by D. C. Akers
They talked about several things on their way, first was about a guy named Kane who had joined Travis’s online Halo team.
“Sam, this guy lives in the Hamptons and is crazy good with a sniper rifle. He can run, jump, and shoot with that thing. I’m telling you, he gets a bull’s-eye every time. He’s gonna be a great addition to the team.”
Then Travis talked about his grandparents. Travis had lived with his grandparents for about nine years now. His parents had died in a car wreck when he was four, so he had been staying with his grandparents ever since.
“It’s like they forget things all the time, Sam. Grandma is worse than Grandpa. I’m constantly reminding her to take her medication. She has one of those little pill boxes with the days of the week on it. But that doesn’t help because she can’t remember where she put the box.”
Sam nodded, not sure what to say exactly. You couldn’t tell by the tone of Travis’s voice, but the gloom in his eyes betrayed him. He was worried.
“Sometimes it’s so bad I have to remind her what day of the week it is. My grandfather, on the other hand—well, his back is getting worse. He barely gets around now.”
Sam nodded.
Sam and Travis had an unspoken, common bond between them. They had both lost parents that they missed dearly. But at least Travis could vaguely remember his. Sam never knew his father; he didn’t even have a picture. He didn’t know which was worse—knowing your parents and losing them, or never knowing them at all.
Since they had both lost their parents at such a young age, Sam and Travis had not suffered through the normal stages of grief. There was no period of accepting the loss, or working through the physical and emotional pain associated with grief. There was no adjusting to living in a world without their parents. They just simply moved on with their lives.
But it was that very notion of “moving on” that bothered Sam the most. He felt cheated, deprived of what could have been. Sam didn’t want to just move on. He wanted his father. He wanted all the memories children are supposed to have growing up. He wanted to share a peanut butter sandwich with his dad, and to hear stories at bedtime. He wanted to build the perfect snowman, and take summer trips into town for a snow cone. He wanted that life, not the one he had now.
Sam and Travis crossed the main street from Giddyup Lane onto Roundtree Drive, which was a much newer subdivision. The street had a nice slope to it, perfect for skateboarding. Roundtree Drive ended in a huge cul-de-sac where many kickball tournaments had been played when the boys were younger. Even though they were always picked last—Sam because he couldn’t kick the ball that far, and Travis, well, because he was Travis—they always had fun. The cross street in front of the cul-de-sac was Quail Creek Drive, which dead-ended into a large field and the Saginaw Quarry, better known as The Caves.
Sam and Travis made their way beyond the beautiful, manicured lawns and overgrown gardens to the open fields behind the development to the quarry.
The mounds of rock looked like pyramids from a distance. Most of the caves were formed by dynamite years ago. Explosives had been used to loosen the ground and harvest rocks. The caves were off-limits to everyone due to cave-ins, but that did not bother Travis or Sam. They had been coming here for years now, and had never seen any kind of cave-in. They figured it was just something the city said to warn off curious and unsupervised adolescents.
They maneuvered around the organized heaps of rock until they reached the back of the quarry. The cave entrance was nestled behind nine large oak trees and camouflaged by overgrown weeds and wild juniper.
Sam and Travis loved the caves. It was their sanctuary, their Fortress of Solitude. Travis called it his Yavin, which was a planet from Star Wars, of course. Sam liked it because it was a place of refuge, a retreat from the daily stressful surroundings, like the stranger in black, Sarah, and Daniel Harris. There were no rules in the cave. It was a place where other people’s standards of cleanliness were not observed. Sam could spill a coke in the cave or leave a sandwich overnight, and no one cared. It was their way of creating some space and freedom that they so badly needed. Sam often thought it must be similar to living in a frat house or a college dorm room, where they could come and go as if they owned the place. Where you didn’t have to be on your best behavior, and there were no evil older sisters to make fun of you, or make you feel like pond scum. It was a place where you could just be yourself, and it was perfectly acceptable.
The opening to the caves was located at the back end of the quarry. It was surrounded by large trees with fluted trunks that leaned to one side. Sam followed Travis around the attractive, miniature shrubs that were gathered at the base of the trees. Clusters of colorful, berry-like drupes clung to the bushes. The entrance to the cave was nothing more than a hole in the ground that stretched at least five feet across. There were flat pieces of tan limestone placed in a circle around the hole. The opening resembled a large sunflower with faded petals.
Travis was the first to hop down into the cave and disappear from sight; Sam quickly followed. They were standing on the first ledge. Together they looked down into the ominous void; it was a vast sea of darkness. The canopy of tree branches let in very little light. Sam thought this would scare most people who had never been here before. It had scared him at first. Years ago, when they had discovered the opening, they debated and dared one another for hours as to who would go down first. Finally, Sam had agreed to go. Travis had followed shortly after, and they had been coming back every month since then.
Inside the cave the light was dim; they could barely see one another now. Travis sat down on the ground next to Sam, who was still standing, and shuffled himself to the edge of the next drop-off which was about four feet down. He dangled his feet into the darkness, then rolled down on his side and stomach, sliding his body over the edge.
Sam watched and then did the same. By the time Sam had reached the ground, Travis had grabbed an old candle lantern and opened the top to light the three candles inside. Travis had borrowed the lantern from his grandfather long ago, and it had stayed in the caves ever since.
Travis removed a box of matches from his pocket, took out a match and struck it on the cave wall. The match burst into flame, casting shadows that danced around the cave. He lit each candle, shut the lid, and handed the lantern to Sam. Sam breathed in the familiar smell of dank cave air. It was rich with earthy sediments from the rock and dirt around them. The temperature was much cooler, and the air was more damp than outside.
He held up the lantern to survey their surroundings. The narrow vein serving as the main pathway stretched on in front of the two boys before it curved off to the right and gradually disappeared into the darkness. The cave walls were made of jagged gray and tan stone with thick limestone layers that traveled vertically the length of the tunnel. With the candle light flickering causing numerous shadows to move around the cave walls Sam almost missed it. To his surprise there was an additional passageway on the right—one he had never seen before.
“I don’t remember that before, do you?” Sam whispered.
“No, that was never here before,” Travis replied in hushed tones.
Sam walked toward the entrance of the new tunnel and lifted the lantern into the opening. The light stretched down the dark tunnel; the jagged rocks cast their own shadows making it difficult to see anything.
“What do you think?” Travis whispered as he surveyed the entrance.
“Well, we’re here. Might as well see what’s in there,” Sam said.
Travis looked at Sam with a childish grin. “That’s the spirit, Dalcome!” he said, and took the lantern from Sam.
Sam smiled back at Travis. Travis stepped forward with the lantern dangling in front of him and Sam stayed close behind him. Their footsteps echoed and the gravel beneath them crackled as they made their way down the long corridor.
It was becoming colder and more and more damp the farther they descended. The tunnel twisted and curved until it finally opened in
to a large cavern.
Travis held the lantern high and moved it slowly from side to side. Sam’s mouth fell open and Travis’s breath caught in his throat. They stood in astonishment; it was simply magnificent. It was as if they had stepped into another world. The cavern walls sparkled like diamonds when the light struck them. Enormous stalactites covered the slanted ceiling, suspended like huge stone daggers ready to fall. The cavern was vast, with a large emerald pool in the center surrounded by massive stalagmites protruding from the ground.
“Wow, what is this place?” Travis whispered, his voice echoing through large chamber.
“A cavern. A really old one from the size of the stalactites,” Sam said with bated breath. “The water from the lake must feed into here somehow.” They were amazed by the sheer size of the cavern, and by the beauty of its stone landscape. Tans, pinks, and greens were fused together in the rock, coloring the cavern walls.
“It’s fantastic. I mean really beautiful, don’t you think?” Travis marveled.
“I’ll say. Hey, what’s that?” Sam grabbed Travis’s arm, guiding the lantern toward the center of the cavern.
There was something shining in the middle of the pool, something large and round.
“I’m not sure what that is,” Travis said leaning over to whisper more quietly than before.
“Me either. Let’s have a look.”
“You think that’s a good idea?” Travis asked with hesitation.
Sam looked over to Travis with a devious smirk. “Come on, where’s your spirit?”
The rocks where jagged and extremely uneven; each step was carefully planned so they didn’t fall on one of the many stalagmites that surrounded them. The lantern swayed back and forth as they pushed forward. The light shimmered on the walls of the cavern and reflected off the calm body of water in front of them.
It took them several minutes to get to the body of water, but at last the ground finally smoothed out near the water’s edge. It was a murky, luminescent green and still, like a solid sheet of glass.
Both Sam and Travis stood at the edge, staring at the object in the center of the pool.
From a distance it looked like a very large mirror perched on something they could not see. The lantern light was clearly visible in its reflection.
“How in the world did that get down here?” Travis asked, his voice crackling just a bit.
There was no sound; it was deathly quiet. Travis realized that Sam hadn’t replied, and turned to look at him.
Sam stood frozen, his gaze fixed and full of fear. Whatever Sam was staring at had rendered him momentarily speechless.
“Sam … what’s wrong?” Travis asked. There was no hiding the fear in his voice now.
Sam swallowed hard, then slowly lifted his hand and pointed.
“The mirror … it’s floating …”
CHAPTER 10
Travis turned toward the mirror. Sam was right; the mirror was floating above the water.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Travis said, his voice barely audible.
Sam stood, taking in every detail. This was the most extraordinary moment of his entire life. It was unbelievable, incredible, and frightening all at the same time. His mind was racing; I’m no longer crazy, he thought. This proved it. Travis was here; he was a witness now. Did this have something to do with the dark stranger outside his home, he wondered. Sam didn’t know whether to stay or flee, but he had to find out. He had to know if there was a connection between the two.
He stepped forward into the cold water, inching his way little by little toward the ornate mirror.
“Ummm Sam, where you going …?” Travis asked. His eyes widened as he watched Sam move past him as if he were in some kind of trance.
Sam didn’t utter a word as he anxiously inched his way forward through the emerald water.
The water was freezing. It felt like a thousand needles were stabbing his feet as it seeped into his shoes and socks. But that didn’t matter to Sam. He had to know what was going on.
Travis stood resolute near the edge of the pool, reluctant to follow his friend.
“Sam, what are you doing? Come back here!” he said through gritted teeth.
But Sam continued to move forward, wading through the water that was up to his knees now.
Disinclined, Travis put his foot in the water, then quickly snatched it back out.
“Crap, that’s cold!” he said, his voice ringing out.
A small squeal echoed above them from something they could not see. Travis whirled around, swinging the lantern in all directions. Sam, who was several feet ahead of him now, stopped, turned back, and glared at Travis. “What in the world are you doing?”
“Sorry,” Travis sighed, looking at Sam remorsefully. He placed his foot back into the water followed by the other and waded through the water quickly trying to catch up to Sam.
“This is not a good idea, Sam. I have very bad feeling about this!”
Sam turned back toward the mirror.
“I mean, I am not sure if you are seeing what I’m seeing, but that’s a mirror, and it’s floating in mid-air!” Travis said.
Sam didn’t respond; he kept walking toward the unbelievable sight.
“Mirrors don’t do that, ever! Not to mention we’re a few hundred feet down in a cavern. That’s not a good sign in any movie! Oh, and we are standing in freezing cold water up to our knees. Now, I don’t mean to dampen your spirit buddy, but we need to get out of here!”
Sam finally stopped. He stood quietly, analyzing the mirror, deep in thought.
“Sam, are you listening to me?” Travis asked, his voice quivering from the cold water.
“Hold the lantern still,” Sam finally said.
“Fine!” Travis replied hastily. “But if my grandmother wants to know how their only grandson died you can tell them—Noo, wait, you can’t tell them anything! Want to know why Sam? BECAUSE YOU WILL BE DEAD WITH ME!”
As Travis approached, Sam turned and grabbed the lantern and held it closer to the mirror.
The mirror was gigantic, at least eight feet tall and trimmed in gold. It hovered about a foot above the water, as if it were hanging by invisible strings. The top was pointed and cambered down on each side to the base, much like a teardrop. The gold trim was heavily etched with the same twelve symbols on either side. An elaborate pattern of scrollwork and vines had been scored in silver between the ciphers.
“I’ve seen these symbols before,” Sam said, and lifted the candle lantern high into the air.
“What? Where?” Travis asked, scrutinizing the bizarre mirror.
“Here along the edges.” Sam pointed to one of the symbols that looked like the letters M and P written together in cursive. “I’ve seen this one for sure.”
“Hey, that’s the sign of Cancer,” Travis exclaimed, pointing to a symbol that looked like the numbers six and nine turned sideways.
“That’s it!” Sam said, his eyes wide with enthusiasm. “They’re Zodiac signs!”
“But what about this?” Travis asked, pointing to a different set of symbols. These symbols were a bit larger than the Zodiac signs. There were four in all, set in a silver inlay near the outer edge of the mirror, just beyond the gold and silver trim of the Zodiac signs. The positioning of these larger symbols reminded Sam of the four cardinal points on a map, one at the top, one at the bottom, and one to each side.
They stared at the strange design. Travis was still shivering, but Sam stood entranced. He was cold too, but it was like white noise to him now, just something in the background. His mind was focused on the bizarre floating mirror.
The first symbol looked like a pyramid with the top of a question mark inside it. The second resembled waves or water. The third looked like three separate coils in the shape of the number nine, and last was most definitely fire.
“Wait, water, fire … ELEMENTS!”
“Yes!” Travis bellowed, “The pyramid is Earth and the other must be Air!”
&nbs
p; Suddenly, without warning, a mechanical grinding noise reverberated from the mirror, as if large gears were turning somewhere inside of it. Each Zodiac sign began to glow a brilliant gold. The grinding sound picked up speed. The two boys stepped back in alarm. Travis gasped and Sam’s mouth fell open.
“Sam! What … what’s happening?” Travis asked, but his voice was drowned out by the grinding sound that echoed through the chamber.
The Fire sign at the top of the tear was the first element to illuminate. The scarlet glow was blinding. Each symbol radiated its own individual color; Earth with a brilliant jade, Air, a stunning amethyst; and Water, a spectacular sapphire.
Both Sam and Travis covered their eyes. Sam almost dropped the lantern.
“Sam, what’s happening?” Travis repeated.
Sam removed his hands from his eyes just in time to see his reflection disappear from the surface of the mirror. Next to go were the glimmering cavern walls, followed by the emerald water. It was all vanishing, like a portrait being torn away piece by piece.
“Travis, our reflections—they’re gone!” Sam shouted, trying to speak loud enough so Travis could hear him over the grinding noise.
The mirror was blank for a moment, but then quickly revealed an unfamiliar image. Moonlight appeared, then tall trees, and all the makings of a forest from somewhere else beyond the cavern. The sound resonating from the mirror was getting louder, like that of a car engine being revved to top speed.
Squeals and shrieks rang out from above, as thousands of bats flew from the ceiling, flooding the cavern with a swarm of black fluttering wings.
Sam and Travis looked up in shock, stumbled backward, and fell into the icy water. Two of the small votives in the candle lantern went out from the sudden movement as they struggled to reach their feet. A barrage of colors bursting from the mirror streaked across the cavern in every direction. Shards of light reflected off the water in rapid flashing succession. It was like they were trapped in the center of a rainbow. Every corner of the cavern was illuminated now.
