Again, she opened her mind searching for any kind of help. She was so anxious the adrenaline running through her was making her tremble. The smoke was getting thicker and the crackle of the flames distracted her. She found it hard to concentrate and they all started coughing harder from the smoke.
“We might just have to make a run for it. I can hold Jessica back, while you head for the river or something,” Jerom said.
“Let me try one more time. There has to be some kind of help here. I’m just having such a hard time concentrating,” Brynn closed her eyes trying to block out everything.
She narrowed her thoughts down and focused inward, ignoring the roaring of the fire. She started to catch little flashes of movement. She zeroed in on these flashes until images started running through her mind. She saw benches full of people singing. She saw the minister talking from the pulpit. She saw teens playing basketball inside some kind of gym. She saw a basement and then a door. Through the door she saw a large room. At the back of the room she saw people hurriedly entering the tunnel like they were running from something too.
“I’ve got something, down in the basement. It’s a door that leads to a tunnel. Let’s go.” She pulled on Miranda and motioned for Jerom to follow.
“I saw some stairs back in the hallway. They might lead to a basement,” Miranda offered.
They ran for the hallway, and stopped short. The hall was totally consumed by flames. There was no opening, just a wall of fire. Jerom stepped in front of the girls and raised his hands in front of him. He used a spreading motion and seemed to push the flames back against the walls creating an open space. Miranda bravely stepped forward.
The floor was blackened and charred but there was just enough of an opening to walk through if they walked one foot directly in front of the other. The heat was immense and the smoke was so thick it was hard for them to see. Miranda pulled the bottom of her shirt up over her mouth and nose, so only her eyes were exposed, but then her belly started to burn, so she pulled the neckline of her shirt up and over her face instead. They picked their way down the hallway.
Brynn stumbled a little, put her hand out to catch herself and burned it on the wall. She let out a little scream from the pain and shook her hand trying to cool it off. This distracted Jerom for a moment and the flames jumped out at them. A little of Miranda’s hair caught on fire. Brynn pulled Miranda’s head into her chest to snuff out the flames. Miranda stepped back from Brynn and mouthed “Thank You” then she moved toward a door in the wall only she had noticed before.
Jerom was still following but he hadn’t made a sound so far. Brynn turned to look back and saw the flames closing in again behind him as he walked. She was stunned by the sight of Jerom, sweat streaming down his face, with the flames folding in around him, illuminating him like some kind of fiery spirit.
Miranda tried the handle on the door and quickly pulled her hand away as her fingers and palm were burned. Angrily she thrust her hands at the door and Brynn watched as ice crystals formed around the doorknob. Miranda grabbed the knob and turned as the ice melted and hissed off the door.
"Come on, hurry. We'll have to jump over the first couple of steps," warned Miranda. Brynn saw that the flames were licking at the first several treads on the stairs, but the walls leading down to the basement were stone and they felt cool to the touch.
“I want to lay my body against the stone, the cool feels so good,” Brynn said leaning against the stone.
“There isn’t time!” Miranda said looking back up the stairs. Jerom seeing his sister’s look quickly pulled his hand back off the stone and gave Brynn a gently push down the stairs.
They had to jump over some treads and watch where they put their feet on others, but they were able to outrun the fire about halfway to the bottom. The basement was dark and cool and the only illumination was the fire. Jerom found a light switch and made a snort of amazement when it worked.
Brynn heard someone calling her and jumped.
"What is it?" asked Jerom.
"I heard someone call to me," said Brynn.
She looked around the room and in the far corner she could see a man motioning to her.
“Bringer, this way!” he shouted. She could see through him to the wall he was pointing at.
"I think I've found our ghost." Brynn kept an eye on him.
"Huh," questioned Miranda.
"A ghost that can lead us to the tunnel I saw earlier, you know, a way out of here maybe."
"What’s he saying?" asked Jerom.
“The door is behind these shelves. We had to keep it hidden,” the ghost said.
“Come on guys. Help me move these shelves.” She moved over to the shelves the spirit had indicated.
“The shelves swing away from the wall. I devised the latch and hidden hinges myself.” The spirit showed her where to press on the side of the shelf. She saw a slight darkening on the wood left from the many other fingers before hers and she pushed. A small line appeared along the grain of the wood and then a small section of the side of the shelving moved inward slightly and she heard a soft click. The wood was crafted so finely that when she released the latch you couldn’t even see a crack in the side of the shelving.
“That’s it girly. You got it, now just pull and the whole unit will swing back revealing the door,” he chuckled and grinned, obviously very proud of himself.
Brynn did what he said and the hinges squealed like they hadn’t been used in years.
“Oh, ay, those hinges need oiling. Never would have happened in my time. I always kept everything in good repair. I suppose no one even knows or ‘members that this place down here was used for smuggling liquor during prohibition.” The old man clucked his tongue with disappointment. Behind the shelves, a small door made of old wood planking was revealed.
Miranda and Jerom made noises of relief and approval behind Brynn as she pushed on the planking and it opened inward with another squeal of rusty hinges.
“The old guy,” Brynn turned to the old guy, “what is your name anyway, if I may ask?”
“Oh, well my given name is Ezekiel.”
“Zeke here says this was used to smuggle liquor during prohibition,” Brynn ducked her head and entered a fairly large room.
“They smuggled booze underneath the church?” asked Jerom.
Ezekiel shrugged, “The pastor in my day was not real fond of the gov’mint, if you take my meaning.”
“Apparently, the old pastor liked to drink and didn’t like the government telling him what he could or couldn’t do,” explained Brynn.
Miranda came through next and then Jerom followed pulling the shelves closed behind him until they all heard a click. He pushed on the shelving a couple of times, but they didn’t reopen, then he closed the small door and they realized how loudly the fire had been roaring compared to how still and quiet this room was.
“The tunnel you’re looking for is right over here. It took us close to a year to dig it out. We had to tunnel under the river and let me tell you, did that make me nervous,” Ezekiel said.
“Can you ask him where the tunnel comes out?” Miranda asked.
“The tunnel comes out on the other side of the river in a dense stand of trees. Or at least it used to. I’m not really sure what is there now.”
Brynn passed on the information.
“We could come up under someone’s house and be trapped,” Miranda’s voice raised in concern.
“I wouldn’t have seen the tunnel if I wasn’t meant to. Have a little faith, Miranda,” Brynn said with more confidence than she really felt. Miranda could be totally right. They might be trapped, but there was no going back.
Jerom poked his head into the tunnel and looked around.
“It’s pretty dark in there, we’ll need some light.”
“There are some torches over in the far corner. I always made sure there was a goodly supply,” Ezekiel crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.
"Over in the corner. Zeke left us s
ome torches."
They each grabbed a couple of torches from the pile and gathered at the entrance to the tunnel. Miranda looked around with a pretty nervous expression on her face. She almost looked like she wanted to make a run for it. Jerom shifted his backpack higher on his shoulders and entered the tunnel. Miranda looked over her shoulder longingly and then followed him into the tunnel. Brynn was the last in line and turned back to Ezekiel to say goodbye.
“Thanks, you’ve been wonderful.”
“My pleasure Bringer. You’ve got a long road ahead of you. Go with God.” She smiled her thanks and entered the tunnel.
Chapter 29
The tunnel was just tall enough for Brynn to stand up in. Jerom was stooping slightly, but Miranda had no problems. Jerom lit the torches from the matches he carried in a little metal, waterproof cylinder. The torches smoked and sputtered until they caught all the way. They gave off an unpleasant tar smell which made Brynn wrinkle her nose and Miranda sneeze. There was a wavering line of black on the ceiling of the tunnel, proof that they weren’t the only ones to have come this way with torches before.
“How far did he say this tunnel went?” Miranda’s voice quivered as she looked around as if trying to find another way out.
“I didn’t ask Zeke, but it does go completely under the river, so a couple of miles I would guess. Are you okay, you don’t sound so good?” Brynn asked.
“Miranda doesn’t like being underground or in small spaces,” Jerom said. He turned and looked at Miranda, then raised his gaze over her head at Brynn, and then back down to his sister. “How’re you doing? Can you do this?”
“I’m really hating this, but since there is no other way…” The words tumbled out of her. “Let’s just get through here as fast as we can.”
Jerom nodded and turned back around. Brynn’s heart softened a bit for Miranda. She really was scared, but moving ahead anyway. Kinda brave really, she thought. Brynn gave her arm a squeeze and Miranda reached up and squeezed her hand back.
Brynn scraped her fingernails against the side of the tunnel and a little bit of dirt came loose. It took some force though, the tunnel walls had been packed down pretty hard. Every six feet or so there were wooden cross beams for support.
"This tunnel seems to be in pretty good shape. They reinforced it well. It's starting to angle downward now. Not bad though, I don't feel off balance or anything," Jerom informed them.
Miranda started humming a little tune. She would hum a few notes and then look around her anxiously and then hum a few more notes almost as if she wasn’t really aware she was doing it.
“Do you smell that?" asked Brynn.
"What?" jumped Miranda.
"The damp, maybe we're starting to go under the river. How far have we come?"
"I don't know. Not far. Maybe a half mile or so," answered Jerom.
Worms and bugs appeared that they had to step around. The walls were close. They only had a foot or two of space on either side of them. Even Miranda could reach out and touch both walls at the same time.
Brynn tripped on something, and put her hand on the wall to catch herself. She felt something wiggle under her palm. She screamed, and shook her hand trying to get whatever it was, off.
“What! What is it!” Miranda shrieked and turned around, her eyes wide and frightened.
“I tripped and when I caught myself my hand landed on a huge worm or something. It just kind of freaked me out.”
“Well quit it! I’m freaked enough as it is!" Miranda slapped her arm. "You’re the Bringer. You stand up to demons and you’re afraid of a couple of bugs?”
“Yeah well, demons are one thing, bugs are totally different, I HATE bugs,” Brynn said rubbing her arm.
"Well, so do I!"
"Then why are you yelling at me!"
"I don't know!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Are you two done?" Jerom set his backpack down and pulled out water bottles handing them around.
Miranda grinned sheepishly and pointed at Brynn's hand with her water bottle, “Is that the hand you burned upstairs?”
“Yeah, it’s okay, just a little tender,” she said as she held it with her other hand.
“Jerom, is there any of that burn cream Mom made in the first aid kit?”
Jerom rooted around in his backpack and pulled out a nylon first aid kit.
“Here it is,” he said handing it to Miranda.
She opened the jar and a strong herbal smell filled the area. Miranda gently applied a thick green cream to Brynn’s burns and then waved the jar under her nose.
“My mom’s kind of awesome. I don’t know how she does it, but this stuff makes everything feel better, not just what hurts either. Just a whiff makes me feel like nothing bad can happen.”
The cream took the sting out of Brynn's palm immediately and eased the tight, burned feeling too. Miranda took some gauze from the first aid kit and wrapped Brynn's hand and taped it. She then dipped her own burned fingers into the cream and sighed in relief. She turned to Jerom and asked if he needed any. He just shook his head no and put everything back in his pack.
They continued walking and Jerom noticed that the color of the walls was darkening. He reached out to touch the one to his left. “The wall feels a little cooler, maybe even a little wet.”
Miranda shivered. She wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or the fact that the walls might be getting moister, but it made her nervous.
“You know the only good thing about being down here, besides not getting eaten by demons, is that it is cool.” Jerom said trying to lighten the mood.
In front of them, as far as Jerom’s torch illuminated, it looked like the tunnel was getting furry and the smell of moisture was more pronounced. No one said what they were all thinking. Water. As they moved farther along, little tendrils of roots brushed against their legs and arms. The dirt brushed off the side of the walls much easier when Brynn ran her hands along them.
“Now I’m starting to get a little creeped out, not by bugs, but by the fact that the tunnel may not be safe anymore,” Brynn said.
“Yeah, the roots are getting thicker and tougher as we move forward,” said Jerom.
“What does that mean?” Miranda asked.
“I don’t know, maybe nothing,” said Jerom over his shoulder. “Wow, look at that.”
A giant root had grown out into the tunnel blocking them. Jerom kicked at it and it barely moved. He pushed down on it and hoisted himself over. Miranda was small enough that she could duck under, but Brynn had to crawl over it like Jerom had.
“Do you hear that?” Jerom asked. They stopped to listen and then Miranda and Brynn heard it too. It was the soft plop, plop of water dripping onto dirt. “We may not be going much farther if the river has leaked into the tunnel,” he said.
The tree roots gradually diminished into the little fine hairs that made the tunnel look furry and then they were gone altogether. Brynn looked back behind her and realized their descent had been steepening. The sound of dripping water wasn’t just limited to the dirt anymore, it sounded like water was dripping onto water also. They walked over and around tiny pools. Brynn placed her hand against the wall and it slid a little against the not quite muddy dirt.
The air was getting really cold and wet. Jerom stopped and pulled jackets out of his backpack. Wordlessly he handed them to Miranda and Brynn. She started to decline his offer, but then Brynn saw him pull a sweatshirt out for himself.
They hadn’t walked much farther when Jerom stopped abruptly and Brynn slipped a little on the really wet dirt, as she tried not to run into Miranda. Miranda looked forward over Jerom’s right shoulder to see what was going on, so Brynn moved in close and looked over his left shoulder.
“Water!” exclaimed Brynn.
"Good, Brynn. You actually identified one of the four basic elements," said Miranda.
"Be nice, sis," said Jerom as he watched the water lapping at his toes. The tunnel really started to dip dow
n then. Brynn leaned over trying to see how far the water reached. "It's too dark to see very far, but the water seems to fill more of the tunnel as the tunnel dips down."
“Yeah, like a lot of water. It may even fill the tunnel from floor to ceiling, it’s hard to tell,” said Jerom.
“It looks like we’re basically trapped,” Brynn agreed.
“We’re trapped!” Miranda yelled. "I knew I shouldn't have come down here. What are you going to do about this?"
Jerom threw up his hands in frustration. “I don't know. Why do I always have to come with the plan?”
“Can’t you just push the water aside, you know, like you did with the flames in the hallway?” asked Brynn in a quiet voice trying to calm things down a little.
“No, of course he can’t,” Miranda said.
“This amount of water is just too heavy.” He sounded defeated. “It’s too heavy even for all us trying together.”
Brynn could tell the weight of this responsibility was putting a real strain on Jerom.
“I’m sorry. I know you’ve basically been making all the decisions since we started. But, you know, the amazing part is, we are still alive. That’s pretty great. Okay, so we’re stuck. Can the demons get in here? You know holy ground and all that?” Brynn asked trying to get them all thinking.
“Um, they can probably track us down here. Once the tunnel moves off church property they might be able to dig their way down to us. It would probably take a little while, but for the demon part of them, underground is where they are most comfortable. So, I guess to answer your question, yeah, they could be after us,” Jerom nodded at her.
“Okay, great. There is water blocking us and most likely demons on our tails. Hmm, what can we do?” She bent over letting her head dangle and then she closed her eyes, trying to regain a little calm.
“I wish I could just part the water like the Red Sea. You know, Moses and all that? My parents made me watch that movie once.”
"You mean that old movie with the dead guy? What was it called?" asked Miranda.
"You mean The Ten Commandments. I think the old guy's name was like Charlie something. That movie is ancient. Mom had us watch it too, didn't she Miranda?" asked Jerom.
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