by Peter Glenn
With a heavy sigh, I handed over the statue.
Red Hood held it in his outstretched fingers for a moment, staring down at it like it was the most precious treasure in the world. Which, I supposed, it could be. We still didn’t know exactly what it did. And now likely never would.
“It’s mine,” Red Hood said, licking his lips. “After twenty years, it’s finally mine!” He held the statue aloft for a moment, and I heard a rallying cheer erupt from the people behind him. “Thank you, Damian.”
“Piss off.” What? I’d never been the smartest tool in the shed, and it felt good to say it.
Red Hood shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. My search is over thanks to you.”
“What about me?” Allie said out of the blue. She took a few steps forward until she was right next to Red Hood. “Where’s my reward for all of this?”
“Allie,” Red Hood said. His lips curled into a wicked smile as he cradled her face in his hands for just a moment. Then he pushed her slightly back until she was at arm’s length. “Your help was immeasurable. We wouldn’t have the artifact without you setting these two fools on this path. Your rewards will be great, I assure you.”
My expression soured further, and I shot her an icy glare. Suddenly, it all made sense. I’d thought the whole thing had been a bit too easy.
I should have trusted my initial instincts and left her alone.
Allie’s gaze caught my own for a half second, and her face turned a bright crimson. She tried to hide it behind a fold in her clothing but was only partially successful.
“Let’s get out of here,” Mystery Man said to Red Hood. “We have what we came for.”
Red Hood nodded. “Of course, Brother Hobart.” He glanced at the other girl with him. “Sister Carmen, round up the others. We’re leaving.”
“Of course, Brother Kedron,” Carmen said, bowing to him slightly.
Carmen and Hobart turned to leave the room and Allie moved as if to follow them, but Kedron stopped her short.
“Hey!” Allie whined. “What about my reward? I babysat these freaks for hours and led them here. What now?”
“Don’t worry, Sister Allie. I haven’t forgotten your reward.”
I saw the flash of metal in his hands before anyone else did. I reacted almost out of instinct. Before I knew it, Grax’thor was in my hands, flying through the air between them. It clashed with Kedron’s knife, and his blade fell clattering to the ground.
Kedron shoved Allie hard, and she fell against me. “Goodbye, Sister!” he cried. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten!”
With that, he turned and bolted out of the room.
Allie screamed something obscene and scrambled to get off me, but she was too late. A loud crashing noise from the room beyond alerted me to what was happening. I would be too late to stop it, I already knew.
There was a bright flash of light, and the sound of an explosion, then several large stones slammed into the ground, sealing off the exit to the chamber with me, Isaiah, and Allie all inside.
It was no use. We were trapped.
“Help!” Allie cried. She smacked one of the stones at the top of the pile, trying to dislodge it for perhaps the twentieth time that hour. “Someone help us! We’re trapped down here!”
It had been maybe two or three hours since we’d been sealed into the treasure chamber by Kedron and his cronies. I wasn’t sure if it had been dynamite or magic that had done us in, but either way, it had had the same effect. We were stuck.
“There’s no use,” Isaiah said. He was sitting off in one corner of the room. He had his eyes closed and was sitting in a meditative position. “No one’s going to hear you. Even if someone was up there, we’re far too deep in the earth for your screams to be heard.”
“Help!” Allie cried again defiantly.
“Might as well save your oxygen,” I told her, shooting her another death glare. It was bad enough that she’d betrayed us. Now she had to use up the last of our oxygen, too?
“Humph,” Allie muttered. She stuck out her tongue at me and tried to shove one of the massive stones again. “At least I’m trying to get us out of here. Better than just giving up.”
“Pfft! All you’re doing is wasting what little oxygen we have left in a futile attempt. I’ve seen those stones. They’re as big as boulders.” I let out a small sigh. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we’re good and stuck down here for sure.”
Allie harrumphed and crossed her arms, then finally slumped against the stone pile blocking us in. “Like you know anything.”
I growled at her but said nothing. There was little point in arguing, even if she did deserve to share our fate. There was little point in doing much of anything, really. I’d checked my cell reception shortly after the cave in. Zero bars. I couldn’t even text LaLuna a goodbye.
Dying like this was going to suck.
My eyes trailed to Grax’thor. “Care to add anything to the conversation?”
The runes swirled in their usual pattern. You should have gone for the head. Yours, I mean.
How pleasant. Even at the end, she had nothing but spite for me.
I settled against the stone altar. There was nothing else to do. I’d spent the first hour looking for another way out of this place. Combing over every section of wall. But it looked to be a one-way trap chamber. If there was another way out of here, I couldn’t find it.
And I was pretty lucky, so if anyone could have found it, it would have been me.
But nope, we were good and stuck.
I glanced over at Isaiah again. How was he taking things so well? He was just sitting there meditating like nothing was wrong. Honestly, it kind of irked me a little bit.
My nerves were starting to fray, I could feel it. In spite of that, I heckled him anyway.
“Figure anything out with that meditation of yours?” I spat at him.
Isaiah opened his eyes for a second and shot me a cool, leveled gaze, then closed his eyes and resumed his previous position. “For your information, I’m trying to figure out a way to get us out of here, too.”
The way he said it grated against me. Not that I was sure why, it just did. Must be the low oxygen getting to me at last.
“Humph. And how’s that going, exactly?”
Isaiah glared at me again. “Better than you sitting there doing nothing and accepting your fate, I’d wager.”
“Yeah?” I folded my arms across my chest. “Well, I don’t see you magically flying out of here or anything, so it doesn’t look like much to me.”
It was a stupid, low blow, and I regretted saying it, but there you have it.
Isaiah fumed, his face turning red. “And just what would you know about helping, anyway? Like you were such a big help earlier with your stupid sword antics!”
“Hey!” I fired back. “He had a dagger! I was trying to save us!”
“And where did that land us, exactly?”
I opened my mouth to say something trite but closed it a moment later. He was right. I didn’t have a comeback for that one.
“That’s right,” Isaiah continued. “Nowhere. Maybe if you hadn’t tried to skewer the guy, he would have let us go like he said.”
“Oh, come on!” I scoffed. “You’re not really that dense, are you? He was going to trap us this whole time. Fewer loose ends to follow after him and all that.” I looked slightly away from him and raised my chin. “It’s what I would have done in his position.”
“Yeah?” Isaiah glowered at me. “Well, it’s still your fault we’re all trapped down here. Maybe if you’d been a little more useful, we could have fought our way out or something!”
I reared back a bit. “Now listen here. I’m a decent swordsman, but I did the math. There were too many of them and not enough of us. We weren’t getting out of that conflict alive.”
“Not with your sword skills, maybe, but if you’d grow up and learn magic like a good little immortal, things could have been different!”
&nb
sp; I rolled my eyes. “Well excuse me for not being born a magician!”
Isaiah huffed. “You think I was born like this?” He tsked. “No one’s born a magician, Damian. Not anymore. You have to earn your magic powers just like everyone else.”
I was ready to fire another insult at him, but that little revelation stopped me short. Was he telling the truth? My whole life I’d been led to believe that you had to be born a magician. That was how it worked back in the 1700s. Was there really another way to get powers?
“Really?” I said at last, my tone softening.
Isaiah shook his head and let out a long, slow breath. I saw his muscles start to go slack. “Well, some lucky few humans might still be born with magic, I suppose, although I haven’t heard of one in the last thirty years, and I’m pretty well informed.”
He paused for a moment. “But all of us unlucky ones gain our powers the hard way—by making a pact with a god or a demon.” His eyes took on a slightly distant look. “It was the former for me, thank goodness. I’d hate to think what would have happened if I’d gone the demon route.” He shuddered just a little.
Me too, Isaiah. Me too. At the very least, you probably wouldn’t have been welcome at Mei’s, and I never would have met you.
“And it’s getting harder and harder to find willing gods to make pacts with, which is why our numbers are dwindling,” Isaiah continued. “A god’s power decreases when they have fewer followers, so you’d think they’d all jump at the chance, but that’s just not the case.” He shot me a flat look. “Has no one ever explained this to you? I would have thought your mother at least would have–”
I shook my head. “Uh uh. No one’s really said anything.”
Or if they had, I hadn’t listened. I’d always just assumed I couldn’t use real magic and been content with that. Maybe I should have listened better to my mother’s lessons as a kid…
Isaiah let out another sigh. He put his legs underneath him and slumped forward. “Well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say that all magic has to come from somewhere, and it always has a price associated with it. Take LaLuna’s gemstones, for example. They let her channel magic power, but they take part of her stamina to do it. My magic is similar, although I don’t need a channeling object to conjure it. I can use hand signals or words to manage the feat.”
“Fair enough.” I nodded. “So what about people like Mei and such? Why can she use magic?”
“Magical creatures are more closely bonded to the powers that be than us mere mortals. Or immortals, as the case may be.” He shot me a quick grin. “No one’s quite sure why, but the magic that allows them to exist also makes it easier for them to bend it to their will. Plus, most of them are old anyway. So it makes sense if you don’t think about it too much.”
I nodded again. I supposed that made a little sense.
“So, wait a second,” I said. I sat up straight and smoothed out my shirt. “You’re telling me I could be a full-on magician if I wanted to?”
Isaiah looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Not only could you, but you should. You’ve already gained the blessings of one god. It should be a simple matter to go back and get another one from them.”
“You’d think so,” I told him, letting out a nervous laugh, “but the god that granted my immortality is no more. I’d have to start fresh.”
“Hmm,” Isaiah said, rubbing his chin. “Well, you should still do it anyway, assuming we ever get out of here, that is. Maybe I can put in a good word for you with my god or something.”
“That’d be nice.”
“Besides, what good is immortality without a little extra power to enjoy it with?”
“I suppose you have a point,” I admitted.
After all, it didn’t look like I was going to have that Jade Jaguar to fall back on anymore. Even if we got out of here, there was no way I was going to find Kedron and his goons. That thing was as good as gone.
So I’d need some other way to make my fortune and give LaLuna the comforts she deserved. Why not magic? It’s not like my job as an occult investigator made me that much. Maybe it was time for something new.
Ah, LaLuna. The mere thought of her brought her to the forefront of my mind. I loved her so much. Her and little Grace both. I couldn’t leave them stranded, never knowing what had happened to me. They deserved so much better than that. So much better than me, really.
Let’s face it, at best, I was a flighty, irresponsible semi-adult. If I ever got out of here, I’d do better by both of them.
No. When I got out of here. I had to manage the feat somehow. For them.
“Well, anyway, you should think about it. It’d do you some good,” Isaiah said a moment later, breaking me from my concentration.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Allie huffed and looked at both of us, then rolled her eyes. “Well, if you two goonies are done with your little dick measuring contest, maybe we can get back to trying to find a way out of here?”
Dick measuring contest? Oh, no. She did not just insult us again. Not only did she betray us to begin with, but now she’s back to insulting me?
I sucked in a breath and balled my hand into a fist. She was so getting decked for that one. I got up off my feet and started over toward her, but Isaiah stood up and put a hand out to block me.
“It’s not worth it, Damian.”
“But…!”
“I know,” Isaiah continued. “I get it, I do. I’m pissed at her, too. But none of it’s going to matter until we manage to find a way out of here.”
He stared straight into my eyes, and I could see the anger welling up in them. But there was also something else there. A coolness. Patience, maybe. Something I had very little of. “Once we’re all out of here, I promise you can lay her flat if you want to. Hell, she deserves it, and she knows it. But only once we’re free.”
As much as I hated to admit it, I knew Isaiah had a point. Everything in its season, and all that. Safety first. Then revenge.
Slowly, I nodded. “All right.” I shot Allie another death glare. “So what’s our best option? Anyone got anything?”
Allie’s face broke into a wide grin. “I do, if you’re willing to listen to me for just a second.”
I ground my teeth so hard I swore some of them would shatter. “Go on,” I managed. Just barely.
She walked over to where I was and looked up into my eyes. There was a hint of mirth in hers. Not that I knew how she could possibly be anything but angry right now, but there you have it.
“Something was bothering me about the previous chamber we were in,” Allie said, using her usual cryptic phrasing. “But I couldn’t quite place what it was until now.”
“Like?” Isaiah prodded.
Allie bit her lip. “Well, there were four large markings in the room, but only three of them were involved in the puzzle to make it into here. Two of them were required to get in here and one of them was a trap that was meant to kill us.”
“Sure,” I said, bobbing my head. “So the last marking was probably a trap, too.”
Allie smirked. “I thought of that, but what if it wasn’t meant to kill us. What if it was a failsafe for the boulders that are now blocking us?”
My brow furrowed. “How so?”
“Well, the builders of these traps had to know there was no way out of this room once you got in here. So what if they got stuck by accident? What would they do? They’d want to know they could get out safely.”
I had to admit, she had a point. “Okay, hot shot. So what do you suggest now?”
Allie patted me on my cheek again. She really had to stop that before I sheared her hand off. “Well, slick, if we could find where that last marking was in relation to where we are, maybe we could activate it from this side.”
Slick? What kind of nickname was slick?
“Fine,” I growled. “It’s worth a shot.”
“So, you were the one who could see the most back there. Where was the air marking,
do you remember?”
I thought back to my time in the previous chamber. With the lava flowing everywhere, and the earth rumbling, I hadn’t really thought to remember my surroundings that well. But there had been an air marking, and if I was recalling things correctly, it would be right about…
“Here!” I exclaimed, slapping a spot on top of the blocked archway.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then I felt the wind start to pick up. It was cooling at first, drying some of the sweat that had covered me in the hot little room. Then all at once there was a loud whoosh, and I was forced forward, smacking into the stones in the fallen archway with a loud thud.
“Ouch!” I muttered.
But as I peeled myself off them, I realized the stones were no longer blocking the archway. They were on the ground, and I was laying on top of them. The path out of the treasure room had been cleared.
“See?” Allie said with a smirk as she traipsed over me. “Easy peasy.”
Grumbling and forcing myself back up to my feet, I glared at her.
“All right, children, let’s just get out of here already,” Isaiah insisted.
“Fine,” both Allie, and I said in unison.
The trip back out of the ruin was far easier than the trip in had been. The shifting bridge was easy enough to navigate, and no more demons tried to kill us. Maybe Kedron and his cronies had killed any others, and we already knew the trick for the tile room, so it only took maybe fifteen minutes before we were finally above ground again, sucking in cool, clean air.
“I’ve missed you,” Isaiah said, looking up at the big, beautiful, looming sun. It was about halfway down the horizon and still blazing hot. But it was wonderful.
“Me too,” I told the sun, holding my hands out to the sides and letting it hit me full in the chest for a moment. Gosh, it felt good to be above ground again. I never wanted to go into another cave ever.
“Well, if you two goons are done soaking up what precious little light we have left, we have an artifact to go recover,” Allie said, holding her hands on her hips and looking smug.