by S. E. Akers
“Nice,” Beatrix praised as she strutted past me. “Though I still think you should wear the ring.”
I shook my head. No way.
The stone was growing more radiant with every step we took. Even our passageway seemed to be getting brighter. The glaze that coated the slick, craggy walls made them glisten like they were saturated with fresh morning dew. Something was shining up ahead.
Our gait quickened once we had located its source, a beam of light streaming in through a break in the wall. The opening was just big enough for a single person to squeeze through, but in no way provided us with enough cover for a precautionary peek.
“I suggest we go in blind, if you catch my drift,” Beatrix advised and disappeared before my eyes. I followed suit with a quick call to my golden topaz and trailed her invisibly through the narrow rift in the rugged stone wall.
We found ourselves standing on a ledge, staring out at a mammoth sized cavern about the size of a small town. Hand-in-hand, we climbed down the rocks towards the bottom, cautiously winding our way through what seemed like an unceasing maze of fang-like stalagmites that jutted in every direction out of the pitted ground.
“The howlite is almost at its peak,” Beatrix announced when we’d reached level ground. “She’s close.”
The stone guided us several yards to our left, in precisely the same direction the strange light illuminating our surroundings seemed to be emanating. We stumbled upon two colossal boulders that bordered our path. We stopped in front of the rocky entryway, apprehensive of what lay one turn and a just few simple steps ahead.
“I don’t sense anyone,” I divulged.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not in there, dear. The power Dunamis draws from his onyx prevents anyone from touching his mind. Even those he possesses are immune. Their minds are as empty as their soul. Best to keep our eyes peeled.”
Slowly, we edged through the passageway undetected. A billowy haze of fog hugged the ground like a misty lake in the center of the cavern, simply hovering there as it gleamed an eerie yellowy-glow. Now we knew where the light was coming from and it wasn’t black, thankfully. With that mystery solved, I immediately started searching for Katie, but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Despite all our efforts, we appeared to be tragically empty-handed and all alone.
I retracted my invisibility spell and whirled around. “WHERE IS SHE?!?” I huffed telepathically.
Beatrix popped into sight and waved the howlite with a several zealous sweeps. “I don’t know,” she replied. “She should be here! The stone’s magic is indisputable.”
“Do you think she’s underground?”
Beatrix lifted the stone and guided it up towards the ceiling. The glowing howlite spiked on the spot. “She’s not underground,” she noted with a raise of her brow.
I tilted my head farther back to find Katie’s body suspended in mid-air somehow, wrapped in some sort of vibrant tarp and hanging about a hundred feet above the scintillating misty pool of fog.
A sigh boomed from my lungs like a cannon. “WE FOUND YOU!” I beamed out-loud.
“REALLY?” Katie gasped.
“Yes!”
“How do I look?”
“Um… High?” I responded.
“W—What?”
“I mean, fine,” I corrected. “You’re kind of hanging from the ceiling.”
“Oh… But I’m not rotting or anything?”
“No.” I don’t guess, I thought as I mentally crossed my fingers. “You’re cocooned in something. It looks like a…sleeping bag?” My eyes flared not a second later. At that moment, I knew just whose weatherproof bright-yellow & black bag it probably was.
“I don’t think we’re alone,” I said as I nodded towards Bea’s shoulder, where Mr. Webber was perched.
“We’re not,” Beatrix affirmed. I followed her gaze over to the far right edge of the fog bank. Just as I’d suspected, there was Neil Webber, vacant black eyes and all, standing there holding on to a rope. I trailed it up and over to the cluster of stalactites that Katie’s body was suspended from. I looked back at Beatrix, hoping to see an imaginary light bulb shining above her head. Sadly there was nothing there but air.
“You didn’t think he would make this easy, did you?” Beatrix posed.
“So I’ll have to heal some bones too,” I whispered mentally. “It’s not like the fall will kill her.” Just as I started to make my way over to Neil, Beatrix grabbed my arm.
“No,” Beatrix urged. “We don’t know what’s lying underneath that bed of mist.” She took the wood walking stick and cautiously dipped it down into the hazy fog. With bated breath, I watched her lift it back up — half of it, at least. The other portion was gone.
My heart sank as I stared at the sizzling tip. No. Freakin’. Way!
Beatrix sidled beside me. “Mending tissues and fusing bones are no problem, but I suspect you may have a rough go of it if her body has melted away.”
My eyelids felt heavy as I glared at the stranger who held Katie’s fate in his hands. “How are we supposed to get her down safely?” I posed psychically.
“You take care of him,” Beatrix instructed. “Let me worry about Katie.”
Easy for her to say — that wasn’t her best friend dangling up there like an ornament on a Christmas tree. I turned towards Beatrix, making sure she could see every ounce of emotion in my swirling-with-white blue eyes.
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Beatrix vowed. “Just promise me that if it comes to it, you will subdue him by any means.”
“All right,” I agreed mentally. I slowly turned and started to inch towards the possessed man with a wary gait. Unfortunately the closer I came, the more slack he let out of the rope. Her body kept dropping in several swift jerks, which directed it that much closer to a corrosive doom. My heart skipped several beats while Bea’s seemed more on guard and unfazed. One more step had positioned me close enough for a successful strike (I hoped). Then again, it could’ve had more to do with the swiftly closing gap between the acid-like fog and the bottom edge of the sleeping bag where the tips of Katie’s feet would be.
“NOW!” I called out to Bea telepathically as I dove towards him. The rope slithered out of Neil’s hand not a second after I’d tackled him. I tried to grab what was left of it, but it flew into the air just as he scored my arm with a diamond-dusted black dagger. The onyx blade felt just as agonizing as Dunamis’s stinging touch — nothing short of excruciating. Even reeling with that, I couldn’t bring myself to driving my sword through an innocent pawn. It took several slams to knock the blade out of his hand (it still amazed me how strong these possessed people were). But even with him now relieved of his weapon, he kept on clawing and punching me like a wild animal — hell-bent on avoiding capture. Desperate to check on Katie, I yanked the hair comb out of my locks and stabbed his neck with it. He rolled off to the side in one horribly loud screech, cowering in pain. It was just a little comb, but by the way he was trembling and screaming, you would’ve thought I’d gored him with a daggone pitchfork.
Beatrix rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Katie’s safe,” she said and then hurried over to the other Mr. Webber. She bent down and pulled the comb out of Neil’s neck. Its teeth were no longer white, but eerily as black as night.
Beatrix tossed it aside, shaking her head. “I’d meant for you to use this later…much later,” Beatrix announced.
“So you knew he would be here?” I posed.
Beatrix threw me a curt nod and clapped her hands. Mr. Webber landed on her shoulder obediently. “I think we need to kick-off this family reunion.”
“What was the comb made of?”
“A white onyx,” Beatrix revealed as she calmed Neil down with a few gentle strokes across his brow. “It broke the Onyx’s control and released his soul.”
“Well that’s good,” I said as I watched her swift and steady movements. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, but it also pulled the plug on their connection, so I’d be w
illing to bet that Dunamis is on his way here…right now. And he’s NOT happy, rest assured.” Beatrix grabbed my arm and jerked me to my feet. “We’d better get moving, while we still can.”
Without a second to lose, Beatrix transformed Mr. Webber back into the stocky bearded man I remembered. He may have been back to his old self physically, but the dazed look on his face screamed another story.
“What do we do with them?” I asked.
“Well, they can’t stay here,” Beatrix replied, tapping her foot. “And there’s no time to guide them out personally.” She quickly slipped the marquee-shaped ruby off her finger and placed it in Mr. Webber’s hand. “It’s not a pair of sparkly red slippers, but it will do.” She whipped off her scarf and wadded it into a ball. Then with a flick of her little gold lighter, she set the fabric ablaze. Next, she pulled her diamond out of her pouch. Beatrix cupped the stone in her hand as she whispered something into each of the men’s ears and pressed her finger against their temples. I could tell by the glow coming from the diamond that she was implanting their minds with some sort of directive. Then without any further delay, she shoved them into the fire. Both of their bodies suddenly disappeared in a bursting ball of red flames.
“Will they be okay?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. The ruby will protect them,” Beatrix confirmed with a passive wave. “Well, for the most part,” she added with a musing nod.
We hurried over to Katie and pulled her limp frame out of the sleeping bag. She basically looked “asleep”, with the exception of her bluish-tinged skin (though she still wasn’t nowhere near as pasty as those two albino kooks in Ms. Lá Léo’s Voodoo store).
“Okay…We’re going to start,” I revealed to Katie.
“O—Okay,” Katie’s voice trembled, sounding shaky enough to cause a cave-in.
So much for a rousing pep talk.
“Focus is key, my dear. We need absolute silence,” Beatrix urged and cleared her throat, directing its intent toward my notoriously vocal counter-part.
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” I assured her.
“Good,” Beatrix sighed. “All right, now you need to heal her first, so I can suspend her body in its mended state with a golden topaz.” Beatrix removed Gallia’s bracelet and locked it around Katie’s wrist. “Only then can we summon the power from the fire opal. Remember, the stone’s magic must be bound with a beam from a full moon.”
“I know,” I replied, ready to get this over and done with before the Onyx came knocking.
Beatrix let out an abrupt laugh and pointed to Katie’s stitched-to-a-close mouth. “I’m not telling you what to do, my dear, but that quite frankly is a perk,” she asserted with a telling grin.
I shook my head and mouthed “NO” as I slipped my fingernail between her lips and made a precise slit. It didn’t open fully, but then again, she was pretty stiff. Beatrix smacked her face a few times, and in her own spirited way, “lent me a hand”.
She had to eventually pry her lips apart with a “pop”. “There! Open for business,” Beatrix bragged.
I leaned over my best friend’s body, now wordless and numb — stunned by reality’s swift smack upside my head. I hadn’t physically healed anyone since Ty, and he wasn’t dead — Katie was.
“What are you waiting for?” Beatrix asked.
“I haven’t healed anyone…this much before.”
Beatrix placed her arms on my shoulders and gave them a firm squeeze. “I’m afraid this part you must do on your own. No handholding. You have the ability, as well as the drive. Concentrate on the diamond’s power, dear. I have no doubt your emotions will serve as an effective guide.”
Easy for her to say. Feeling the weight of the world in the tips of my fingers, I placed my hands on Katie’s head. I pulled back in a swift jerk. Her skin felt as ice-cold as it looked. I shifted about for a moment, stalling. I hadn’t been this nervous about attempting something new since the time I jumped off the high-dive at the Linkous Park pool when I was five. But even then, the boy behind me kept slamming his foot on the daggone board repeatedly and bounced me in. There was no one behind this time, and that’s what I needed — a good nudge. I bit down on my quivering lip, desperate for some kind of encouraging sign that this would work and Katie’s nightmare was one step closer to finally coming to an end.
Then, like a cool shower of sun-kissed summer rain on a sweltering August day, the cosmos heard my pleas. “Shi,” Katie whispered soulfully. “I know you can do it.”
My eyes fell to a serene close. Thank you, Katie-Kate. I purged any of my lingering worries with a resolute exhale and placed my hands back on her head. I rallied as much energy from the diamond that I could muster and ended up riding its electrifying flow until my mind had inescapably drifted back to a particular childhood memory we shared. We were down by the creek that ran behind her house on one of our summer lightning-bug hunts. Hundreds of them speckled the air around us that night, thousands maybe. We’d never seen the grassy banks so lush and laden with what looked like an endless stream of tiny, twinkling green lights. It was one of those magical evenings where anything seemed possible. We made a countless number of wishes that night, but right now, only one of them stood out in my mind. It was the one that called to me like a reassuring whisper. The one I wanted fulfilled most of all. The one where we had promised to stay best friends forever and ever. That’s what I wanted — to see those amber eyes of hers sparkling like they did when two little nine year-old drama queens made their till-the-end-of-time pledge. The longer I focused on that image, the more I sensed her tissues mending and her body temperature rising. It was slow at first, but then it unexpectedly escalated like someone had turned up the dial on a stove. An exhilarating surge of energy forced my eyes open. Through two watery pools, I watched her cheeks as they began to emit the makings of a faint rosy glow. Not a second later, her chest rose in one swift heave as her body inhaled its first deep breath — merely one of many more I was certain would come.
“Katie you’re breathing!” I gasped. She didn’t respond. She didn’t have too. I could feel every jubilant wave resonating from her soul. “Bea!” I exclaimed. “She’s breathing!” My mentor didn’t answer. “Bea?” I called again as I glanced around my shoulder. She wasn’t standing behind me any longer, but had walked several yards back the way we’d come. Her alert stance catapulted me to my feet.
“What is it?” I asked telepathically. I got my answer soon enough, but not from her. Another swarm of bats came soaring into the cave, spiraling around us like a flapping black tornado, and then rocketed up to roost on the ceiling. They congregated in one massive clump that stretched down its sides like zigzagging claws while their ear-piercing screeches stabbed our eardrums. And oddly enough, I could feel every one of their little beady eyes locked dead on us.
“They didn’t come alone,” Beatrix warned as her eyes panned the cave. She raised her hand warily and whipped up a whirling gust in her palm. “Shiloh, place your golden topaz on Katie’s finger. It will keep her body suspended until we can finish the spell. Hurry.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. It was off my hand and on Katie’s not a second later. Beatrix kept her focus on the cluster of bats clinging to the ceiling. With the stone now on Katie’s finger, I had no way to communicate with my mentor silently.
“Bea?” I said aloud as I stepped closer.
Suddenly the bats dispersed in all directions, revealing the unnerving spectral black haze I’d come to know all too well. The murky mass reared back and charged down along the walls of the earthy cavern, coursing a path headed straight for Beatrix. The Onyx forged a trench down into the earth as he plowed his way towards her. Bea aimed her funnel at the rapidly moving mound and turned into her falcon form when she’d missed her mark. She may have barely dodged his initial strike, but our clever foe backtracked up the sides of the cave chasing after her. As soon as the Onyx had her in his sights, he knocked several large stalactites loose that ended up showeri
ng the crafty Talisman’s feathery form with a barrage of heavy debris. She crashed to the ground straightaway. Only a rocky mound of stones and dust remained.
“BEA!” I yelled as I scanned the pile of rubble for any signs of movement. A violent tremor rushed under my feet. I whirled around, fully expecting to see the Onyx springing up out of the ground. Instead, I witnessed Katie’s body being dragged underneath the earth. I dove towards it, but her immobile frame had already disappeared down into the hole before I could grab a hold of it.
“Shi, what’s going on?” Katie screamed, sensing my panic.
“He’s here,” I whispered as I scanned what looked like a bottomless pit. Another loud rumble snagged my attention and directed it over to the hazy pool of acid. A mound of earth was steadily building, rising up from its center. I rose to my feet as it crested. Low and behold, there was Katie lying on top of the dirty island-like knoll and surrounded by the acid. She was safe for now, but totally out of my reach.
A wicked laugh reverberated through the cavern like an unshakable bad dream. “That wasn’t the deal,” the Onyx growled. “The wand, for your friend. Now you both must pay the price.”
I noticed the earth at the bottom of the pile was slowly disintegrating right before my eyes. Katie’s helpless body would too if I didn’t get to her soon.
“She’s NOT a part of this!” I screamed. “Why are you doing this to her?”
“You know why,” he cackled.
Filled with rage, I clenched my fists so hard that I dug my own nails into my palms. “You’ll NEVER get it if you hurt her!” I vowed.
His only response was a facetious light laugh that whipped through the cave like an icy breeze.
“Shi, tell me what’s going on!” Katie pleaded.
“The truth?”
“Yes,” Katie sighed.
“Your body is surrounded by acid. He’s going to let you sink if I don’t give him the diamond wand, and I don’t know if Bea is conscious…” I gulped, “Or not.”