The dead people were resting in ledges along the edges of the wall. Mindy needed to find the one on the platform, the one that the Shadow Man showed her. She walked slowly through the halls, her light shining just in front of her while she walked.
She heard Raven’s footsteps echo with Claire’s right behind as they ran to catch up. Raven grabbed her arm. Her hand was yucky from the monster. Mindy tried not to flinch.
Raven said, “Mindy, what are you doing?”
Mindy pointed. “There.”
She ignored Raven and walked forward. They wouldn’t come back again. If she let Raven leave now, Raven wouldn’t save Jade. She’d feel bad forever. Mindy would, too. Mindy loved Jade, the Jade who floated above the world now. Not monster Jade who would eat them all if she could.
Claire flashed her light on a particularly gruesome skull with a patch of hair still coming out of its head and its teeth seemingly thrown back in laughter. She immediately turned the flashlight to the ground where Mindy’s was. Claire asked, “How much longer?”
Mindy pointed to the large double entryway carved of stone up ahead. Strange figures were carved into the wall and a gargoyle leaned down from the space just above two ornate doors.
Claire grumbled, “That doesn’t tell us anything.”
Raven changed axe hands again. She wanted to tell Claire to be quiet, but didn’t feel like dealing with the aftermath. As they walked through the dank catacombs smelling grave dust and mildew, Raven decided that she was a coward. Her much younger sister was leading the way into danger.
Raven said, “Mindy, let me take the lead.”
Pushing through the double doors, Raven expected more of the same, crumbling bones on stone ledges and a floor made of white stone. She whistled when she saw this new room.
The room itself was as bright as day and cavernous with a huge raised platform and a coffin in the center. The floor was veined marble and polished to a shine. The walls glittered as if encrusted with precious gems. Marble statues watched the room from alcoves with gold gilt frames.
“What is this place?” Claire’s mouth hung open. She wandered around the room looking at all the statues and the intricately painted designs on the walls. “Where is the light coming from?”
Raven walked across the marble floor in shoes that left scorpion blood smeared on the floor. “What’s next, Mindy?”
Mindy didn’t answer. She walked toward the coffin in the center of the room. The coffin was gold and reflected bright a raised dais. Mindy climbed the stairs to the coffin. She grunted as she tried to push the lid off.
Raven took the other side and with a groan tried to force the lid. After straining for a few seconds, she gave up, “Claire, I think we all need to try this.”
Claire was tracing her finger along a swirling gold pattern on the wall. She looked up, “Oh. Sorry.”
Once Claire was in position, Raven counted to three and then they heaved. The lid lifted an inch and then fell shut as the girls grew tired. Mindy picked up her stick. Raven said, “One more time.”
She counted to three. As Raven and Claire lifted the coffin lid, Mindy slid the stick in between the lid and the box. When Raven and Claire dropped the lid, the stick kept it from latching completely.
Raven picked up the axe, “Great idea, Mindy.”
Claire looked askance at Mindy. This was one too many great ideas from her little sister who couldn’t read, couldn’t write, and often lost track of what she was saying. Meanwhile, Raven shoved the axe between the lid and the box and used it as a lever, pushing the lid up.
Raven waved Claire back to the box. “This time we’ll push forward. Everyone get ready.”
They lined up, hands on the lid, “One, two, three.”
With a huge grimace and lots of noise, they pushed on the box. It moved forward six inches. Raven shook her hands. Mindy tugged on Raven’s shirt and pointed to the open space between the lid and coffin.
“We’re almost there. We just need to push a little harder.”
Mindy shook her head and pointed to the opening.
Claire giggled. Her laugh had an edge of hysteria to it. She said, “I think she wants you to wiggle inside there for something.”
Mindy nodded, pointing to the sliver of purple that she saw in the crack
~~ Raven ~~
Raven pulled herself up onto the platform. Mindy was steadily pointing to the place where she would have to reach. She leaned against the side of the coffin and pushed her hand into the space between the coffin and lid. She hated her hand in that space as much as she hated reaching into the dish disposal for a spoon even when she knew full well it was unplugged.
“Oh, that is so gross,” Raven said as her fingers touched something hard, dry and smooth. If she had to guess given her position on the platform, it was a finger bone. She recoiled.
Mindy made a disappointed sound. She pointed again.
Raven closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. In a single day she’d tasted dead vampire and waded through dead scorpion, surely she could handle a little finger bone. With a sigh she said, “I guess I can handle one little coffin. It would help if I knew why I was poking around a skeleton.”
Climbing up to join Raven on the platform, Mindy tried to see into the crack between the lid and the coffin. She said, “Bottle.”
Giggling again, Claire said, “I can’t even believe we’re here. This is so insane.”
Mindy put a hand to her mouth, stifling the tiny laugh that exploded.
Raven tried to be stern as she said, “Come on, people. I’m touching a dead person here.”
Something moved under Raven’s finger and she jerked back, hitting her hand on the lid. “Something moved in there.”
“You’re probably just freaked out.” Claire said, squinting with her flashlight to look between the cracks.
Raven could have sworn something moved beneath her fingers. She wasn’t about to chicken out now. Leaning down, she looked into the coffin. The light was reflecting brilliant purple. It might be the bottle Mindy was talking about.
Taking a deep breath and shaking her hands as if to shake off bad luck, she closed her eyes and shoved her hand all the way into the coffin, wincing when her hand pushed the bones of the skeleton’s hands aside. She grabbed the bottle and started to pull back, but something caught her hand.
She wiggled her hand back and forth, running into bone. She reached in with her other hand, grabbed the bottle and withdrew it from the coffin. It sparkled like a thousand tiny suns.
Mindy made an oohing sound.
Claire clapped her hands, laughing, “It’s like Christmas.”
Raven grunted and shoved the bottle into her jacket pocket with her one useful hand, “Still stuck here. Can you guys see how I’m caught.”
Claire adjusted her flashlight and peered into the crack. A shadow crossed the crack right in front of the light. She dropped the flashlight and jumped back, “It’s alive. It’s moving. Get out of there.”
Raven jerked her arm. Bony fingers tightened on her wrist and yanked her back until her whole arm was in the coffin and her chin was resting on the lid. “Claire, get the axe.”
Claire looked at the axe holding the lid up and shook her head, “It’s holding the lid up. If I take it, your arm will get crushed.”
“What about your knife?”
Claire pulled out the knife. She shoved it in between the crack trying to poke the skeleton. Once Raven cried out, “Ow! Claire! Be careful, you just stuck me with that thing!”
Raven could feel the blood running down her arm. The skeleton would not let go, no matter what she did.
Mindy stood wide-eyed and silent at the edge of the platform, looking like she might burst into tears at any minute. Raven’s was stuck at an awkward angle. She rested her forehead against the coffin, letting her arm rest for a minute. The skeleton didn’t seem to react unless she did.
“Mindy, did the Shadow man tell you what to do next?” Raven kept breathing harder and
harder. She hated being trapped. “Mindy? What do I do?”
Shaking her head, Mindy said, “Bottle. Jade.”
Claire withdrew the knife from the crack and dropped it on the floor. She moved to the other side of Raven and closing her eyes, shoved her hand into the coffin.
Gritting her teeth, Raven asked, “What are you doing?”
“I know you’re scared. I’m going to get you out,” Claire said. Her fingers closed over the bony hand. It was indeed moving. With her ear next to the coffin, Claire could hear a clattering, as if the bones in the coffin were striking or rubbing against one another. They were.
Then something grabbed Claire’s hand. Hissing, she said, “Raven, I’m stuck, now. Can you move?”
Raven tried.
“No.”
Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, they heard the creaking of the door.
Chapter 12
~~ Claire ~~
Claire felt the bony fingers reaching and grasping, searching a way around her hand even while she struggled to free Raven. She dodged the fingers, thinking that it wasn’t that hard to keep away from the skeleton. That was when it trapped her.
She flinched and tugged.
Then they heard the door open.
Mindy shrieked and ran around the platform, hiding on the other side of the coffin. Claire thought that probably wasn’t a bad idea and would have loved to join her.
She craned her neck to see who was coming. Three men dressed in black with priests’ collars rushed in, each carrying a scepter. Two were overweight and red-faced, one tall and skinny. The biggest priest wheezed and held his sides. The youngest asked, “What are you doing?”
Claire bit her lip. She had no idea what to say.
Raven straightened, “Our Mom went missing. I heard that you had an amulet that would let people travel through time. We came to borrow it.”
“Borrow?” The florid priest whose breath was still ragged managed to ask.
The tall priest with graying hair at his temples, the most likeable of the bunch, put a hand on the other’s shoulder, “Now, Jack, let’s at least get the girls free of the room before we lecture them on trespassing in strange places.”
With a hand signal to the other two men, he led the way to the platform. He stood at Claire’s side, but close to the middle while the other two men took an edge each. They did a fair bit of grunting and groaning themselves as they moved the lid.
The skeleton roared, lifting its head out of the coffin and looking with terrible malice upon the tall priest who Claire liked best. With a rude smile, its jaws opened wide and it threw itself on the priest, teeth gnashing as it wounded him with bite marks along his arms.
Claire squealed and jerked back. The skeleton turned its head, empty sockets fixed on Claire. She cried hysterically while she tried to pull out of its grip. Somehow when it was just a dark thing between the cracks, she could pretend it wasn’t real.
“Let me go. Let me go,” her wail rose as the skeleton’s bones realigned themselves, the skull moving closer, not on tendons, but on air. The skeleton wasn’t clean. A patch of hair hung from the top of its head.
Claire shivered with fear as the skeleton smiled at her. The tall priest put a hand on her shoulder. She felt as if an electrical field moved along her shoulder and down her arms. The priest said, “Shhh…you’ll be okay. Jack just has to get his scepter. Try not to move.”
Whimpering, Claire nodded.
Jack had put his scepter on the floor when they moved the lid. He reached for it now. Seeing the skeleton set himself up for a strike, Jack suddenly cried, “Wayne, watch out!”
Raven’s right arm was trapped. Claire stood between her and the priest whose name was Wayne. She could see the skeleton twisting its head and setting its target. Claire said, “Raven, it’s going to attack.”
Raven pulled back with her free hand and punched the skull as hard as she could.
“Oh. Ow.” Raven shook her hand.
Her strike didn’t even slow it down. The skull’s teeth chattered in anticipation and with a sudden and intense dive, it latched onto Wayne’s wrist. Wayne’s expression was one of tolerance. Claire wondered how he could bear having that thing gnawing on his flesh.
“Now,” Jack said.
Wayne pulled his arm back and Jack brought the scepter crashing down on the skull. The fingers locked around Claire’s wrist loosened and she was finally able to move. There were five bruises where the bones had dug into her skin. Holding her wrist, she said, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Wayne’s wrist bled from a few of the deeper tooth marks. Ignoring them, he smiled at Claire, “Not a problem.”
He turned his attention to Raven, “How about you? Can I look at that?”
Raven pressed her lips together in a firm line and stared at Wayne. Claire was afraid she was going to say no. Raven just watched him quietly, Wayne of the easy smile who was also injured. Finally she held out her arm, “Okay.”
Claire could tell that she felt some kind of electricity from him, too. It was just a fleeting surprise that crossed her face. She was still bleeding from the knife wound that Claire had accidentally inflicted on her. He said, “Hold this tight. We’ll bandage it upstairs.”
“What about your wrist?” Claire asked. He held it close to the cloth of his jacket to catch the blood.
“I’ll bandage mine upstairs, too. Are you girls hungry? It’ll be dinner time in a few hours. Once we take care of the injuries, we can eat.”
Claire begged Raven to say yes with her eyes. Raven didn’t listen. She said, “No, thank you. We have to be on our way.”
Keeping a rather large distance between herself and the men, Mindy walked out from the backside of the platform, “We go.”
Claire said, “But you’re bleeding.”
Raven gave Mindy a pointed look, “Claire, we have business to attend to.”
Mindy looked like she wanted to come closer to Raven, but Wayne was too close. She stayed back, but her nose lifted a fraction of an inch to that stubborn angle that said she was going to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way.
Wayne waved a hand at Raven’s cut, “It will take just a minute to get that cleaned up.”
Mindy shook her head, “No.”
“I don’t bite. I promise,” Wayne said, with a laugh.
“Do you kidnap people?” Raven asked. She gave Wayne a look that said she thought he did. Claire wanted to crawl into the floorboards and hide. Their Mom had spent so many years talking about the Death Keepers. She always said that the Church of the Light was a front for them. Now Raven was ruining everything.
Wayne flushed red, “No. I don’t kidnap people.”
Jack cleared his throat, “Can we get out of here? There are a few too many surprises down here.”
Nodding to the girls, Wayne said, “Let’s get upstairs and then we’ll decide what to do.”
They led the girls down the same hallway. The priests knew about another secret stone. When they pulled it, a door slid open. Mindy made a point of keeping Raven between herself and the men at all times, hovering at her side like a shadow. Raven put an arm around Mindy’s shoulder and whispered into her hair, “You couldn’t have found us the elevator?”
Mindy giggled and hugged Raven around the waist. She was in the corner near the door, away from the men.
Claire watched Wayne. When Wayne had put his hand on her shoulder back at the coffin, she had felt an instant affection for him. She didn’t remember Dad at all. Wayne had a nice smile, too, even when he was bleeding all over. She wished they could stay longer, but Raven was already trying to find an out.
~~ Wayne ~~
Wayne never really understood the whole tiff between the Elementals and the Death Keepers. The universe hadn’t graced him with the gate, and for that he was grateful. The idea of ferrying souls from one realm to another never appealed.
His gift was better, in his opinion. Some of the other Keepers disagreed. He wa
s an Empath and could detect the Universe’s gifts. The older girl was gifted with Air, the middle with Water. He hadn’t touched the youngest. She was a shy little thing, but he could sense Earth. Three of the four elements.
He knew who they were. He couldn’t believe the oldest girl would call out her mother’s kidnapping to the man who had arranged it all. The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Wayne was a little amused that the girls would walk right into his church looking for a way to save their mother.
He led the girls down the hall and into the kitchen. The elevator didn’t actually go to the top floor where the three-room church opened directly to the garden in back or the parking lot out front. The chapel was a front for the Keepers. A beautiful sanctuary with brightly-colored stained glass windows and a door to the outside created an illusion of a small country church to the congregation who actually worshipped here. A few were Keepers, the rest were church members for the front.
He held the door open for the girls. The middle sister watched him with puppy-love eyes. The youngest clung to the oldest and shuffled quickly by. He wanted to find a way to test her, but so far she had neatly avoided his touch.
“There’s a roast in the oven. It will be out in an hour. In the meantime, let’s get bandaged up.” The room smelled like roast beef and baked potatoes. Raven’s protests died with her growling stomach and Wayne’s charm.
She said grudgingly, “It does smell good in here.”
He had a gift for putting people at ease. He took the lead while Jake and the other priest faded away, excusing themselves to do other things and made sure Raven felt safe enough and knew that she could leave at any time.
They all introduced themselves with Raven introducing her little sister, Mindy. Claire would be the ticket to the Gray family. Claire was the one to take the white roll of bandages from him and say, “I can help.”
They started with Raven’s knife wound from Claire’s attempt to poke the skeleton in the coffin. It wasn’t that deep. Wayne examined it, “You won’t need stitches, but let’s get some antiseptic on there.”
A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) Page 13
