Carnival of Stone: A Novella (The Soren Chase Series)

by Rob Blackwell

  “And if we’re unlucky?” Glen asked.

  Soren didn’t answer. Glen supposed he didn’t have to. If Lochlan projected his voice into the tunnel where the gorgon already was hiding, the tunnel that led out of this place, then Emily would quickly surmise it was a trick. They’d know what tunnel was the right one to get out of here, but they’d never get past her first. If they were unlucky, they were going to die.

  “It’s a 50-50 shot,” Glen said.

  “Not necessarily,” Soren whispered. “Lochlan may not like it, but leprechauns do have a reputation for being lucky. Let’s just hope that’s based on fact.”

  Glen expected Lochlan to object or curse Soren out, but he did neither. It gave Glen a brief sliver of hope that there was some truth to it after all.

  In that case, they were betting their lives on the luck of the Irish. He would have burst out laughing if it wouldn’t have given away their position.

  “Make your best guess, Lochlan,” Soren said.

  “Here goes nuthin’,” the leprechaun said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  From far in the distance, Glen heard the sound of someone stumble and fall.

  A voice called out, and Glen was shocked to recognize it as his own.

  “Soren, help!” it said.

  Glen rolled his eyes. He wished Lochlan hadn’t made him sound so much like a wuss. The voice wasn’t overly loud, but it was far above the whispering they had just been doing and it echoed clearly in the mine. Even to Glen, who knew it couldn’t be true, it sounded completely real.

  There was no doubt Emily bought it. Glen immediately heard the sound of movement as the gorgon sprang from her hiding spot. He held his breath for a moment, hoping that he also heard her move out of the tunnel she was in. That would mean that Lochlan had guessed right about the false tunnel.

  But then there was nothing. Glen stood counting the seconds tick by while nothing happened. The gorgon wasn’t moving. She must have been wary of it being a trap. Their plan had failed.

  He had a moment for that thought to sink in, and then he heard another sound from far away, this one barely above a whisper.

  “Shut up or she’ll hear you,” Soren said.

  Only Soren hadn’t said it. Glen couldn’t see him, but his hand was still on his Soren’s shoulder and he was just a foot away. Lochlan must have tried again.

  This time it worked. The gorgon swept down the tunnel, not bothering to conceal her location. Glen felt the rumble in the earth as she came near, passing through the tunnel just in front of them and then heading off in the direction Glen and Soren’s voices had come from.

  Lochlan had guessed right. The gorgon had left the tunnel she was in—the one that almost certainly led to the surface—in the hopes of cornering Soren and Glen.

  The three of them didn’t wait. Glen felt Soren start moving again. They walked as fast as they could without making a lot of noise. Lochlan guided them into a tunnel toward the left and this one immediately sloped steeply upward. With each step, Glen could practically feel them getting closer to the exit. Still, given how fast Emily had slithered through the tunnels a moment ago, she could easily catch up to them if she figured out what had happened.

  “Where are you?” The gorgon’s scream echoed in the darkness. “I can smell you. I know you’re closssse.”

  There was a loud crash and the cavern around them seemed to shake. Glen felt dust and rocks fall into his hair. He didn’t know for sure, but it felt like Emily had just smashed the wall with her tail.

  “Where are you?” she screamed.

  She must have suspected the ruse. Glen heard a scramble of rocks from nearby and could hear Emily moving through the tunnels again, slithering back to the place she’d abandoned only moments before. There was no more time for stealth.

  “Run!” Soren yelled.

  The three of them sprinted through the tunnel as fast as they could, helped by a flicker of light from above. It was night outside, but a pale light was coming from the end of the tunnel. They were getting close.

  Unfortunately, the flaw with their plan quickly became evident. Lochlan was slowing them down. He was in front, but couldn’t move as fast as his companions. Glen felt like he was running a race with someone blocking him from sprinting faster. And all the while, he could hear Emily gaining on them.

  “I’m going to eat all three of you,” she screamed.

  Lochlan must have recognized the problem too. He pressed himself to the side of the tunnel.

  “Keep goin’!” he shouted. “Get to the car and find the weapon there. Trust me; ya’ll know it when you see it. Save me brother and, if you can, come back for me. If ya don’t, I’ll haunt ya till the end of your days.”

  Glen could see well enough that he saw Soren give a brief nod of his head. Glen wanted to shake Lochlan’s hand or say something, maybe even offer an apology for the crack about Lucky Charms. But the moment was over before he had a chance. The leprechaun ran past him, heading back into the tunnel with his assault rifle held out in front of him.

  “Come on,” Soren said.

  The two of them began running up the tunnel. Glen didn’t turn to see what happened next. He heard the sound of automatic gunfire, which echoed loudly up the tunnel, and Lochlan yelling.

  “Never mess with an Irishman’s family!” he shouted. “I’ll kill ya, ya fookin bitch!”

  There was more gunfire, but it was cut off abruptly. Glen cast a single look back. He couldn’t see far into the tunnel, but thought he saw the gorgon knock over a small statue as she continued to slither up the tunnel.

  Glen looked back towards the exit, careful to not make eye contact with the gorgon. But he could hear her gaining behind him. He ran as fast as he could, but he was exhausted and out of breath. Soren looked like he could easily outpace him, but he appeared to be hanging back, unwilling to leave Glen on his own.

  At this rate, Glen knew they wouldn’t make it out. He’d read in Soren’s file that he used to be a track runner. He might escape, but Glen never would. And somehow he didn’t think Soren would leave Glen on his own to die. He would stay back with him and they’d both be killed. Soren had left the leprechaun, but only because Lochlan had clearly left him no choice.

  Glen understood what he had to do. Their only shot was if one of them escaped and made it to whatever weapon Lochlan had hiding in the car. And that wasn’t going to happen if Glen slowed Soren down.

  “Give me the gun!” Glen yelled, then laughed as he said what they always did in the movies. “Go on without me. I’ll only slow you down.”

  The moonlight was streaming in the tunnel and Glen saw Soren shake his head as they kept running.

  “No,” he said. “I’m not leaving you down here.”

  Soren had slowed down, even though the gorgon was nearly on top of them. He was going to get them both killed. Without thinking, Glen lunged for the gun in Soren’s hand. It must have caught him off guard, because Glen was surprised to find the handgun in his hand.

  “Go! You can still save us but only if you go now!” he screamed.

  He had time to register the look of shock on Soren’s face as Glen turned to face the monster. He covered his eyes and fired blindly into the tunnel.

  Behind him now, he heard Soren keep running. The message had gotten through. Glen almost sagged against the tunnel. It was strange, really. He was facing down a foe he couldn’t hope to beat, but there was a relief in knowing he’d lost. He felt the stress of the moment melting away.

  He heard the hissing become impossibly loud, knew from looking at the ground that the gorgon was on top of him. Even in the dim light, he could see her pulsating, scaly flesh. He fired at it, hoping to hit somewhere vulnerable.

  He fired the gun until he heard the click-click-click of an empty chamber and then he kept firing anyway, mostly because he didn’t know what else to do and pulling the trigger made him feel slightly better.

  Surprisingly, the monster didn’t run him over, but instead
stopped. Glen smiled; he couldn’t help it. The longer he delayed her, the more time Soren had.

  “Look at me, Glen,” her voice called.

  She was so close now that he felt her hot breath on his face. If he opened his eyes, he knew he would see the snakes in her hair snapping all around him. His knees almost buckled, but he held himself up. He would die on his feet at least.

  Her voice almost sounded like the human version of Emily. It was powerful, almost beguiling. But Glen kept his hand covering his eyes.

  “I said look at me!” she said.

  Glen felt a claw on his arm rip into his flesh. By instinct, he yanked it away to cradle it—and found himself staring into the red eyes of the monster. They were like two orbs made of blood. They swirled in front of him, expanding and then collapsing again.

  There was no time to react. He turned to run, but his legs would no longer obey him. He looked down to see them covered in alabaster stone that was rapidly moving up his body. It felt like needles were being jammed into every pore of his skin simultaneously. After a few seconds, his legs felt completely numb.

  “I have one last question for you,” Emily said, but Glen didn’t look at her. He watched as his body was consumed by rock. “Your friend abandoned you. Again. Just like he did in the tent. Why throw your life away for a man like that?”

  Glen glanced up to see the look of satisfaction in her twisted, ugly face. She didn’t expect an answer. He tried to throw a punch at her, but his arm didn’t respond. He looked to see it covered in stone. The only part of him that wasn’t consumed was his face.

  As the stone began to move up his neck, he thought of the huge case file on Soren Chase. He’d read it at least three times when Terry had sent it to him and had been stunned at just how many creatures the man had tangled with. Shades, pretenders, shirkens, witches, even something called a wyvern. And Soren had beaten them all.

  It was an effort to speak, but he did it anyway.

  “Because he’s the one who’s going to kill you,” Glen said.

  The last word was swallowed by the stone that covered his mouth, but he knew she got the point. He saw the look of hatred and anger in her face. With his final gasp of air as he turned to stone, Glen turned his expression into a triumphant smile.

  Chapter Twenty

  Soren Chase was the last man standing. Again.

  He tried not to think about it as he sprinted out of the tunnel and onto a steep hillside. He almost lost his footing, but managed to maintain it. He didn’t pause, but immediately began running down the hill, almost sliding at several points. The moon was shining brightly and Soren was grateful that his night vision had always been good.

  He stopped when he reached the bottom of the hill with the forest in front of him. The car; he had to get to Lochlan’s car. He just hoped whatever was in there would work. But first he had to find it. He took a moment to take in his surroundings, aware that any second he wasted would bring Emily closer. He tried to calculate where the camp lay, but it was hard to know what direction they’d been going underground or where he was now.

  Behind him, he heard the gorgon burst out of the mine, a shower of rocks falling down the hillside as she did so.

  Soren did the only thing he could do—he picked a direction and ran. He hugged the side of the hill, knowing that it was his only way to find the camp. He would just have to hope he picked the right way to go.

  He poured all of his remaining energy into the run. He had been on the track team in high school, coming close to breaking the state record for the 400-meter run. But he thought he was faster now.

  He heard Emily scream into the night, but he ignored her. The only thing that mattered was outpacing her. Free of Lochlan and Glen holding him back, he thought that might just be possible. As big and fast as she was, he was quick.

  He had extra incentive. Lochlan and Glen had sacrificed themselves for him—and he loathed the idea that he might fail them.

  He pushed himself to the limit. He could hear the gorgon chasing him, limbs snapping and trees falling in her wake. He could hear the hiss getting closer, and it sounded as if a giant was on his heels, so great was the amount of noise she made.

  Soren took to leaping over any obstacles in his path, weaving through trees and over rocks in a final race. They had gambled everything on the next few moments.

  He heard a tree fall and risked a look back. The gorgon was glaring at him, her red eyes flaring and her mouth hanging open. He could see her fangs, which were large and triangular. Their eyes met but Soren quickly looked away. He shouldn’t have looked at her.

  Soren didn’t understand why he wasn’t turning to stone. Clearly Emily hadn’t either during their earlier encounter, given the way she screamed at him. By all rights, he’d met her eyes twice—he should be a statue already.

  It had to be the sunglasses. They were still firmly affixed on his face; he’d forgotten to take them off even while walking in the dark tunnels. He just felt comfortable with them there. It was stupid to think they could be protecting him, but he didn’t have any other explanation.

  With relief, Soren rounded a bend, still hugging the hillside to the left of him, and saw the remains of the student camp. He was grateful that despite all that walking underground, he’d emerged relatively close to camp. He was almost there. But Emily was also close. He looked over his shoulder to see her only fifteen feet away.

  Soren jumped over a collapsed tent and sprinted toward Lochlan’s car up the road. He could see it just ahead. The windshield and body of the car had been smashed by the gorgon’s tail, and Soren worried that his plan had already failed. Maybe the weapon was lying broken inside. There was no time to consider other options, however.

  Unfortunately, there was also no time to implement his plan. He needed to get inside the trunk to find whatever Lochlan had hidden there. But if he stopped for a second, Emily would be on top of him.

  He pushed himself to run faster but the gorgon seemed to boost her own speed and closed the distance between them. He could hear the snakes in her hair snapping at him, grasping at the air just behind him.

  Without stopping, he reached the car and threw himself underneath it, scratching his arms on the rocks along the dirt road. He thought he could maneuver underneath the car to reach the trunk, but Emily foiled that plan within two seconds.

  She stopped outside the car and used her powerful tail to hit the front of the vehicle. Before Soren could move even a few feet, any protection afforded by the vehicle vanished. It was lifted off of him and flipped over. The front of the car went smashing into the road, knocking over the statue of Keevan. The force of the impact jarred loose the vehicle’s trunk, which fell open like a gaping mouth.

  Soren pushed himself up from the dirt and tried to run to the car, which was a few feet away, but the gorgon’s tail wrapped itself around him and held him back. She turned him over and threw him to the ground.

  He lay looking up at the monster above him, her red eyes boring into him. There was pure fury in her expression.

  “How?” she screamed. “Before I kill you, I want to know how you are defying me. You should be stone!”

  Soren looked up at her in a daze. His head felt woozy from her last throw. He’d been hit in the head far too many times today.

  Play for time, he thought.

  He was so close. If he reached out his hand, he could almost reach the gaping trunk. He couldn’t see what lay within, but he would just have to hope it could save him. He forced himself to look back at the gorgon.

  “I’ll tell you, but I want information first,” he said.

  “No!” she yelled, a snake darting in and out of her mouth as she spoke. “That’s not how this works. If you tell me how you are doing this, your death will be quick and painless. If you do not, I will torture you until you give me your secret.”

  Soren started laughing, which seemed to catch her off guard.

  “Come on,” he said. “My death won’t be painless no matter wh
at I say.”

  He tried to move his body another inch toward the trunk, hoping she would think he was just trying to back away. She loomed over him. He saw blood dripping down her sides where she had been shot, but she didn’t appear to be in much pain. Beneath her scales, he could almost see the individual snakes that made up her body as they squirmed inside her. She laughed in a harsh, hissing sound.

  “True,” she said. “I will enjoy stripping the flessssssh from your bonessss. But tell me anyway. Tell me what I need to know.”

  Soren moved backward again, his hand almost inside the trunk. Just a few more inches would do it. He needed to distract her for another moment.

  “You had help, didn’t you? Someone needed to create a fake ID for you to get into college. Who did it?”

  Emily reached a clawed hand down and raked his chest. Soren screamed, but retreated another inch. She wasn’t paying any attention to where his outstretched hand was, but was just focused on staring into his eyes.

  “Okay!” Soren yelled. “You want to know why I’m not turning into stone?”

  He moved another inch and his hand flailed around. A weapon was in there somewhere, he just had to find it. He kept hoping to feel the familiar cold metal of a gun or grenade.

  “Yessss...”

  “It’s the sunglasses,” he said. “I had them designed so they couldn’t see anything ugly. When I look at you, I just see a big blank empty spot.”

  Soren didn’t see her claw, but he felt it rake his face, ripping the sunglasses off. Soren shut his eyes in terror. He felt her lean over him, bringing her head close to his face. The snakes in her hair snapped at him, striking the air just an inch from his face.

  “I’ve decided I’m going to eat you,” she said. “Slowly. I’ll start with your feet and work my way up until I devour you alive.”

  He felt something barely touching the bridge of his nose and knew what it was. The snake in the gorgon’s mouth had extended to Soren’s eyes, hovering just above them. Soren didn’t dare look.