’s no point in backtracking if we don’t need to.”
“If there is one, I don’t know it,” Mina said reluctantly.
Cadwyn glanced first to Ozzie then Basheba.
“Does your path keep us out of the water?” he asked.
“Mostly,” Mina said. “Of course, I’m working off of centuries-old information. There’s no way to know for sure.”
“Let’s get started then,” Cadwyn sighed. “Which way?”
Mina looked at her map then held up one of the glowsticks, searching their surroundings.
“We have to work our way upstream a bit.”
“All right.” Cadwyn reached into Basheba’s bag to retrieve a small bundle of narrow rope.
“I want to be tied to Buck,” Basheba chirped.
“We’ll all be tethered together,” Cadwyn replied. “And we’ll work our way around the edges as much as we can.”
“What about the Leviathan?” Jeremiah asked.
Still slouched, Basheba almost hit Cadwyn’s shoulder as she flung her arms wide. “If you see something, say something.”
Cadwyn bit back a smile. “Excellent idea. Shall we?”
As the only one who knew where they were going, Mina took the lead position, threading one end of the rope through the belt loops of her jeans before doing the same to Jeremiah. Ozzie was next. After that, it got a little more complicated. Cadwyn, still in his biker pants, had Basheba on his back and Buck constantly circling his legs. Hiking Basheba up higher, he exposed his waist.
“I’ve got belt loops,” he said. “If there’s enough left over, give Basheba room so she can walk when she’s up to it. If not, keep it tight.”
Ozzie didn’t understand why Jeremiah looked so uncomfortable at first. Oh, right. Personal space. It had to be a little awkward to see your sister getting that close to a guy’s waist. Surviving the woods together twice bonds you, I guess. It hit him then. No matter what else he did with his life, or whom he shared it with, he’d never bond with anyone else the way he had with Cadwyn, Mina, and Basheba. No one else will ever understand. He just hoped that it didn’t drag them all down in the end.
Chapter 13
Stones shredded the water, forcing it to spew up into a wild, icy mist that slicked the rocks. A thick layer of moss covered every still surface. It squished under Mina’s shoes, threatening to send her toppling back into the water. It hadn’t taken long for the wide ledge they had washed up upon to narrow. At times, it was barely a few inches wide, with the moss hiding any sudden break or loose stone.
The group had used the thin lengths of twine that came with the glowsticks to turn them into necklaces. The minimal light they emitted swooped restlessly around them as they moved. Time ceased to have any meaning as they worked their way through the canyon. Mina kept her crude map clutched in her hand even after the thick paper began to crumble and tear. Having it gave her something to focus on other than the fear that threatened to consume her.
It was the darkness. It hid the walls, allowing her brain to play tricks. When she couldn’t take it anymore, and her position allowed, she would swipe her arm out and up. Her fingertips never found the ceiling or far wall, so she could breathe a little easier. At least for a while.
Backtracking, they discovered a point where a half dozen streams merged into one. Barely able to
see beyond the reach of the glowsticks, which was a few feet at the most, the old channels dictated on the historical maps looked the same as the newly carved paths. It made navigating with any degree of certainty an impossible task. All she could do was make an educated guess.
Her selected pathway curled up the wall. Soon enough, they had to plaster themselves against the rock face and shuffle onward in tiny, awkward movements. Mina refused to look over her shoulder once they left the river behind. Without it, there were no markers. No walls or ceiling or ground. Just a vast abyss as cold and dark as a grave. Her vision narrowed to the width and breadth of the green haze of her glowstick. Fear twisted around her lungs as the last whispers of the river faded away, leaving them in crushing silence.
She flinched as Basheba’s slightly slurred voice pricked her ears.
“Just hear me out. Just—Just hear me out.”
“I’m listening,” Cadwyn said.
The stillness amplified her whispered response. “The Bigfoot Experience.”
“Oh good Lord.”
“No, no, no, no. Hear me out. Cadwyn, just hear me out,” she prattled. “It’s a hotel, okay? That gives you a Bigfoot Experience. Guaranteed.”
“How?”
“Talking is not listening,” Basheba chastised. “Okay, so, we take their money, right? Then we refuse to admit that they ever existed. If they cause a fuss, we demand scientific evidence that they’re real people and then declare any proof they present as a hoax.”
“That’s illegal,” Cadwyn noted.
“No, it’s letting our guest experience what Bigfoot endures every day. Bigfoot Experience!”
Mina could almost hear Basheba sweeping her arms wide with the declaration.
Cadwyn chuckled. “It’s going to be another no from me.”
“You have no head for business.”
Mina craned her neck to glance past Jeremiah and catch Ozzie’s gaze. The arch of his thick brows made it clear that this conversation had been going on a lot longer than she’d been able to hear it. There was an odd comfort in that. Cadwyn and Basheba were their canaries in the coal mine. If they’re relaxed, we’re not in danger. At least, that was what she told herself as they continued through the never-ending abyss.
Pebbles shook free from the walls to scatter down around them. Every so often, Mina would strain her hearing to keep track of them. They always faded away before they hit the ground.
The moss grew thinner, sparing them from potential slips but leaving their skin to the mercy of the broken stones. Without warning, the smooth rock became rough, grating her skin till droplets of blood slickened her grasp. Mina bit her lips, killing her gasps of pain before Jeremiah could hear her. It briefly dawned on her that he was either doing the same thing or had found a better way to navigate the cliff face.
The thought slipped from her mind when she spotted something pushing against the reach of the glowsticks. Mina wordlessly slowed her pace, trusting that Jeremiah would notice the change without being told. Peering into the murky gloom, Mina traced the outline of the shape before her. It stretched beyond the limits of her light source and her stomach dropped. Please don’t be a dead end.
A thin object careened into her limited field of vision. She jerked her hand back, narrowly avoiding contact with the swinging pendulum that knocked against the stone wall with a dull thump.
“What was that?” Ozzie whispered.
No one answered as Mina slowly extended her arm again. The dangling glowstick spun, splashing its glow across the still swaying object. A Rope? Another strand slashed across her peripheral vision. Mina plastered herself against the wall, ignoring the way its rough edges cut into her stomach and cheek. Swinging wild, the rope struck her back, the loop at the end hooking on her shoulder.
“That’s a noose,” Jeremiah said as Mina untangled herself.
Her blood smeared across the rough material as she pushed it away, leaving it to swing once more. Transfixed by the sight, she didn’t notice the next one coming until it stuck the side of her head. Stunned by a jolt of pain, she clung to the stone wall, her nails splitting as she tensed. Another noose struck her back.
Jeremiah’s gasp made her snap around to face him. He was staring into the abyss beside them. Swallowing hard, she reassured herself of her grip and twisted a little more, following his line of sight. Thick lengths of rope swung through the minimal light. Dozens of them. Set out in perfect rows that extended beyond their limited sight.
Mina’s stomach lurched. Even as the rocks and shadows remained as they were, she felt the world roll around her. The spirally swell of vertigo left her unable to tell up from down and, for one paralyzing moment, she was sure Katrina had them pinned to the ceiling. Random cracks signified more nooses joining the others. It was a heavy sound. As if there were bodies to weigh them down.
“Mina,” Cadwyn’s voice caught her attention.
Basheba finished the thought. “Go!”
Mina flicked her wrist, wrapping the glowstick’s twine tighter around her palm. The map crackled between the cord and her skin as she returned her hand to the ledge. Locking her eyes on the distance, she scurried along the wall as fast as she could. Her damp sneakers slipped at random, forcing her to tighten her grip. The stones cut into her fingers while stray ledges jutted out to slash across her stomach. Over and over, the silence stirred with the whack and thump of the falling nooses. Solid drops cut short, leaving only the slow creak of the ropes swaying.
The sound alone threw her back to her first time in the woods. The corpse in the hanging tree. Bloated with decay and hollowed out by a swarm of bees. A new sound emerged from the rhythmic thumps. It, too, was hauntingly familiar. A sound she had only heard within the Witch Woods. Mina froze. She held her breath, straining to catch a trace of it again. The laughter of the Mahaha. Even the possibility that the monster had followed them here was enough to have her veins frost over. She twitched her head to the side. Just far enough for her to glimpse the pit.
“Mina,” Jeremiah pleaded. “Keep moving.”
Before he could answer, laughter burst around them, cackling, delirious laughter that cut her to the bone.
“It’s not supposed to be here,” Mina whimpered.
“Mina!” Jeremiah cried out.
She tried to look past him, seeking out Basheba. “You said the Mahaha never leaves the Witch Woods.”
“I’m not its nanny,” Basheba said in a harsh whisper.
“Keep going,” Cadwyn urged.
Since he had never asked for them to slow, Mina hadn’t been concerned with how he had managed to wrangle both Buck and Basheba at the same time. Now she saw it. How weighed down he was. His long limbs created enough space for him to strap the Rottweiler to his chest and still navigate. It might have helped to tip his center of gravity forward and compensate for Basheba’s weight pulling him back. He can’t move fast like that, Mina realized with growing dread. We’ll never outrun it. Memories of the Mahaha flooded Mina’s mind: a twisted, emaciated, withered creature with talons as long as her limbs, the scars it had left scattered over Basheba’s ribs; it’s taunting, manic laughter. We only survived it last time because of the river. Because we made it out of its territory. Where do we go now that we’re already buried miles under the earth?
“Mina.” Ozzie’s voice slithered through the demands to move, and she caught his gaze. His nod was more a jerk of his chin to indicate the feeble path before them. “You’ve got this. We’re right behind you.”
Behind me. Joined in mutual destruction. My failure dooms them. The knowledge didn’t free her from her fear, but it propelled her on. They need me. She clung to the thought and sucked in a deep breath. Readjusting her weight, she began to shuffle again. Terror still gnawed on the edges of her mind. Each bite made her joints want to lock. Don’t freeze up. Shrouding herself with clinical detachment, she retreated from the brutal edge of her fear. She kept a sharp eye, looking for both the monster and the means to escape it. But there was n
othing to see. No matter how far they went, everything remained the same. A narrow ledge suspended in a pit of nothingness; the shadows disturbed only by the hanging nooses.
The monster’s laughter continued. It rolled off of the cave walls as much as it bounced within her skull, tormenting and torturous, chipping away at her resolve. Grinding her teeth, Mina forced herself on, thrusting her glowstick out before her when she could.
A stream of severed pebbles cascaded down between Mina and her brother. They shared a glance before turning their faces up. The Mahaha’s unblinking stare penetrated the darkness, highlighted all the more by the dark, matted tendrils of its hair. Ghostly skin emerged from the shadows as it scurried along the edges of the green hue. Its glistening talons broke easily into the rockface, creating another miniature avalanche. Catching their eyes, the Mahaha grinned, its lips peeling back from its bones to create the ghastly expression.
Jeremiah screamed and threw himself forward. The tether snapped taut, dragging the others along behind him. Ozzie’s foot slipped. He dropped like a stone, taking Jeremiah after him. With both men off, Mina had no chance to hold on. Her stomach lurched as she fell, plummeting away from the Mahaha’s reach and into the darkness. The rope cut into her waist as the slack ran out, and she was sent arching back toward the wall. Pain exploded along the entire length of her body as she smacked against the hard, rough surface. She felt the vibrations as the boys struck, too. Then Cadwyn slipped and there was nothing left holding them up.
She clawed desperately at the rock face, the nooses, anything that brushed against her fingertips. Someone had better luck than her, and she was suddenly barreling into the stone wall again. It cracked apart like drywall. All of the water that had been eroding the rock for years spewed free in a torrent. Desperately, she shoved herself into the narrow gap, hoping her body might wedge into place long enough for the others to get their footing. The yank of the rope was like a punch to the gut. It took everything she had to fight the instinct to curl in on herself and instead brace as best she could against the smooth stones. Water rushed around her, shoving her out while the weight dragged her down.
