A Witch in a Well

by K. J. Emrick

  All she could see, was a red shirt.

  Stretching out her hand, Addie unleashed a spell to bend the light around this person, like Kiera had just done with the light on the ceiling. She was going to pour light on them like a spotlight to see who it was. They couldn’t hide from a witch.

  With her senses extended like that, she heard the person whisper…

  “Boom.”

  Then the person turned and ran.

  A smaller shadow ran at their feet.

  That one word, whispered in this tunnel, filled Addie with dread like no spell shouted to the heavens could possibly have done. She grabbed Kiera’s hand and pulled her back into the passageway, running back to Willow and the others. Doyle was a quick enough thinker to realize he’d better hop to as well.

  He wasn’t a coward. He just had good survival instincts.

  Good thing he did. Not a dozen steps later an explosion rocked the caves, and heavy chunks of rock fell from the ceiling above them.

  Chapter 4

  Cave in.

  Those two words screamed in Addie’s brain as she ran, pulling Kiera with her. She reached for the Essence within herself, drew it forth, threaded it through her body to make her legs move faster than was humanly possible. She bent and scooped Doyle up off the floor as she started to outpace him, and held him close as she ran, ran, ran.

  At the same time, she laced Essence over her ears in a fine latticework pattern until she could hear each chunk of rock falling around them. It was impossibly loud, and her brain screamed along with the groaning of the caverns, but she could hear each piece as it fell.

  She moved right. She jumped left. She pulled Kiera out of the way and kept going. She did not want to get squashed.

  Squashed was bad. Running was good.

  They came out of the other end of the Passages like a blur and only then did Addie slow herself down, call back the unused tatters of her Essence, and let herself breathe.

  “What in God’s name is going on?” Chase Abbott demanded. He was holding his wife close, backpedaling away from the Passages with a look of absolute terror on his face.

  Addie saw why, when she turned back to look at the Passages. Dust was pluming out of each one. That most likely meant that whatever had happened at the other end had blocked more than just the one path Addie and Kiera had just escaped through.

  Not just one. All of them. The way back was completely blocked.

  “Cave in,” Godfrey said, speaking the words that Addie had only been thinking. He moved closer to Maria, protectively putting his arm around her shoulder. She didn’t stop him.

  All around them came the sound of stone grinding on stone. A low resonant moan, like the Earth itself was in pain.

  A cave in. That had been Addie’s first thought when she was running for her life. Now that she had time to think, she realized it was more than that. Something worse. She just wasn’t ready to tell all of them about it yet. She didn’t want to scare them too much more than they already were.

  “Dios mio,” Maria breathed, obviously scared for her life. Even Godfrey looked scared, even though he was trying to act like a big, strong protector for Maria’s sake.

  She held her cellphone up in the air and at first it looked like she was recording the event for posterity. Then Godfrey pulled his out of his pack and held it up, too. They were looking for a signal, Addie realized, trying to call for help.

  “There’s no signal here,” Willow reminded them. “We’re surrounded by rock. There’s no chance of you making a call from here.”

  Addie took a breath, held it, let it go. Took a breath, held it, and repeated that for a few seconds. This wasn’t magic, it was just a way to lower her heartrate and get her rapid breathing under control. That sprint had taken a lot out of her, both physically and magically. She’d used a lot of her Essence to make those spells on the fly like that. She would have to be careful not to use much more, until she could rest and let her body recuperate.

  “Sister Addie,” Kiera said in a voice that was much calmer than Addie would have expected. “May I have my hand back, please?”

  Addie felt embarrassed. She hadn’t even realized she was still holding onto Kiera’s hand. She’d dropped Doyle as soon as she got back here to the Cathedral. He sat there now, his fur bristled, his teeth bared, like he was going to hiss at the broken rocks littering the Passages and make them pay for scaring him.

  Willow came over to them. Shaking her head, she pitched her voice with a little magic just for Addie and Kiera to hear. “It’s not good. I scouted each of the seven Passages. Each one is blocked. That cave in completely blocked us off that way. All we can do is go forward.”

  “No,” Addie said. “That wasn’t a naturally occurring event. Not just a cave in. There was someone back there, and they set off an explosive device of some sort. Dynamite, maybe.”

  “It was a bomb,” Kiera assured her. “I saw just a glimpse of the device before you pulled me away. It had been hacked into the power lines for the lights.”

  Willow’s jaw dropped. “Well. Points for creativity, I suppose.”

  “Let’s not give him too much credit,” Addie grumbled. “He tried to kill me and Kiera.”

  “You know what I meant. Did you see who it was?”

  “No. Not exactly, I mean. There was someone down at the other end, and they set off the explosion on purpose, and they didn’t care that we would be standing right underneath it.”

  “Everyone was still down here with me,” Willow pointed out. “You know what that means? Somehow, someone got in here and now they’re trying to kill us.”

  Addie nodded her agreement. She’d thought of that, too. She’d been so ready to accuse one of their group of killing Evelyn, and it turned out it was someone else. Although in her defense, no one was supposed to be able to get into these caverns without their permission. Someone would need to know the spells to use to get in. Everyone in the world who knew the right spells was now trapped down here by someone who shouldn’t even be here.

  “What’d they look like?” Willow pressed. “Guy? Girl?”

  “I couldn’t see,” Addie sighed. “They stayed to the shadows. They were very careful to keep their face hidden. They were wearing a red shirt. That’s all I can say.”

  Red. A red shirt. Now, why did that stick in Addie’s mind?

  And what had that small blur been that followed after their attacker? An animal? A spirit? Some sort of accomplice?

  She didn’t know. Their attacker might have brought a familiar into the caverns, for all she knew. This was supposed to be one of the most secure places in the world. Harder to get into than Fort Knox or that Global Seed Vault in Norway. Now someone had gotten in, killed one of them, set off an explosion, and brought some sort of animal friend along for the fun of it?

  It just didn’t make any sense.

  Godfrey cleared his throat to get their attention. Maria was still in the circle of his arms, looking their way as well. “Excuse me,” he said, “I know we’ve got some serious issues going on here, but did you find out anything about Evelyn? You haven’t said what happened to her yet.”

  Behind them, Purity and Chase were holding on to each other just as tightly. “Oh my,” Purity said, her tone arched. “I almost forgot about her.”

  Addie shot her a look, about to say something snarky about how she was only willing to touch her husband when her life was in jeopardy, but now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for truth.

  Well. Most of the truth.

  “Evelyn is dead,” she said. “Someone killed her.”

  The color drained from Purity’s face. Her husband’s jaw dropped, his mouth forming a wide O. Maria held her hand up over her mouth. Godfrey was the only one who didn’t seem affected by the news. Addie figured he must have been expecting it. When Evelyn hadn’t joined them, it was a fair guess that something had gone wrong.

  “Geez, sis,” Willow whispered to Addie. “You couldn’t have let me know that bit
of information first?”

  “At the moment,” Kiera pointed out in that calm way of hers, “we have other, and more pressing problems. We’ve been cut off from the exits behind us. We were supposed to make a round trip, see the caverns, and go back the way we came. That will now be impossible.”

  That was her big sister, all right. Have a bomb go off over her head, drop half a ton of rock on them, and she was still as calm as a Spring breeze over the hills of Glengarry.

  Purity found her voice again. “But… Evelyn was murdered. That’s what you said. There’s a murderer here. Isn’t that a little more pressing than finding another way out? Oh, my. Oh, no. No, no, no.” Her eyes bugged as the real danger of their situation sank in. “Addie, Kiera, Willow… you do have another way out, don’t you?”

  The cavern groaned again, ominous vibrations rumbling under their feet.

  A crack the length of Addie’s hand opened in the ceiling overhead with the sound of a gunshot. A chorus of gasps and screams came and went from their group. Addie thought she might have heard her own voice in there, as well.

  “Of course we have a way out,” Willow said once they were sure the tunnel was going to hold. “We know all the paths through here. Everybody will be fine.”

  “Just not Evelyn,” Maria said in a small voice.

  Which was true. No sense in arguing about that one. Evelyn was dead, and the rest of them were in great danger. Addie hadn’t wanted to tell them even that much but there was no talking around the fact that Evelyn was not here. All of them were scared, and Addie couldn’t blame them. Her sister’s snappy comment about them knowing all the ways in and out wasn’t going to be much help in easing their minds, either. They needed to see for themselves that they would be all right. What they needed most was honest answers.

  For a moment she debated telling them the rest of it. Someone—man or woman—who had run away after setting trying to kill them. If Addie hadn’t used her magic, she and Kiera both would have joined Evelyn in the great beyond. Well, she couldn’t very well tell them that part. Or any of it, she supposed.

  She didn’t have a lot of the answers. Just the right questions. Like, who.

  And why?

  There was another question, too, that she and her sisters had avoided asking up to this point. Was the person Addie had seen just a normal, average Typic—for lack of a better word—or was that a magic user trying to kill them?

  Which opened up a whole new set of questions, like whether or not Belladonna Nightshade was involved.

  That red shirt flashed into her mind again, possibly because it was the only thing she had really seen of their attacker. No. There was something else about it. It reminded her of something. She just couldn’t quite remember what.

  A meow distracted her, and she looked down to see Doyle pointing his muzzle down the triangular passageway of the Cathedral. When she looked that way she found Domovyk racing back from wherever he’d gone.

  He opened his mouth to speak but Addie quickly shook her head, warning him to remain silent. Cat’s don’t speak. Not in the world outside of witches and magic.

  Thankfully he caught on, and snapped his mouth shut again. Wherever he’d been, and whatever he’d seen, it was going to have to wait. The maniac who had set off that explosion was still down here, somewhere. Yes, he was back behind the Passages, and those were blocked off, but there was more than one way to get around down here. If the unknown stranger had been able to get past all of their defenses on the front door, then he had plenty of side doors to choose from.

  Thankfully the Well of Essence was impossible to get to, even for magic users. You had to be a Kilorian to get in there.

  “I think we need to go,” she said to Kiera. “Under the circumstances, I think the shortest route out would be our best bet.”

  “I agree, Sister Addie.” Kiera pushed up the cuffs of her sleeves and marched straight ahead, determined and composed, expecting everyone to follow her.

  Before she turned away, she gave Addie and Willow a look.

  They understood.

  Turning their backs to everyone else, Addie and Willow chanted softly, making very specific hand motions to go along with the spell they were casting.

  Magical energy flowed from them, colored faintly by their individual natures. A sensuous pink with hints of yellow for Willow, and Addie’s pearlescent teal, mixing together in a haze that quickly faded to pure, clear power. It resonated, building on itself with the words from their spell, until it was stacked floor to ceiling, creating a wall of magical reinforcement that would last for several hours, strengthening the integrity of the caverns.

  It wouldn’t do much if the whole system began to crack and fall apart, but Addie wanted to consider that a worst case scenario. She was hoping for the best case—where the damage already done was all there would be. There wasn’t anything else they could do for now.

  Knowing that the Kilorian sisters were their only way out, the four people left in their group took up their stuff and started moving. Willow and Addie, along with Doyle and Domovyk, took up the rear again. As they walked Willow bent down, catching Domovyk under his midsection, and held him up in her arms. He squirmed and tried to push free. He really didn’t like to be held.

  “Stop it,” Willow whispered at him. “I want to talk to you. Where were you? Here we are with the tunnels smashing down around our ears and you’re off galivanting on your own.”

  “Was not galivanting,” he grumbled. “Not even sure what that word means. I was walking ahead to see what came next. If I’d known we would have murder with rock falling on woman’s head, and then avalanche, would have stayed for the excitement.”

  “Hush your face, boyo,” Doyle hissed up at him, “and show some respect. There’s a woman dead back there.”

  Domovyk’s tail flicked. “Tak. Yes, is what I said.”

  “I swear you’re as thick as potato soup, sometimes. Don’t suppose you saw anything useful up ahead of us on your little scouting trip?”

  “No. Nothing but more rock,” was the somber answer.

  “Then hush,” Doyle said again. “Let our human friends here help us out.”

  They walked to the end of the Cathedral, where the tunnel became smooth and rounded again. This section would go on for a while, gently curving to the right as it went. There weren’t any branches off this part of the tunnel. The next fork in the road, so to speak, would be at the end of a ten-minute walk. Usually, they would bring the tour down the tunnel to the left. Today, they would take the path to the right. They needed to get out, and back to their vehicles, and back to Stonecrest. The fork to the right was their way out. It was the shortest path, and it wasn’t dangerous.

  Well. Not too dangerous. Safer than having a ton of rocks falling on their heads, to be sure.

  The caverns groaned again, as if to remind them they needed to move quickly. That sound was punctuated by a loud, resounding snap that boomed down the tunnel and made them all flinch, even Addie.

  “Dom,” Willow asked the tomcat in her arms, “were the Stairs clear? There weren’t any fallen rocks on the Stairs, were there?”

  Domovyk blinked up at her, obviously confused. “Stairs? We are in tunnel. Is there elevator, too? Would like to ride elevator back up to the surface. I wouldn’t even complain about snow if there was elevator.”

  “As long as it meant staying alive?” Addie asked him. “Yes, I agree. Unfortunately, there’s no elevator. Just the Stairs. You’ll see.”

  Doyle stopped in his tracks so suddenly that Addie nearly tripped over him. “Old Man, we don’t have time to take a rest,” she told him. “What are you doing?”

  “Sorry, sorry there,” he said, moving on again quickly. “I had my thoughts wandering off. I’m with you now.”

  “What are you thinking about that’s so important?”

  He flicked an ear. “Tell you later, maybe.”

  They’d kept their voices down, both by whispering and with a little magic, and now they
could hear everyone muttering in front of them at the newest sight Shadow Lake Caverns had delivered. Ahead of them, the floor of the passageway began dropping away a little bit at a time, in sections that were nearly uniform, like steps that had been carved out of the rock. They led down to a huge chamber with a high ceiling filled with looming stalactites that dripped water. After that right turn, they were moving below the bottom crust of Shadow Lake.

  The lights here weren’t as bright as before. Because the walls were so wide apart, and the ceiling so high, floodlights had been hung on overhead steel cables, shining straight down on everything. It made for a lot of shadows, especially as the Stairs dropped away. There were no safety cables. Nothing to stop anyone from falling off the side or tumbling straight down. As long as everyone went slowly, and took their time, the Stairs were wide enough that no one would stumble.

  Addie glanced nervously up above them. Up there, in the dark, was the floor of Shadow Lake. It was thick enough that all that water being up there had never bothered her before. Now, it was a real concern. If the breaks in the rock reached them here, it wouldn’t just be falling rocks they had to worry about. It would be all the water in the lake coming to drown them.

  Kiera cleared her throat and gathered everyone at the top of the Stairs. “Oftentimes, waterfalls create step-like formations in stone. It is a phenomenon which geologists refer to—”

  “As headward erosion,” Godfrey finished impatiently for her. “I know all that, and I don’t think anyone is interested in the science lessons anymore, Miss Kilorian. No offense, but we’d just as soon get out of here.”

  “What’s the matter, Godfrey?” Chase asked him. “You in a hurry?”

  “Of course I am! This whole place could come down on us any second.”

  “Mm-hmm,” was Chase’s snotty comment. “You sure there isn’t another reason you’re in a rush to leave? Like, maybe you were involved in Evelyn’s murder? Hmm? Was that you?”

  “Are you insane?” Godfrey demanded. “I was the first one to get to the Cathedral. You were the last one to arrive, as I remember. Couldn’t help but notice there’s something between you and your wife and Evelyn, too. Seems to me you two knew her.”