by Sophia Sharp
“What does it say?” Nora asked.
“No matter,” Selaine replied. “All you need to know is that once you see the sign off the side of the road, you’ll need to walk straight toward it. Down, toward the cliffs. There’s a twisting path carved into the rock, there.” She marked the spot with an ‘X’ on her makeshift map. “Go down all the way and continue forward. Eventually, you’ll come onto a long fissure of sorts. There used to be a road there, once, and you’ll be able to see its remains if you’re alert.”
“Okay,” Nora said.
“Now, you need to keep going straight, continuing down the fissure. There’s only one path, so you won’t get lost. Keep going straight, and at the very end, you’ll find an entrance to the old mineral mine. It is inside where you will find the mushroom that will keep your friend alive.”
Despite herself, Nora shivered again. She was not looking forward to going underground.
“How will I know what to look for?” Nora asked.
“Ah. That’s easy. The fungus grows in small bunches and looks much like any regular mushrooms you would find anywhere else. The difference is, it has a long blue stalk that’s dotted with small white stars. Remember that, Nora – it’s important. Although there really is no other mushroom you can confuse it with. But, as I told you earlier, it only grows in the deepest reaches of the earth. Likely, it will take you a full day, maybe more, of walking down the mine before you stumble upon it. And the same time back.”
“Okay,” Nora said determinedly. It would take her days, would it? Too bad Selaine didn’t know how fast Nora could go. Nora would run faster than she ever had before, if that’s what it took to get Alexander the cure.
“You will have to be observant. The mushroom only grows where darkness rules and moisture beckons. When you start to hear the drip of water off the rocks, you will know you are close.” Selaine paused and ducked down to reach underneath the table. When she emerged, she held an old oil lantern. She set it down with a loud thud. “You will need this. It is recently filled and should last your entire travel time.”
“A lantern?” Nora asked. “Why do I need a lantern?” Then, thinking quickly, she added – so as not to look suspicious – “Couldn’t a flashlight do just as well?”
“Could, yes, would, no. Flashlights are undependable, and besides, I don’t have any on me. If I recall correctly, you don’t have any money with which you can purchase one, either, hmm?” Nora sighed and shook her head. “Take it or not, it’s up to you, but I assure you, you will find it difficult to traverse the old mine without a source of light.”
“Thank you,” Nora said, taking the lantern. It was unfortunate she would have to carry it – it wasn’t heavy enough to give her pause, but was uncomfortable to hold. But she knew she had to put up certain appearances so Selaine wouldn’t become suspicious. Maybe she could leave it just outside the mine and pick it up on the way out?
“You’ll also need food and supplies. I don’t have much, but I will give you what I can. You have to ration it carefully, though. Food and water are your lifeline down in the mines.”
“Right,” Nora agreed. Fortunately for her, she had fed recently and wouldn’t need to again for a very long time.
“Come on down then,” Selaine said, “and take the map.” Wrapping the parchment up, she thrust it into Nora’s arms. “We wouldn’t want you getting lost, would we?”
Half an hour later, Nora left Selaine’s residence. Bundled onto her back was enough food and water to last for three days, if not more. The food consisted of little more than dehydrated bread bits and tough jerky. Nora was glad she wouldn’t have to eat it, much less worry about rationing it properly, on her upcoming journey.
Nora forced herself to walk slowly. She followed the main road out of Nakusp north, just as Selaine had marked on her map. Small houses dotted the sides of the road, and some random cafes and shops stood out here and there. Nora had no time for any of them. She picked up her pace a little. Eventually, she was out of town and walking alone down a long stretch of road. Every once in a while a car would pass by, but besides that, the place felt absolutely abandoned.
The wide river roared to her left, and she could see the dense trees lining the uninhabited opposite bank. On her right, was also the same dense forest, the one she had gotten so used to over the past week or so. It went on in both directions as far as she could see.
Had she been misled? She couldn’t possible see why Selaine would do that, but then again, she had walked for over an hour, and Nora had no idea how the forest to her right could just turn so quickly to – oh. She saw something in the distance, where the road curved slightly. It looked to be a clearing of sorts, where there was an edge to the trees before they just stopped. Nora’s self-control vanished, and she bolted the short distance to it.
Sure enough, brown and dark orange cliffs stood where forest had been before. They weren’t huge – maybe the same height as a four- or five-story building – and the distance down wasn’t very far. Farther away stood the big wooden sign Selaine had told her about.
Nora walked up to it. There was no lettering, and it looked just like an old billboard, except made from split timber logs. And, right beside it, a path was carved into the side of the rock.
Carefully, she started picking her way down. The balusters had long since fallen away, although a few metal spokes still stood in place every few paces or so. The path zigzagged down and across the side of the cliff, and some parts were so narrow that Nora had to press her back against the rock behind her to avoid losing her footing. The bag of foodstuffs over her shoulders and the single lantern definitely made the trek down harder than it should be.
Eventually, though, she reached the bottom. She looked back up and saw the top edge of that sign. She looked around her. The cliffs on either side were dusty and weathered with age, although some parts looked cleanly cut. She guessed when the mine was operational, those parts had been cut away to make room for the road. On the ground lay the barest remnants of that road – pieces of graying and cracked concrete here, a bit of asphalt there. Most of it had been worn away by time and age.
Nora set forward. Farther down, the cliffs on either side narrowed, making it possible for her to walk down the middle of the road, reach out with her hands, and brush her fingers against the sides. At the end of the fissure, she would find the old mine.
She continued on slowly, deliberately. She walked for thirty minutes, an hour, two hours.
Soon, the shadows grew long, and not long after, twilight fell. The sky became a dark red, which embellished the coloring of the hard earth cliffs. Nora shivered. It was not because of the cold, but because of how long this expedition was taking.
Then, taking another step forward, she saw it. The rocks on either side of her opened up and made room for a wide clearing. Directly in front of her stood the ragged slope of the bottom of a mountain. A small pond stood off to the side, filled to the brim with crystal clear water.
Nora frowned. Why hadn’t she noticed it from farther away? She stepped back – and gasped. The opening was gone. She couldn’t tell it was there or ever had been there. She took a step forward. And everything reappeared, as if hidden by some veiled cloak of light.
After a minute of studying her surroundings, Nora realized what was happening. It was the way the dusk light shimmered off the surface of the pool and the off angle at which the earth sloped down in front of her, that hid everything, camouflaging it with the rocks. An optical illusion. As if there was an edge to the air, before which it looked like the rock face of the cliffs just continued, but after, it was possible to see everything.
In front of her was the small entrance into the mountain. A few rotted planks of wood barred it haphazardly, and a hanging red sign read “Danger.” It was the entrance to the mine where she would find the mushroom that could heal Alexander.
She took a deep breath to brace herself. Going underground like this was an eerie reminder of what she’d done befo
re, while on the run from the Vassiz. She told herself it was alright, that there were no monsters trailing after her this time, and that she’d be able to get out.
She hoped she wasn’t lying to herself.
Taking another deep breath, she ducked beneath the wooden barrier and entered the mine.
Chapter Nineteen
~The Inner Path~
Inside, rocks and boulders made up the walls and ceiling. But the walls were spread wide from one another, and the ceiling was high up. Surprisingly, it felt more spacious to be in there than in the narrow cleft between the cliffs.
There was a single path in front of her leading deeper into the mountain. She set down the supplies she had carried beside the entrance and started down the path. The ground, even after all these years, was fairly even, and provided surprisingly good footing. Feeling sure of herself, she picked up her pace to a light jog, then a run.
She ran, picking up speed, until she met an unexpected structural arrangement. The path she was going down forked in front of her, and split into three different tunnels. Strange. Selaine hadn’t mentioned this. Which way should she go?
From where she stood, the inside of each path looked exactly the same. Rock walls and a hard floor gave her little indication of where to turn first. But standing around and not moving was wasting time. Picking at random, Nora turned toward the right-most entrance and began down its path.
But not even two hundred meters farther along, she came across an enormous amount of rubble and rocks blocking the way. Nora looked up – and saw a crater in the high ceiling from where they had probably fallen. She approached the pile of rubble and tried pushing against some of the rocks with her shoulder. They wouldn’t budge. She tried again, harder this time, but ended up losing her footing and slipping backward. Her ears picked up a light grating noise, and she looked up just in time to jump out of the way of a sharp falling rock. Had she triggered that?
She turned back, careful to step lightly lest she cause another collapse. A tiny bit of frustration started to creep in, but she forced it down. If one of the paths were obstructed, she still had two more to explore.
She emerged back at the fork, and this time, took the path directly in front of her – the path leading left. This one curved deeply before straightening out again, and Nora ran quickly to make her way down. So quickly, in fact, that she nearly overlooked the giant chasm in the rock directly in front of her.
Recognizing the drop just in time, she skidded to a halt. If she had taken one more step… she gulped. There, right in front of her, the earth just gave way. She took one cautious step to the edge and peered down carefully. Even with her improved eyesight, she couldn’t see to the bottom.
She looked across to the other side. With regret, she realized it was too far for her to jump. There was no way she could make it. There was just not enough room to run up to it, and with the way the ceiling sloped downward, it would be impossible to get enough air to make it to the other side. The feeling of frustration in the pit of her stomach intensified, and she pushed it down again.
She turned around. Two paths were blocked, with only one left. What would she do if that one was also in the same condition? No. She wouldn’t let her mind start playing those games with her, not until she had been down the final path. She prayed it would be unobstructed.
Backtracking to the fork, she started down the third, final path. She walked slowly, at first, as a feeling of dread over what she might find crept up in the back of her mind. But she passed the first hundred meters without finding anything. Then the next hundred. Then the next. The dread slowly evaporated, and she started to run. This way wasn’t blocked! She ran faster.
All of a sudden, an uneasy feeling washed over her. She stopped abruptly and stood completely still, listening. She heard nothing. She began taking another step forward, but right then felt a…a type of resonance. Pushing weakly against her. Pushing her backward. It was a strange feeling, sort of like the resistance one might feel when pushing two magnets of the same polarities together.
She took a step forward, expecting the resonance to increase in strength, but instead, it stayed the same. She looked around carefully, wondering what might be causing it. But all she could see was the outer layer of rock. She took another step forward, and the resonance stayed the same.
She continued on, more cautiously this time, tuning her body to feel for any shifts in the resonance.
She walked straight ahead. Unlike the last path that twisted and turned, this one was cut like a straight line right into the stone. She continued on, walking deeper and deeper into the mines. All of a sudden, her eyes picked up a massive shape in the distance, and she instinctively dropped down, flat on her stomach.
She watched alertly and waited for her eyes to adjust. The shape didn’t move. It was more of a shadow, really, although it was really big. Massively big. Big enough to take up the whole circumference of the tunnel.
She crept forward slowly…and instantly felt the fool when she realized it was just another pile of rocks.
Wait. Another pile of rocks? She leapt forward, panicking. If it was another pile of rocks, it meant the way was blocked, which meant…
She ran up to them, scanning the entire pile from bottom to top – and relaxed. Luckily for her, not enough had fallen to block the path completely. There, at the very top, was a small space. It was tight, but she thought she could push herself through.
Nora scrambled up the rocks. Some shifted uneasily under her weight, but she ignored that. She had her eyes and mind on only one objective: getting to the other side.
She reached the top fairly quickly, pushing herself up against the rocks. And she saw her estimate had been right. The hole at the top was just big enough to make it through. Lying down on her stomach again, she squeezed into the slit between the top of the pile and the ceiling. When she made it through to the other side, her jaw dropped.
Chapter Twenty
~An Unexpected Finding~
Built into the far rock wall was an enormous circular stone structure. A giant doorway. It looked like the entrance to a bank vault, except two, maybe three times larger. It was made of smooth stone and was decorated with thousands of intricate little carvings, like an ancient Mayan calendar. But that didn’t shock her. The symbols on the door did. Inscriptions ran along the outer edge and glowed faintly in a fluorescent blue, despite there not being any source of light that Nora could see. Their lettering was the same strange script she’d seen on the white tower with Hunter
She walked up to it cautiously. The resonance was still there, and while it wasn’t growing stronger, Nora felt like she could point to its source. It was coming from the middle of the stone doorway. Or maybe from the other side.
Nora ran her fingers against the round stone. To her surprise, the surface was not only smooth, but it was slick, also.
She walked to the left edge of the circular door and then to the right. On this side of the rubble, through the vault door was the only way to go. Either the doorway opened – or she had found another dead end.
Nora inspected the door closely. Looking at the symbols running on the outer edge, she noticed there was a slight…pattern…to their shapes. It wasn’t enough to tell her anything without being able to read the script, but it was interesting to note.
Suddenly, Nora noticed a tiny gap – the smallest of crevices – running straight down the middle of the stone. She doubted she would ever have noticed it were it not for her augmented vision. But it told her the stone was actually two separate halves, two semicircles put together, which meant it could likely be opened.
The problem was, she had no idea how. She doubted it would be as easy as pushing the right way against a protruding rock, as she’d so often seen in movies.
She backed away, taking the whole thing in again. The vault just stood there, challenging her to go through. Except that she didn’t know how.
On a whim, she stepped up to it and jammed her fingers in the middl
e crack, trying to pull it apart. It wouldn’t budge. Taking a steadying breath, she tried again, grunting with effort. Again, the thing wouldn’t move.
There had to be some way to get past it. But how? The question clawed at her mind.
In a last ditch effort, she moved from one side of the wall to the other, quickly pressing against every rock that jutted out. Every rock that she could discern.
Nothing happened.
She came to the middle and put her hands against the smooth, slippery stone. She pushed against it, willing it to open. It didn’t budge. Determinedly, she turned around, putting her back into it and squatting down to gain more leverage. But try as she might, even with her newfound strength, even with the blood of another Vassiz running through her veins, there was nothing she could do to move the structure.
No! Desperation crashed through her mind. There was nowhere else to go, and if she couldn’t get through, there was no way to find the fungus that would heal Alexander. She pushed herself up, stepped back, and slammed her shoulder against the stone. Nothing happened. She did it again, and again, and again, each time increasing the distance she took to run up to it, increasing the strength with which she slammed her body against it. Nothing happened. Angrily, she hit it once with her fist, with as much force as she could muster. Open, damn you!
Nothing happened.
Nora fell back down, defeated. She could not get through. And Alexander’s life depended on her getting through. Tears started to well up in her eyes. He had depended on her, and she had failed him. She felt hopeless, and pathetic. It was one easy task – retrieve a simple mushroom – that could save his life, and she couldn’t do it. Despite having all the new powers endowed upon her, despite having superhuman speed and extraordinary strength, despite being able to see in the dark, she could not accomplish the task Selaine had assigned to an ordinary girl.
