by Melissa Frey
She nodded at the table in front of her. “I think I have these in some sort of logical order. I’m transcribing them into my journal so they’ll make more sense. Just a few more minutes.” Grady couldn’t help but notice her smirk at that last sentence. She’d noticed his impatience. Of course. It wasn’t easy to miss.
A few minutes later, true to her word, Kayla set her pencil down, then picked up the journal in front of her. She motioned for Grady to move closer.
“Okay,” she began, “this is what I have. It seems to be a first-person account from the perspective of one of the ‘Old Ones.’ Apparently these men ruled as dictators, taking what they wanted without regard for anyone else. They all but declared themselves gods, and anyone who stood in their way—anyone who dared question them—was eliminated.” She winced. “It says here, loosely translated: ‘I had more power than I could imagine, but I needed more. Our subjects were only a way to more of that power.’ Nice guys, huh?”
“Ha.” Grady offered a half-smile. These ‘Old Ones’ had absolute power, that was obvious, but why? How? And why did everyone fear them so much, or allow them to rule in the first place? There had to be a reason.
Then he had a thought. “Should we scan these into the computer?” He eyed the locked cabinet to his right that he knew held all four of the dig’s laptop computers and the scanner, which could easily be set up in under thirty seconds. He also knew that both he and Kayla had a key.
Kayla yawned as if in response. Then she smiled. “We probably should.” She glanced at her watch, which made Grady involuntarily check the clock on the wall. Ten-thirty.
“Maybe not; it’s late,” Grady offered.
Kayla nodded. “Tomorrow, then. It’ll still be here tomorrow.”
Grady nodded back, then came up beside her to help her clean up the papers in front of them. In no time at all, he felt his eyes getting heavier as a yawn escaped him.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
Later that night, long after everyone had gone to bed, a dark figure sprinted through the forest, weaving seamlessly through the weeds and undergrowth, covering hundreds of feet in mere seconds. He didn’t even stop to catch his breath. He didn’t have to.
Alerted by the dim lights that surrounded the archaeological compound, the stealthy figure slowed. He couldn’t afford to be seen.
The Intruder cautiously approached the assorted collection of canvas tents and aluminum-sided trailers, careful to stay in the shadows. He peered through the dimly lit darkness in search of his mark.
There. The door flap of a nearby tent rustled slightly. Anyone else might’ve written it off as the wind, but the Intruder instinctively knew what was coming; this was why he was here.
A shrouded figure was suddenly hurtling toward him in a rush, keeping to the shadows. What they were meeting here to do could not be exposed. His counterpart knew it, too.
The other figure approached hurriedly but somehow carefully, silently. The Intruder grinned. This was just what they needed . . .
Then, suddenly, nothing more than a shadow was standing in front of the Intruder, its hands stretched out between them, a small object in its outstretched hands. The Intruder quickly swiped the object from his counterpart’s hands, surprised at how light it was. He tossed it unceremoniously into his burlap bag, not even bothering to see what it was. It didn’t matter.
The Intruder nodded his thanks at the dark figure, then retreated back into the comforting protection of the forest.
Kayla woke the next morning with anticipation fluttering in her stomach. What more would they find with the aid of their equipment, more people, and lights? She dressed quickly, donning her usual khaki pants and not-too-tight-but-still-flattering dark T-shirt. She draped a pocketed lightweight khaki work shirt over her shoulders and shrugged into it as she grabbed her watch and fastened it tightly. She subconsciously placed her hand over the charm she wore around her neck. She still didn’t know what it meant, but she was going to keep it with her—and under wraps—until she and Grady could figure it out.
She reached for the notepad she always kept on the table by her cot, the one that she had filled up with the symbols from the cave, but her searching hand found nothing. Her eyes scanned the floor of her tent, the inside of her suitcase that lay open on the ground—she even rechecked the small table and shook out the light blankets on the cot—but the notepad was nowhere to be found. She sighed. She must’ve left it in the work trailer. She snatched up her now fully-charged phone instead; she supposed a camera would have to do.
With the help of Grady, Kayla headed up the expedition to explore the cave. Excavators swarmed the shaft and the caves underneath. At first, Kayla and Grady stayed above ground to keep tabs on their progress.
A few hours later, just before Kayla was about to head underground, Jack managed to get their floodlights safely down the shaft. Kayla was grateful she’d have more light than last night. Grady followed close behind her as they scrambled carefully but quickly down the shaft’s haphazard staircase.
The room looked completely different in the blinding glare of a floodlight, the one Jack was just finishing setting up. When he was done, he started down the long tunnel carrying four other floodlights, with the help of a few other excavators. Kayla grinned at the array of lights he’d brought down with him. She had warned him how large the biggest cavern was, and he seemed determined to be prepared. One of the many reasons she liked him.
In the bright light, Kayla noticed something strange. The lightning symbol was everywhere. The ceiling, the walls—Kayla could even see symbols on the floor, peeking out from the sand on its surface. She made a mental note. Someone had thought this symbol was important enough to emblazon upon every surface; there must’ve been a reason. She reached for her pocket-sized notepad to make a note of her findings, then realized she’d forgotten to retrieve it from the work trailer. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to snap a few pictures. She checked the small screen—the camera did not do this room justice in the slightest—but she was satisfied she’d recorded enough.
Once her analysis of the first room was complete—there was little left to see after her initial discovery—she followed Grady down the dimly lit tunnel. These floodlights sure beat flashlights. By a mile.
As the tunnel began widening, Kayla felt a familiar trepidation creep up in her stomach. Her former nemesis, this dark and seemingly floorless room, stretched out before her, beckoning her to continue, to fall into its depths.
She approached the room carefully, close enough to Grady that she could’ve reached out and touched his back. She slowed down to make sure she didn’t run into him, thinking he would stop just before the entrance. But, unlike last night, Grady didn’t stop. He took a step into the room as though nothing was wrong.
Kayla held her breath.
But Grady didn’t fall; he bobbed up and down a few times, then seemed to stabilize a little. Abruptly, Kayla realized what kept Grady from falling. She felt like an idiot.
Their trustworthy excavators had strung a surprisingly sophisticated rope bridge across the room, complete with bright yellow rope and thick pieces of wood—ropes had even been strung on either side as handrails—creating a highly functional pathway to the tunnel beyond. On the bridge’s side, at both ends of the room, the workers had strung sturdy rope ladders that nearly reached the bottom.
This was not the same room as the night before. The dangling roots still hung from the ceiling, but they now faded into the background as the more intriguing elements of the room came into view.
In the glare of the floodlight that illuminated the space—she was surprised that she hadn’t noticed last night—Kayla saw that the room was dripping with water. The water dripped through the ceiling of the room, feeding the roots and turning the floor into a slick mud.
But that wasn’t the most intriguing part. Interspersed throughout the piles of mud and dirt were pieces of . . . something. Kayla couldn’t quite make it out
.
She watched as an excavator pulled one of the pieces from the mud and began to carefully clean it off in a nearby water drip. Kayla immediately recognized what the man was holding. In his hand was a small clay pot. There were dozens of them littering the ground. But they weren’t alone.
Kayla caught a glimpse of an unobtrusive, off-white fragment sticking out of the ground near one wall. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. It wasn’t pottery; it was a human skull.
As she surveyed the room, Kayla began to comprehend the sheer number of bones in this room. The floor was nearly covered in off-white bone fragments. The excavators would be busy for awhile.
But Kayla knew they could handle it. They would call in an anthropologist—the kind that dealt with human remains regularly—who would work to piece everything together and give them an idea of how these men and women died and how their remains ended up here.
So Kayla, realizing there was nothing more she could do here, decided to head further down the long tunnel. She followed Grady across the rope bridge—reluctantly at first—then into the tunnel that led to the cavernous room beyond.
The stadium-sized room was just as ominous as it had been last night, and, oddly enough, the floodlights Jack was busy setting up only made it more so. To Kayla, the bright LED lights juxtaposed against the otherworldly feel of the room reminded her of a basement morgue. She felt a chill run down her spine. What was it about this room that was so unnerving?
She eyed Grady. Given the way his eyes were darting around the room, he was feeling it too. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.
Kayla tried to shake it off, to concentrate on the task at hand. She glanced around the room. The few workers that had made their way to this room were standing in odd clusters as if they were waiting for direction, eyes darting to, then away from each other.
She noticed Grady start heading toward the wall they’d discovered last night. Kayla followed automatically, wondering why the wall wasn’t brightly lit up with all the people around. Last night, she and Grady seemed to have activated it, and the light had stayed on until they’d left the room. But today, even with all the people in here, the space behind the walls was lit only by a dim glow. Only the floodlights shed light in the room, but, despite their bright glare, they couldn’t illuminate the entire space. The room was simply too massive.
As Grady approached the wall, Kayla saw the light in the wall start to glow. She touched his shoulder lightly as she came up next to him, and the light burned just as brightly as she remembered. It must only light up when someone is directly in front of it, Kayla mused.
Which gave her an idea. She called to one of the workers that stood huddled near the entrance. “Ramón, could you please bring us something to put in front of this wall?”
Immediately Ramón started moving, eager to please. He was soon at Kayla’s side with a large metal stepladder. Grady and Kayla helped him set it up in front of the wall, then the three of them tentatively backed away from it. The light dimmed, but the room was still brighter than it had been. With the aid of the floodlights and the luminous walls, the room took on a bright yet eerie glow. At least now they had enough light to do some exploring.
Kayla called instructions to the rest of the workers, then leaned over to Grady as the workers dutifully started preparing the room for excavation. “So . . . did you notice how the light was a lot brighter when we stood in front of it together?”
Grady nodded, eyeing the workers just as Kayla had been doing. “Yeah. What do you think it means?”
Kayla made an effort to shrug nonchalantly. “Nothing good.”
They both watched as one of the workers walked in front of the wall, stopping just in front of it to set up some equipment for testing. Kayla almost held her breath.
The light didn’t waver.
“Weird,” Grady breathed beside her.
Kayla nodded.
They fell into a comfortable silence as they observed the workers. Kayla wondered why only she and Grady brightened the light behind the wall. Whatever the reason, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it.
Then it hit her, and Kayla shuddered. The way that light only really shined when they were near it, it was almost as
if . . .
Almost as if it recognized them.
She pulled her arms tighter around her.
CHAPTER 4
Revelation
Kayla watched the workers finish prepping the area with indifference. Something felt off, but whatever was wrong—whatever was bothering her—would not be resolved until she started exploring. Something in this enormous cavern held the answers. She could feel it.
As if in answer to an unasked question, her attention was then inexplicably drawn to the large, towering boulder in the center of the room. She barely registered the prattling workers nearby, Jack securing the final floodlight, Grady double-checking the setup . . . her eyes were drawn to the tall boulder and the glowing sphere sitting on top of it. As she stood there, staring up at the globe from at least thirty feet below, it hit her. The sphere—the oddly illuminated but otherwise innocuous globe sitting atop the stately boulder—held all the answers she needed.
She needed to get up there.
Ignoring an excavator’s tentative protest—just another benefit of being the boss—Kayla grabbed a long metal ladder off the wall and pulled it toward the center of the room. She smacked it against the boulder resolutely. Her scientific side was quickly taking over.
She scaled the ladder quickly, eager to find out what about the glowing ball had her so intrigued. Once she reached the top, she found herself staring directly into the center of the globe.
The light should have hurt her eyes. That was her first thought. Her second thought was that it could be too hot to touch. Her third thought was that although the sphere was large, it still looked small enough to carry. Ignoring her second thought, she braced herself against the side of the boulder and reached for the glowing ball. It wasn’t hot at all.
But it didn’t budge.
She tugged harder. It still didn’t move.
Kayla sighed in frustration. If she pulled any harder, she risked breaking it, or knocking the ladder over. Reluctantly, she decided to simply do a cursory exam. No use wasting her time—or anyone else’s time—when she was already up here.
Her hands traced lightly over the globe’s surface. The feel of it reminded Kayla of the rocks she and her sister had frequently plucked from the creek behind their house—smooth and clean. Though she didn’t know how the sphere had lasted this long down here without collecting a thick layer of dust.
Odd.
The top layer of the ball was translucent, allowing the light at its center to shine through, similar to the walls surrounding her. Kayla looked more closely at the glowing center, gazing into the luminescence inside. As she watched—with ever-widening eyes—the light began moving, swirling.
Something was happening.
Grady was busy analyzing one of the glowing walls. So far, he’d been unable to get a good picture of the area behind the wall, the part that was glowing, with their imaging equipment. The light from within seemed to be obscuring any attempts they made to see inside the wall. He was beginning to think that they may have to cut out a small piece of the wall and snake a small camera inside for a clear picture.
He cringed. Sampling the wall was the very last resort. He was an archaeologist first; he worked to preserve history, not destroy it. After a minute of internal debate, he sighed; he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Whatever picture they were able to get with their imaging equipment would just have to work.
He could discuss it with Kayla later and see what she wanted to do. Though, like him, he doubted she’d vote to destroy the wall, even a tiny piece.
Where was Kayla? She’d been only a few feet away a minute ago, hadn’t she? Grady lifted his head to look for her
.
“Grady?” A man called over to him from behind a nearby computer monitor.
Grady walked over to him, his search for Kayla temporarily abandoned. Something in the worker’s voice made him think they might’ve finally gotten a clear picture of the inside of the glowing wall.
He was right. Grady stared at the full-color image on the monitor. His jaw dropped.
There, in sharp contrast with the dark brown background, was a white, brightly glowing globe, similar to the ball atop the boulder he’d noticed last night. Grady wondered if it was the same size. He glanced up at the top of the boulder behind him to compare.
Kayla was there, standing at the top of an impossibly tall ladder and staring at the lighted globe, her eyes only inches from it. She wasn’t moving. What was she doing?
Kayla couldn’t look away. She tried, but the attempt was actually physically painful. Something was stopping her—something intangible, but very, very real.
She stared at the globe, unable to do anything else. And then, as she gazed into its center, she felt something change, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Fear pitted in her stomach.
Gradually, so slowly that she couldn’t tell exactly when it started, the scene around her began to fade. The boulder she rested against, the glowing essence of the massive cavern, even the globe in front of her was fading away before her eyes. More than that, the sounds of the workers below her began to fade, too, until all she could hear was a quiet breeze that blew lightly around her. She shuddered as the breeze caressed her skin. What was going on?
She was no longer standing on a ladder three stories above the cavern’s sandy floor—her feet were resting on a rocky surface; she could feel the jagged edges beneath her soles. She seemed to be on a small bluff, overlooking a large village. She smelled the smoke of several fires snaking up into the sky, felt the light breeze rustle her hair as it blew by, saw the off-white canvas coverings that composed the large collection of tents.