A Tale of Two Tricksters

by Debbie Newcomb

  “Thanks,” Jenn replied, heading out the door. She still had enough cash and time to stop by her favorite ice cream place. She got a cone of graham cracker ice cream and sat outside to eat it. No one was around, and it was pretty peaceful. It was much nicer than when it was full of people. They all seemed to care about things that Jenn didn’t consider important, like who had worn what dress two weeks ago and how good or bad it looked on her. Jenn knew it didn’t matter how the dress actually looked, it just mattered what the gossipers thought of the girl. It was much easier to be here by herself. Eventually, Jenn finished her ice cream and left.

  Once she got home, Jenn moved all of her climbing gear into the trunk of her car, including a small backpack with some snacks in it. She wouldn’t be able to smuggle everything past her parents tonight, and she definitely didn’t want them knowing about this. Leah had restrained herself from being too overprotective, but Jenn knew her mother tended to think that way. It was just easier not to tell her.

  Jenn told her parents that she was heading out with her friends yet again, and they distractedly waved goodbye to her. Jenn had stayed in some nights this summer and had even spent time with her parents. Those nights, she ended up working on a 3D puzzle with her mom. It was kind of cool, but part of Jenn wanted to knock the puzzle off the table and watch the tiny pieces scatter.

  When Jenn got to the park, she pulled on all of her gear except her climbing shoes, which went into her backpack, and her helmet, which she carried under her arm. The park officially closed at dusk, but no one really patrolled it. Jenn started on the trail, and then made her way toward the opening of the cave. It was a little hard to see it at night, but Jenn wasn’t willing to use her phone as a light and give herself away. She had put it in her backpack so it wouldn’t fall out of her pocket while she climbed. When she got to the cave, Jenn sat down, switched out her shoes, and attached her harness to the rope. Staying low, she found a good anchor point for her rope and tied it off. Then, keeping it nicely in its loops, Jenn tossed her rope down into the hole. She heard it smack into something, but she couldn’t be sure if it was just the wall of the cave, or if it was the bottom.

  “I’m going to laugh if it’s only twenty feet down,” Jenn thought as she checked her harness and pulled on her gloves. She adjusted her backpack and put her helmet on. She really didn’t know how far down it went. Her rope could be far too short. There was a knot in the end so Jenn wouldn’t just slide off, but what if her knot didn’t hold? She could die and no one would know where she was.

  Jenn shook her head. There was no point in trying to turn back now. She had to find out what else he had down there, and she would be fine anyway. It was just rappelling. Jenn took a deep breath and stood just in front of the edge of the cave with her back to it. Then, she jumped down.

  She hit the cave wall again when the top of the hole was just over her head. Jenn clicked her head light on and breathed a small sigh of relief. She could do this. Now that she was in the cave, it didn’t seem so bad. Her light bounced crazily as she rappelled down the cave wall, but Jenn managed to find decent footing every time.

  “I feel like Alice,” Jenn thought, thinking of that character’s fall into Wonderland. “Still, I don’t think my landing would be as nice as hers if I really did fall.”

  Jenn had been rappelling forever, and she was starting to worry about what she would do if she ran out of rope. Then, she looked down and saw the floor was right below her. Jenn bounced against the cave wall, and then carefully climbed down. For a moment, she just stood there. Then, Jenn started smiling. She had outsmarted Luke. Pretty quickly, her legs started complaining, so Jenn sat down and took off her backpack. She stretched her legs a bit and ate some of her snacks. Eventually, she switched out her shoes and took off her harness. Jenn decided to leave her backpack there. It wasn’t like anyone was around to take it, and it would make walking through the cave easier. Feeling somewhat refreshed, Jenn stood up and started walking.

  It was more like a tunnel than a cave. There weren’t any branches off of it, just one long corridor. Her headlamp bounced as she walked, making the stalactites and stalagmites jump menacingly. Eventually, Jenn saw some dim light ahead and she clicked off her headlamp. She walked forward slowly, and then crouched to be less visible. There was a long rock wall in front of her, but slightly to the right was a large opening with bright light pouring through.

  Jenn army crawled up to the opening and peered through. It took her a moment because she was looking down at it, but Jenn recognized the big room where she had met Achi and Abe. “This must be how Achi gets out,” Jenn thought. Jenn looked at the opening in the wall and tried to remember the size of Achi’s wingspan. “I guess she would fit through here,” Jenn thought dubiously. Shrugging that off, Jenn smiled. She had made it into Luke’s cave without him realizing it. She didn’t want to get into this room because she would be caught and it was too high to climb down anyway. Jenn slid past the opening, got into a crouch, and continued down the branch of the cave. Not too far ahead of her was another opening in the wall. This one was smaller. Again, Jenn army crawled up and peeked through the hole.

  This room was full of stuff that was just tossed around. There was a rusty sword sticking out of the mess, point up, and a mass of gold rings next to a wall. There was a table loaded with what looked like armor. “I wonder if this started out being a useful room,” Jenn wondered. “Still, once you’ve got a few swords lying around, why not throw in a battle axe as well?”

  Jenn slid back and shook her head. She had thought Luke would be too fastidious to have a messy room like that. “I bet he knows exactly where everything is in there,” Jenn thought, rolling her eyes. There were probably some good things mixed in with the junk but because it was a mess, it was impossible to tell and that would make it harder to steal things. “Or he’s just a slob,” Jenn thought, shrugging.

  She got up into a crouch and continued walking. There was another window in the wall and she wanted to see what this room was. Then Jenn realized she had been hearing a low rumbling noise for a little bit now. She stood up and turned behind her. It was definitely coming from that direction and getting louder. Jenn tightened the strap on her helmet and did a quick inventory of what she had nearby. If she could get into that junk room, she’d have her pick of weapons and junk. Still, Jenn didn’t have long until she realized the source of the noise.

  A wall of water slammed around the bend and roared toward her. Jenn put her back to the water and ran for it. She needed to find a side passage, somewhere the water wouldn’t sweep her up. She needed another of those damn windows to jump through. The fall would hurt less than the water would, but there was nothing. The cave stretched on before her with no turns or windows or anything. Jenn forced her legs to run faster and tried to see where she was putting her feet as her light jumped and skipped all over the place. Then, she felt the water slam into her back and push her forward. Jenn’s eyes closed, and she smacked into something. Then everything went dark.

  **

  Jenn slowly came back to herself, but she hurt all over. It felt like she’d been run over by a truck. She was about to slip back into the nice, comfortable darkness, when someone pressed on her chest. Jenn exhaled sharply and water shot out of her mouth. Jenn rolled over onto her side and coughed out what felt like a gallon of water. She stayed here, retching and shivering for a little bit, grateful for the blanket that was on her. There was a hand rubbing her back as she was coughing. Everywhere that hand touched felt warmer and began to relax, which was nice. Jenn had just about decided to black out again, when a man said, “No you don’t. Stay awake.” Jenn knew that voice.

  Suddenly, Jenn remembered everything. “You tried to kill me!” she accused Luke. She had meant to yell it, but her throat hurt too much and she ended up coughing again. She realized it had been his hand on her back, but he had already removed it, so she decided not to say anything about it. She rolled over to glare at him.

  “That was
an automatic trap mean to keep anyone from sticking their nose into my business. You’re lucky you had a helmet on. It saved your life.” Luke sat back on his heels and watched her.

  “No thanks to you,” Jenn muttered. She pulled the blanket more tightly around her. “Why am I naked? And on the floor?” Her wet hair was plastered against her skull and her face. Briefly, Jenn was glad she kept her hair short so not too much was in her eyes and in her mouth.

  “I had to take off your wet clothes so you wouldn’t get hypothermia and it would be hard to do CPR if you were on my bed instead.” Luke raised an eyebrow at her.

  Jenn looked to her left and noticed the wooden bed with jewel green sheets just out of arm’s reach. “So, you stripped me before trying to save my life and brought me to your bedroom?” She coughed again and tried to find a way to talk less painfully. “You’re messed up.” She looked around the room. It was decently sized. The door was to her right. There were two green armchairs facing each other to the left of the door, with a small wooden table in between them. Across from the bed was a wooden wardrobe. Jenn couldn’t see past the bed so she didn’t know what else was in the room. There was a globe of light up near the ceiling that Jenn didn’t pay much attention to. She tried to focus on any of these things to stop herself from freaking out. She didn’t want to think about how she had almost just died.

  “I had to act pretty quickly since you tried to get yourself killed,” Luke said, standing up and moving to one of the chairs. “I took your clothes off by magic while I was giving you CPR.”

  Jenn glared at him. “And where are my clothes?” If she was angry, then the shaking would go away. Not that she was shaking because she was upset. Jenn told herself she was just cold.

  Luke jerked his head toward the corner of his room, near where he was. Jenn’s clothes were in a soggy pile.

  “Great,” Jenn said. “You really are fucked up, you know that?”

  “I’ve been told that,” Luke replied evenly.

  “So, were you planning on drying my clothes, or do I need to climb out of here in a blanket?” Jenn asked, trying not to shiver too much.

  “Let’s get you into something warmer first,” Luke replied. He stood up and opened a wardrobe. Jenn didn’t get a chance to see inside before he closed it and produced a green robe.

  “Is everything in here green?” Jenn asked incredulously.

  “I don’t have to let you wear this,” Luke replied.

  Jenn snatched it out of his hand. She waited a moment.

  “Well, turn around!”

  “I’ve just seen you naked. You realize that, right?”

  “That doesn’t mean I want it to happen again,” Jenn snapped.

  Luke sighed and turned around. “This culture really is so uncomfortable with their bodies. What happened to you all?”

  “Oh, are you from somewhere else, then?” Jenn blurted, drying herself off with the blanket and then tying the robe tightly around her.

  “Yes, but I’ve been here for some time,” Luke answered. “Are you done yet?”

  “Yes,” Jenn replied, dropping the blanket.

  Luke turned around and smiled at her. “You know, I could warm you up more than that robe can.”

  Jenn took a step back. “No way in Hell.” For a moment, she forgot her fear and shock in her outrage.

  Luke laughed. “I meant with my magic.”

  Jenn refused to be baited. She knew what he meant.

  Luke shrugged. He walked over to her clothes and picked them up. He put both hands on them and stared at them for a moment.

  “Will you stop staring at my panties?” Jenn asked. “It’s rude.”

  “That’s not where I was looking,” Luke replied, handing her clothes and shoes over to her.

  Jenn took them and almost dropped them. They were dry and a little warm. “How did you do that?” she demanded.

  “Would you like me to show you?” Luke asked, with a little smile.

  Jenn glared at him.

  “If you put your clothes on like that, they’ll just get wet again and you’ll still be cold. You either have to wait here with me until you finish drying off and warm up, or you can let me help you.”

  “It’s warm outside,” Jenn pointed out sullenly. She wanted to get home so she could let herself relax and deal with all of this.

  “Yes, but it’s cold in this cave and you’ll be shivering so hard that you’ll bite your tongue before you get there,” Luke pointed out. “You are the hardest person to help that I’ve ever met.”

  Jenn sighed. “Fine.” She held out her hand. “Just don’t go wandering with your hands.”

  Luke only smiled and took another step toward her. He held her hand with both of his. Jenn was about to object when she felt the most wonderful warmth fill her hand and start going up her arm. After being so cold, it felt amazing. She could feel her tremors begin to slow and her heart began to slow down to its normal beat. Jenn closed her eyes and leaned into it. She could feel the water drying off of her body and leaving her hair. It was better than a blow dryer. Then, Jenn realized Luke’s hand was all the way up at her shoulder, and she jerked away, the sleeve of the robe falling back down over her arm.

  “I told you not to do that,” Jenn snapped. It was hard being snapped back to reality like that, but she throttled her emotions down.

  Luke gave her a look and started to say something. Then, she could see him change his mind and say instead, “You only said not to wander. Not what that meant.”

  Jenn shook her head but didn’t have the energy to fight him this time. “Well, now that I’m dry and my clothes are dry, I’m ready to leave. Turn around so I can change.”

  “Again?” Luke asked. He looked at Jenn’s face for a moment. “Very well,” he replied. “You really are touchy about that.”

  “I’m not in the habit of being naked around men I’ve maced,” Jenn growled, pulling her panties and shorts on under the robe so she showed as little skin as possible. Then she turned around to get into her bra and shirt. She sat on his bed to pull on her socks and set the robe on the bed next to her. “I’m done,” Jenn announced. She began tying her shoes.

  “Can I ask what you were doing sneaking into my house at night?” Luke asked, turning around slowly.

  “Of course you can ask,” Jenn said, switching shoes. She finished tying the other one in silence.

  Luke sighed. “If you wanted another tour, all you had to do was ask.”

  “Let’s just make this clear: I don’t trust you. I don’t like you. I know you’re up to something and I know it’s not good.” Jenn stood up.

  Luke smiled at her. “My dear, I’m sure many would say the same about you.”

  Jenn was already dealing with a tumult of emotions, so his insult barely made a dent. “How do I get back the way I came in?” she asked instead.

  “You mean through the hole in the ground in the prairie?” Luke smiled at her. “It wasn’t hard to figure out. What I want to know is how someone who denies that she has magic was able to get through all of the wardings placed there.”

  “Maybe your wardings just ran out of power,” Jenn replied. She looked over at the wall and noticed a hole near the top. “Is that where you brought me in?” she asked, pointing.

  “Yes,” Luke said. “You had washed quite a ways down the passageway before I got to you.”

  “How come the water didn’t come in here?”

  “I told it not to,” Luke replied.

  Jenn looked at him for a moment, then sighed. “Do you use magic to solve all of your problems?”

  “Only when I’m not using it to create problems for others,” Luke answered. “Now, would you like me to get you back to the prairie, or do you want to walk through the bar with no ID?”

  “Wait. The prairie is on the other side of town from the bar. How does this cave connect to both of them?”

  “It doesn’t,” Luke replied. “I’m sure you found that out when you tried to break in through the bar
the other day.”

  “How does that door lead two places?” Jenn demanded. She should have expected that he knew what she had been up to.

  “A door can lead many places if you know how to open it,” Luke replied cryptically. He held out his hand. “So, would you like me to take you back to the prairie?”

  As much as Jenn didn’t want him to touch her right now, she didn’t want to go through the bar and have to figure out how to get to her car. “Fine,” she said holding out her hand.

  Luke smiled and slid his hand onto hers. Then he pulled her close and they rose above the ground. Even though she hated that he was the one touching her, part of Jenn was glad to have someone holding her close after she almost died. Again, Jenn pushed her emotions away. She still wasn’t safe to deal with all of that. They moved slowly through the window into the upper hallway and the light followed them.

  “What is that?” Jenn asked, tensing.

  “It’s a will o’ the wisp,” Luke replied. “They usually live in marshes, but I convinced a few to live here and light up the caves for us.”

  “Convinced, huh?” Jenn asked. Then they were whizzing down the hallway and Jenn didn’t want to talk any more. She loved the feeling of flying, even if Luke were there with her. They turned sharply down the corridor and Jenn found herself at the bottom of the shaft she’d rappelled down.

  Luke set them gently on the floor and Jenn stepped away from him opened up her backpack. Everything was still there and dry. “The water didn’t come up here either?” Jenn asked.

  “It would be too loud here and might draw attention,” Luke replied.

  “Oh, of course,” Jenn said. “Well, thank you for bringing me here, I guess.”

  “Are you planning on climbing back out?”

  “Yes,” Jenn replied, pulling on her harness. She realized it was dumb, but what else was she supposed to do?

  “It really would be much safer if I brought you out.”

  Jenn considered for a moment. She would be climbing unfamiliar territory in the dark with no light and no helmet. She was exhausted and bruised and her muscles were tired and shaky. It wouldn’t be a good idea. Even though she wanted to fight him on this, she just didn’t have the energy. Jenn sighed and stepped out of her harness.