PINELIGHTforkindle

by Jillian Peery

  I patiently waited, hoping that he had more to say—but anxious about what it might be. After a few minutes of waiting and sporadic breathing, he turned his body so that he faced me. His hand lightly touched the side of my neck, tracing the lines down to the pendant hidden under my blouse.

  “I gave this to you the last time I saw you.” He smiled as the pine light from the cross began to glow. “It was very dear to me. I’m glad you kept it safe.”

  “Would you like it back?” I asked, not knowing what else to say.

  “No, it is yours. I like seeing it around your neck.”

  His bright green eyes scanned over the pendant one more time before he placed it back against my skin.

  We ate the rest of our dinner, staring quietly at the fire. Finn got up a few times to stir the logs, but eventually settled back down beside me. Before long, the warmth of the fire had wrapped me like a blanket, bringing sleep with it. The urge to close my eyes took precedence over staying awake. I slowly fell into my first dreamless sleep.

  -23-

  PLUMMET

  The next thing I knew, it was dawn, and my head was on Finn’s chest. His arm was underneath my neck, resting on my shoulder in a protective embrace. I’m not sure how it got there; I just knew that I liked it being there. I looked up, secretly admiring the exquisiteness of his face, wondering how I could have ever forgotten such a face.

  After waking, we quickly filled our stomachs with the remaining sea biscuits, salted meat, and bacon. We doused the fire and began our meander through the jungle once more. I wasn’t paying as much attention to the trees this time; my eyes were occupied studying Finn. I noted how he wrinkled his brow when I spoke to him, how he pushed his thick hair from his face when we stopped for water, how he wiped the sweat from his forehead when the humidity was almost unbearable. Before long his shirt was halfway open, giving me even more to study.

  His skin was darker than I had noticed before, almost golden, like a Brazilian tan. And he was buff—boy, was he buff. Now that I looked, I could see the ripples of muscles in his chest and the tight lines of his back. Then a surprise breeze caught the fabric of his shirt, revealing something else. A scar. It was slightly to the left of his heart, noticeably lighter in color, a few inches long and half an inch wide.

  I wanted to ask him about it, but was unsure how to bring it up. Then Finn stopped dead in his tracks and I didn’t have to—I had something else to wonder about.

  I pushed through the branches that separated us, until I could see what had frozen him.

  There was a small clearing, with a pool of water, situated between two dead trees. The pool was oddly sized, only a few yards long and wide. And the water was dark blue, not what I expected from a pool of still water. No grass grew in the clearing. No jungle bush or flower. And there were no animals in the trees around it. Finn grabbed my arm when I attempted to step past him for a better look.

  “This is it,” he said. “The plummet.”

  “This? This is the plummet?” It seemed an odd place for something so foreboding.

  “Yes. This is where we fall.”

  Now I understood.

  Finn eased his way to the edge of the water, instructing me to stay behind him. I was tense with every step we made.

  “We jump together,” he said, reaching for my hand. “Are you ready?”

  Was I ready to jump into a dark pool of uncertainty? Was I ready to fall into hell itself? An honest answer wouldn’t have made a good answer, so I nodded as convincingly as I could. Finn gave me one last look, and then we jumped.

  Faceless bodies pulled us down into the deep water. They were everywhere—floating and swirling around us while we struggled to hold our breath. I had never seen anything so demonic. Finn wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged my body as we were pulled down into the abyss. The water was ice-cold and clear as we descended. I looked over his shoulder to see the bodies scatter as we dropped into darker water.

  It looked like we were dropping into a giant crack in the floor of the ocean. As we neared the fracture, I could see hundreds of tube-like clusters lining the floor of the ocean like carpet. Each tube resembled a different size worm—some were small; others were long enough to wrap around our bodies. I couldn’t help but tighten my grip around Finn’s chest while we lowered through the colony of worm creatures into the abyss.

  Once we entered the darkness, I closed my eyes and clung to Finn’s neck. I was afraid of what might happen next.

  Suddenly, the temperature of the water began to drop. I opened my eyes to see a blurry red surface of water growing closer. I loosened my grip around Finn so that we could kick at the water beneath us. In seconds we popped from an icy lake, where we took our first gasp of air in Hades.

  -24-

  HADES

  The sky was black, no moon or star in sight. The only light came from a ruby glow surrounding a distant mountain. The stench of smoke filled our lungs as we crawled from the icy water to the bank and rolled into the snow. My bones ached from the kicking and the fast drop in temperature. I had never felt this kind of cold. The combination of water with the icy atmosphere made it difficult to breathe. Both our bodies were shaking.

  For the first time, the danger felt real. We were both wet to the bone and surrounded by the feeling of death. I was afraid. Finn eased that fear when he crawled to my side and pulled my body to his. I could feel his warm breath glide across my face while he held me in his arms. The longer we sat shivering in the snow, the harder it was to concentrate. I wondered how long this would last. Could our bodies shrug away the cold—or would we freeze to death in hell? I swallowed, trying to wash the taste of salt and fear from my mouth.

  “W-W-Where do w-we go n-now?” I asked with a chattering voice.

  Finn nodded to the red mountain in the distance while he helped me up from the snow.

  “We must keep our bodies moving,” Finn mumbled.

  I nodded my head in consent. Finn released his grip from around my waist and faced me. My lips quivered while his gaze locked with mine. I tried to hide my fear and anxiety, but he saw right through the facade.

  “We can do this.” He gently brushed a strand of wet hair away from my face and continued. “We will find your aunt, and we will leave this place.”

  “H-How w-will we know what to do when we reach this place?”

  “You know the book of poems and scripture by heart. All the answers are there,” he said.

  “But—” I tugged the book from my side and flipped it open. “I don’t know what it means.”

  “You will.”

  I bit my lip to silence the chatter and then took a step forward into the unknown.

  We trudged through the knee-high mounds of snow for seemingly hours, but in reality only minutes passed. This was true hell. A shrill howl came from the wind while we plunged through the never-ending white mounds. The wind and snow were numbing. I could no longer feel my feet, and the numbing sensation was moving into my calves.

  A deep silence fell over the snow, and the ground began to shake under our feet. Finn looked at me—surprised. We stood like figurines and watched as the snow began to shrink around us.

  “What’s happening, Finn?” I glanced at the melting snow all around our feet.

  “I don’t know—hold on to me.” His grip on my hand tightened. “This doesn’t look good.”

  We stood frozen, watching the thick snow that surrounded us turn to pools of slush. In only seconds, every inch of snow had evaporated into the new, rocky ground. The ground shook again. The rock began to shift and crack underneath us. Steamy water began to bubble up and separated the ground into floating, shifting plates of rock.

  “We’ve got to get to that mountain—come on.” Finn tugged at my hand as he jumped over a large, bubbling crack to the next plate of rock. I followed.

  The rocks knocked against each other with every step. Soon we found ourselves skipping from one rock to the next, bobbling up and down over the warm water. My f
eet and legs tingled as the steam and heat from the water began to thaw my limbs. The ground rumbled again. This time the cracks split wider between the plates.

  My eye caught a glimpse of something darting in the water. I paused and jerked at Finn’s arm abruptly.

  “There’s something down there,” I said. I bent down to take a closer look. I could feel the steam sticking to my face.

  “We don’t have time—come on, Clara!”

  As he pulled me away from the steam, a triangular head the size of a beach ball shot out of the water like a missile. We both toppled backward, falling over each other on the rock. The black head bobbed back and forth on the surface of the water, hissing and staring straight at us. Its oval eyes glared with a scarlet hue, while a long v-shaped tongue slid between its two fangs. Finn slowly stood up and positioned his body in front of mine. The snake began to rise out of the water. I hate snakes.

  The tip of his sword sliced straight through the middle of the creature’s eyes. Blood gushed from the damaged head, while the split corpse fell to the plate of rock, like a limp rope. Just as Finn shoved his bloody sword back into its sheath, the body of the snake began to hiss again. Finn pushed me further back from the body and placed his hand back on the hilt of his sword. We watched in horror while hundreds of angry snakes spewed from the body of the dead snake. There were too many to kill.

  “Go—go!” Finn shouted.

  We leapt from plate to floating plate—we ran until there were no more snakes or cracks in the ground. And then we stopped to breathe.

  “That…was…disgusting,” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

  “I agree. Are you all right?”

  “I will be…I just hate snakes.” My skin crawled as I said the very word.

  “It will be okay…They are below—we just have to stay above water and away from the cracks,” he said.

  “Good idea.”

  I saw a half grin when he chuckled. “Great idea.”

  We marched on until we reached the mountain.

  We stood staring straight up at the height of the stone peak. The massive obstacle stretched hundreds of feet high, reaching up to the angry red sky above us. The rock was the blackest of black, but gave off a red appearance. I glanced over to examine Finn’s expression—and from what I saw, I could tell that he didn’t know where to go from here. I honestly didn’t know myself—all I knew was that we needed to be on the other side.

  He looked at me. “So, we climb?”

  I didn’t answer. A memory had popped into my mind. There was a story Fergus had told me long ago in the library…something about a mountain. I couldn’t remember exactly. I finally closed my eyes and then let my mind wander.

  In my mind I could hear Fergus telling his stories. “There is a place—a most dreadful place. It tears at your beliefs and all understandings. Nothing is as it appears in this place. It is here that your fear can become reality and reality can become your fear. You must know what you believe—hold strongly to your faith. Then you can move mountains.”

  “Clara—” Finn said.

  I opened my eyes and glared straight into the mountains. The story was about this place. It was about these mountains.

  “We’re going through,” I said confidently.

  I squinted, and focused as hard as I could, until the mass of rock became a blurry sea of red. In the past few weeks, I had witnessed all kinds of impossible things become possible. If fallen angels could roam the earth and caves could transport you to a different world—well, then this must be possible. This is possible. I imagined the blurry rock splitting, like the raging Red Sea in the bible. My vision was so clear—I could see the violent waters part. I could smell the salt in the air. I could hear the roar of the sea.

  I could hear a whisper of Finn’s voice coming from behind—I fought the urge to open my eyes. Instead, I walked forward toward the sound of the water’s hiss. I put all of my energy into staying focused on the wall of sea and walking through it. I could feel humidity sticking against my skin as I walked to the opening in the water. I took one deep breath and then stepped inside the sea. Two hands quickly took hold of my shoulders and spun me around. I opened my eyes. We were in.

  “How did you do that?” His face was full of questions.

  “Well, I…I don’t know how to explain.”

  “It was amazing—the mountain just cracked. It…it…parted…It just opened right up for you.” I watched the expression of his face jump around as he looked to me for answers.

  “I imagined it to be true, that’s all.” As I spoke, I looked around and was a little surprised myself. To my left and right were cold black walls of stone. We were standing in an opening that was wide enough to be a two-lane highway.

  A small fear popped into my mind before I had time to stop it. What if we get lost inside this mountain? Immediately, the opening we had entered turned into another stone wall. We were sealed in.

  We both looked forward simultaneously. The one path that had been here earlier had turned into a multitude of paths. The mountain had become a labyrinth.

  “Oh, Finn—” I moaned. With one quick glance from him, I could tell that he knew what I had done.

  “We can’t forget what Fergus told us,” Finn said.

  “I know,” I continued. “Don’t let your fears take control, and don’t trust what you see.” I could tell that Finn was pleased that I had paid attention.

  “The idea of getting lost just popped into my head,” I confessed. “I couldn’t stop it.”

  “I understand—but it is important that we prevent fear from entering our thoughts.”

  “That’s easier said than done,” I said as I stared up into the red of the sky.

  Finn started to take off down one of the main paths. I followed while curiously scoping out the walls of the maze. We walked several miles in silence before coming to the first split in the path. We decided to go right.

  This course took us deeper into the labyrinth, twisting and turning, dividing into more paths the further we walked. The more I worried we wouldn’t make it out, the more the path divided. But then something happened. As I looked up at the walls around us, I saw faces in the stone. There were hundreds—no, thousands—of faces staring back at me from the black stone. I quickly picked up my pace so that I was walking side by side with Finn. I tried my best to forget about the images. None of it is real, I told myself. I knew I needed to control my fear, but I could feel it taking control. I dropped my gaze to the ground, hoping to clear my mind, but now the stones on the ground were beginning to form shapes. I was losing it.

  “Finn—we’ve got to get out of here, fast.”

  But it was too late.

  The ground rumbled below us, showering us with loose rocks. More faces formed, gnarling at our feet. High-pitched screams filled the pathway.

  “Clara—what’s happening? What are you thinking?” Finn asked.

  “I’m sorry, I’m trying to stop!”

  The walls appeared to move around us. Paths were closing off, one by one—it looked like the mountain was going to close around us. Finn shot one of his questioning looks at me—as if I was the guilty party or something. But it wasn’t me. Not this time, I was sure of it.

  “It’s not me! I’m not doing this—what’s going on in your head?”

  The ground was still shaking. The rocks were jumping from the ground like Mexican jumping beans. The walls were moving. Howling screams were in the air.

  “Clara—listen to me. Whatever happens, you remember the stories. Remember the scripture and the poems, and if things don’t go as planned, you leave and get out of here.” His eyes were piercing as he spoke. “You understand?”

  I knew I would never leave him, but I nodded anyway.

  All of a sudden, a hot blast of wind blew at our backs—the red sky slowly faded away, while the mountain turned into a dark hallway. I couldn’t see anything. I reached out with my hands and whispered Finn’s name. An eerie feeling came over m
e as my voice broke the silence. I stood still with my arms still reaching to my front and sides—I could hear only a faint sound of someone breathing in the darkness. Why was he not answering me? I called again—just breathing. I started backing up slowly and reaching again for him, until I bumped into the wall. Finally, I felt the comfort of fingers sliding around my hand. I sighed in relief.

  “Finn—this is not the place to be playing games.” There was no response. “Finn?”

  I remembered the pendant and quickly slipped my free hand to my neck, then under the chain. When I pulled the pendant over my head and into my hands, the pine needles instantly began to glow. The bright blue shade of light instantly pierced through the darkness. I looked to my other hand and screamed. The fingers that held my hand so tightly were not Finn’s—they were from the wall. I tugged as hard as I could to free myself from the hand, but the grip only tightened. I screamed again.

  The wall and the ceilings displayed thousands of gnashing faces and outstretched arms—all clawing at me. I frantically tried to peel the long black fingers away from my skin using the pendant. The light appeared to irritate the skin on the hand, but the grip did not loosen. My efforts seemed useless. Another hand darted out from the wall and grabbed my free wrist. I squeezed the pendant, while both of my hands were yanked toward the wall.

  “Finnnnnnn!” I shouted—my plea was loud and piercing.

  More hands began to extend from the black wall, grabbing at my clothes and my legs. The dark, twisted faces in the stone growled as I was pulled closer to the wall. My heart was beating faster by the second; my mind was racing different directions. Where is Finn?

  In a swift breeze, a sword flew through the air and sliced the arms that were clenching my hand and wrist. My hands were free from the wall, but the disconnected hands were still holding on. I quickly yanked them off and hurled them to the ground. The long, bony arms evaporated into the black of the floor. In another swing, the metal slashed off the fingers that clinched my clothes. One by one the fingers plopped to the ground and disappeared like the arms before them. In the final stroke, the sword plunged downward—the blade drove into the ground, taking the hand that seized my leg. I looked back to the floor—all the limbs were gone.