by Morgana Best
John sighed. “I suppose you’re going to go, no matter what I say?”
I nodded.
“Okay, I give in, but stick close to me, won’t you?”
I readily agreed.
The line moved slowly, but when I finally climbed the steps into the bus, I saw Cordelia sitting by herself near the back. As I headed down the centre aisle towards her, Julie popped up beside me, scaring me into adrenaline mode. My heart pounded.
“Sorry! I dropped my pen and had to dig for it under the seats,” Julie explained.
I sighed and took in a deep gulp of air. Without uttering a response, I continued down the aisle and found a seat right behind Cordelia and the annoying woman. John followed behind, sitting in the seat with me.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice boomed over the speakers. “The trip to the Jenolan Caves is approximately one hour. Please take your seats and prepare for our journey.”
I leant my head back against the seat and closed my eyes.
The next thing I knew, I was wiping at my eyes as John spoke my name. “Hey, wake up. We’re almost at the caves.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him. “You actually let me sleep through the entire trip?”
“Well, not the entire trip,” John replied. “We aren’t there quite yet.”
I shot him a mock angry stare and then laughed. “You’re lucky the nap felt nice,” I said. I sat upright in my seat and looked out the windows. “Is that the Jenolan Caves?” I pointed towards a large set of red-roofed, yellow buildings nestled in the mountain.
John nodded. “I think that might be the Caves House. I think that’s where they keep the bistros and gift shops and all that.”
“Oh,” I said, trying to catch a glimpse of the caves themselves. As the bus came to a stop, I sighed. “This place looks huge. How many caves are there?”
“I think there are over ten,” Julie chimed in, her voice louder than it needed to be. “At least that’s what my phone is saying.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll just follow the tour guide and the rest of the guests and see what they offer,” Cordelia piped up.
When the doors to the bus opened, the scores of people emptied the seats and filled the narrow aisle. The line moved slowly, but once we were all out, we headed towards one of the smaller buildings marked with a sign saying ‘Tour Offices.’
As we approached a large group of people standing outside the offices, a man clutching a microphone tapped on it, sending a series of loud noises through the air. “Welcome to the Jenolan Caves. Right this way, up the small hill you’ll see the main building, where several dining areas and the event rooms are. Today we’re going to be touring several caves, but the first will be the Imperial Cave tour. It’s the easiest tour for our guests physically, so we like to offer it early in the day. If you’d like to pass on this one and view a different cave, the next tour will be starting shortly. We’ll be leaving for the Imperial Cave as soon as we have enough people.”
“So now what do we do?” asked Cordelia.
I shrugged. “I think we just wait until he tells us otherwise?”
“I didn’t know there would be so many people,” Julie added. “Good thing they have so many different caves. There’s no way we’d all fit inside one.”
I shot her a look and then glanced back over at the tour guide. He was checking off names from a list of some sort, so I decided to approach him to ask when the tour would start. “Excuse me, do you know how much longer it will be before we begin?”
The man stopped writing and looked up at me. “Yes, ma’am, we’re going to be heading over to the cave shortly. Have you checked in?”
“I wasn’t aware that we had to,” I said.
“Typically, you just go inside and show your ID, but if you’re booked for today’s tours, your name should be on this here list,” he said, showing it to me.
“My name is Misty Friday,” I told him.
He flipped through the few pages on his clipboard until he pointed at a name. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” I said. I peered at the list to see I could find who had booked me, but there was nothing of any use.
“We’ll be starting the tour as soon as everyone is lined up and ready,” he said as he ticked the box next to my name on the sheet of paper.
I walked back to the group.
“See that walkway and the railings?” John said, pointing out in the distance. “That’s one of the caves. This place looks pretty safe, but everyone should watch their step,” he said, before looking at me. He leant over and whispered in my ear, “Especially you.”
Just then, the tour guide tapped his microphone once more. “We’re now heading into the Imperial Caves. Please form a line right here,” he said, drawing an invisible line on the street. “Once everyone’s together and ready, we’ll start our walk to the entrance.”
The guests reminded me of ants as they scrambled around erratically, struggling to form an actual line. Instead, they formed a large clump as the tour guide sighed.
“If he thinks his job is a pain in the behind, he needs to try mine,” Julie said.
After several minutes, the people began to move. They reached one of the walkways John had pointed out and followed it to a gaping hole in the mountain. I peeked in, unsure what I was about to see. Darkness clouded the large underground cavern and the sound of water droplets resonated through the cave.
“Please come inside,” the tour guide called out. “Try to be courteous of others and please, no pushing. Even though the caves include railing and walkways, danger is lurking around every crevice and corner. Let’s respect others, and so we will all enjoy a great tour.” He headed deeper into the Imperial Cave.
The orange hues from some of the rocks and the greens from the water below blended to make the cave absolutely breathtaking. I couldn’t believe how rocks and water could look so beautiful. As we crossed a small bridge, I leant over to look at the water closely.
“This place is amazing,” Cordelia said from somewhere behind me.
I had never imagined that the caves would be so magnificent. They were breathtaking, with the translucent underground rivers and amazing limestone crystal formations. I’m somewhat claustrophobic, but the cave interiors were huge.
As I studied the luminescent green water, something brushed against my back. Before I could pull myself back up over the guardrail completely, a second, stronger impact knocked me hard into the rail. “Whoa,” I blurted out, gripping the railing with my hands and pulling myself up. When I turned around, all I could see were the faces of the other guests as they looked at their surroundings in awe.
“Did you see who did that?” I asked John.
He tilted his head and shook it. “Did I see what?”
“I think you were right about this being a trap,” I said. “Someone just tried to push me into the water.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just an accident? I’ve been bumped a few times myself.”
“Whoever it was hit me twice, and I think it was the same person. The first time wasn’t enough to push me forward, but the second time was harder.” I wasn’t so brave now I felt I could be in actual danger.
“Stay close to me and I’ll keep an eye on you. If you have to though, scream if someone else touches you,” John said, the look in his eyes speaking volumes.
As the tour continued, we came upon an open area where several stalactites hung from the ceiling like dangerous daggers looking for weak prey. “This area is referred to as the Crystal Cities,” the tour guide explained.
“Wow, this area is really cool,” Cordelia said, hurrying ahead of the others.
“As long as those things don’t fall on our heads!” Julie called out, chasing after Cordelia.
I could hear John chuckling behind me, but something had pulled my attention to a rock formation near one of the walls. I stared closely, letting the rest of the world fade from my focus. A strange shadow rested against one of the far walls, but as I continued
looking at it, I noticed that it was moving subtly. Or was it?
I walked towards it slowly, my heart pounding heavily. I approached the rock wall and looked around for the object that had created the shadow. There was nothing that could be making such a shape. Had I imagined it? Or had it moved elsewhere? Perhaps it was all in my mind. Or was somebody watching me?
Suddenly, a hand fell on my shoulder, causing me to jump back into the wall as I turned towards my attacker. It was only John. “What are you doing?” he asked, concern in his voice. “I told you to stay with the group and you’re over here examining the wall?”
I sighed and shrugged. “I wasn’t looking at the wall. I was trying to figure out if someone was watching me.”
“And?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I can’t be sure.”
I stayed close to John after that, but nothing untoward happened. The tour wound down as we approached the exit. The guide seemed as enthusiastic as ever while he talked about the cave and pointed out two skeletons that were on display. “This is the remains of a wallaby, and this,” he said, pointing to the other set of bones, “is a Tasmanian Devil.”
After the tour ended, we headed back towards the main buildings. “We should grab some lunch,” Cordelia said. “That was really cool, but now my stomach is rumbling.”
“That sounds like a plan,” I replied, hoping Julie wouldn’t be joining us.
“It sure does!” the annoying woman added, causing both of us to sigh simultaneously.
Cordelia led the way towards the small bistro and walked in. The display cases were full of various foods, from fruits and wraps to cakes and brownies. I looked up at the menu and skimmed it quickly. “I can’t decide.” I looked back at Cordelia, who was staring at the menu as well. “Do you know what you want yet?”
“Nope, but I’ll order mine. Just worry about your and John’s food,” she insisted.
“What about mine?” Julie asked. “Why doesn’t anybody worry about my food? My husband never worries about my food. Have I ever told you that he plays video games all day? Do you know how much those things cost? Meanwhile, I work two jobs, and where does all my money go?” She looked at us expectantly.
“He spends it?” I asked, suppressing a laugh.
Julie nodded vehemently, and then snatched at one of her false eyelashes as it made a flight for freedom.
Mercifully, John interrupted. “Misty, why don’t you go and find a table and I’ll bring our food over.”
I picked out a table, and then looked back at the counter where John, Julie, and Cordelia stood. It seemed to me that the two women were bickering about something. The day should have been pleasant, but I had questions on my mind: who had booked that tour for me, and were they here trying to hurt me?
Chapter 16
As soon as I opened the door to my suite, I knew something was wrong. My phone charger had been pulled out of the wall. I always left it plugged in. Sure, it could’ve been housekeeping, but the hairs standing up on the back of my neck signalled otherwise.
Had someone been searching my room? Was that why I had been sent to the Jenolan Caves? After all, this was Lucas Wallace’s old room. Had he hidden something in it? Was that why he had been murdered?
The charger was lying on the floor. I looked around for any evidence of an intruder, but that was the only thing out of place. I walked over towards the bed, but my foot caught on the edge of the Persian rug and I dropped my handbag. As I bent down to pick up my scattered belongings, I saw a book sitting on the floor in the middle of the room.
I touched it and then dropped it at once. It was cold, freezing in fact. I poked at it gingerly and even at my second touch it seemed not so cold. I waited for a while, poking it now and then, until it dropped to a bearable temperature.
I picked up the book and took it over to one of the high-backed chairs sitting along the far wall of my hotel room next to a long window. The shades were drawn. I pulled them open and turned on a lamp.
I sat, turning the book over in my hands to study the front and back covers. I opened it and gasped. There scrawled in red ink were the words, ‘Property of Lucas Wallace.’ The murdered man’s journal, the object of Douglas’s search. Yet Douglas could hardly have searched the room for the journal, as it had been sitting out in the open in plain view. Or had it? It was freezing. Had it been in the portal?
The next page had symbols and words in other languages scrawled across it with black ink in shaky handwriting. I figured it had to be Lucas Wallace’s handwriting. I flipped through the next few pages and they were all the same: scribbles, symbols, and barely legible handwriting.
Yet I could feel something, a sense of the supernatural. It was there, in the book. I could feel entities, doorways, fear, and hate. I could feel it all.
This gave me pause. Was this safe to do? Should I be looking through the journal? Would something be released from its pages?
I had no idea. I had no answers, and this frustrated me. Since all of this had started, with The Orpheans and everything, I had never known the right answers. No one was guiding me. They just expected me to get the answers right, even if I barely understood the questions.
In a fit of annoyance, I flipped the notebook shut. I tossed it aside, onto the seat of the other high-backed chair next to me. I sighed and pressed my fingertips to my temples. I was at a loss.
Still, it was up me to do something. I lean forward, reached for the notebook, and drew it back into my hands, opening it once more.
Although I could not read the symbols, I could feel the power that emanated from them. When I turned to a page that was buried deep within the notebook, near the back, I gasped. I recognised the symbols—they had been on the walls of Lucas Wallace’s hotel room, the very room in which I was now sitting.
I recognised my mistake as soon as my eyes alighted on the symbols, right before I felt the pull of the portal. One moment, I was sitting on a chair in my hotel room. The next moment, I was falling, my vision blank, my feet off the ground. There was nothing but darkness, even as I moved my head this way and that. I didn’t feel as though I were falling; it was more like floating.
And then there was solid ground beneath my feet, and there was something other than darkness. I was no longer in my hotel room. I stood somewhere else, somewhere far from there, on another plane of existence.
I fought the blind panic threatening to overwhelm me, and forced myself to turn around in a slow circle, taking in the landscape. I was outside. Above me was a dull purple sky, cloudless, though black streams flowed through it like clouds. The ground was rocky, grey and brown and barren. I took a step, and dust sprang up, hanging above my foot longer than it would have if I were on Earth.
Was I on another planet? I didn’t think that was quite right. Were there planets here? I looked at the sky once more. There was no sun, and no moon or stars. Was it daytime or night? Was there even such a thing in this place? I wasn’t sure.
I turned again in a slow circle and this time I saw something, maybe fifty yards away, lying on the rocky ground. I took a step towards it and then paused. I had to be careful. I didn’t know where I was, although I was reasonably sure that I had been taken through the same portal through which I had almost been dragged the previous day.
I listened to my intuition. It was how I spoke with spirits, and it was how I had felt the portal in the dead man’s hotel room. Now I listened to it because I knew it would keep me safe; it would steer me in the right direction. When I stepped towards the object in the distance, a warm feeling ran through my body and I knew I was on the right track.
The warmth was nice, because the air in the strange dimension was uncomfortably cold. With every breath I took, mist rose from my lips, heading for that strange purple sky.
When I was twenty yards away from the object on the ground, I could see it was the journal, a page flapping lazily in a wind that I couldn’t feel. I went to the book and picked it up. It looked like the same journal, b
ut this time, I could read the writing there. Above the symbols on the first page were the words, ‘I can open it now,’ in Lucas Wallace’s handwriting. It was obvious to me that he had been talking about the portal.
I turned to the page that had sucked me into the portal, hoping it would send me back, but it did nothing. I read the words as best I could, and ran my fingertips over the symbols. Nothing happened.
Still, I knew I needed the book. I held it in my hands and took another step in the same direction in which I had been going. At once, the warmth in my chest was replaced with freezing cold, even colder than the air around me. I stopped, my foot hovering just above the ground. I brought it back, and the coldness faded.
“All right then, not that way,” I said aloud to myself. I turned and took a step back the way I had come. This too sent a cold shock through my system. I tried to my right. Warmth.
I looked ahead. There was a rise there, a hill, maybe even a small mountain. It was far away, but I could make out some sort of structure on the top of the hill. The warmth was taking me there, so I headed in that direction.
With each step I took, the hill grew larger. I had been walking for a long time. An hour, more? It was hard to tell here. Time didn’t feel the same as it did back in my world. An hour could have been a week, and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
A shadow passed over me, and my heart leapt into my throat. A shadow? There was no sun here, but there was light, so a shadow made sense, even though I realised, as I looked at the ground, that I myself cast no shadow.
I turned my eyes to the sky, hoping to see what had made the shadow, but I saw nothing. The shadow had been vaguely bird-like. It seemed to have had outstretched wings. But no, there was nothing in the purple sky, not that I could see at least.
The shadow was back. Even as I was looking up, it swept over me. I heard a sound now, a deep growl, and the ground shook.
