by Dara Nelson
Matt pressed a hundred dollar bill into his hand and said, “We won’t be needing a hotel for a few days. But thanks for your concern.”
We all climbed out, a strange sight with two seven foot tall people with large black capes draped around them to hide their faces and wings. Bahiti led the way to the end of the alley, pressed the correct bricks, and we all headed down the stairs. As we reached the outer room, instead of feeling nervous and scared, I began to feel stronger. I felt my chest puff out, I felt my resolve grow. For the first time in a long time, I felt completely confident. I felt fearless. I was ready. I made it through what I thought would be the hardest thing in my life, my goodbyes, without shedding a single tear. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. We said our goodbyes then Jason and I entered the room. I grimaced slightly as I heard the door seal shut behind me. I squeezed Jason’s hand tight as we looked at each other. Then I flinched slightly when Sekhmet’s statue head began to slowly move toward us, making a grating sound as it did. She stared at us for a few moments before she finally spoke, “Find the tile of which I speak, break it and find the next clue that you seek. But break the wrong tile and death will be fast, you must do this right for your time to last: I can be quick and then I’m deadly, I am a rock, shell and bone medley. If I was made into a man, I’d make people dream, I gather in my millions by ocean ,sea and stream.”
Her stone head creaked and groaned as it moved back into place. I closed my eyes and repeated the limerick in my head. “What the hell did that just mean, Sarah?” Jason said. I put my finger to my lips, “Shhhh. I’m thinking. I can be quick and then I’m deadly. I am a rock, shell and bone medley. If I was made into a man, I’d make people dream, I gather in my millions by ocean, SAND! The answer is sand. Quicksand, the Sandman. Look around. We have to find the symbol for sand.”
‘Good job, Sarah. You got that one faster than I did,’ Jonas said in my head. My body immediately relaxed, ‘You’re here, Jonas. You made it in here with me.’ I thought.
‘Of course I did. I told you I’d be here. Now look around. Let’s find this next clue quickly.’
We began scouring the room. There were hundreds, no, thousands of symbols in here. Lining the walls, the ceiling and the floor. “Look, let’s break this into sections. Do you know what you’re looking for Jason?” He nodded. “Okay, you take the north and west walls. I’ll take east and south. If we haven’t found it there, then you take the ceiling and I’ll take the floor. Okay?”
An hour later, and about halfway through the south wall, I found it. “I’ve got it, over here. Jason, bring me that rock to break it, please?” He handed me the rock and I broke the tile. I cleared away the debris, reached inside and pulled out the scroll with our next clue.
What king can you make if you take
the head of a lamb
the middle of a pig
the hind of a buffalo
and the tail of a dragon?
I stared at the paper for a few minutes. “How can you mix together all of these animals to make some sort of a king?” I mumbled. ‘Wait, Sarah! Not the animals. The letters of the words. The head of a lamb would be the letter L. The middle of the pig is an I. The hind of the buffalo is the O and the tail of the dragon is an N. That’s LION, the king of the jungle.’
“Jason, look for a lion, quick.”
“A lion? How do you get a lion out of that?”
“No time to explain. Just look for it.”
Two hours later and Jason finally spotted it in the ceiling. “Got it!” he cried as he swooped down to grab the rock from me. He gently landed by my side a minute later. He unrolled the scroll and we read it together.
My story whispers ancient lore;
The force at times my rings will hide.
I've sixty minions, maybe more:
Those unseen, these by my side.
Wandering far from glowing light,
Shape-shifting puzzles curious eyes;
Oft my glorious rings shine bright,
While men debate my family's size.
My aspect seems to wax and wane,
As the force dictates the deed;
My namesake ruled vast fields of grain,
But, legends tell, devoured his seed.
What am I?
“What the hell? These are getting harder,” Jason groaned. I paced the floor as I repeated the riddle over and over in my head. Jonas’ voice was an echo in my ear as he repeated it too. Minutes quickly turned into hours then hours turned into days. I finally had to close my eyes for a bit at the end of the third day, I was exhausted, my brain was exhausted. But my eyes flew open after only a few hours of sleep when the answer popped into my head, “Saturn!” I yelled as I jumped up and immediately started searching the tiles. Jason rubbed his sleepy eyes as he sat up, “What did you say, Sarah?”
“Saturn. The answer is the planet Saturn.”
On and on we went. Riddle after riddle. Clue after clue. Day after day. Rationing the blood in the cooler that I had brought in. Splitting one bag per day as long as the dry ice lasted. Yes, I was forcing myself to stop after only half a bag. It still hurt worse than anything I’d ever felt, and it left me incapacitated for a few hours afterwards, but, for Jason, it was definitely worth it. But when I reached into the cooler and pulled out the last bag, it finally dawned on me how long we had been in here already, and that things were going to get a lot tougher.
“What if it’s every one?” Jason said.
“Hmmm?” I mumbled. My eyes were closed, we were sitting against the wall while I recovered from stopping yet again. I handed Jason the remaining blood. “Sarah, this is much more than half. We’re supposed to be even, but every bag you hand me has more and more blood in it, which means you’re drinking less and less.”
I ignored his comment and repeated his question, “What do you mean, what if it’s every one?”
“What if we have to go through every tile? What if there’s a clue behind every one? We’ve already been here three and a half months and we’ve only gone through, what, fifteen clues? It would take us years if it’s every one. We don’t have years. I’m already feeling much weaker. It won’t be long before I can’t think rationally anymore. When that happens, I’m going to shut myself down in the corner over there so that I hopefully don’t hurt you. Then you’ll be on your own until you can’t go on anymore. But how many more clues are there going to be?”
I stared at him, trying to come up with an answer that would cheer him up, but, at the moment, I wasn’t having any luck……and outside the walls, there was a different struggle going on….:
Carols jumped up, “I can’t just sit here, goddamn it!”
Matt’s head stayed on his knees, right where it was as he said, “You can and you will, Carlos. You have to.”
“Why? Why do I have to?”
Matt’s head came up and he looked at Carlos, “Because she needs you to. She needs both of us to stay here. There’s no way in, Carlos. We both know that. Hundreds have tried during these times; when their loved ones were locked inside. All have failed. She has to find her way out. It’s the only way. And she will do it, Carlos. She will. And she needs us to be waiting right here when she does.” Matt whispered.
“But isn’t it killing you to just sit here and do nothing?” Carlos moaned.
“I’m not doing nothing, I’m loving her. And I’m waiting for her. That’s something. That’s something very important. That’s something that means everything.”
“But this feels so fucking wrong.”
“Why? When that door opens and she walks out and the first thing she sees are our faces, how is that wrong?”
“But what if it doesn’t open, Matt? At what point do we say ‘That’s it. We’ve waited as long as we can. She’s not coming out’?
“That’s a decision you have to make yourself, Carlos. For me, the answer is never. You have to figure out what your answer is yourself. This is your test as much as it is hers. This is the time when you
have to decide if you’re going to leave, like you always have in the past, or are you going to wait for her? The Carlos I know would have left a long time ago. The Carlos I know can’t stand sitting around and doing nothing, so he leaves and finds something else to do. But that isn’t going to help this time, Carlos. It isn’t going to help her. Now, I could be selfish and just let you leave. Then we she comes out and finds only me, she will be mine, just mine, again. But that’s not what she needs. And what she needs is the most important thing in the world to me, Carlos. And I hope it’s the most important thing to you. So, what’s it going to be, Carlos? Are you going to be that guy, Carlos? The one who’s waiting for her when that door opens, and it will open, either when she succeeds and walks out or when she fails and is gone. So are you going to wait for her or are you going to be the one who leaves? The one who breaks her heart when she walks out that door. That’s what you have to decide, Carlos.”
“But I’m not that guy, Matt. I’ve never been that guy. You’re the one who’s always been that guy, but not me.”
“Wrong, again. You are that guy, Carlos. You just didn’t know it until her.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are. You are the guy who became her best friend. You are the guy who protected her. You are the guy who kept her safe. You are the guy who fell in love with, but tried to stay away from her as long as he could because you knew it was right. You are the guy who allows her to give me more because I need more from her than you do. And you are the guy who makes her complete. You are that guy, Carlos. That’s who you are. You are that guy.”
“How do you do that, Matt?”
“Because it’s Sarah, Carlos, because I love her, because I’ll wait for her forever. And, because that’s exactly what she would do for us if the roles were reversed right now.”
“I feel so fucking useless right now,” he groaned as he sank back down to the floor to wait, knowing that Matt was right.
Back inside the tomb, I collapsed onto the floor and weakly unrolled the latest clue:
Always old, sometimes new. Never sad, sometimes blue. Never empty, sometimes full. Never pushing, always pulling. What am I?
I stared at it with seemingly unseeing eyes. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. I estimated that we had been in here at least eight months, the last four without nourishment. Jason was curled up into a ball with his wings wrapped around him, had been that way for weeks. But he was still breathing. I looked at the clue again. Again, nothing made sense. I couldn’t think anymore. I was dying.
‘The moon, Sarah. The answer is the moon. Come on, hun. Please get up. Find the tile. You can do this.’ Jonas whispered in my head.
“I can’t get up Jonas. I’m too tired. I can’t do this anymore.”
‘But what if this is the last one? What if you’ve made it to the final clue?’
“I don’t think there is a final clue, Jonas. I don’t think this ever ends. I think that’s the point. I don’t think she has any intention of going anywhere, ever.”
“You are wrong, child. I, too, am tired. I am done with this life. But I can’t pass on to the next life without giving the knowledge that I possess to another. And I have to find someone suitable to give that knowledge to, someone worthy of possessing it. Someone who will only use it for good,” Sekhmet’s voice echoed through the chamber.
I stared at her statue for a few minutes. Finally I sighed, nodded my head and began looking around the room at the tiles. I spotted the moon tile about halfway up the south wall after only a few minutes. I slowly got up and forced myself to walk over to it, with the rock feeling like it weighed a ton in my hand. I gritted my teeth, swung as hard as I could, shattering the tile. The rock fell to the ground with a thud as I reach inside and found…. nothing. This one was empty. We must have gotten this one wrong. I felt relief. This was finally over. I fell to the ground and waited for the end to come.
Sekhmet’s voice shattered the silence, “No, child, you were not wrong. This is the one that you’ve wanted all along. One final clue is what I will give. Figure it out quickly and you will live: What is the one thing missing from these walls? Figure that out and you’ve answered the call.”
Jason rolled onto his back and groaned. It was the first time I’d seen his face in weeks. I tried not to flinch, but I saw the madness in his eyes. The same madness I had seen in his father’s eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to fight it. “That is the final clue? We have to figure out what’s missing? How the fuck are we supposed to do that, Sarah?”
I stayed on the floor, but moved my head to look at him, “I don’t know, but we have to try. For your father’s sake, for Matt’s sake, for Carlos’ sake, we have to try.”
My head rolled back and I began staring at the tiles that I could see from my spot on the floor. “Okay, let’s start by saying what we do see here. Just call out what you see.”
“Celebration, desert, earthquake, flood, power, punishment, worship, fear, sex, torture, disease, pain, beauty, birth, death,” the words were flying out of both of us at a dizzying pace. But it wasn’t long before we both started slurring. I forced myself to sit up to try to stay awake, but I could barely see anymore. Everything was blurry. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t stop myself from laying my head on the floor again. I was so tired, so weak, so starving. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t think anymore. My brain didn’t want to function. Nothing was making sense. ‘I’m so sorry Matt and Carlos. I tried guys, but this time I couldn’t figure it out. I failed and I’m sorry. I love you both,’ I thought, even though I knew they hadn’t heard me. It made me feel better to think it anyways. “I’m sorry Jason,” I whispered.
“It’s not your fault, Sarah,” he said as he took my hand in his, “This was both of us. This test of hers is just too hard. There are hundreds of thousands of tiles here. How are we supposed to figure out what’s missing? I just feel so completely helpless here. I have nothing left. I’m so sorry father. I love you.”
I barely heard what he said, but something about it clicked in my brain. I tried to process what he said, but I had a hard time focusing. With every ounce of strength I had, I opened my eyes and looked at him. His eyes were closed and he was leaning against the wall. “What did you say?”
“Hmmm?”
“What did you just say, Jason. Come on, help me out here,” I whispered as I tried to push myself up.
“I said this test is too hard. We can’t figure it out.”
“No, that’s not it. You said, what was it? You said “I love you father. That was it, love. The same thing I just thought to Carlos and Matt in my final words. Love. Just love. That’s it, Jason. That’s what’s missing on these walls. Love. There’s nothing about love. None of our predecessors had love in their lives. Sekhmet never had anyone who truly loved her. That’s the downfall. They’ve all let the power go to their heads because they didn‘t have love in their lives. Nobody loved them enough to tell them they were being stupid or doing something wrong. That’s why they failed. That’s why we won’t. Because we will do this together and neither of us will let the power get to us, will we? Because our loved ones would never let that happen. It’s love, Jason. That’s the key. That’s what’s missing. Love,” I dropped back down to the floor, exhausted, and that’s when I heard it. I looked up at her statue and saw the hatch slide open below her right forearm, revealing two extra-large goblets. Her blood began flowing from her arm into the goblets. Jason crawled over to me, “Come on, Mother. Please. You can do this.”
‘Sarah. Move your ass right now,’ Jonas shouted in my head.
I groaned as I rolled over onto my stomach. My arms were too weak to hold me up on all fours, but I managed to scoot myself forward on my stomach. Together we moved ourselves until we were directly below the goblets just as the last few drops of blood flowed into them. With our last remnants of strength, we grunted, groaned and encouraged each other up onto our feet, bolstered only by our support for each other and the scent o
f blood. As Sekhmet’s body began to crumble into dust, she whispered her last command, “Drink only for the knowledge. No fangs. The blood will reside in your brain always, but you must drink it. Farewell and good luck to you both.”
Jason and I looked at each other then we reached for the goblets. My legs were shaking and threatening to give out but I knew that if I fell I would spill the blood, and I needed this so badly. I could only hope that it would be enough for me. I was starving, dying, and I knew it. But this blood was thousands of years old. It was the blood of the oldest vampires and Seraphim’s combined together. It was their strength. It was their knowledge. It was our history. And it had to be enough. I didn’t have the arm strength to lift the full goblet, so I put my lips on the rim and gently tipped it towards me. The instant the warm liquid touched my lips, every nerve in me awakened. Flashes of past events began instantly dancing in my mind. My legs stopped shaking and my arm felt like it could lift anything. I stood back and lifted the goblet higher and began gulping its contents like the starving vampire that I was. I began dreading the moment when I emptied it, because this was the most incredible blood I had ever consumed. I wanted more. I wanted it forever. I tilted the bottom to the ceiling as the last few drops flowed into my mouth. I was just getting ready to use my finger to try to scoop out the last of it, when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and my heart leapt. The door reappeared, and then opened. I tried to brace myself. I wasn’t sure exactly how long we had been in here. I didn’t know what I would find, or not find, when I walked out that door. They could be gone, living new lives with new loves. They could be off searching for ways to get back into this room. Or worse, they could be dead. Maybe they decided that I wasn’t going to make it out and chose to not go on without me. Carlos was the one I was worried about the most. His impatience would have made him unable to just sit around and wait. He would have needed to go and do something. He couldn’t have possibly just sat there and waited this entire time. Which was why I was completely shocked when his face was the first face I saw when I poked my head out the open door. His beautiful, peaceful, hopefully asleep and dear God don’t let him be dead, face. I gulped hard and stared at him. I was afraid to go over to him. I wasn’t prepared to find him dead. I could never be prepared for that. A noise to my left caused me to look over. Aquila was getting to his feet. He walked over and wrapped both of us in his strong embrace. We stood like that for a moment until I had to break the silence, “He’s not, he’s not dead, is he? Please tell me he’s not dead, Aquila,” I whispered.