Christine pulled her bindings loose and stood up. “What did you do to me? Who are you?”
A giant snake slid into the room from a large panel that opened in the wall. Light flooded out from behind it, illuminating the snake as it slithered into the room. It moved beside the dog-headed man.
Christine froze. Her heart raced with fear, pounding so hard she thought it might jump up her throat and out her mouth.
“Submit. Escape to the dream, yes,” the creature cooed at her.
“No, it’s not real,” Christine muttered and shook her head. She took a step toward the snake. It shrunk away from her, sliding back to a corner. The sensation of sleepiness left her as her mind cleared.
The dog-headed being sneered. “If not submit, then die.” He started toward her with his clawed hands outstretched.
Panic rose in her throat. Ducking a pair of claws as they swept past her, she stepped back from the creature. Christine lowered a shoulder, charged forward, and slammed into him on the side, knocking him off balance.
“I demand you to stop!” Christine yelled at him.
The dog-headed man turned to swipe again but stopped and stood there, its ears pointed toward her and its head cocked to one side.
Warmth touched her chest, just below the neck. Under her shirt rested a locket, glowing with a soft yellow light. She pulled the locket out and cracked it open.
Andrew’s smiling face stared up at her.
The dog-headed man snarled at her, his ears pinned down flat to his head. “No! No! Can’t do that, not to us!” He stepped backwards as the snake slid closer to Christine.
For a split second, she felt fear beckon her to give in. Pushing the emotion down, she forced herself to remain calm. She could not run and would have to fight back if she had any hope of getting out.
The snake paused, dragging its long body up under its head. It lifted itself higher into the air and spread out a hood as its mouth opened with a hiss.
Christine kept the cobra’s gaze, her hands clenched by her sides. The snake did not advance farther.
The dog-headed man screamed in anger at the snake. “Useless!”
Fear—the snake fed on her fear. As long as she remained unafraid, it could not defeat her.
She hoped.
Christine sucked in a breath, steadying herself, and stepped forward. The snake slid backwards a foot from her. Christine grinned to herself.
The dog-headed man shrieked again and charged out from behind the snake.
Christine prepared herself this time and stood rigid as he came after her. Perhaps he worked the same way.
The man slammed into her. Digging his claws into her shoulder, he snarled, “We know what you are! Can’t hide anymore.”
What was she? Confused, she did not react in time as he threw her into the ground, knocking her breathless. That had not gone to plan. She screamed out in pain as his claws ripped into her skin. Christine grabbed him by the lower jaw and pushed upwards, twisting his head back and to the side.
He was a lot stronger, but she kept him at bay, for now.
Glancing around for a weapon, Christine noticed a bag hanging from his hip. Something inside of it glowed a faint yellow. Christine grabbed it and ripped it away from him.
“Give it back! Now, now!” the man shrieked, letting go of her shoulders to reach out for the bag.
Christine acted as if she was going to throw it, but she did not let go. The dog-headed man shifted his weight, stretching out for where the bag would have gone. Putting a leg under the dog-headed man, Christine pushed out with all of her might. The man, already off balance from overextending himself, tumbled off to the side.
Christine scrambled to her feet and took a few steps around the giant snake. It made terrible hissing sounds, but did not interfere. She shoved the bag into her pocket.
The dog-headed man yelled again, something in a language she could not understand.
Another panel in the wall opened. A thing came out of it—a thing that Christine had no words to describe. She estimated it to be the size of a small car. It half walked, half crawled along the ground using its hands, or possibly its feet, she could not tell which. Its gray and silver body pulsed with some sort of life, but it did not breathe like other animals. There was no mouth, not where she expected one anyway. It just had a gaping hole on the side of its body.
Behind it, the dog-headed man chuckled as he started to get on his feet.
The thing charged at Christine, flinging itself at her.
Backpedaling out of the way, Christine avoided the monster for a second. She needed out of this place—now.
Christine clutched her locket in a tight fist. She felt a slight electrical tingle move across her body and then the floor gave out from underneath her.
As she fell, she could hear the dog-headed man screaming, “Die! Die! We will kill you for this!”
* * * * * *
Peeling back her eyelids, Christine found herself lying on her back, staring up at a swirling purple and red sky. Feet shuffled nearby, and Christine bolted straight up. She spun around, expecting an attack, but in front of her stood a young girl, maybe twelve years old. Tucked under one arm was a green box with a picture of chocolate covered cookies on it.
Christine recognized the round face with short black hair staring at her. “Allison?” Her jaw felt like it might fall off. Allison was dead.
“Best friend!” Allison wrapped her arms around Christine and squeezed.
Christine hugged her in return, but the memory of the dog-headed man popped into her mind. She pushed Allison away from her, holding the girl at an arm’s length.
Allison frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Christine stood on the top of a tall wall, looking down over a valley of fluffy clouds on one side and a hellish pit of fire and smoke on the other. Whenever Christine turned toward the clouds, the faintest sound of music came from it. When she looked toward the fire, it sounded like a pair of great stones grinding against each other.
“I’m dead.” She breathed out.
“Nope. I am, but you’re not.” Allison spread out a pair of wings—pure white expect for the tips, which were a deep, jet black. She gave Christine a toothy smile and then folded her wings behind her, out of sight.
“How?”
“You chose us to be here for you, always.” She placed her hand over her heart, as if pledging her loyalty. “We end up here when you connect with us. Kinda like heaven, I guess, but it’s not. Some of the others talk about you though.” She pointed out into the distance and then scratched the edge of her ear. “Well, a previous you, I think. Or no, that’s not right. More like someone died and you inherited what they had.”
Christine squinted her eyes and could just make out what appeared to be a pair of gates situated in the middle of the wall. Figures clustered around it, but she found it impossible to make out what they were doing.
“And is that hell?” Christine motioned over to the other side of the wall.
“Well, sorta. I mean, they kinda look like demons, but they are nice enough. They like cookies.” Allison held out her box. It was red now and had a picture of miniature Christmas cookies dipped in white frosting all over it.
Trying to make sense of what had transpired, she picked up the gold locket hanging over her chest and opened it. Christine used a finger to pull away Andrew’s picture. Under it was a picture of Samantha, who had just moved to town. She pulled away another, revealing Joseph. Then she pulled away another and another, each one a smiling face of someone Christine considered a friend. There must have been dozens of people she had clipped from photos and crammed into the locket—far more than could reasonably fit.
Allison stood up on tiptoes, peering into the locket.
Shooting a glare at her, Christine pushed all the pictures down into it. Her hand closed around the locket, snapping it shut.
“Whoa, sorry there.” Allison leaned away. “Just curious.”
Christine tucked the
locket under her shirt. Then she remembered she had stolen something from the terrible dog-headed being. She shoved a hand into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch, which she opened. Inside laid a severed, three-fingered hand—only a few inches long. Gingerly, she reached in and pulled it out by the tip of a finger.
Embedded into the palm was a large, cream-colored pearl. It looked like a slimy white eyeball without an iris, flesh folding around it like eyelids.
“Eww, gross.” Allison voiced Christine’s feelings.
Part of Christine wanted to throw the item away, but something about it called to her. A glow suffused the pearl with its own light, drawing her attention.
The list of Stones the Keepers sought popped into her mind. The very last one had been the Stone of Fear. The dog-headed man had tried to use fear against her. She wondered if this could be the Stone mentioned on the list.
A voice she could not quite make out tickled in the back of her mind. She grabbed the twisted hand and squeezed it in her fist.
Overwhelming fear paralyzed her mind—an illogical sense of dread. Christine retreated away from Allison until she bumped into the wall. Pressing against it, she tumbled right over the edge.
Allison screamed something, but fear had consumed Christine’s mind. She passed through the layer of clouds, but never saw what was on the other side. The fingers of the clawed hand straightened, and a portal opened under her.
* * * * * *
Andrew stood beside Raptor, watching a strange spectacle.
A dog-like man with dark purple skin knelt on a stone floor, digging at it with his hands. A pale, thick substance covered the floor. Blood, Andrew figured. Every so often, the dog-like being muttered something to itself that Andrew could not understand. The language was filled with strange syllables only a long muzzle could produce.
Raptor had warned Andrew the creature they would face was Arachnid, the Quester of the Stone of Fear. She told him he would need to keep a constant check of his emotions and thoughts. Arachnid could read minds and would seize upon any fear Andrew felt, even if he did not show it.
However, seeing the dog-like man clawing at the floor in distress, Andrew felt more pity for him than fear.
“What happened?” Andrew whispered.
Raptor shook her head as her forehead wrinkled. Approaching Arachnid, she asked, “Where is she?”
“It’s gone!” Arachnid leapt to his feet and pointed a finger at Raptor. “You! This is your fault!”
Turning away as she rolled her eyes, Raptor scoffed. “Hardly. You’re the one that attacked my base.”
Arachnid grinned, his lips parting to show a mouth lined with sharp teeth. “You don’t know, do you? No, no, she doesn’t. Hasn’t realized what’s going on.”
“Realized what?”
An eerie chuckle escaped from Arachnid, sending a shiver down Andrew’s spine. “That would be cheating. We wouldn’t want that. Indeed.” He wiggled his fingers at Raptor.
“We?” Andrew asked.
A harsh glare came from Raptor. He decided to keep his comments to himself.
“I don’t have time for this,” Raptor grumbled. She then scowled and stood right in front of Arachnid.
His long ears tilted inwards and down toward her. They stood there—silent, motionless. Suddenly, Raptor’s body stiffened and her face turned pale. Sweat dripped down the side of her face.
“Raptor!” Andrew yelled, but she did not respond. He worried she had been drawn under Arachnid’s power. He glanced around the tiny stone room. Arachnid had them trapped. The chair in the middle of the room reminded him of a torture device. What had they been thinking, coming here and making demands? He wondered if Raptor could defeat Arachnid in a straight fight.
Arachnid observed Andrew and grinned, his long jaws exaggerating his toothy smile.
“Far too easy,” Arachnid muttered to himself and took a step forward toward Andrew. He growled, turning back to Raptor. “She can get it back for us. Indeed.”
A sigh passed Arachnid’s lips, and Raptor popped out of her trance, jerking herself away from him.
Andrew gasped. The fear welling up inside of him dissipated. He had not even realized what had happened until the feeling left him.
With a snort, Raptor moved away from Arachnid and stood between him and Andrew. “Where’s your Stone?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.
Andrew rubbed his forehead, his mind clearing as he regained control of his emotions. He had not expected the fear to have gripped him so completely.
“She escaped with it,” Arachnid answered. “Gone, poofed, departed, disappeared. Find it, bring it back to us.” He tapped his chest with the tips of his fingers.
Raptor turned to Andrew. “We’re leaving.” She reached up and touched her ear. “Mouse. Get us out.”
“What about—”
“We’re leaving!” Raptor interrupted him. She placed her hand on Andrew’s shoulder. An electric tingle ran through his body, and the next moment, he stood in the Keepers’ headquarters. Four rings carved into the ground covered the middle of the room.
“What was that about?” Andrew spat out the words.
“That was unexpected is what. I’m sorry I yelled at you, but Arachnid was taking advantage of our fear.” She rubbed her forehead. “I had hoped I could convince him to help us, but I miscalculated. All he cared about was getting his Quester Stone back, which Christine seems to have stolen, somehow.”
“Where is Christine?” He felt his anger melting away, concern welling up in its place.
“I don’t know, but I believe him. She escaped.”
“He’s insane.”
“Oh, completely. That’s what happens when a Stone takes control of a Quester. If you’re going to join the Keepers, you need to be aware of beings like him.”
“If we had to fight him, what would happen?”
“We’d lose.” Raptor then reached up and touched her ear again. “Mouse. I want you to start tracking Christine. She wasn’t there, and I can’t begin to guess where she went.”
Raptor stood with her head tilted to the side, as if listening. She hissed to herself as she lowered her hand.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Grumbling to herself, Raptor said, “Should have never let her out of my sight.” To Andrew, she said, “She’s vanished. Mouse is looking for her, but right now, we can’t do anything until she reappears.”
“But we need to find her.”
“I can’t.”
Andrew wanted to lash out at Raptor. “Does Arachnid know where she is? Make him tell us!” he pleaded. He needed to find Christine.
“Andrew!” Raptor snapped at him through gritted teeth. She closed her eyes and then said in a calmer tone. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you; I feel it too. Earth is pressing on us to find her. You should feel hungry, but not for food.”
An overwhelming sense of hunger rested in the pit of Andrew’s stomach, but he did not know what would fill it. “Is Arachnid why Earth wanted Christine to stay here?”
“I don’t think so. Arachnid got to Christine because she was here when the power went out and Earth couldn’t have predicted that happening. Something else is going on. Now, commit to finding her.”
“I will find her,” Andrew said. The emotion of hunger lifted. He gasped as the weight fell away. “I didn’t know it could do that to me.”
“I don’t think Earth meant to hit you that hard with the emotion. You’re new to this, and your feelings for Christine are real, so it may have been amplified.”
“What do we do now?”
Reaching over to rest a hand on Andrew’s shoulder, she said, “You have two choices: either stay at the Keeper headquarters and sulk, or come with me to find another Stone. Mouse will let us know the second Christine shows back up.”
Andrew let out a slow breath as he nodded. If he could not do anything but twiddle his thumbs, then he would much rather continue the mission and keep his mind occupied. It was better tha
n worrying himself sick about Christine.
“I’ll come with you,” Andrew replied.
“Well, let’s get going then.”
Chapter Fifteen
Dozens of slim trees towered high above Andrew. The thick canopy prevented any light from reaching the ground. Dark green and purple plants sprouted up all around the ground, their sword-like leaves stretching out in all directions. The dim, orange light of a sun low to the horizon streamed around them from the edges of the forest, casting long shadows.
Raptor had called the dimension Ligna—the home of the Stone of Life.
Raptor moved through the forest with great caution, her eyes darting back and forth between the trunks.
“What are you looking for?” Andrew asked. The forest was muggy, and his shirt clung to his skin, sticky with sweat.
“We need the locals to find us if we’re going to get close to the Stone of Life. If I can make them a little bit angry, that should do the trick.”
Andrew gulped.
“Hear those high pitched chirps?” She pointed into the forest. “There’s a large animal sending out warnings. It probably means there’s a hunting party nearby.”
Andrew had heard the sounds she described, but he had no idea they meant anything.
Crouching near the ground, Raptor peered into the forest. She put her hand to her side where a small handgun rested. She had taken the gun from the Keeper base before they left.
Andrew felt a strange emotion come over him as the forest fell quiet. The silence unsettled him, as if the trees held their breath in anticipation of something dreadful. The chirping sound stopped.
Andrew’s eyes flicked side to side. Expecting something to leap out from behind a tree, he whispered, “Something’s wrong. It’s like the trees and plants are waiting for something.”
“They are warning you.” Raptor stood up. “We’re about to be attacked. You must not scream, and you must trust me. We need to make them angry enough to take us as prisoners, but not angry enough to try to kill us.”
“I can do that,” Andrew said, hoping his voice projected confidence, but inside, he could feel his heart fluttering.
Stone of Power (Keepers of Earth Book 1) Page 19