Deptheless: Under the Library

by Tiffany Tay

  “And that,” I mimic, “is the most annoying thing I’ve heard in this conversation… so far.”

  To my surprise, a tiny corner of his mouth curves upward, making me think that there’s more to this guy than I know of. I just have to break through his rigid, cellulose-like walls… and hopefully, find a way out.

  “So… tell me more about this ‘cult’ of yours. You do have your underground rituals, I expect?” I ask, my interest sparked.

  “You’ll find out as soon as you get the chance to.”

  “So does that mean I’ll be provided with a ground tour? Can I have cranberry juice to go with it? Or is personally comfort not on the to-do list?”

  Again, a tiny spark of emotion flickered in his eyes, and then, it vanished, just like that.

  “You’ll get your first class tour, no worries there.”

  “With a full course meal and luxury bedroom at the end of it?” I ask hopefully, the emptiness in my stomach eminent.

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” He says, his voice implying the annoying. “You might lose your appetite and what sense of rest as soon as you finish the whole tour.”

  Sparks of chilling dire bounced back and forth in my chest. “That hostile a history, huh?” I gulp, trying to make my voice as light as possible. After all, I have a reputation to maintain. I am Skye Hill! Fearless librarian, adventuresome and bold! Who would never shudder at the moment like this.

  He tilts his head, his eyes like two oblong crystals sparkling in the luminescent light. He ventures a step forward, narrowing the space between us.

  “Why? Are you afraid?” His voice was ever so deep and husky.

  I swallow and retreat tactfully. “Where’s Loky?” I changed the topic, suddenly well aware that there are just the two of us standing in a room of pure essence of pulchritude. Which wasn’t high on my bucket list of things to do with guys, even incredibly hot and dangerous ones. That’s cause he is one. Dangerous--- I mean.

  “And just who are you? What’s your name? How are we connected to this curse I keep hearing about? Where do these caves lead to? How many of you live here? How did you---“

  I just rattled off all the questions that popped into my mind. That’s the trouble with me. When I get nervous, then, well… a whole lot of awkwardness follows. It’s extremely disturbing, probably mortifying both parties, and surely very horrifying if the other person is holding some sort of authority over you, which in this case, he is. It is not in my style to just sit in an obedient silence. I know when I’m being dominated, and I know when to take action. But what I don’t always keep in mind are my limits. Which I think I had just crossed. So, double oops, Skye.

  I may, or may not have been more amazed that he mirrored my thoughts by crossing my line--- the invisible barrier between us. It all happened in a blur. In a swift moment, he had stepped right up to face me, his face a smooth mask, shielding a greater desire for reasons yet to be explored.

  “Well, let’s see…” He purred, his face just inches from my own. I take an involuntary step back, but his gaze does nothing to calm my inner turmoil. Every inch of my being screams out to flee. However, it is not in my nature to turn and flee when faced with irresistible threats. I just have to hear danger out in the face.

  “You’ll meet up with your friend sooner or later. As for who I am? I thought that has been very clear to you already. I am a dweller, dear Skyler.” A rush of heat flowed into my face, but I daren’t correct him on my name. Somehow, hearing him say it out loud… it’s the first time since any that I’d come to appreciate my given name.

  “A dweller, an unfortunate member of a once fast growing society--- forced into exile with the rest of the Cursed.”

  A lone chill travelled down my back. That proclamation sounded distinctively familiar. Then it hit me. Loky had said the exact same thing to me just a day before.

  “Okay, so---“ I try to push the awkward feeling away, but he cut me off.

  “My name is Isaac, and I don’t see the need for you to call my anything but.”

  His gaze continues to seize me, long and intense. “As for your other questions, Miss Inquisitive…” he trailed off as the cave is hit with a loud reverberation, the very same noise which had jolted me awake just moments ago.

  KER-THOMP!

  Then the ground shook, and the ceiling began to quaver violently. A horrible crack echoed from above, as an ear-splitting crash resonated throughout the cave as a marvellous spiral of crystal shattered into a million tiny pieces of precious gems, burrowing deep into the sandy ground.

  I let out a horrified scream, which then turned into a muffled protest, as Isaac runs towards me, threw me off my feet and hauled me up in his arms. Flinging me over his shoulder, Isaac yells, “This place is not safe, we have to go shift, right now!”

  Out of nowhere, chaos emerged. Dozens of hundreds of people ran out from everywhere, forming defensive ranks and shouting over the ruckus. People tripped over people, they were everywhere.

  The horde of people hassled over to us, and together, with cries and inane jabbering, the whole group took off into the unknown, with me caught in Isaac’s arms right in the middle of nowhere,

  Heading straight off to even more danger, as the last of the threat is left, far, far, behind…

  *****

  hi! What do you think will happen?

  Last chance to guess my age! I have exans up in March, so I'm unsure of i have tine to update soon, but look out for it!

  What do you like about this chapter? Do leave your comments and vote!

  Chapter Thirty-Two// Skye

  Skye's POV

  “I do not wish to be whisked off in the middle of a pack of wild cave-dwellers like some damsel in distress, thank you very much!” I yelled in Isaac’s ear, clinging tightly to his cotton black shirt. I was literally carried off by the wind.

  The air roared in my ears, the jerky movements caused my hair to be whipped up into a frenzy. I could only press myself into Isaac to avoid being hurled off the path and come crashing face-first into the rocky cave.

  Isaac made no move to put me down. He just kept on moving forward, left, straight on, left turn once more… all the while leaving behind the terrorizing explosions in the crystal cave. The only sounds that could be heard at the moment are the shuffling of feet as the people continued to distance themselves from, well… whatever it was in the first place.

  I sigh, my grumpiness evident in my voice as I tried to tell Isaac to stop. He just continued to speed straight onward, climbing down steps etched into the floors and hauling me up steep inclines.

  I couldn’t stand this treatment any longer. I just lost it. Fury gripped me, and without giving it much thought, I reach out and grab tufts of his shaggy hair and yanked as hard as I could.

  “Hey!” He yelped in protest, his body jerking backwards in surprise. This sudden movement caused me to be flung backwards, and I kick my feet up in the air, flipping myself over, dropped,rolled on one knee and landed with one arm raised.

  “You wouldn’t listen.” I snap, dusting my clothes. I feel an unattractive frown tugging at my lips.

  “You foolish girl!” Isaac growled, throwing his hands up in frustration. “Did you know that you made me lose concentration? And now, look what happened to us!”

  In vexation, Isaac gestured wildly with his right arm, pointing in a direction up ahead. I glanced up, and had to immediately fight back the urge to faint.

  Large, prominent chunks of boulders made of rocks and sand had somehow detached from the cave ceilings, and are hanging nerve-wreckingly overhead, as if one tiny pebble could dislodge them, and they would come crashing heavily onto us.

  I gulp, retreating as quickly as possible. I hear muffled cries of distress from the group, and observe, with a start, that our number had seemed to have shrunk.

  “We got separated!” Isaac bellowed, his statement supposedly alerting the rest of the group, but he had both of his eyes trained accusingly onto me. I fold my
hands across my chest, then sighed. “Sorry.” I managed, my voice incredibly small.

  Isaac didn’t hear me over the terrified voices swarming the ambient. I glance across the cave, zooming my sights into the dark parting of the cave, possibly leading to sweet escape. I could clearly see right now that the rocky boulders had become dislodged for quite some time, and has been tethering on edge since goodness knows when. By description, they would appear to come crashing down upon a tiny movement across the cave floor. It must’ve been by sheer miracle that the first half of the group had managed to cross the cave without dislodging an overhead boulder.

  Loud cries echoed distinctively across the dim cave, and suddenly, I was jostled to the ground. Breathless, I quickly push myself up to a sitting position, but almost immediately, I feel a hard hand press my head back down. A horrible crunching sound followed as the back of my head came into hard contact with the ground, sending flares of burning pain all over my head.

  I wince and struggle with all of my might to off-throw the person on top of me, but I could already feel myself slipping away. The world hurt to look at so I squeeze my eyes shut and throw a free punch.

  I hear a soft crunching sound under my fist and look up to see a towering man in grey topple over, clutching his wrist, which appeared to be bent towards an odd direction. I wince and look away, this time, my eyes come in contact with Isaac's.

  For a moment, the air sparked with heated electricity as those blue eyes locked coldly into mine. My heart feels pinched, like I’d been kicked right in the chest. He witnessed me being thrown to the ground and getting my head slammed, yet did he do anything to stop the fight?

  I know the separation happened because of me, but is it really worth seeing me getting physically injured? I stare scornfully at him for a few more seconds before taking shaky steps backward. My eyes feel dreadfully dry--- parched, even, like my tongue. I thought the tears would flow, heck, I wouldn’t even try to do anything to staunch them.

  Where are the tears when you need them?

  I stagger around the cave in a daze, occasionally bumping into other people, who, in turn, seemed downright irked when they realized that it was me who was being so clumsy. Word had spread about my stupid actions, and the fight with the guy whose name I heard is Nelson. I heard insults begin thrown my way, but the impact to my head must’ve done some damage to my head--- I just couldn’t process anything, can’t seem to feel.

  With a frustrated yell, I kick at the walls, forgetting, in that one moment in time, what damage one little impact like that could do…

  With a rumble and a groan, the ceiling threatened to come crashing down upon all of us…

  Guess who would take the blame?

  *****

  Petrified screams pierced the air, and the horde of people grappled with each other, jostling over each other to get to the nearest exit point. Curse my brain. I was seeing things in an absurdly slow and unprocessed manner. What happened next was all too much of a blur for me to fully register.

  Maybe I should thank that Nelson guy for pummeling, well, slamming my head. What I could decipher through my half-foggy state of mind had left me with a twist in my stomach.

  Sonic blasts echoed tremendously loudly throughout the cave; high-pitched cries were quickly snuffed out as…

  Thinking about it just gave me the feeling to lean against the wall and retch my soul out of my temporary body.

  As it is, I have no desire to be flattened in such an undignified manner by a horrific oh-look-it’s-a-giant-boulder-of-rock-and-sand-coming-crashing-down-upon--- kind of phenomenon. My anxiety growing, I elbow my way through the stampede taking off towards somewhere in the left.

  Almost blindly, I stumble along the way, gripping clothes and arms for support, anything to keep me anchored to this drama-filled world. Only… when would I find a happy ending? More importantly, is there any ending to come?

  I was already hanging onto the shorter end of the stick. Being physically weak wasn’t as draining as what I could (hardly) process at the moment. I start to question the reason why I was flung headfirst into this drastic situation, before it clicked right into the snug little piece like a missing puzzle finally being a step closer to completion.

  It was really all because of me, wasn’t it? If I hadn’t got so upset over stupid Niko, hadn’t felt so messed up over my feelings, he wouldn’t have had plunged down the chasm, and I wouldn’t have had followed suit. All of these dismal events were certainly pointing in my direction.

  I couldn’t hold myself together any longer, I couldn’t keep myself in one piece.

  Sinking down onto the ground, I crouch, my eyes finally seeking the quenching wetness as the salty tears brimmed up in them. I run my fingers through my hair and whimper.

  “Why am I so messed up?” I whisper to myself, choking on each word. The cave started spinning around in my head, like I had stuffed it into a blender and turned up the speed.

  “Mom…dad… you would hate to see your little girl die today, wouldn’t you? Oh--- I forgot, you both are… already dead.”

  Something inside my heart just shattered as my mind tries to grasp onto that excruciating memory. I could still remember glimpses of it. The agonizing and never-ending wait… the stillness in the air before doom strikes, the sharp impact to my heart when it had sunk in that I’d lost the two most beloved people in my life.

  “Oh, mom, dad…” I sob. “I never meant it, I never understood…”

  My sobbing increased to a breaking point. I just curl up in the corner and start to rock myself to and fro, fretting for the sanity that had long since fled.

  “Niko… I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you… couldn’t see you for the final time. I know…” A train of hiccups broke my off. “I know that you were trying to save me, like the humble knight you are, but I guess I’m just not the swooning princess type, huh?” My words rushed out of my mouth in garbled sentences.

  “Niko… if only I could just see you now… I swear, I will try to make things right for us. For all of us. I know you never wanted it to brake off this way, and I was mostly to blame. I’m sorry, and I know I hurt you.”

  A pair of warm hands wrap around me, lifting me up…up…

  I struggle to see through my lashes. “Niko?” I breathe.

  Nothing but silence greeted my ears. In the background, shrieks continued to pierce the air like a gory-filled sentimental melody.

  “Niko… if that’s you…” I choke, then struggle to push myself up. I wanted to do this--- to say this properly, while I still can. “

  “Remember when I told you to flee… ? I told you it was to escape my abusive parents. Well… I lied. I’m sorry. My parents are the sweetest beings ever born and I feel like a lousy daughter wrongly bad-mouthing them to you… but you see, I simply had to get away. Things weren’t at all smooth back home, and I wanted to run, to escape the haunting eyes of my mom, the way she used to grab me suddenly, and stare blankly into my eyes, like she was staring past my soul straight into something even bigger, even worse. It wasn’t her fault. It was like she was possessed.”

  “My father didn’t help matters. When he was… possessed… he used to stare at me with a horrified look on his face and repeat the same words over and over like a demonic parrent… sorry, parrot.”

  I pause to draw in a breath of air. I could feel myself being carried off, but this time, I did not kick up a fuss. Oddly, I felt a strange sensation begin to take hold of me, a feeling of being protected, which I had never felt ever since my parents were sane people. To my intense surprise, I felt that I love it like this, love being in his arms.

  “Oh, Niko.” I mumble, sorrow floating around me like a cloud. “I didn’t tell you, because I was afraid. Yes, I was. You told me about the curses, warned me about the dangers, but I held back that bit about my parents because I knew you’d jump on it. You were already suspicious. How could I ignite that suspicion?”

  “Niko… Niko, answer me, please?” I beg, the
tears flowing silently down my face.

  “Niko, I don’t want to tell you, but I guess I owe it to you. You probably wouldn’t ever want to know me after I tell you… but, well, who would want to hang out with a murderer?”

  I felt his body jerk back a little. No surprises there. He’d just found out the worst in me, the part that could never be buried under even thousands of layers of defences. The part of my that tears me up day by day, leaving me with a bit lesser than I had the day before. The bit that slowly gawned at my heart, threatening to break down my essence. The bit that left me feeling like an undead zombie for the past ten years.

  “That night, it all happened when I didn’t imagine it. I couldn’t even sound the alarm, couldn’t even get my mind focused. I ran downstairs, and there they were. It was complete agony watching them shrivel up… watching them being bombarded by those electrifying purple rays…”

  “I didn’t realize what I was doing until it was over. Like a dumb protagonist in a horror movie, I had to witness the death of my own parents--- the death I had helped accelerate.”

  Well, well, well… what is going on in your minds now, folks? I’d love to hear from you!

  Also… dedicated to the amazing @Always_meme for being able to correctly guess my age! Congratulations--- I officially turned SIXTEEN today! :D Anyway, all of your guesses were very close.

  If you like this chapter, don’t forget to vote! I’d be as happy as if you’d just handed me a gift in gold wrapping! :p

  Anyway, thanks for reading! Have a great week and enjoy your lives! Stay tuned for the next updates.

  ~Tiffany :)

  Chapter Thirty-Three/ Skye

  Skye's POV

  I woke up shielded by a dark shadow over my head. A moment's panic threatened to overthrow me, until a glance of my surroundings calmed my inner turmoil.

  Sitting up, I groan. How long was I out? What had happened? Suddenly, I seemed very interested. Tilting my head skywards, I note with a frown the uneven texture of the white stalactites reaching down to the ground. That mustn’t be good. Not about the stalactite formations--- those were lovely to stare at, but of the close proximity of the ceiling to where I lay.