by T. S. Hall
The momentum of the creature’s own attack knocked it off balance. It slipped from the wall, crashed into the other side, and sent fragments of rock everywhere. It writhed around, giving the girls enough time to get to their feet.
“Damn it! Where’d that flashlight go?” Allora exclaimed.
The creature turned over, shaking off the rocks that pinned it.
Katie grabbed her friend. “Forget the flashlight. There’s no time!” She then quickly pulled Allora into the blackness.
Unable to see, their progress was slow as they fished around with their hands to prevent themselves from running into rocks, cliffs, or jagged edges.
“I can’t see a thing. We needed that flashlight!”
“Well, excuse me,” Katie responded. “Feel free to go back and get it if you wanna be an appetizer for Super-Sized Spidey!”
The path turned abruptly and opened into a larger chamber that was slightly illuminated from a small crack in the high ceiling. With Katie in the lead, they jogged through it and almost crashed into the other side, a closed-off rock wall.
“Now what?” Allora said.
Katie frantically shuffled along the wall, feeling for any kind of hole or crack they could escape through. Unable to find anything, they searched frenetically around the darkness, unsure of their next move. The sound of falling rock and growling echoed in the chamber, indicating that the creature was moving fast.
“Hadron burst,” Katie suggested.
Allora calmed herself, breathed deeply, and pulled hadrons from the cave interior. A slow progression of energy surged within her body and focused into her hands. Two purple balls grew and surged with immense power.
The purple glow revealed the creature in an eerie hue as it entered the chamber. It snarled and growled when it saw the glowing girl. Allora pulled her hands to one side, combining the hadron energy. She controlled the swirling weapon, holding her focus intently, making sure maintain the magic until the precise moment. The creature made its move, crawling quickly along the ceiling.
“Get ready to jump out of the way!” Allora said as she shot her hands skyward.
In anticipation of its victim’s move, the creature blocked the hadron burst with its butcher knife appendage. The force from the attack knocked it from the ceiling, sending it crashing to the ground with a rumble. Katie and Allora jumped in different directions as the creature slid along the dirt floor until it hit the wall at the end of the chamber.
An explosion of rock filled the chamber with dust.
Katie pulled her head up and noticed a reddish-orange light peeking through the cloud of particles. It was coming from a crack in the wall, further illuminating the dusty chamber. “You think it’s a way out?”
“I don’t know, but it’s the only chance we’ve got,” Allora replied. The creature was regaining its footing, blocking their escape.
“How do we get over there?”
Allora only had a moment to figure it out, but a childhood memory came in handy. “Do you remember playing dodgeball in the gym?” Allora asked with a grin.
“You’re kidding me!” Katie exclaimed as it dawned on her what Allora was suggesting. “That’s your plan?”
“Got a better idea?” Allora asked with a shrug.
“So I guess I’m the bait, huh?” Katie asked apprehensively.
“Get ready.”
The hideous creature crept closer. Enraged by its elusive prey, the creature spat and growled.
Just as it prepared to lunge, Katie sprang forward, and Allora rolled to her right. Caught unaware, the creature swung at its first target, but Katie rolled left, avoiding the swinging arm. The beast adjusted, moving to its right to counter the evasion. Meanwhile, Allora was able to get a clear shot at the glowing crack, and her hadron burst destroyed the remaining wall. A piercing light blanketed the cave chamber, blinding the creature and causing it to wince and squirm. Furious, the creature swung violently, unable to see.
“Watch out!” Allora screamed as a cleaver-limb crashed into the wall.
Katie jumped out of the way of the falling rock, and they both sprinted into the light. The violent swinging caused the chamber to become unstable. Once the two girls were through the blown-out rock wall, they heard a deafening screech as the entire chamber collapsed on itself. They fanned the dust that blew out of the hole and sighed in relief.
“Do you feel warm?” Katie asked, her adrenaline pumping so much that she hadn’t noticed the extreme temperature change right away.
“Very warm,” Allora replied.
They slowly turned and gasped loudly.
“I-I don’t think that was the exit,” Katie said.
In front of them was a sea of lava, flowing like a river within a grandiose lava tube. The red-orange landscape was eerily beautiful, like something on Mars. Along the walls, cascading lava escaped out of holes, erupting in sparks as it hit the flowing river below. The unrelenting heat hit their faces, causing them to sweat. Every few seconds, bubbles of lava would burst, sending a wave of scalding air throughout the cavern.
“I’m almost missing the cold, spider-filled cave,” Katie said, sweating profusely, peeling off her filthy, ruined jacket and scarf, unable to stand the excruciating heat.
A reflection from the lava caught Allora’s eye, and she focused on a small platform protruding from the center of the river of fire. On top of the platform sat a shiny object. Squinting, she made out a small black orb. “We found it!” Allora said.
“Really?”
“Yeah!” Allora pointed at the platform. She scanned the area for some way to access it, but she saw no safe route. The platform was about fifty feet away, on the other side of a lake of molten lava.
“Now what?” Katie said.
Allora noticed large boulders sporadically flowing along, knocking into each other as they floated on top of the lava. “Stepping stones,” she muttered to herself.
Katie watched Allora’s stare, moving back and forth. “No way,” Katie said, shaking her head.
Allora smiled.
“No, Allora. It’s not gonna happen.”
Ignoring her friend, Allora jogged up the lava river, looking for the best place to cross, where the rocks were larger and more plentiful.
“You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna play hopscotch across that boiling river,” Katie said.
Still ignoring her, Allora found the perfect path and stopped to calculate the best route that would get her safely to the platform. Every step had to be perfect, or she’d be dragged down the river.
“You don’t even know if those rocks will hold you!” Katie continued to fight against it, but her friend’s stubbornness was relentless.
“And you don’t know they won’t,” Allora said. She then backed up, got a running start, and jumped forward when she reached the edge. The first rock swayed, pushed through the lava by the force of her impact. It bobbed in the lava but remained safely above the scorching surface.
Katie moved to the edge, but the heat was so intense that she was knocked back. “It’s so hot. How can you stand it?” she asked, following her friend as she floated down the river of lava. “I can’t even get close. It burns my skin!”
Allora braced herself and leapt to another rock. “I’m not sure,” she said, preparing for her next jump. “For some reason, it just doesn’t affect me. Maybe it has something to do with my ability to produce fire.” With every jump, she got closer to the middle, and the platform loomed in her sight. Allora leapt to the next rock, but she slipped on the edge and fell forward.
Katie screamed, fearing her friend’s fall would be fatal.
Allora quickly grabbed a pointed edge and prevented herself from falling into the boiling red lake. Her hair, however, flipped down close enough to catch on fire. She pulled herself up in a hurry and madly beat the flames.
“You okay?”
Allora didn’t have any time to respond. The platform was only a few feet ahead, and she knew if she didn’t move quickly,
her chance of reaching it would be gone. She hopped nimbly to the next rock. After dancing from one rock to the next, she made a final, desperate leap and clutched the edge of the platform for dear life.
Katie winced, watching as Allora swung her legs, trying to drag her body onto the granite surface.
With her shoes melting beneath her, Allora heaved herself up onto the platform surface. She collapsed, breathing heavily from the physical exertion. She gave Katie a thumbs-up, then crawled up a ramp to the top of the platform. There, in a bowl-shaped granite podium, Allora looked down upon a shiny obsidian orb. It seemed to swirl with motion, but it was made of seemingly solid material. Odd and beautiful, the object was an obvious abnormality for the site. “Is this it?” Allora asked.
“Well? What’s taking so long?” Katie yelled, wondering why Allora hadn’t grabbed the thing and returned already. The environment made her anxious, and she was already searching for an exit, eager to get out of there.
“It’s too easy,” Allora answered.
“Easy!?” Katie exclaimed, exploring the walls of the cavern. “None of this has been easy.”
Something was wrong, and Allora knew it. Why would Sas’s father leave the artifact out in the open? And isn’t the last piece supposed to be a piece of parchment?
“Let’s go!” Katie yelled, becoming more agitated.
Slowly, Allora picked up the orb between her thumb and forefinger. Fascinated by the small object, she stared at its mesmerizing surface. The interior swirled with silver-black liquid, yet the exterior was solid obsidian, reflecting the orange glow of the lava. Suddenly, the platform jerked, and Allora was knocked off balance. The orb slipped from her grip and began to plummet toward the river of lava. She stretched out, dived down the platform ramp, and caught it just in time, grabbing it from the granite rim before it was incinerated.
When the podium descended and the whole chamber shuddered violently, Katie screamed, “Move it!”
Allora got to her feet as the walls burst open and a rush of water exploded into the chamber. She placed the orb in a zippered pocket for safekeeping, leapt to a rock, and proceeded to dance across the large rocks, moving fast. The water crashed into the boiling orange liquid, creating a terrifying hiss and released hot steam. The cloud enveloped the area, pushing hot air toward the girls. Bobbing on each jump, Allora picked up her speed. An eruption of magma, steam, and rock was building.
Meanwhile, Katie had found a small hole that seemed to extend back into the Ape Caves. “Hurry up!” she screamed.
Erupting pockets of magma exploded toward the ceiling as Allora reached the other side of the chamber. She sprinted to the cave opening and dashed through with Katie right beside her. Behind them, the lava burst over the bank and began flowing into the opening. They turned their heads to see the bright, ominous glow of the pursuing magma. It illuminated their path, but it was gaining fast.
“Look!” Katie yelled, pointing ahead. “Dead end—maybe literally!”
Allora squinted and saw the orange glow shining on a wall, but what caught her eye was the dark contrasting floor only a hundred feet away. Her eyes went wide, but she had only a moment to react. She pulled back her arms, absorbing a purple ball of hadrons within, then shot it forward, bursting the wall and creating a hole.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!” the girls screamed in unison as the leapt over the deep crevice and into the hole Allora had made.
The lava flowed into the depths below, unable to reach the hole on the other side. The girls slid along the smooth cave rock, crashing through a thin shale wall. When the crumpled pile of arms and legs detangled itself, they found themselves sitting in a cloud of dust, breathing heavily. Covered from head to toe in dirt, the girls looked like strange cave creatures. Their clothes were blackened with ash, and their hair was matted, muddy, disheveled, and scorched.
Once the dust settled, a group of onlookers stood with their mouths wide, perplexed by the odd entrance.
Katie and Allora awkwardly smiled at their classmates. Tanner, Dax, and Mrs. Ferris ran down the trail after hearing the commotion and were relieved to see their friends alive.
Allora smiled back at them until she saw a familiar face wedging itself through the crowd of students. “Oh, hi, Aunt May,” Allora said, having forgotten her aunt had come along as a chaperone.
“You’re in big trouble, young lady.
Fifteen
CONFERENCES
“And in breaking news, Mount St. Helens has come back to life. At 11:38 a.m. this morning, the quiet volcano spewed ash and lava from the interior of the crater. As we can see from a viewer submission, lava escaped the round dome in the middle of the crater. Ash and debris exploded into the atmosphere and is said to be traveling toward the Portland metropolitan area. The last eruption of Mount St. Helens was in 1980. That event was far more extreme than we saw today, but this new eruption comes as a complete surprise.”
Milly walked in front of the television screen with her hands on her hips, staring at her daughter with a bewildered expression on her face. “Well, Allora? What the hell happened?”
“Nothing,” Allora answered unconvincingly.
“Nothing? The reactivation of a relatively dormant volcano isn’t nothing!” Milly said, pointing back to the television.
“With us today is Dr. Alexander Von Derau, of the United States Geological Survey. Doctor, what could have caused this unexpected eruption?”
“To be honest, we’re not sure. There was only a slight earthquake prior to it, and there were no signs indicating the sequence of events that generally leads up to such an eruption. In addition to that, Mount St. Helens isn’t known for lava eruptions. Like the 1980 eruption, the pressure builds and explodes with mostly ash, but this was different. To be honest, my colleagues and I are completely baffled by this. Something extraordinary happened here today, though, and we will get to the bottom of it.”
Milly turned off the television. “I wanna know right now what you and Katie were doing in that cave.”
Allora hesitated, knowing her mother would be furious, but she had to give her an answer. “We were searching for a piece of a map.”
“A map? What kind of map?” Milly asked, sounding skeptical
“A map that would lead us to The Eye of the Tita—”
“Stop!” Milly yelled to prevent Allora from saying the words.
Aunt May put her head down in silent anticipation of her sister’s fury; there was good reason they hadn’t spoken of the subject in six years, not since Ben’s untimely death.
Milly paced from the front door to bookcase, trying to control her emotions. She didn’t want to have a magical outburst, which had happened in the past. After a few deep breaths to calm her rage, Milly addressed her daughter. “How did you find out about The Eye?”
“Mr. Swan said—”
“I knew it!” Milly said, infuriated. She glanced over to Aunt May. “He’s never gonna stop this ridiculous quest, no matter how many people get killed in the process! First Ben and now my daughter. How many sacrifices is he willing to make?”
“What does that mean?” Allora asked.
“Your Uncle Ben was killed by a shifter because he and Swan set off a trigger, like the one you found today. When they did it, it sent an extremely strong energy signature, informing our enemies of our location,” Milly said, becoming angrier. “They compromised our community then, and you’ve compromised it now.”
Guilt crept up Allora’s spine as she realized she’d once again, albeit inadvertently, put her friends and family in danger. An inner argument arose though. Finally, she blurted out, “And what am I supposed to do? Sit here and hide? I’m not a baby anymore, so stop treating me like one!”
“Well, then stop acting like one,” Milly said. “You have no idea how lucky you are. You need to think, Allora. This isn’t a game!”
“Maybe if you’d tell me the truth and stop lying to me, I wouldn’t have to go it alone,” she snapped back. “Maybe if you’d tell
me what we’re really up against—”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what we’re really up against, Allora. You have no idea how evil and deadly it is. Don’t you see that I’m just trying to protect you?” Milly fired back.
“Protect me?” Allora said. “How? By sitting here and doing nothing? You’re supposed to be this brave, legendary leader, yet I haven’t seen you do anything.” Tears burst from Allora’s eyes. The scared girl inside couldn’t take it anymore. Allora’s exterior was a thick shell, but inside, she couldn’t hold back the fear she’d held on to every day since soccer tryouts. “I may be young, and I don’t understand everything that went on before I was born, but I’m not going to sit around and hide while my friends and family are being attacked.” Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. “I’m scared, Mom. I’m really, really scared, but that isn’t going to stop me from fighting.” Allora took a deep breath before saying words that she knew would be like a spear to her mother’s heart. “At least Uncle Ben stood for something. At least he was willing to do something to protect the people he loved.”
The comment hit Milly to her core. A lone tear broke from its nearly impenetrable emotional shell and crashed like a dumbbell to the hardwood floor. The weight of guilt upon her shoulders grew unbearable. As she watched Allora leave the living room, Milly’s tough façade collapsed in a flood of shame. Her daughter’s safety had been her number one priority, her entire identity for sixteen years, yet ultimately, she had failed in her mission. Quickly, her self-deprecation turned to anger toward the one man who had defied her orders and infected her daughter with tall tales. The Eye was a myth, a fairytale that was going to get her daughter killed. Intending to put a stop to the deadly and pointless quest, Milly went to her room to wait for the parent-teacher conferences that evening; they couldn’t have come at a better time, because that mother had a thing or two to say to her daughter’s history teacher.
* * *
Squeezing into the undersized desk chair, Milly waited patiently at the back of the room. She glanced around at the numerous maps hanging on the walls. When she turned around, she saw a faint discoloration in a small area in the corner, something only a trained eye could decipher. Milly wondered what was in the safe. She wasn’t sure she could trust Mr. Swan. Sure, he’d been her little brother’s best friend, but he had a tumultuous past filled with unexplained secrets.