"Yeah, I remember the frogs were really gross and there was a big party with this huge gold cow or something. The party actually looked kinda fun."
"Do you remember the part where the old guy holds up this staff and the water just split and all those people walked through on the sea bottom with the water on each side of them like huge walls? I wish I could do that."
“You have got to be kidding,” Miranda said.
"No really. I wish I could do that."
"Uh, that's not what she meant. You might want to look up Brynn," Jerom put his hand on Brynn's head and tilted it up.
"The water...is it moving?” she asked.
"Uh, huh," he said.
While they were watching the water split up the middle and out toward the sides of the tunnel. It was like the water was being held back by glass. It seemed to lap up against an invisible barrier, and some of the water had pushed back at them. Jerom was up to his calves in it.
“Did I do that?” she asked.
Jerom and Miranda looked at her and then turned back to the water. Jerom hadn’t noticed that he was still almost knee deep in freezing cold liquid.
“How did you do that?” Miranda asked with a bit of awe in her voice.
“I did say I wish I could do that.”
“Well, some people believe that water and earth, air and even fire have spirits, so maybe you asked the water to do this and because you can communicate with spirits the water spirit responded to you,” Jerom said as he turned to look at Brynn. “Mom and Dad have told us stories about how witches used to have the ability to work with the elements. Nobody’s been able to do that for centuries.”
He had something like fear in his eyes, which Brynn really didn’t want to see. Am I going to have to go through the rest of my life with everyone being afraid of me, she wondered?
“Okay, well let’s try something.” Brynn said and directed her attention to whatever water spirit might be listening. “Would the water please go back to normal, the way you were before, not parted like now?” she said in a voice like she figured people would use when someone was talking to ghosts. With a splash that got them all wet, the water rushed back into place and was blocking them just like before.
“Great, I’m soaked, and why are you talking all weird?” Miranda asked.
“Would the water please leave our clothes?” Brynn asked, in a voice that she tried to make not weird.
“Wow that feels crazy,” said Jerom. “Like some sort of suction.”
The water was being pulled out of their clothes by droplets. The droplets then returned to the main body of water in front of them.
“You’re welcome,” Brynn said, bowing in Miranda’s direction. Miranda smiled and bowed back at her.
“Wow, okay. Well, can you do the parting of the sea thing again and we’ll get moving?” Jerom asked.
Brynn was a little afraid to try. What if it didn’t work again? What if water spirits were temperamental like angels and only showed up when they wanted to. Then what would we do? She turned and looked behind her. Maybe the fire was out and the demons were gone. It could happen. Surely they wouldn’t stay around with the fire department and police there. Which, they must be by now. How would they explain to the police what they were doing in a tunnel that no one knows about, under a flaming church, without an adult in sight. That might be just as scary as facing the demons.
“Well, we better do something quick, because I feel them coming. I don’t think they are too far behind us now,” Miranda said, looking back up the tunnel.
Brynn felt like her decision was being made for her.
“I guess I’ll give it one more shot,” Brynn said. She thought of the water spirit. In her mind’s eye, the water spirit was beautiful, with long flowing bluish hair. She asked, “Water, would you mind parting again, so we can walk through on dryish ground?” Even to her own ears she sounded hesitant and she hoped that wouldn’t affect things. The first time she just blurted it out, her wish, this time she sounded kind of small and pleading, but to her astonishment and utter glee, the water parted once more.
“This is just so freaky and really kind of cool,” Jerom said as he looked at the water tunnel within the earthen tunnel. They started walking into the now even more claustrophobic space. The very recently exposed floor, was pretty much mud. Their shoes squished and slid. They sank in a half-inch or more with each step and made squelching noises every time they moved. The brown of the walls had been tinted blue ever so slightly by the water.
“It’s like looking through the palest blue Jello ever,” Jerom murmured.
“Does Jello even come in blue?” Brynn asked.
“I don’t know, maybe,” Miranda said.
Brynn ran her eyes up and down the blue wall of water afraid to press even her fingertip into the water for fear of whatever was holding it in place letting loose and the whole wall of water coming down on them.
Miranda raised her arm and pushed her whole hand in before Brynn could stop her.
“This is way fun!” she said as Brynn was overcome with nausea from the thought of being swallowed by all the liquid.
“You, who are afraid of small places, think this is fun?” Brynn shook her head. "I totally don't get you."
Miranda just shrugged and kept walking.
“How far do you think this will go on?” Brynn asked, her nervousness seeping into her voice.
“I don’t know. We have to be under the river. It must have broken through the tunnel at some point and that’s why it’s flooded,” Jerom said.
“But why isn’t the whole tunnel flooded then?”
"I don't know, maybe it's a slow leak or something."
"How wide do you think the river is here?” asked Miranda looking up.
“I don’t think it’s too much longer, maybe another ten minutes or so.” He put a slight questioning emphasis on the end of his sentence, which made it sound like he really had no idea.
“I can almost feel the spirit of the water. The walls feel like they’re alive or something,” said Brynn, as she turned around and checked the way behind them. She tried to see or sense anything about the demons, but she couldn’t get anything.
“Miranda, how close are the demons, can you tell?”
Miranda closed her eyes, her fingers lightly caressed the walls on either side, setting up little wavelets that extended out from her hands. The water seemed to enjoy the interaction. She stopped and looked back at Brynn with fear. Then she turned and pushed Jerom in the back shouting, “Run! Run now!”
They ran, which wasn’t easy with the floor being so muddy. They were soon covered with flung muck. It was on their faces and in their hair. It covered them in wet clumps and clung anywhere it landed. Brynn tried to keep it out of her eyes, by shielding them with one hand, while trying to keep her balance with the other.
"I think I can hear them! They're like right behind us!" Brynn shouted.
Miranda slipped, crying out as she went down. Brynn grabbed her under her arms and pulled as she ran past, hardly slowing. Miranda was small and light and used her feet and legs to kick and push against the sodden earth to get traction and then they were both vertical again, running.
Jerom had the only torch left. Miranda and Brynn had dropped theirs’ somewhere back in the mud, so now it was also almost dark. The combination of the tunnel; the water; the lack of illumination; and the smell of the demons was truly terrifying.
Brynn’s mind started teasing her with images of claws reaching out of the darkness to rip into her back dragging her backwards and teeth tearing into her flesh. She felt her skin go all goose-fleshy and prickly and the hair on the back of her neck rose. She seemed to feel the heat of their breath coming up behind her. She turned to see a lightening of the gloom. They were coming. She would be able to see them any second. She didn’t want to see them.
“We’re there! I can see the end of the water tunnel! Hurry!” Jerom shouted over his shoulder. They pushed as fast as their bodies
would go.
Brynn heard a sucking slapping sound coming up behind them, “I can hear them! Move!”
They willed themselves to sprint just a few more steps.
The demon constructs were just a few yards behind. They threw out their arms before them and from an elongated nail turned pincer shot spider web filament at Jerom, Miranda and Brynn.
The sticky silken fibers wrapped around Brynn's legs, snatching her off her feet. She fell hard into the mud, knocking the breath out of her.
Another shaft of webbing struck Miranda on her back knocking her forward and down onto her knees. She felt herself being pulled backwards and scrambled with her hands and feet to find purchase in the slippery mud.
Jerom was caught on the shoulder by the demon's web. It jerked him around off balance and he landed with a loud squelch in the mud on his side. The torch he was holding dropped onto the ground and sizzled out. It went dark except for a faint reddish glow emanating from the demons.
As the demons pulled their victims toward them they released more flows of webbing binding Brynn, Jerom, and Miranda down even more.
Brynn strained and struggled trying to free herself. The panic was releasing adrenalin making it hard to think. As she slid across the mud she brushed up against the water giving her an idea.
“Please put the water back now,” she pleaded with the water spirit, “Please make the water tunnel go away. Drown the demons, please!” she begged and shouted, all the while hoping not to offend the water spirit, but at the same time desperate for help and protection.
As if in response to Brynn's pleas the water started to shimmer a faint blue color. The light became stronger and the tunnel walls started to ripple.
The demons stopped pulling Miranda, Jerom and Brynn toward them. They dropped the ends of the webs by shaking it loose from their fingertips. The demon's tunics had parted and their hoods were thrown back off their heads. All sound had become just a roaring in the background of Brynn's mind as she continued pleading with the water spirits.
The demon’s faces snarled and snapped at them as they advanced. Miranda kicked and squirmed pushing herself away from the demons. When she realized she wasn't making much progress a whine started low in her throat and progressed quickly into an ear piercing shriek.
Jerom rolled over to her yelling at the demons, "Stay away from her. Don't you touch her!"
Brynn felt drops of water splash onto her cheek. She looked at the wall beside her and saw rivulets of water streaming down to the ground.
"Something's happening. Get ready!" she screamed and then the water tunnel seemed to collapse around all of them. Brynn tried to hold her breath but the weight of the water forced the air from her lungs. She instinctively drew in a breath, a combination of air and water. She gasped and choked and the next breath was all water. She was drowning.
She started thrashing, trying to find air. She couldn't tell which way was up and which was down. Then she felt the water press in against her body. It seemed to be pushing her. She felt propelled and with a final strong jolt the water parted and she landed hard on dry ground.
She pushed up to her knees coughing up water and gasping in air. She heard Jerom and Miranda doing the same.
She crawled over between them, “Are you guys okay.”
Miranda grunted affirmatively while she was pulling at the spider webs now plastered to her. Jerom only nodded while trying unsuccessfully to get the webs out of his hair. Brynn tore the webs loose from around her legs. It clung to their clothes but they could move freely again.
"Look," coughed out Miranda while pointing back at the demons.
The roiling liquid turned white and steamed where it enveloped the demons. The water solidified and almost hardened around them. It became a palest blue transparent concrete-like substance. The demons struggled and pushed, fighting to reach them, but the water just squeezed in harder.
Jerom, Miranda and Brynn couldn’t move beyond the edge of the water. The display before their eyes was as mesmerizing as it was terrifying. Instead of the water lining the walls of the tunnel, it now filled the tunnel from top to bottom but stopped abruptly in front of them. It was like looking into an aquarium. Miranda kept pointing and her jaw was moving, but only squeaks came out. Jerom stood silent and still as a statue. Brynn tried to look away but couldn’t.
The demons made one final push trying to get through the water and to them. Their arms were straining, trying to get any kind of traction against the walls of the tunnels. The water distorted everything, but it looked like they had claws on their feet also, and they were digging into the floor to push themselves forward. As the demons struggled harder they could just make out outlines or forms that weren’t demons. They were vaguely human in shape, but had no real substance. They would blend in and out with the water, encircling tighter and tighter around the demons, pushing in, compressing and squeezing them with water.
The demons fought against these creatures, these water spirits, but where one moment they were so fully real and could exert such force on the demons, the next moment they were insubstantial, just water flowing through the grip of the demons. The demon’s frustrations were evident as they were used to rending solid flesh and there was nothing to which they could even grasp.
The smaller demon construct started convulsing, trying not to breathe in, but the impulse was too strong. He gasped, but only water filled his mouth. He gasped again, shudders running down his body. The claws extending from his feet flexed and tore at the floor of the tunnel.
The other construct had run out of air by then too and started its dance with death. It took the same gasping, shuddering steps toward demise that the smaller demon was going through.
The water spirits became denser and their forms took on greater meaning. Jerom, Miranda and Brynn could see individuals now. One by one they turned, moved in close to Brynn and mouthed, “Bringer” then returned to their task.
The water started to shake a bit and loosen. Brynn shouted something about running and pushed and pulled at Jerom and Miranda until they responded. They had to tear themselves away like they were watching the scene of a car accident. They didn’t want to look, but they couldn't stop themselves either.
They slid and fell against each other as they worked to get their footing. Their shoes and legs were so covered with slime that getting any kind of traction was almost futile. They huddled together, holding on to each other as they ran. When one of them slipped, the others were steady and they managed to move forward.
They were only a few hundred yards down the tunnel, when they heard the splashing sound of released liquid and they smelled scorched water. They tried to run faster. They pushed against the walls and dug in with their shoes to propel themselves away from the oncoming flood.
"Let's go people! I don't want to drown!" shouted Brynn. The thought of drowning was unbearable. Brynn pushed Miranda in front of her and pulled Jerom along behind her, her strength driven by extreme fear and loathing.
The tunnel started to climb upward and hope filled her. Jerom shouted, “Almost there,” as he pushed Brynn from behind. They stumbled and tripped and found themselves crawling up the incline as fast as they could. The tunnel leveled out a little and they were able to stand up just as filthy, foul water ran over their feet and splashed up their legs. They stopped and looked back, breathing hard. The demons were laying half out of the water where the floor rose and the flooded section of tunnel ended. They were sprawled out, their huge bodies almost filling the entire space.
"Should we do something about them?" Brynn pointed at the bodies.
"Like what? Is it getting darker in here?" asked Miranda looking around and squinting.
"I think that weird glow from the water is going out," answered Jerom.
“What are we going to do for light? Do you have a flashlight in your pack?” Brynn asked. Her voice quivered with urgency.
“We don’t need one.” Jerom nodded at Miranda and Miranda held out her hand. A small
globe of light appeared. It was roughly circular, but the edges were fuzzy. It left her hand and floated in the tunnel ahead of them.
“Why haven’t we been using that the entire time?”
“It doesn’t make a whole lot of noise, but still enough to track us, and it does use a lot of energy over a long period of time.” Miranda moved her fingers and the ball of light bounced and danced circles in the air.
“Oh.” Brynn was still reeling from this last battle. Jerom and Miranda were more than a bit shaken also. They were all covered in filth made up of mud, slime and dank demon water.
“This stuff smells so incredibly horrible!” Miranda said.
“My nose isn’t working anymore. I can’t smell anything,” said Jerom
Brynn’s ears were ringing and her eyes felt raw and gritty. "Well I don't want to stay here with them any longer than we have to," she motioned over her shoulder with her chin.
"Why don't we get moving then," Jerom pulled his sodden and filthy backpack up onto his shoulders and started walking.
“I'm just ready to get out of this tunnel as soon as possible,” said Miranda echoing everyone’s thoughts.
Chapter 30
The handler, Jessica, writhed in pain on the floor of the tunnel. Blood drained from her ears and nose. She clutched her head, trying to contain the excruciating torment of the loss of her demon constructs. Her feet kicked and tore at the floor of the tunnel. This time was so much worse than the last. The agony became so extreme she finally passed out.
She awakened drenched in sweat and mud and blood. In front of her, the water lapped and called to her. She dragged herself forward to cleanse herself, to feel, just for a moment, the taint of Hell washed away. She got close enough to touch the water, only to find it fouled by the stench of demons and death. A layer of oily filth covered her fingers as she pulled them back out of the water. She rolled onto her knees and retched up everything inside her, and then continued to heave up pure emotion. The emotion that came from swimming in darkness, living in fear for the promise of wealth and power, trying to believe that eternal damnation was not too high a price to pay.
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