Is this what you have discovered, Julian?" Galla asked. She had regained her strength and paced the room near the fireplace.
"Yes, though Abby has a direct connection that I have clearly lacked. I know that the Vepars are more active players in this. I don't know how, but this curse seems to help them. Tobias was born of it. And Dafne fears that Sebastian is next in line. All of her efforts, deceitful as they may be, were to protect her coven." He looked pointedly at Elda when he said this and she nodded her thanks.
"Of course, we all know how the fates operate. It's like King Laius hearing the oracle's tale that his child would kill him and marry his mother. He ordered his son's death, thus creating the perfect narrative for Oedipus to fulfill the destiny that his father conspired to destroy. I fear that Dafne's scheming has brought us to the exact crux that she so wanted to thwart," Julian finished.
"No." Abby winced as she struggled to her feet, pushing Rod away when he tried to stop her. "Sebastian will not become one of them. There is no evil in him. We have to save them because when they realize that he won't join them, they'll kill him."
The other witches looked less convinced. Only Rod seemed to agree with her, bobbing his head up and down.
"It is his longing for vengeance that makes him vulnerable," Galla said. "I know this from you, Abby. I feel it. I know that you believe it's true"
Abby's face grew pale and she felt complete rage that her mind had been violated in that way. But Galla was right. Sebastian wanted to kill Tobias. No darker desire existed in the hearts of men.
"The time has come now for action," Julian announced. "I have known this day would come. We all did, I'm sure, and for every second that passes we grow weaker while they grow strong."
"Abby and Rod stay behind. I think we need..." Elda started.
"No," both Abby and Rod shouted at the same time. "Don't try to control this, Elda," Abby said gently. "I won't stay here and you will put me in greater danger by not including me and Rod," she added, taking his hand.
"Don't underestimate me," he said to Elda with a shrug. "I have nothing to live for."
Elda looked sad, but also resigned, as none of the other witches stepped in to support her.
****
"They will arrive soon," Faustine whispered to Max and Demetrius.
They gathered together in a thicket of pine trees, half a mile from the Vepar's lair.
"Galla has asked that we wait for them."
"To give the Vepars more time to prepare? More time to kill Lydie and Oliver?" Max looked aghast.
"I agree with Max," Demetrius said. "Your connection with Galla is strong right now. If we go in, we will give her and the others an advantage. If we wait, everyone is in the dark."
Faustine pressed his palms together and stared up at the sky. He felt genuinely conflicted. There were too many lives hanging in the balance to make a mistake.
"Okay, we will go in first," he told them. "But not all at once. First, I will go and then, Demetrius, you follow after five minutes and, Max, you come five minutes after that."
****
"No," Galla shouted in the back seat.
"What is it?" Abby asked, twisting around to face her.
"They're going in without us."
Elda grabbed her hand and held it tightly. The two elder witches huddled together. It frightened Abby to see them so shaken. Rod kept his eyes focused on the road and Abby appreciated his presence in the car. Unlike the witches, he seemed to be completely unafraid of what lay ahead.
****
Faustine did not enter the cellar door that Oliver had gone through. In the hours since their arrival, he, Demetrius and Max had scoured the woods and surrounding area searching for another way in. They had discovered a deserted farm with an old well, crumbling at the edge of the property only a mile south. When Faustine hovered near the top, he became convinced that it would lead them to the intricate underground tunnels that the Vepars called home.
"I'm not confident about this pulley system," Demetrius said, giving the old rope a tug. The rusted contraption looked ready to crumble.
"I believe that I can float down. However, I will take the rope just in case. Let's tie it off over there." Faustine pointed to an old tractor. The seat and wheels were corroded, but the frame looked heavy enough to hold him.
They tied it off quickly and Faustine prepared to go in.
"Are you comfortable with levitation, Demetrius?"
"Of course."
"Okay, then. We will levitate ourselves and we will not waste energy on each other. Once I am in the tunnel, I will move forward and send images back to you both. It is possible that our connection will be weak once we are underground."
They all agreed.
Faustine climbed over the edge of the stone well and several rocks displaced and tumbled away. He began to chant and soon his body floated just above the opening. As he dropped into the tunnel, he held the slack rope knowing that if he lost his connection, the rope might not hold him. As he floated down, he noticed claw marks scratched into the rock wall. He pressed his fingers against a deep gash. The contact jolted him and he lost his concentration. His body began to plummet and then suddenly he steadied. Max had floated him a rush of upward moving energy.
"Thank you," he called up. "Don't touch the walls," he added, knowing that Max and Demetrius would have also felt the shock.
Faustine refocused and Max eased his control. Almost fifty feet down, Faustine saw a half moon opening, large enough to fit a man, cut into the bedrock. He planted his feet on the edge and stepped forward, scanning the passageway before him. Demetrius and Max sent him silent confirmation that they would follow.
The passageway had been blown out and then meticulously formed. The earthen path was smooth and damp. Faustine began to rapidly descend less than twenty feet into the tunnel. Soon the slope turned into rudimentary stairs carved into the floor. Oil lamps hung from metal stakes driven into the wall. Despite the lamps, he walked through pockets of darkness. He perked his ears for any strange sounds, but heard nothing. He sensed that Demetrius had entered the well.
The stairs grew steeper and Faustine braced his hands on the narrowing tunnel walls to maintain balance. The steps ended abruptly and Faustine estimated his depth at more than three hundred feet underground. The water flowing through the bedrock helped him maintain his connection with Galla.
He continued forward on even ground until he came upon a mass of boulders completely blocking the path before him. Knowing that Demetrius and Max were close behind, he waited.
****
Sebastian plunged through darkness. Even as they fell, he held tight to Lydie, knowing that death might come at any moment. As he waited for the impact, he felt his body slowing and growing lighter. He realized that Oliver was easing their descent.
Before his body slammed into the mass beneath him, Sebastian smelled the dead. The stench filled his lungs with a scent of metallic rot. His stomach rolled. He felt his body smash into bone and flesh. It gelled beneath him. He and Lydie did not merely land--they sank. The hole that their forms created, closed as the body parts tumbled together. Sebastian held his breath and kicked and clawed out of the jumble of corpses. He felt his mouth and nose fill with blood and bodily fluids and he started to gag.
Only when his head emerged from the foul pit did he realize that he was howling.
"Stop," Oliver seethed and clamped a disgustingly slimy hand over his mouth. Sebastian slapped it away. He grabbed Lydie with both hands and trudged through the bodies to solid ground. He deposited her on the earth and fell to his knees, retching uncontrollably.
He tried to suck in a fresh breath, but the smell overpowered him and he gagged.
Oliver squatted beside him. He held a clump of dirt to Sebastian's face.
"Breathe," he said.
Sebastian leaned into the dirt, half expecting to inhale a clump and choke, but only clean air entered his lungs.
"Hold your breath," Oliver told him,
dropping the dirt and picking up another handful and then another.
"You're going to have to breathe through your mouth now," Oliver said. "Otherwise, you're going to get sick again."
Sebastian did as Oliver asked. The thought of inhaling the decayed remains made him nauseous, but he didn't smell it anymore.
"What the hell is this?" Sebastian asked finally.
He surveyed the mound of bodies stacked in the underground hole. There were a hundred, at least, in varying levels of decomposition.
Oliver shook his head and swiped at his watery eyes.
"I've never seen anything like it."
They had fallen into an enormous cavern. At least three hundred feet deep, the walls were a honeycomb of tunnels. As they watched, a creature, not unlike the one that pushed them into the pit, crawled out of one of the tunnels, scurried along the wall and entered another tunnel. A high-pitched cackle greeted them from an opening less than fifteen feet above their heads.
Sebastian scrambled to his feet.
"We're screwed," he whispered, staring in horror as another of the undead things fell from one of the crevices in the ceiling. It landed with a sickening thud.
"I'm not sure if it's dead," Oliver said with surprising calm. He watched the bodies wearily, but the creature did not emerge.
"I think it was already dead," Sebastian replied, accepting that even his worst nightmares had not prepared him for this moment.
"Faustine," Oliver whispered suddenly. "Faustine is down here."
"Where?" Sebastian scanned the room, searching the tunnels for Faustine's face.
"He's in a pathway that has been blocked off. This way, I think." Oliver started to walk the perimeter of the cavern, trying not to step on the dead, but unable to avoid them completely. His eyes kept wandering toward the faces. Some of the bodies were still intact and their faces had not morphed into the ghoulish undead that appeared to be travelling through the underground lair.
"Stephen," Oliver said startled. The journalist that he and Abby had been searching for lay at the edge of the mass. His glazed eyes stared at nothing, but his mouth was parted in an 'o' of horror as if his last visions had literally scared him to death.
"What is it?" Sebastian called out quietly.
Oliver waved him away and put a finger to his lips. He could hear scurrying from one of the tunnels. He continued around the bodies and then a shriek near Sebastian sent him running back.
One of the fiends leered at them. Its black tongue lashed out from its, once feminine, face. The creature's hair fell in black clumps around her wasted scalp. With talon-like fingers, she scrambled onto the wall and then jumped to the earth below. Sebastian kicked desperately at a rock, trying to unearth it. He snatched it up and bent his knees low.
Oliver too grabbed a rock and focused on harnessing the powerful energy of the limestone surrounding him.
The fiend lunged forward, reaching for Sebastian with skeletal fingers. Before Oliver could heave the rock in his own hand, the creature burst into flames. She let out a single, high-pitched squeal and then collapsed, squirming and then growing still.
"What the..." Sebastian started, but Oliver saw that Lydie had returned to consciousness.
Though she still laid flat on her back, her eyes were open and her hands, shaking, pointed toward the charred monster at Sebastian's feet.
Oliver rushed over, awkwardly hugging her with his single good arm. Sebastian joined them.
"When life gives you lemons, make barbecue," Lydie rasped with a hollow grin.
Sebastian shook his head and smiled, in spite of himself.
"Only you could make this shit funny," Sebastian said, sitting down roughly against the wall.
Lydie reached a hand over to him and patted his foot.
"Thanks for rescuing me, guys."
Oliver laughed and didn't bother trying to wipe his tears.
Lydie struggled up to sitting position and pressed her face into her palms.
"I think I'm going to puke," she mumbled, and some of the little girl had replaced her hardness. Oliver let her go and she doubled over, throwing up and then dry heaving until she collapsed back onto the ground, her face close to the dirt.
Oliver rubbed her back.
"Sebastian, there's a passageway somewhere on the other side of those bodies. It's filled in with rocks. We have to move them. Faustine is on the other side."
"Faustine." Lydie perked up and Sebastian immediately sprang to his feet at the hopeful sheen in Lydie's eyes.
"I'm on it," he said.
He walked around the mound of bodies and found the only tunnel at ground level. It was large, at least ten feet tall, and packed with huge rocks. He grabbed one and pulled. It didn't budge.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Demetrius came upon Faustine and then Max arrived several minutes later. Demetrius, an earth element, had the most power to influence the rocks. He placed his hands on the boulders, feeling their mass and slowly growing in tune with their vibrations.
"I can move them," he said finally, "but it will take some time."
"We may not have time," Max whispered, hearing the far-off sounds of heavy footfalls. As an air element, Max was at an additional disadvantage, but he also knew that Lydie lay somewhere inside and he would die to get her out.
"I will retreat," Faustine said. "Let me be the first line of defense."
Max began to argue, but Faustine silenced him. "There's no more time."
As Faustine ran back down the tunnel, Demetrius grew very quiet. He spread himself across the boulders, pressing his forehead, torso and legs against every possible surface. His body began to tremble and then shake.
****
They parked the cars along a wide shoulder and took to the woods by foot. Abby, not fully recovered, and Rod, a non-witch , slowed the group down, adding to the already strained energies. Fear, tension, exhilaration and impatience were, but a few of the waves of emotion passing through all of them collectively.
As they walked, Galla reported the images from Faustine. Elda, too, had begun to pick up his signals and Julian as well. When Faustine back-tracked to face the Vepars, Elda's face grew tight with worry. She started to walk faster.
"We can't all go in," Julian reminded them. "We need reinforcements at the well. I think two should go down here and two should stay above the ground..."
Abby wanted to go in, but she knew that they would not allow it. Her abdomen continued to throb and a fever had washed over her, causing sweat to stand out along her brow line. Each step radiated up her legs and into her core. A dizzy spell overcame her and she started to fall sideways, but Adora caught her and held her steady.
"You have to go back to the car," Elda insisted, taking Abby's clammy hands in her own. "I know that you are strong, Abby. But we're going to need you because if anyone gets hurt, your blood is going heal them..."
Elda had never talked about Abby's blood being healing for other witches. She started to argue, fearing that Elda intended to trick Abby to keep her out of danger. Instead, she grew woozy and nearly fell a second time.
"It's decided then," Julian agreed. "Abby returns to the car. Rod?"
"No. I'm sorry, Abby," he pecked her on the cheek. "But I'm going down there."
Julian turned up his palms in surrender and looked at Adora.
"I will walk her to the car," Adora said, resigned. "And then I will stay in the trees. If any of those demons come out, they're mine."
****
It took a moment for the nausea to pass, but once Lydie could stand, she hurried with Oliver to the blocked tunnel. They could not tell how far the boulders went in.
"Fire is not going do us a lot of good, hon," Olive told Lydie. "But it will take care of those dead things when they come in."
"Great," she said. "Sounds like more fun than a barrel of monkeys."
Oliver bit his tongue and did not comment on the return of the clichés. He realized that she needed them to make it all less scary and
, in truth, he appreciated the humor.
Sebastian walked to the pile of bodies and, plugging his nose, he reached into the mess. He wrestled two large thigh bones from a mostly decomposed skeleton.
"It's better than nothing," he told them dryly.
Oliver returned his attention to the rocks. He could feel Demetrius somewhere on the other side, slowly breaking them down. He chose a different tact. Pulling a surge of energy from the ground beneath him, he grabbed a boulder with invisible hands and inched it away. It stayed put and then, miraculously, it shifted. As he took hold with his mind, it gained momentum and rolled back.
"Yes," Sebastian whistled behind him.
"Three o'clock," Oliver shouted, gesturing towards one of the undead, standing in a tunnel above them.
"That one's been beat with the ugly stick," Lydie said, opening her arms wide and, in a rush, slamming them back together. As her hands connected, a fireball shot from between them. It launched up and struck the hollow-eyed beast. It screamed once as it fell from the hole and landed in the bodies below. Immediately another appeared behind it and then two more tunnels filled with ghoulish faces.
Oliver returned to the rocks, knowing that help and a way out was close at hand.
He focused on a low boulder. With all his might, he drew it towards him. It moved, barely, but still it moved. He gritted his teeth and fought with it. His eyes itched and his brain felt ready to explode. Finally, it shot backwards, nearly striking him. The five boulders supported by it, tumbled away. One struck Lydie and she flew forward, landing on her hands and knees, too shocked to cry out.
"I've got her," Sebastian shouted, running over and helping her to her feet.
Oliver saw the fiends crawling down the walls. The next boulder, he levitated and, with a force that nearly blew out his right eye, he flung the boulder into the wall, smashing one of the creatures. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lydie blast a feeble bolt of fire towards another of the fiends, but it did not reach.
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