by Tony Ortiz
Under no circumstance tell them that Dorian is here.
The tortic is going to take us to Lorseria. Don’t worry,
I will get us out faster than you can say Happy Halloween.
Now hand the note back to me.
The cryptic note got me worried sick. Whenever Jacoby told us we were in serious danger, I’ve learned to expect for everything to turn out fine. But whenever he assured us that there was nothing to worry about, things always went badly.
Katie snatched the paper from me, seeing that I was brooding, and slipped it back into Jacoby’s pocket.
“Jacoby, you up here,” the tortic instructed him, who was trying to reach for the top of Lin’s head.
We ducked into an opening in a bulbous tree and were taken down into an underground stairway. As we walked down the steps, it got darker and darker. The tortic extended his fingers, and small flames flared out of the tips, illuminating the black brick tunnel.
Jacoby slowed down, waiting for Katie, Lin, and me to catch up to him, and brushed us to his left side. He was evidently shielding us from whomever the tortic was speaking German to in the dark.
The tunnel got wider and more ornate. Halloween faces were carved into the walls, and the tortic’s fire spell was no longer needed as the tunnel was lit by spinning balls of flames. We could now see that there were a total of ten tortics escorting us. None of them looked our way or acknowledged our presence. They were definitely scary monsters.
As we turned down another corridor, I repeated “Happy Halloween” for the umpteenth time in my head, foolishly hoping Jacoby’s words were true. The next time I did it, Jacoby roughly squeezed my hand. I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but then I noticed four sharp fingers snapping over my head. I couldn’t stop flinching. With each snap of the fingers, I felt like I was being pierced. The tortic stepped in front of me and waved his fingers in my face.
“Jacoby?” I cried softly while tears ran down my cheeks. “It hurts. It hurts.”
The tortic lifted my sleeve and studied the fake hole in my wrist, carelessly scraping my arm with his claws. I looked around hoping Dorian would come barging through the walls and kill every single one of them. Why was no one helping me? I kept searching the walls and looking down the corridor. Then, the pain was gone. Jacoby had grasped the tortic’s claws. The tortic hissed at him before he joined the others who were stooping to get through a set of two tiny doors.
“You okay?” said Jacoby.
I nodded. Jacoby waited for Lin to catch up so we could all enter together. The round cavern was surprisingly warm for holding so much ice. Pillars of ice and giant ice cubes were melted into the brick walls, and in the middle of the room a throne of ice sat in-between two life-size statues; one bald like Dorian and one with Jacoby’s crazy hair.
One tortic separated from the group and sat in the chair. This had to be Lorseria. He wasn’t much older than the rest. His wrinkly arms rested calmly on the armrest, and his floppy ears draped over the sides.
Jacoby took a step forward. “Halloween, I was wondering,” he said, very poised and calm, “if I could consult you about the events that happened earlier this evening.”
Lorseria looked over Jacoby’s shoulders at Katie and me. He sneered and then turned back to Jacoby. “Saw you at the games,” he said in a dark voice. “Did not expect to ever see you there.”
“You dummy,” said Lin, stepping forward.
Lorseria ignored Lin. “I’ve heard you possess extreme magic, Jacoby.”
“I don’t know of any,” he replied truthfully.
“But you are able to look at a menala . . . at Dorian,” he corrected himself, “while none of us can.”
“I truly don’t know the reason for that, halloween.”
Lorseria squared his shoulders and sat up taller. “Lorseria,” he snarled. “I have a real name and I want it to be used.”
There was a long silence as Jacoby bowed apologetically, and I was able to catch the sound of accordion music playing quietly nearby. To my surprise, I liked it and found it pleasant to listen to. It had an enchanting quality to it like the gently haunting melodies sometimes played on merry-go-rounds.
Lorseria smirked, this time directly at Lin, who was approaching him.
“Don’t treat my friend like dirt!” Lin protested. “Jacoby, come on, let’s fight him. I can take on his ears–”
Lin’s body went rigid and fell like a tree. Lorseria carried his sardonic smile over to Katie and me. “And who are these two?” he asked.
“Lorseria, please let him go,” said Jacoby.
“Sure, Jacoby.”
Lin came back to life, coughing up blood. Jacoby helped him up while he slid his hand on top of Lin’s head.
“They’re friends of mine,” said Jacoby.
“Friends who are not samhains,” added Lorseria.
“No, they are. Lin is a–”
“A melflin,” Lorseria finished, “but the other two look like humans. They smell like humans.”
“Katie is Murlie’s granddaughter from nineteen-fifty-five.”
“And Murlie is a wiskchickian?” asked Lorseria.
“A welchick. And Jesse is a kitis skeletis.”
“A Jack’s victim costume. Is that right, Jesse?” Lorseria took a long stare at the hole in my wrist.
“Uhhh . . .” I said nervously, unsure of what to say. “Yes. Because I was killed as a human by Jack in–”
“In nineteen-forty-five,” completed Jacoby.
I was glad Jacoby cut in because I was about to tell Lorseria I was killed at the beach in Arizona.
“I found him days later. He’s been accompanying me ever since.”
Lorseria took some time to think, glaring from one person to the next. “So, you know what Jack looks like?”
I didn’t know how to reply to that.
“Did you see him or not?”
“No. He was invisible.” That was a good answer.
“I always wondered if he possessed a Ugo-aye. That was something I doubted for a long time.”
A rat scurried across the icy flagstones, and Lorseria summoned it into the air as it squeaked loudly. He didn’t even raise his arms off the armrest, only his fingers, which went straight through it, killing it on the spot.
“Why did you hurt Kala?” scoffed Katie, coming up right next to me.
Lorseria smirked, looking rather amused.
“You are a creep!” she yelled. “You had no right to hurt him!”
“Katie, be careful,” Lorseria said calmly, but appearing ready to unleash his wrath on her. “My day has been much worse than yours would ever–”
“You don’t know anything about me!” she thundered as she moved forward. “You ever hurt Kala again–”
“It wasn’t me–”
“You better watch who you mess with! Right outside is–”
“Katie!” said Jacoby firmly.
“Kala is alive,” said Lorseria. “So why are you furious? If I had been playing, I would have probably killed it for what it did.”
“Did you injure Soundrec?” I barked.
“You need to keep quiet, Jesse and Katie,” he said sternly. “You’re beginning to get on my nerves.”
Jacoby grabbed me. But I wasn’t going to just let this horrible samhain feel in charge. I pulled out of Jacoby’s grip. Katie was already approaching Lorseria.
“Jesse, Katie!” called Jacoby.
Katie and I stopped.
“Jacoby, you came here for answers,” said Lorseria. “So ask your questions.”
Jacoby pondered for a second. “Was Jack present at the games?”
We all stared eagerly at Lorseria. “I think you can answer that yourself, Jacoby.”
I wondered if Jacoby had known all along if that smell was Jack’s or not.
“The smell,” I said quietly to myself.
“Yes, the smell. It makes you wonder why we left. And what it was that we actually saw. Yes, the smell was Jack�
�s. But he wasn’t at the festival. He was miles from it. I think he was waiting for something to happen.”
“Why did you try to kill Kala?” snapped Katie.
“I told you I wasn’t the one competing. You need to keep your hatred in check.”
“But you – he broke the rules.”
“It’s part of the game–”
“No! He broke the rules! You don’t treat others like that, you dead creep!”
“If you make us angry, that’s what happens. I’m sorry about your friend, but it deserved what it–”
“You will pay!” I shouted.
“I told you to keep quiet,” said Lorseria, now annoyed.
“What about Soundrec?” said Katie.
“Night Watchers have the highest death toll. But I was not the one who cursed him.”
I stood there, with my fists curled, fully sharing Katie’s fury. Even Jacoby was looking angry.
“Did you summon the Bellnicsi?” asked Jacoby.
“Beware! You can’t come into my home and accuse me, Jacoby.”
“Did you kill Dili?” muttered Katie.
“I’m through with the questions. None of you have the power or the right to attack and condemn me. We are not equals.”
“Yes - we - are!” bellowed Katie, sounding very frightening. “You have no idea where we come from!”
“Is that so? Do you think you could prove your worth to me?” suggested Lorseria, looking intrigued.
“Yes!” Katie roared.
Lorseria studied her face, as if looking for any doubt. She glared back.
“Good,” he said with a grin, standing up. “Below is the–”
“No,” said Jacoby promptly. “She’s not fully-grown.”
“Then Jesse can go with her.”
“Jesse is the same age as she is.”
“Jacoby, you said she entered in nineteen-fifty-five. That makes her plenty wise and fully-grown. I suspect you’ve been lying to me. She told me she has the right to be considered a powerful samhain, so I’m going to see if that’s the case. I’ll even let the little melflin go.”
“They’re all still too young for that,” argued Jacoby.
“I was wrong,” said Katie. “I don’t have the right to treat you like I did. We’re not equals.”
“It’s too late, Katie, it’s final,” said Lorseria flatly, stepping on a square platform.
Jacoby and Lin stepped onto it with him.
“Jesse, Katie, come on,” said Jacoby softly.
Katie and I walked up hesitantly.
“I’ll come along,” said Jacoby.
“These three only is my final decision,” ended Lorseria.
The platform jolted and went down like an elevator. I tried my best to take cover behind Jacoby. Lorseria’s creepy black eyes were looking down on me.
“The mystical dungeon will test your magical abilities and wit,” he explained. “Think of it as a fun game like the Jack O’Games. I might not have to kill you myself.” Lorseria flashed us an infernal smile as we were lowered further down. “And if you survive, you’ll have my permission to ask all the questions you want. I will tell you everything you want to know. I will even reveal to you what had happened outside of the festival.”
The platform hit the bottom of a red cave, cramped with red and black boulders. The rest of tortics were waiting just outside the platform.
“Are you contemplating a standoff, Jacoby?” said Lorseria, seeing that Jacoby was deep in thought. “Red granite,” he reminded. “Don’t try.”
I wondered if Jacoby was indeed thinking about taking on the ten tortics. He had Lin, too, but I didn’t consider him much help. Katie could probably put up a decent fight though.
“It’s your decision, Jacoby,” said Lorseria patiently.
Jacoby didn’t speak.
“Then . . . they enter the dungeon.”
Lorseria trudged over to a tiny hatch in the wall, twisted his fingers, and the hatch creaked open.
“You can’t psyclin out. Nor can anyone psyclin in.”
All of us were waiting for Jacoby to do something. But he was just standing there perfectly still.
“Jacoby, don’t you have faith in them?” said Lorseria, stepping away from the hole. “They must be like your own children to you. Especially Jesse, who you said has been with you for days.”
All the tortics surrounded Jacoby. He was beginning to breathe in and out in slow repetitions. His arms began to twitch.
“Jacoby,” Lorseria said menacingly, stepping forward, “you are merely an insignificant spectacalon.”
Jacoby squatted down in deep meditation as a cloud of black air shot out of his mouth.
“We will kill you!” continued Lorseria, undoing his ear bands.
Katie came closer to me. “We gotta enter or they’ll kill him.”
“No, he’s going to save us,” I said quietly. “He won’t abandon us.”
“Jesse, come on!”
Katie forced me into a scorching hot tube and climbed in after me. I turned back and saw Jacoby helping Lin inside while resting his hand on top of Lin’s head. The last thing I saw and heard was the hatch creaking to a close and Lorseria’s raspy cold voice.
“Good luck, my samhain friends.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The MYSTICAL DUNGEON
One by one, Katie, Lin, and I climbed out of the tube onto a red granite platform, hundreds of feet above a pit of spewing lava. Violent fiery swirls spun, popped, and jetted up towards us. A rickety bridge reached across the pit to another platform. The ceiling was covered with charred roots and burn marks. We were going to die.
“Jesse,” interrupted Katie, pulling me back from the ledge. “Look.”
Lin was leading a class of middle school students to the bridge. A few more students magically appeared.
“Can anyone tell me what lava is?” said Lin in a mature voice. “Come on. I’m grading you on your participation. Anyone?”
“Hot rocks?” guessed Katie.
Lin looked all the way back at us. “How about you, Jesse? You look like a future scientist.”
“Liquefied rock?”
“Good job, Jesse. You’ve been reading your textbook. Two stars will be awarded to you when we get back.”
The class flocked around Lin at the ledge.
“I want every one of you to create your own flashcards on what you see here and what you learned yesterday.”
A student in the back of the group raised his hand. “Like what?”
“Like lava flow, red rocks, black rocks, burst patterns, types of lava domes. There are no restrictions. Be sure to write down your name and room number on your index box and title it ‘The Magma Chamber Field Trip’.”
The class quickly scribbled it down on their clipboards as they followed Lin across the bridge and listened to him talk about hot vapor, deadly gases, and a clan of sarscas on the other side, who glowered back at us. However, these hairy bear-like samhains posed no threat. Lin just shooed them away whenever they would creep up too close. The next chamber was even bigger than the last, with a lot more bridges and a lot more heat.
“You serious?” gasped Katie, overwhelmed. A mentally slow boy repeated what she said. “What’s in the next room – a zillion volcanoes?!”
Katie glared at him.
“We should go back,” I suggested. “Maybe Lorseria forgot to lock the hatch.”
“Jesse, he’s changing again,” Katie elbowed me.
The students were gone, and Lin was flapping his arms up and down.
“But he just changed,” I said. “Is this going to happen every minute?”
“He thinks he’s a bird now,” giggled Katie.
“This doesn’t look good.”
Lin stopped flapping his arms. “Hello there, young ones!” he said enthusiastically. “Welcome!”
Katie turned to me and smiled.
“Welcome to the Zoo!” he announced, presenting the cave to us with a sweeping gestur
e.
“The zoo?” I said to Katie.
“Let’s hear what he has to say.”
“My name is Leonard Gibbly, and I will be your tour guide today. By the time we get back, you will have walked through the plains of South Africa, swam with Alaskan polar bears, traveled through one of South America’s greatest tropical rainforests, and dived to the utmost depths of the ocean. All I need is your eyes and ears. You can keep the rest.”
“Lin, we’re not at a zoo,” smiled Katie.
“You have to change back to your normal self,” I added.
“Children, children, we don’t want to disturb the animals–”
“There are no animals!”
“Clearly, you’ve never been to a zoo. Take a look around.”
We watched a molten rock explode and a spurt of lava ooze over a fallen bridge. Nothing about the place resembled an animal habitat.
“All cameras need to be fastened securely,” Lin continued as he guided us across the first bridge. “Food and beverages will not be permitted. Okay, let’s start! Please follow me and keep close enough to count the hairs on my neck. Here, in captivity, we have a wide variety of African and Asian elephants – oh, and a new born baby elephant who eats twelve thousand pounds of elephant food a week. It’s going to die very soon. . . .”
“What’s the point of all this?” I asked Katie.
“Hey, we’re getting a free tour,” laughed Katie. “Wait, let me try something . . .” She went up to Lin and nudged him in the back of the head; but nothing happened. “Crapper!”
“Please don’t touch me. This is not a petting zoo. To our left is a . . . rock,” explained Lin. “Rocks give great shelter and shade to the elephants living in warmer climates. And the . . . lava is . . . – elephants would not do well near. As you can see for some reason I look lost. That’s because I think the tour has been changed without my approval. Oh, look up there! A zebra without stripes.”
“Lin, that’s not a zebra,” I prompted. “Lin, stop!”
Katie and I both watched Lin run into the back of a ten-foot-tall mummy.
