“We did what thousands couldn’t do before….how cool is THAT?” Tarmo yelled jubilantly. Jaden morphed back into his normal humanoid form and treaded to me with Jade; they hugged me with extreme care in order not to pressure my fresh wound. I opened my hand and saw the bead I had accidentally ripped off the arcane bracelet before plunging it into my pocket for safe keeping.
“It’s not over yet,” Trailian groaned. He pulled out an obsidian dagger and slit his wrist. His dark black blood dripped on the floors of the Cavern, spreading over all the shards of bones and skull heads. He spread his palm over the ground.
“Let the guard of the prison awake and revive, to destroy those who I do not want alive,” he uttered.
BANG – we heard from underneath.
“Did you all feel that?” I said, carefully standing up. BANG! The ground shook again. We moved away from the sealed Cavern doors and we huddled into a group.
“Everybody…look!” Aemilia pointed out at the floor. The grey sky started to crackle with thunder. The skulls and bones on the floor started to let out a dark colour of a thick, wine texture.
“Is that…blood?” Jojo asked. We remained silent. Not a single sound was heard, except the tiniest crack – we mistook it for the snapping of a twig or bone. And suddenly, it exploded out of the surface of the ground with a loud and vicious roar. A hideous monster, with the top half of its body being as lengthy as the entire cliff and its bottom half still emerging from the ground with an ear-splitting roar. It had long ram’s horns which twisted behind it. Its flesh was just like that of the Grinners’: raw meat ignited with fire in the rips and tears of its skin, burning with blazing hellfire, except its flesh seemed more of a ruddy colour. Its muscular stature was, in every way, larger than us. Its long yellow talons were probably longer than Liam altogether. It stood up sluggishly, but simultaneously shaking the earth as it stood proudly.
“RUN!” Liam yelled. Jordan held my hand alone and sent voltages of energy shooting through my body so that I would be strong enough to not feel the pain in my shoulder and continue the journey. We ran forward towards the back of the bowl-like area. I swayed my hands forward. The water I had rolled up over the cliff immediately began to flow downwards wildly.
Unfortunately, we were now being followed by a collapsing tidal wave. But that didn’t stop the monster from chasing after us. We ran around the long pillar of land we were atop of at first and ran towards the cliff.
“WHAT ARE WE DOING?! WE’LL CRASH!” Jade yelled.
“NOT IF I CAN HELP IT,” I responded through the loud rushing of water. The boost of energy Jordan had given us enabled us to elude the rushing seas that were chasing me directly, and in extent, the others – since I was the one who conjured it to return. I shot my fist out towards the cliff which was just feet away from us. We covered our faces as a large hollow gap exploded like a bomb in the middle of the cliff’s face, sending debris in all directions. We ran into the hollow hole and all our Vernaescian reflexes kicked in. We suddenly neared the end of the hollow, cave-like space I had created in the cliff. We ran up the rough wall and bounced off it with built in free-running reflexes that we seemed to be performing, jumping onto the upper surface of the cliff. The monster smashed its way through the bowl’s walls and was still tailing us. It was gaining on us as we ran on a long, wide and deserted road of these wastelands.
“ROBBIE! CAN YOU GET US OUT OF HERE NOW?” Jojo yelled out of frustration. The monster was gaining on us. It had its hand stretched out towards us, almost within grabbing distance. We ran like lightning, our arms moving forwards and backwards like swift blades. The demon behind us took large steps as he tried to grab us, but we burnt too much energy avoiding, dodging and sprinting with this impeccable speed to be caught.
“REVEAL TO US THE HIDDEN WORLD, COVERED AND PROTECTED BY THIS REALM OF SHADOWS!” Robbie yelled, picking a coin out of his pocket and flipping it overhead behind him. The coin fell to the ground and singed its way into the cliff floor. Our breaths grew heavy as we continued to sprint, air rushing past our ears and faces.
Suddenly, as we ran with unwitnessed velocity, our surroundings began to change. The sky began to streak to a light heavenly blue that looked like the ocean had been sheeted over us, the stuffy, smoke-filled air that was whipping against our faces suddenly became rich in moist and salt, I looked down at my feet and noticed that the dirt road my feet were rapidly running on were lightening to white as the texture softened to loose sand. I then looked up and noticed that the tenebrous sky was being peeled away by overpowering light; that was the impression we got, moving at precipitous speed and not staying idle as we moved from one world to another during the traversing process. Despite being chased by a monster, seeing the transformation of this world from this perspective was marvellous. The grey half-light of this realm around us began to shine; our bruised, dirtied faces were hit with rays of golden light that exploded out of nowhere from the heavens. We rushed our forearms to our eyes to block the gracious sunlight that broke onto the now sandy road we sprinted on. The sunlight was following us like a spotlight. This dirt road was no longer a wide plain of endless rock; the thin strip we were running on remained the white sand it had transformed into, but everything else around us for thousands of miles to go had softened and lightened to an aquamarine blue that began to swish, wave and burst with sea salt and a refreshing sea breeze, sending our hairs billowing behind us like cloaks trailing in the wind. The clouds quickly puffed into existence and finally, we were in the Vernaescian Caribbean whereabouts. But the demon had crossed with us.
Robbie twitched his fingers before shooting his arms out. Streaks of white light shot out of his fingers like stars and speedily formed his usual wormhole in the distance. We were almost there, but the demon was going too fast.
Aemilia raised her hands to her face; she blew on them and threw her hands back. The white sand suddenly became covered in frost and the monster slid and fell backwards. Robbie looked back and stopped for a mere second. The monster, on his knees, was attempting to get up with all his strength.
“Aden, vines – now!” Robbie instructed, standing his ground and facing the demon. I shot out my fingers and vines whipped out into the air. The monster had gotten up, sprinting forward towards Robbie and almost colliding into him. Robbie grabbed the two vines by his sides and jumped up a few metres high, encircling the demon’s head and choking it with the thick roots. He landed further behind it, pulling on the cords whilst the demon choked. Robbie’s eyes lit to hazel and the vines instantly changed into a thin, malleable Tartalum rope. The demon tried throwing his hand to me, but Robbie gave one powerful and forceful tug. The thin Tartalum rope whipped through the monster’s neck, decapitating it as its head slipped of its body. The monster dropped to its knees and plummeted to the ground. Jordan rushed to its corpse like an angry fury with all the strength and speed she could muster, her hair reaching a blood red colour so thick that it looked as if the very substance itself would start dripping to her back. She picked up the demon with her two hands, as if it was weightless, held it above her head and threw it into the distance. Its mangled body pathetically crashed against the Vernaescian version of the Cavern wall and splashed into the now still waters. “TAKE THAT, YOU SON OF A –”
“It’s okay, it’s okay; there’s no need to drag its mother into this!” Robbie said, pulling her back as she continued flailing her fists about.
It was bizarre to see the Cavern doors from our side of the world now. We knew that there was probably nothing more than tropical fish in those waters, but on the other side, more evil than could ever be imagined resided.
Jordan panted heavily as we dragged her away and non-hesitantly backed into the wormhole Robbie had opened to take us to the office. We were clouded by white light before we finally regained consciousness again.
CHAPTER 15.
What Occurs In the Cavern, Stays In the Cavern
We were all wrecks; our skins had been bruised, our faces had
been beaten black and blue, our lips were all chapped and cut, our noses were slashed and a fair few of us had scars on our arms. But nothing beat the dust we had been powdered in.
We blinked and looked around dizzily as we stood up. We were safe. All I could think about was the fact that we were safe – away from their evil. I didn’t know whether it’d be for an eternity or just long enough for me to outlive – but all I cared about is that we had managed to evade them when we were told we couldn’t.
We were back in the office. The regular one, not the one that was in that godforsaken Traversing Realm. We slowly rose from the floor painfully, having fallen through quite roughly. On the floor, all I could see was a shoe in front of me. I looked up and saw Tantrus, sat calmly with a leg crossed over the other and a martini in his hands. We stood up guiltily with embarrassment printed on our faces, making us cower in silence. Jojo’s was the worst; her light bronze skin burned with shame. He didn’t look at us – was he disappointed, upset? All I knew was that he couldn’t look at any of us in the eye.
“I walk into the classroom and you’re not there. I wonder why that is and then I suddenly get a call from Lina. I teleport home and I find Jojo’s teleportation embers still lingering in the atmosphere. I follow them, they take me here – but I was too late –”
“Dad, I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you. Please don’t tell mum; we –”
“But I told them I snuck you out for a lunch and that I paid you all to keep your mouths shut about our “museum trip”.” Tantrus finally looked up at us and a corner smile grew on his curved lips.
“You covered for us?” Jojo asked, filled with surprise.
“Wait – you knew?” Jaden and I asked simultaneously.
“You still have a lot to learn about hiding in Vernaescian terms. Cover your tracks, children,” he added. Jojo leaned over and hugged her dad warmly, practically losing herself in her father’s torso. This hug wasn’t a hyperactive hug Jojo gave her father when she had been given something that she manipulatively got from him, but rather an embrace that showed how much she appreciated him, knowing she could have lost her father and be thrown into a world of unfairness, sadness and confusion just like we had by growing up without ours.
“But I was never here,” Tantrus added. Jojo retracted herself.
“Wha – what?”
“I was never here. Meaning you weren’t either because by now, you would all be having classes.”
“He’s hinting. We have to go, come on, let’s finish the school day,” Robbie spoke.
“What about your shoulder?” Jordan asked.
“I’ll just go to the welfare for it.”
“Wait,” Tantrus said. He waved his hands in front of us and a few green embers rotated around our dishevelled bodies. They renewed our clothes and appearances to an earlier point in time when we were clean and untarnished. The marks that clearly showed on us were now merely ghosts, invisible. But the pain was still terribly there; all the scratches, bruises, and in my case, wounds, were screaming on our bodies. Unfortunately, my shoulder’s wound couldn’t be hidden, but Tantrus didn’t need to know that.
“And, Aden, don’t forget your blazer.” He took it off the chair and threw it to me. Finally, we teleported out of here in less than a minute and so had Tantrus.
The others went their separate ways and it was just the usual gang left. We came trudging in through the majestic front doors as the Celtic patterns assembled in the middle and carved the gap into the wall, letting the doors glide open as the afternoon sun descended. Mum glided down the staircase casually and met us at the entrance.
“Hello, boys. How was school?” she asked us.
“Tough,” Liam spoke as he went on upstairs –
“Troubling,” Jojo continued –
“Rather thrilling, actually –” Jade carried on, following the other girls, walking carefully as she still felt an ache in her bones. Robbie, Jaden and I remained in front of mum.
“What about you three – how was it?” What was she referring to?
“Any trips you’d like to share? Robbie, Jaden, Aden?” Oh goodness no. I hope Tantrus didn’t tell her.
“The next time you’re breaking away for a trip you don’t need to hide it from me,” oh thank God – she meant the lie or “adjustment” Tantrus had fed her so gullibly. “Go on upstairs and get changed. Dinner’s almost ready,” she said rather joyfully. I didn’t understand why she shouldn’t have been; it was all in all a good day…until she called us back.
“Oh, boys, could you come in here please,” she called from the living room.
“What could it be now? Cross check, have you done anything wrong?” Jaden asked out of sheer paranoia. Robbie scoffed. I felt a stabbing pain in my still fresh wound in my right shoulder.
“Relax, we were careful. She doesn’t know anything. We traipsed downstairs towards the open arch entrance of the living room. All I could see were the heads of the tall figures that were sat down.
“Come and say hi,” mum said next to Anne, all with cups of coffee. My two Samhain stalkers were here. They turned their heads and looked at me with two devious smiles.
“You know Lloks and Tiah Fenregard from the ball don’t you?” Anne asked.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Lloks spoke, his voice regal and sending quavers down my spine, striking the same amount of fear in my chest that Trailian’s had. Robbie and Jaden politely extended their hands out to greet them.
“Likewise,” Robbie and Jaden individually replied. They both looked at me with awkward smiles whilst I stared back underneath my slowly crimson-turning hair. I clenched the bead I had gotten from the Cavern tightly in my pocket.
“Aden!” mum’s voice said in my head. “We can tell by your hair, change your attitude,” it hissed again telepathically.
“Maybe it’s the weather – it does that sometimes,” I lied as politely as possible, deliberately saying it aloud so that Lloks and Tiah could start questioning themselves on who I was talking to and about what. Their indigo eyes drifted off to my right shoulder and they both looked as if they detected something. Their expressions funnily changed towards me but not towards the others. However, they managed to somehow maintain their smiles, making me feel uneasy.
“It was nice to see you again anyway,” I answered back civilly before running off upstairs with Robbie and Jaden on my tail.
“Have we done something wrong?” They asked mum, confused.
“No, no – don’t worry. He’s probably just tired,” mum drifted her sentence into another slurp of coffee and the creepy twins let their eyes linger after me.
“Are we late?” Elisedd wondered.
“We must be. The Cavern doors are closed. And the guard’s been awoken – but it’s dead. Someone eluded them,” the hooded stranger answered. They kept their hood firmly over their head but was undoubtedly shocked and confused as to how this was even possible.
“Surprised, I thought you would have ended them – I always pictured you as a vigilante,” Elisedd bantered lightly, without so much as a laugh, however.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I’m sorry. On a more serious note, what do we do about – this?” the stranger sighed.
“They didn’t dispose of the demon properly. It’s still in Vernaescian territory. What if they find him,” the stranger questioned, more to themselves than to Elisedd, their companion.
“Shall we get rid of it? We could incinerate it,” Elisedd suggested.
“No. I think we’ll leave it there. Send out a warning.”
Suddenly, the stranger’s eyes dropped to something on the floor and their expression changed. They bent down, examining the white sand in the middle of the gleaming blue Caribbean seas and saw gleaming drops of inky black blood next to a few drops of crimson liquid. The stranger’s eyes widened in dread as they gulped.
“Someone’s been injured,” they stated quaveringly.
“How do you know it’s not
just a Baron that escaped?” Elisedd asked curiously. His companion stood upright.
“Because the doors have been closed and the guard is dead. And also because of the red substance next to it, Elisedd, that’s Vernaescian blood. It is not Hescathem like us. And if I’m right in believing that the person I’m thinking of is injured, we are all in trouble,” Elisedd’s companion ended calmly as their purple eyes swept over the scenery in front of them.
“It’s just a little injury. Can it not be healed?” Elisedd asked his accomplice as he moved closer.
“Elisedd, back then, when we wanted to kill someone slowly and painfully, knowing there was no way to cure the infection…we would inject them with our blood.”
Upstairs, I sat on my bed as the last dying beams of light stretched in from the Vernaescian window and clawed at the carpets before distributing uneven patches of light on my pale skin. Liam, Robbie and Jaden were unfastening their ties and barely spoke. Probably too traumatised by the swift actions that had occurred what felt like a second ago. I could still see the graphic sceneries, as if they had been glued to my inner eyelids. Sure, we may have prevailed. But these were events we shouldn’t even have had to prevail from at such ages. Which brought me to my next haunting thought. Age. The daunting, unsettling, mind-boggling fact…of my age. Trailian could have very well been lying. He’s known for that. But the facts added up. As much as I tried to believe they were untrue. Now, I was left questioning mum and what her means of protection were.
I hadn’t noticed that the entire time I was speaking, I was staring mindlessly at the Celtic patterns on my duvet and tracing them mind-numbingly with my finger. The girls walked in. They weren’t perky as usual. Not flamboyant. Not even a ‘hello’ like they normally said. They simply filed into the room, still in their uniforms, and stood along the wall whilst shutting the door behind them. I sighed and got up slowly, gently walking to Jade as she lost herself in my torso in a lengthy embrace. I let go of her and she smiled weakly. I walked back to my bed and seated myself with a heavy thud whilst the others guilty walked on over to me, scratching their elbows and avoiding eye contact with me. They crowded around my bed and sat themselves down as the patches of amber sunlight transformed the room to a core of glowing fire.
Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) Page 36