Miranda leapt from where she stood sailing head first through the new opening. Tabitha went out right after without missing a beat. I stepped to the window and looked down to see how they fared. Miranda was walking away from the building and Tabitha landed lightly on her feet. She reminded me of Kate Beckinsale from The Underworld movie series.
I stepped back and lowered into a sprinter’s stance. Drawing in a couple quick breaths I kicked off. I kicked too hard and my foot slipped out from under me sending me to the carpet face first.
“Shit!” I said as I spit out a sock that had been thrown on the floor the previous night.
“What is wrong?”
“Nothing, Miranda,” I thought back to her.
“Are you coming?”
“Yup.”
I got back into place and kicked off once more, not as hard though. Two steps and I jumped. I felt a moment of weightlessness as I sailed through the window. My head tilted down then my back. I felt like a super ninja about to make a badass landing and figured it was a good time for a superhero landing.
I hit the ground back first. My breath exploded from my lungs. I bounced and landed on the ground hitting my head on a rock.
“Terry!” I couldn’t make out exactly who had shouted through the haze of confusion. I blinked a couple times as a blurry figure came to view above me. It bent and grabbed me under my arms. My vision cleared quickly as I was yanked to my feet. While rising I caught a glimpse of movement in the window above me.
“We need to run,” I said. I took a step and my leg gave out. The person holding me, which turned out to be Tabitha, steadied me and help me take the next step.
A vehicle came to a skidding stop a head of us and I thought we were done for. It was an all black range rover with black windows. The driver’s window slid down and Miranda Smiled at me. “Get in,” She said.
I heard a thump behind me and didn’t have to look to know one of the wolves followed us out the window.
Tabitha and I ran to the SUV with Tabitha making sure I didn’t fall. She threw open the rear door and pushed me in. Then she jumped in on top of me. Before we could untangle ourselves the car was moving and the tires barked as they tore at the road.
Miranda cut the wheel hard to the right and Tabitha and I slid toward the open door. The momentum pushed the door closed but it bounced off our legs. We both grabbed and clung to the front seats to keep from being thrown out. Miranda straightened the wheel ending the roller coaster ride from hell. I pulled my legs in and Tabitha crawled on to me as she spun around and closed the door. I only took a foot to the eye and one elbow to the nuts.
I sat up and cradled my boys while I waited for the ache to travel up my belly before finally going away.
“Everyone okay back there?” Miranda asked.
“I am,” Tabitha said as she patted my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look.
“I will be, I think. Where are we going?” I asked.
“Not sure. I was hoping Tabitha could fill us in on that one.” Miranda said.
I looked at the wereserpent expectantly. “You’re planning on taking the thing Arnold wants, yes?” She asked me.
“I am.”
“Then we need to go to Arborville Grand Cemetary,” Tabitha said.
Chapter 9
“The cemetery?” Miranda and I both said in unison.
“Jinx, you owe me a coke,” Miranda said.
“The item was hidden there to keep it away from the wolves,” Tabitha said. “It was thought that keeping it in our clan home would make capturing it too easy for any wolf pack strong enough.”
Her voice took on a somber tone. “It seems we were right.”
I placed my hand on Tabitha’s and gave it a squeeze. It was easy to forget that she had just lost everyone she loves while we were running for our lives. Which made me think of my own family. My father was all the family I had left but he was half a continent away. I was still going to have to call and check on him.
“I’ve been thinking about Tabitha’s situation and I think you should invite her to join our pack.” Miranda thought at me.
“You think she would join us?” I thought back.
“No. She hates wolves with good reason, and that makes me untrustworthy at best. But I think she would join you.”
“I’ll think on that, Miranda.”
I thought Miranda might be right. If I was capable of creating a pack with any type of Lycan that agreed to follow me then why wouldn't I ask Tabitha? She’s shown herself to be strong in her snake form, and she has to be a strong person to live through the hell Arnold subjected her to and not have gone insane.
“Hey, Tabitha, what do you plan to do after we get the…” no one had given a name to the item we were after. “The werewolf item of power?”
Tabitha stared at me as she scratched at her chin. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I suppose I could go to another city and see if another clan will take me in. But I don’t know if that’s what I really want. I have to think on it. Can I get back to you after I make a decision?” Tabitha asked.
“Yeah, sure. It’ll be good to know you are safe,” I said.
“Why?” Tabitha asked.
“Yeah, why, Terry?” Miranda joined in. I saw her looking at me in the rearview mirror and could see the smile in her eyes.
“Because, I think you’re a nice woman who got a raw deal and I would like to know I played a hand in you getting your life back in order.”
“Nice.”
“Shouldn’t you be paying attention to the road, Miranda,” I asked.
She didn’t respond.
“Miranda, set course for the cemetary, warp three. Engage!”
“If you keep up that Star Wars crap I’ll pull this bus over! So help me…” Miranda said.
Tabatha covered her mouth and I could see her fighting back the laughter.
“Star Wars? Did you just… No. No. And hell no. It’s Star Trek, Miranda. Star Trek,” I said.
“It’s all the same shit.”
“What? How the hell do you figure that?”
“Weather it’s Star Wars or Trek it’s all birth control for geeks,” Miranda said.
Tabitha gave up all pretense of hiding her laughter and let it rip. I sat with my mouth wide open trying to come up with an argument to her opinion, but none came. I remained quiet for the rest of the trip.
“Here we are, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Arborville Grand Cemetery,” Miranda declared.
I sat up and got my first look of the place. We entered through a large arch of white stone guarded by two stone lions as big as the SUV we rode in. The headstones closest to the gate were small, some just barely sticking out of the grass. But as we drove further in the headstones became larger and more opulent. Tabitha guided Miranda through the maze of headstones into the labyrinth of mausoleums. We stopped in front of a mausoleum with four stone columns surrounding stairs that rose three high and led into a large steel door.
“This is it?” I asked as we got out of the vehicle.
“Yes,” Tabitha responded. “It belonged to a branch of the clan that suffered a wasting disease that renders Lycan healing inert. It was a horrible affair that wiped them out to the last. It’s become something of a cursed place to any Lycan that knows the story.”
“Is it still contagious?” I asked. There was no telling if it would affect me, but I didn’t want to risk Miranda and Tabitha. If this was a Lycan death sentence might as well let it lie.
“No, the disease died with them. My clan propagated the story of the curse to provide a sanctuary for the item. We will be fine. I’ve been here before with my parents and we all survived.”
“Then lead the way,” I said.
Tabitha went to the door and pulled it open. She stepped in and we followed.
“Your quiet,” I thought to Miranda.
“Still staying out of the way so as not to taint her feelings for you. That’s all.”
“What do you think about this
place?” I asked.
“I love a good adventure. Makes me feel like Indiana Jones, only hotter than good ol Harrison.”
The first thing I noticed were the stairs. Like all the rest of the stone in the cemetery the inside of this crypt was white marbled with grey and black. Tabitha continued without stopping heading into the darkness at the bottom of the stairs. Miranda took my hand and smiled at me. The benefits of the mental link were not having to give voice to my fear but still receiving the strength of my friend.
Tabitha waited for us at the bottom of the stairs, which there were a lot of. She clapped and lights flickered to life above us. Then another set of lights further down the corridor. This happened six more times.
“Holy shit this place is big. And the clapper, really?” I asked.
Tabitha shrugged. “One of my clan was big into infomercials.”
She led us passed wall openings that housed coffins stacked three high on both sides of the corridor. She stopped at the second to last set of coffins on the right.
“This was Uncle Ferdinand. He wasn’t really my uncle, but he and my dad were best friends.” Her voice cracked and she wiped at her eyes. Miranda nudged me with her elbow and I took the hint. I wrapped my arm around Tabitha’s shoulder. “He was the guardian, and still is,” she said.
Tabitha placed her hand on the gold colored coffin and pushed. There was a click then the wall slid back far enough to clear the coffins next to this set then went sideways behind the set to the right. There were more stairs. Tabitha started down without a word.
These stairs went down much farther than the last. When they hit about twice the depth they turned to the right and spiraled down. That made judging just how far down we went impossible. As we climbed down Miranda kept hold of my hand. Her warm fingers gave me the courage I needed to keep going and that very act brought an idea to mind. I was probably not the only person in need of support. I reached out with my free hand and took Tabitha’s. I felt her tense for a second then loosen up and give me a squeeze. She looked back and smiled. The light shone off her eyes and made them look a pearlescent blue and green.
“No wolf alpha would show that kind of compassion for one of his. This is why you will be better,” Miranda thought to me.
“I am who I am, Miranda. That is all I can be,” I thought back.
“No it isn’t, but it is one hell of a start.”
Miranda remained silent for the rest of the trip down. Tabitha hadn’t spoken since we started our descent and that didn’t change until we reached the bottom. She turned and waved me by when she hit the floor of the long hallway. I expected to be confronted by darkness but the hall was well lit. Unlike above the walls ceiling and floor were made of grey stoned with dark grey mortar in the seams.
“We just follow this to the end then?” I asked Tabitha. She nodded and looked away. She also dropped my hand then pointed.”Um, sure. I’ll take point.”
I took a few steps into the hall then heard Miranda shout. “What do you think you are doing!”
I spun to see the wereserpent had transformed and wrapped herself around Miranda. She placed her hand over the wolf’s mouth and pushed my chest with the other. Her strength was immense and her shove caused me to leave my feet and land on my ass five feet away. She grabbed a wall sconce and pulled. There was a loud click as the sconce tilted away from the wall but remained connected at the bottom edge. A slab of stone slid down from the ceiling and slammed into place creating a wall between myself and the two women.
I lept to my feet and rushed at the wall shoulder first. I impacted with a meaty thud and bounced off. I pulled on the wall sconces close to me, but they didn’t budge.
“Terry! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Miranda. Are you? Did she hurt you?” I thought back.
“No. Once you were trapped on that side she threw me to the floor and disappeared through a trapdoor in the ceiling. I haven’t been able to get it to open. The lever that caused the wall to drop is not doing anything now. I don’t know what to do, Terry.” I could hear the frantic fear in her voice.
“Miranda, so far I’m fine. I’m going…”
“I am sorry, Terry.” Tabitha’s voice seemed to come from everywhere as it echoed through the hall. “I had to make sure you were worthy of taking the item before I let you have it. I may be the last of my clan but I still have a duty,” she said.
“It doesn’t have to be like this, Tabitha. Come out and lets talk,” I shouted.
“I’m sorry, Terry, but it does. I will not talk to you again till the trial is done. Be strong and win, Terry.”
“Tabitha? Tabitha. Tabitha!”
“I heard that, Terry. If it is some kind of test I think you will be fine. You are the Tuatha after all,” Miranda thought to me.
“I’m glad one of us thinks I can pass a test meant for a werewolf alpha,” I replied.
“I really do, Terry, but the only way is to embrace your power and use the gifts you get from having a wolf.”
“And just what might that gift be?” I asked. So far I noticed that I feel a lot lighter on my feet and I survived the fall from the third floor without a scratch, but that hardly qualifies as being a badass super Lycan.
“I don’t know. Nothing I read gave specifics and there were hints of each Tuatha gaining different abilities from their pack. The only way to know is to try using them, which I don’t know how to do.”
“Not very helpful, Miranda. Not at all,” I thought.
“I know. I’m sorry, Terry.” I could tell from our link that she genuinely was.
“Not your fault,” I thought to her. “It’s mine,” I growled out loud to myself. “I’m going to see where this hall leads and find a way out. Double back and see if you can find another way in,” I thought.
“Are you sure that’s what you want me to do?” Miranda asked.
“Yes. I’ll be fine.”
“Ok, Terry.”
‘“Miranda.”
“Yes, Terry?”
“Stay safe.”
“I will,” she replied.
I started the long trek down the hallway. The lights behind me began to wink out once I passed them. The lights were spread out about five yards from each other which is how I know I went roughly one hundred yards before the floor dropped out from under me.
Chapter 10
The square of artificial light above me shrunk as I fell through the darkness. While falling, my body turned so that I faced up at the trap door. I reached out with my hands and feet trying to feel the walls but they were too far away, or didn’t exist. It was impossible to tell in the pristine darkness.
Without warning something slammed into me. My body rebounded and my head whipped back and forth. I was hit again but not as hard. Then everything was still.
I laid on my back struggling to breath through intense pain that vibrated through every part of me. I didn’t know how this fit into Tabitha’s test but I learned something important about pain. When you thought it was bad there was always a level beyond that.
Fire erupted in my muscles and my bones ground together. My arms and legs snapped and popped as the bones took on a more human shape. Spots of searing heat burned hotter where my bones melded back into whole pieces.
Once my skeleton was whole, an ache built in my gut. The ache spread through my chest and down to my testicles all the while becoming more intense. My stomach gurgled and growled as the pain grew. There was a sudden pop in my chest and my lung drew in a deep breath. It was the first since landing and I used it to scream.
The burning in my muscles became hotter as my guts settled and cooled. Each muscle fiber became a lance a flame as it repaired itself and became stronger. It was like having gone to the gym and worked harder than I ever had then healed and experiencing it all in a few seconds time.
“Miranda.” I reached out with my mind to my wolf, but something was wrong. “Miranda, can you hear me?” I felt the lack of connection and knew she couldn’t hear me. Ther
e was a deep emptiness where she once was and I didn’t like it one bit. I had to get out of there.
The loss of my wolf drove me to get up and get moving. It came as a shock that standing was effortless and pain free. I took a step and felt nothing.
“I could get used to this,” I said to myself. “Hello!” I shouted into the dark and got nothing in return.
“Okay, Terry,” I kept up the dialog with myself as a means of dealing with the crushing darkness. “Miranda said to tap into the power I get from her. I guess this is when my purchase of Meditation for Dummies comes in handy.”
I sat on the ground with my legs crossed and my back straight. Not that it mattered in the dark, but I closed my eyes. Drawing in a breath through my nose I let my thoughts drift away and let the darkness encroach on my mind. I let the lung full of air out through my mouth. I continued breathing in through my nose and out my mouth while keeping my mind free of thoughts. It’s a lot harder than it sounds so I focused on the feeling of the air entering my nose and leaving my mouth.
Drip.
The sound of a drop of water came to me.
Drip.
And again. It hadn’t been there before. Was it there now, I wondered, or was I imagining it?
Drip.
There was no mistaking it that time. Not only had I heard the drop, but it was louder. I brought my attention back to my breathing and let the thoughts of the water fade.
Drip.
That time I could tell what direction it came from. I rose to my feet and turned to face the dripping noise.
Drip.
I took the first step and waited to be sure.
Drip.
With a direction firmly set I walked. I just knew I would find a wall nose first and be in a world of hurt. Trapped in the dark with no phone-a-friend option I kept going. While I moved I kept my mind focused on my breathing as if I were still seated and meditating.
In the dark it was hard to tell how much time passed but I guessed I had only walked for fifteen minutes when I noticed a light. It was far off and coming from the direction of the drip. Gradually my vision adapted. Walls soon came into view and I guessed they were twenty feet away or more. Judging distance was not easy with everything being gray and grainy like a low fidelity television. My sight did clear up the closer I got to the light source.
Shiftless: Tuatha Series Book 1 Page 6
