by Gabi Moore
“Does it have a life expectancy?”
“Good question. Anything part of the Earth Element does. Well, it usually does. However, they’re not like car batteries where you can know exactly when they’ll fail. Although, come to think of it, even car batteries have a big range of life. So maybe they are like car batteries. Good point.”
“But I’ve found where the next doorway to the subbasement will appear,” he told her. “It’s due to open in another ten minutes on the other side of the concourse under the stairs.”
Lilly and Dion hurried down the concourse in search of the mysterious door. As they went, the two of them passed some of the security guards who gave them a menacing look.
So far, Officer Karanzen had no reason to have them removed from the mall. He’d warned them it could all change, so they needed to be wary this time.
The mall was its cheery self.
You had to work there or know what really went on behind the scenes to understand the place. The mall was an endless army of consumer goods cycled into the hands of those who needed or thought they needed them. A vast army of display experts and managers sought to find the perfect way to portray the goods they carried to the public.
Lilly wondered how many of these stores would still be here in twenty years. Already, older shopping centers were fading into the sunset as the clientele headed for newer, brighter lands with trained staff to wait on them. It was the perfect place to hide anything that merged with the supernatural. Besides, a shopping mall was a supernatural experience in and of itself. People entered forlorn and emerged in a state of euphoria from their purchases.
Supposedly, someone had tried to build a New York style disco inside the mall when it first opened. It never lasted, as so much from the East Coast didn’t when they tried to import it to the heartlands. It never stopped people from taking what they found on the affluent parts of the country and shoving it on the less affluent wage earners in the Midwest. She wondered how much longer the factories would last which ringed the town and city. They seemed so smoky to her and full of grime. One day nature would revolt and shut them all down. In place of the factories would stand crumbling buildings, and no one would remember what they had been used for in the beginning. The only thing that ever seemed constant in this world was change.
She watched a security guard from one of the armored car services enter the mall and head in the direction of an anchor store. He would leave with a satchel full of cash in a few minutes. Then he’d be on his way to deposit it in the bank. Eventually someone would figure out they could follow the armored car and make a little withdraw of their own. Did the armored cars have some kind of elemental protection of their own? She made a mental note to ask Dion about it later. It seemed like a possibility. Why not? Perhaps they had a representative of each element riding in the car, ready to defend it against any robbery attempts. Two elemental riding up front and two in the back. Didn’t he say there was a fifth? Would the fifth ride in the engine?
“Here it is,” Dion told her when they reached the door. “Exactly when and where the map told us we could find it. It will only be here for another ten minutes so we have to move quickly.”
He began walking toward it.
The door resembled any other access door in the mall. It had no window and had the words “Employees Only” written on it.
“Is it locked?” she asked him.
“Not to me it isn’t.” He reached out to grab the handle. Nevertheless, the door stayed firm. He jerked on the handle a few more times, but it stayed firm.
“I don’t get this,” he said. “I should have enough recognition by the mall to open any door that’s not physically locked. How do I get into this one?”
“You didn’t ask me for the key,” Edward’s voice sounded behind them.
The funny Englishman stood there wearing a robe. He had a hood over his head, which gave him a vaguely sinister look as he held out a skeleton key to Dion.
Dion took the key from him. “I didn’t see a keyhole on the door,” he told Edward. “How does it work?”
“Just touch the key to the door and it will recognize it. The ghouls reset the doors to keep you out. They didn’t realize there is a grandmaster key that can override them. Now what are you going to need before you go down there besides a miner’s helmet?”
“A weapon to protect us,” Lilly said. “We will need something to prevent the ghouls from coming after us once we’re in the corridor. All Hobbs had were guns. Do you know where we can get something else?”
“As a matter of fact I do and here he comes right now.”
Down the concourse came a maintenance man pushing a floor polisher. He was human and pushed the polisher up to them. The man left in front of Dion and Lilly, and then walked away.
“A floor polisher?” Dion said to him. “That is your idea of a weapon? What am I supposed to do? Use it as a club?’
“Now, now, dear boy,” Edward said. “Think about it. This polisher has no electrical cord. You can push it all the way down to the subbasement where the ghouls live. It is gas powered and starts with a simple pull chain. Just like a lawn mower, don’t forget to adjust the choke.”
Then he disappeared.
Dion stood there and looked at the empty space. “Great,” he said to the empty space where Edward had stood just moments ago. “We need to get her back and we have no way to do it that makes sense. What am I supposed to do with this thing?’
“I have no idea,” Lilly said, “but Edward wouldn’t have left it here if it had no use. He’s been helpful so far.”
“I could use something practical from that deus ex machina,” he told her. “This is absurd. Anyway, we have to get through the door before it closes again. You can carry this. Looks like I’ll push the damn polisher.” He handed Lilly the pack and moved the floor polisher to the door. Once at the door, he touched it with the skeleton key. There was a click and the door unlocked. Dion pushed on it and this time it opened.
It wasn’t long before the door clicked shut behind them.
Chapter 8
Other than the light filtering under the door, Lilly and Dion found themselves in a dark, empty chamber. Lilly couldn’t see a thing, but she heard Dion grumble as he bumped into a wall.
“Hand me the pack,” he told Lilly. “I need to light that lantern on top of the helmet.”
“I watched Hobbs do it too,” she said and placed the pack down on the cool floor. “I think I can light it as well as you.”
She unzipped the pack and felt around inside for the helmet with the lantern attached. She carefully lifted it out and found the ignition switch. Just as Hobbs showed them, she depressed the button to the count of three and heard a pop as the lamp became illuminated.
Now there was light inside the chamber. Lilly place it on her head and tightened the strap over her chin. She carefully adjusted the flame until the heat of the lamp was down and the chamber was fully exposed.
“Hey!” Dion said and raised his hands as she swung her head in his direction. She realized the lamp had blinded him and turned her head in a different direction. She reached back in the pack and handed him the second hard hat. He too placed it on his head and tightened down the strap. They turned to look at the corridor in front of them.
It continued in a downward slope to the subbasement, but they were only able to see part of it as the light limited what could be viewed. Dion shrugged and began to push on the handle of the floor polisher as they walked down the smooth concrete ramp, which took them deeper into the home of the ghouls.
“They’ll know we’re coming just from that light,” she said to him in a low voice. So far, they had seen stonewalls and smooth floor, but nothing else. The corridor was void of any kind of mice or rats, for which Lilly was thankful.
It was also very quiet.
She had no idea what to expect when they reached the subbasement, but it shouldn’t be very long. The mall only had two basements and they’d entered on the ground
floor. There was the possibility that this corridor’s length didn’t correspond to the elemental lengths, but Lilly didn’t want to think about that. She assumed the passage would be the same length from the surface to the subbasement as if they’d entered using a normal stairs. They continued their movement down to the ghoul level.
A few more minutes of travel and they were in front of a pair of doors that read “Subbasement”.
Dion took a minute to stare at it. “Pretty much sums it up. Let’s see what’s on the other side.”
Before they reached the door, it swung open to reveal the ghoul cleaners from the pharmacy. There were twelve of them this time and each one carried a club and wore mirrorshades.
Lilly shined the light from her lantern on them, but it made no difference. They stood there, patted their clubs, and stared at the two interlopers.
It was in that moment Dion realized what use the floor polisher would have against the ghouls. He clicked the choke into position and pulled the chain on it, firing up the gas engine. The floor polisher screamed into life with a roar slightly greater than a lawn mower. It was loud and the close walls and ceiling of the corridor amplified the noise.
The ghouls screamed, dropped the clubs and grabbed their ears. Some of them fled to the other side of the door, most howled in pain from the noise created by the floor polisher. The noise was so loud that it even hurt Dion’s ears. However, he let it roar; slowly walking up to the ghouls with the polisher as it created a wall of sound they couldn’t stand.
The ghouls who remained in the corridor dropped to the floor and shook their heads as they tried to silence the painful noise. With enhanced hearing, the roar of the floor polisher sent them into spasms of agony. Dion watched them howl for a few minutes, then shut the engine off.
A few of the ghouls stood up, breathing heavy. They didn’t say a word, but looked in fear at the floor polisher. Dion waited until one of them stood up and put his hand on the pull chain. The ghoul waved his hands, and hugged himself. The meaning was clear and all Dion needed to do was walk in their direction with the floor polisher. The ghouls waved their heads and vanished on the other side of the doors while bowing.
Dion stood in place with his hand on the pull chain.
“The noise,” he told Lilly. “They can’t stand the noise. Edward knew it, which is why he had the guy bring me the floor polisher. So long as I have the ability to send sound waves in and mess up their world, they’ll do what we want.”
“I don’t want to go through those doors,” Lilly said. “I hope they bring Emily back out because we just might have to do it.”
A few minutes later the ghouls returned with the bound and gagged form of Emily. They approached Dion and held her up so the light from Lilly’s headlamp shone on her. It was Emily, as far as they could tell, even with the smeared make-up, they knew it had to be her. She was unable to say a thing.
One of the ghouls pointed to the map under Dion’s arm. “I think they want to make a trade,” he said to Lilly.
“I thought you told me the ghouls can’t read and didn’t know how valuable that map is. Why would they want to trade for it?”
“Could be that they know how useful it is. Could be they found out when they kidnapped Emily.”
“I don’t trust them,” he told Lilly. “These elementals have a tendency to get the better of the trade. I want to be sure it’s her.” He gestured to the ghouls to remove the gag from her mouth.
One of the ghouls reached up and untied the rag they’d stuffed in Emily’s mouth. “Thank God you’re here,” she cried out. “I thought I would never get out of this place!”
“Who am I?” Dion asked her.
“Why you are, umh, ah….”
“Who is that?” Dion said pointing to Lilly.
“That’s um….”
Dion pulled the chain on the floor polisher motor and the machine began to howl. The ghouls dropped Emily who promptly changed into a ghoul and they all thrashed around on the floor. Dion hit the stop button on the floor polisher and the machine wound down.
“Enough of this!” he yelled at them. “Go get the real Emily or I’ll walk this thing running right into your homes!”
Gasping again, the ghouls picked themselves up from the floor and walked back through the doors.
“How did you know they would try that?” Lilly asked him after they left.
“Like I said, we’re in their domain and they like to get the better of any trade. We would have traded the map for a ghoul and they would run off. Whatever is in the map is so valuable they’ll risk the pain of the noise to get it. Let’s see what they do the next time.”
This time when they brought the figure of Emily through the doors, she was ungagged. She saw Dion and Lilly and began to blubber in tears.
“Who am I?” he asked her.
“Dion! Now get me out of here!”
“And the girl with me?”
“It’s Lilly, for God’s sake Dion get me out of this horrible place!”
Dion had Lilly walk over to the ghouls holding Emily and take her while she rested one hand on the pull chain. The moment Emily was back in their hands, he tossed them the map. The ghouls looked at it to make sure it was the right one and retreated back into the doors.
Lilly finished untying Emily who embraced her and began to cry. When she finished crying, he pulled the chain on the floor polisher and it started up again. She yelled but remained in human form. Dion killed the motor.
“I had to be sure,” he explained to her. “They tried to give us a fake Emily once, they might do it again.”
The trip back to the surface took place quick. With the light of the headlamp, Lilly was able to guide them back to the main level of the mall. Soon they were on the corridor side of the door they had entered.
“Where will it take us this time?” Lilly said to them.
“Only one way to find out,” Dion said and pushed the door open.
They found themselves next to the pharmacy where the ghouls had tried to keep them from reaching. Dion stood there with the floor polisher in one hand and looked down the hallway. From what he could tell by the wall clock, they’d only been underground for a few hours.
“That’s a relief,” he said.
“A relief we’re out?” Emily asked. “I never want to go back down there again. I could hear those things shuffling all over that place. It was horrible!”
“No, it’s good we were only down there a few hours,” he told her. “Sometimes you can come up from the elemental underworld and discover years have passed.”
“Rip Van Winkle,” Lilly said.
“Exactly. If we had gone through those doors to the subbasement, years might have passed when we returned to the surface. The same rules don’t apply down there when it comes to time passage.”
“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” It was Officer Karanzen and six of his guards. “I had a complaint and it appears you’ve gone and stolen a floor polisher. Really Dion, why do you force me to do this?”
“Force you to do what?”
“Force me to take all of you down to my office; you’ll have to come with me now.”
Dion, Lilly and Emily were marched down the concourse with Karanzen and his minions surrounding them. No one wanted to look in their direction because when the security chief had someone, it usually meant they were on their way out.
The office of Officer Karanzen was located in an out-of-the-way section of the mall. It had a few rooms which could be locked from the outside, equipped with closed circuit cameras inside them. This was the equivalent of “cells” that a police station might have, although the mall guards had no power to make arrests like the law enforcement officers. They could make citizen’s arrests, but so could anyone else. The rooms were for special cases, people caught stealing, trying to peep inside women’s’ bathrooms and the like. Minors were held in the main office while one of the guards made a report and called their guardians.
However
, all three of them - Emily, Dion and Lilly - were eighteen. They were legally adults, although still in high school. This created a bit of a problem for security. Technically, they needed to press charges or release them. Karanzen didn’t want to go to any trouble, which might get the legal affairs people involved, so he opted for another option: taking them all into his office.
He sat the three of them across from his desk while closing the door to the rest of the security office. While they sat in their chairs, he pretended to look at some report and shuffled more papers. The whole ruse was supposed to make them think he was busy doing something else and create uncertainty and fear in their minds. Dion was aware of what he did and didn’t care.
“Stealing a floor polisher,” he said to Dion. “I would’ve thought you were the type to find something a little more elaborate. Come on, at least a rack of clothes. What did you do? Have the girls distract the maintenance department?”
“We were given the polisher,” Lilly said to him.
“Really?” Karanzen returned to her. “For what? Did you plan to clean up somewhere? You don’t appear to be the charwoman type.”
“Can we just bring this nonsense to an end, Officer?” Dion said. “We all know what happened and how we had to rescue our friend. Do you really want us to go back home and tell Emily’s family how a bunch of cleaners kidnapped her and hauled her down to the subbasement? Do you want her story on the evening news?”
Karanzen sat behind his desk and glared at Dion. He picked up a pencil and tossed it at the wall. The girls jumped up as it collided.
“I look like a fool to you, son?” he yelled. “There was no kidnapping and I would just like to see you prove it.”
“I don’t have to, Officer. All we need to do is go home, tell Emily’s parents our story and the news reporters will be all over this place. Won’t that look good on TV. We both know the reason this mall was built is over the location. It’s relatively quiet, the location is good and it’s at a gateway between different parts of the universe.”
