by K. R. Bowman
I woke up early. Raleigh and Ashlen were still asleep. Ashlen was tangled up in her sheets, while Raleigh had her mouth open, her arms hung off the bed, and the sheets were on the floor. The moonlight shone in through the windows. The once-hot fire was now mere embers.
Rolling out of bed as quietly as I could, I tiptoed to the kitchen area to get a fire going. I placed a bucket on the fire to boil some water, then eventually to make coffee. I sat at the counter with my head resting in my hands. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, trying to straighten out my thoughts.
The water boiled, and I got up. I poured the coffee into a mug along with milk and sugar. My spoon clinked methodically against the clay mug as I stirred in the sugar.
Things had been happening so fast. I didn’t really know if I had absorbed it all. Okay, let me lay out the problems: first, I had no clue what happened to my father except he was possibly taken by the Nightlins and killed. Second, the crime and death rates had risen in the Norm, because the Nightlins may be creating their own portals. Third, Nightlins are being more aggressive in the Realm causing more deaths. Fourth, Graham disappeared probably off to try and conquer the Nightlin Mountain alone. Are those all the problems? Oh, right, I can’t forget my physical problems, which consist of getting new abilities that aren’t normal for others. I have no idea what it means or how in the world I am going to develop these new abilities. Hopefully, those problems will sort themselves out. Oh, and then there’s this whole thing about retrieving my grandfather’s sword? In a tomb. Great. Just wonderful. Everything keeps getting better. Why does it all seem to come down to a tomb filled with dead people, spiders, spider webs, and who knows what else? And then, of course, there is Callum…not even going to touch that one right now. Uggggg. Can’t I catch a break?
The second and third problems I couldn’t solve myself. The first problem I had been working on consistently. At least, I’m here. I can’t solve my father’s disappearance in one week, so I’m learning the history behind him. With Graham, I have no idea what to do, except maybe find Willow, which I don’t even know if I can do that. I think I’m going to put my physical abnormalities on the back burner for now.
There’s never a simple answer.
I used to be a somewhat ‘normal’ human being. Now I might not even be called human. Oh, wow, I might not be a human anymore. I guess I’m not really. I’m a Realmer now, no complaints there since I am more comfortable here than I’ve ever been on the Norm side.
So, the only thing left to do was to visit my dead grandfather.
The girls stirred about an hour later, while I strapped on my armor. They got up and fixed breakfast.
“So, what are your plans for today?” Ashlen was busy putting a mixture of vegetables in her soup and chopping up fruit.
“Funny you should ask that particular question on this particular day,” I looked at her with I knew what was amusement on my face.
Ashlen looked up from what she was doing. Surprise overtook her features, and then she asked skeptically, “What makes you say that?”
“Well, I’ve been going over everything that I’m going to have to do and this particular activity I am going to have to perform, especially since Graham disappeared.”
Raleigh’s head snapped up, “He what?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s gone. My necklace said that he went to Nightlin Mountain.”
This time Raleigh was the skeptical one, “Your necklace said?”
“Yes, while you’ve been out with all your men, I’ve been hunting down clues. My necklace can tell me where to find people or how to find them.”
Raleigh raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah, so my grandfather is buried underneath us by the way, and has a sword buried with him that might be able to help fight against the Nightlins. I’m not sure why yet, but I need it.”
“So, you’re saying we are standing above a cemetery?” Raleigh looked incredulous.
I nodded with a slight smile on my lips, “Yep, full of skeletons.”
Raleigh and Ashlen made faces at each other. They silently exchanged words. Finally, Raleigh shrugged.
“Alright, let’s go,” Ashlen smiled.
“I should warn you about one thing.”
They looked at me, waiting.
“Okay, so, apparently, there might be some sort of enchantment on the sword, which will make it difficult to retrieve…”
Raleigh narrowed her eyes, “Difficult?”
I shuffled in my spot, “Umm, yeah. I won’t know how much until I get down there.”
Raleigh glanced at Ashlen, “Well, if we can’t fight an enchantment, then we have no business to fight Nightlins.”
“That is exactly right,” Ashlen nodded. “When do we go?”
“How about when the light appears?”
They both nodded.
“What about practice?” Ashlen asked.
Oh, right, forgot about practice, “Uh, we can still go and then take a small break,” I smiled sweetly.
Ashlen chuckled, shaking her head, and Raleigh laughed. We gathered our weapons and made our way down to the training field.
As usual, the Protectors and Hunters were already waiting for us. Harris was starting to make us look bad. He usually arrived a few minutes before us. This time Harris was stretching already.
Callum watched us approach. He stood in the group with Irene, Jess, Jordan, and Miranda. Rory and Stephen were sparring together to the side of the group. Molly sat with her legs stretched out on the ground and her arms out behind her, propping herself up, watching the two guys.
Jess met us, “Now that everyone is here, let’s do some warm-ups.”
We split up and moved to our spots on the field. We began stretching. Then we started doing flips, twists, and somersaults, racing each other to see who was the best.
Callum was paying me more attention than usual. Every time I turned around; he was watching me.
“Callum, what is it?” I asked as we finished warming-up.
He stretched down to touch his toes, “What do you mean?”
“You’ve had that funny smile on your face all morning.”
He rose and glanced at Jess, “You have a plan, and I’m going.”
My face filled with surprise no matter how hard I tried to hide it. I looked at Jess and the others.
I whispered as low as I dared, “How did you know?”
He moved to stand directly in front of me and spoke low, “I know you. I knew you would want to do something about Graham, so I assumed you were planning something for tonight. And, I have amazing hearing.”
My eyes grew slightly wider, “Amazing hearing? How amazing?”
He smiled slightly, “Very.”
I crossed my arms across my chest, “You know it just occurred to me that I never asked you about your abilities.”
His smile widened, and he messed his hair, “Yeah, you don’t ask, I don’t tell.”
I threw my hands up in the air, “Shit! There’s no telling what you’ve heard.”
He smiled again, this time the corners of his eyes crinkling, and shrugged.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter what you might have heard. There certainly isn’t anything I can do about it now.”
He continued to smile.
I leaned in close to him, “But just so you know, we aren’t planning on going after Graham yet. I have something else we need to do first.”
That wiped the smile off his face. His face filled with confusion.
“Well, whatever you’re planning, I’m still going with you. Remember our deal?”
I let out an exasperated sigh, “Yes, I remember.”
“When?”
“When the light appears.”
He nodded once then turned away.
I started sparring with Irene. We were still using our wooden swords, so the blows didn’t cut, but they still left nasty bruises. As we were fighting, the sun began to break the horizon. I broke off from fighting to b
end over and take a breath. I looked over at the girls. Raleigh was fighting with Molly. Molly was actually fast enough to keep up with her. Ashlen was sparring with Rory. Rory had to work hard to keep up. He had sweat running down his face and dripping off his chin. Not very attractive.
I waved off Irene and went over to a patch of non-trampled grass to sit down.
Irene came over to me, “Hey, you okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I just needed a breather.”
She studied me for a moment then nodded. She walked over to talk to Callum. Callum was watching me again. I focused my attention back to the girls. Both of them had stopped sparring and were sitting on the ground. They watched me, both asking me a question with their expressions. I nodded to each of them.
Ashlen got up and made some remark to Rory, who just nodded and shrugged, he gestured with his hands toward the city. Ashlen nodded and started walking toward the main gate. She passed by and winked.
Raleigh went over to talk to Jess, who was coaching Harris. Jess nodded, and Raleigh spun on her heel toward the main gate too.
Now it was up to me. Callum, like usual, had his eyes on me, so when I nodded at him, he knew I was ready. He said something to Irene to make her look at me. She said something, then Callum sauntered over to me. He held out his hand to help me up. I grasped his right hand, and he pulled me swiftly up, bringing me lightly up to my feet.
“Okay, we got the green light. They won’t know anything for at least an hour, so we better get moving with whatever crazy idea that you thought up.”
I glared at him, “It wasn’t just my idea. Clifford helped too.”
His eyebrows raised, “Then I really should be worried.”
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. We were almost to the gate when Callum started drilling me again.
“What are we doing?”
I glanced at him and waited a few moments before I answered him, “We are going to go retrieve a family heirloom.”
He was quiet for a second, “Where is this, heirloom?”
I smiled, “Always know what questions to ask. It’s in the cemetery.”
Callum stopped abruptly, “The cemetery? Are you crazy?” He grabbed my arm, “We can’t go traipsing through the cemetery. You do know what’s down there, right?”
“Yes, skeletons, bugs, spiders, a little dirt. I’m surprised you’d be so worried about some little bugs.”
He shook his head, “That wasn’t the only thing that I was talking about. There are things down there, including your grandfather, that won’t want to be disturbed. Things that won’t be friendly if we disturb them.”
“You can’t be serious, so you’re telling me that in this world, things that die don’t always stay dead?”
He nodded his head slowly, “It won’t exactly be the person, but the essence of them. I know Charles will probably be one of the worst he was as stubborn and selfish as they come.”
“Well, we better get going. We don’t have all day,” I smiled audaciously, “literally.”
We continued up to the main building to find Ashlen and Raleigh. I felt terrible about leaving Harris behind. He wasn’t going to be very happy with us later, but he loved to train with the Protectors and Hunters. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold it against us for too long. We found the girls in the dining hall. They each had a bulging backpack hanging over their shoulders—no telling what they had decided to pack. Ashlen held out a pack to me; mine looked slightly lighter than theirs.
“Okay, let’s go find Clifford. He has to tell us where we can locate the door.”
“I can lead us there,” replied Callum.
I shifted my attention to Callum, “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“Well, I kind of was hoping that I could talk you out of it, but seeing how you’re set on it… well, I’m going with you, so let’s go.” Callum moved toward the door, his weapons strapped across shoulders and back, swung back and forth as he walked.
20
Callum took the lead, and I gestured to Ashlen and Raleigh, “After you.”
They followed Callum.
Callum walked swiftly around to the back of the main building. He stopped in the middle of the grounds. He seemed to scan the wall like he was looking for something. He walked to the edge of the cliffside and jumped. I nearly screamed. I raced to the edge and leaned over to see Callum about ten feet below, with a smile on his face.
“Didn’t know you cared so much,” he laughed and went down a set of rough stone stairs.
I was going to strangle him one of these days, “Idiot.”
“I heard that!” he joyfully replied.
I clenched my fists in frustration. Raleigh and Ashlen craned over my shoulder, their eyes watching Callum go down the stairs.
“After you,” Ashlen gestured with her hand to the stone stairs below us.
“Hardy harr harr,” I jumped down, landing on my feet, one hand hit the soil beneath me. I didn’t check to see if the girls were following, I hurried after Callum. He had already disappeared around a bend in the staircase. The rough stone stairs were wide and had a shallow step, so running was slightly awkward. The stairs had been cut into the side of the hill, so the right side of the staircase had a dirt wall, the stairway slowly curved around the hillside. The thick masonry wall that ran along the whole city was on the left side of the stairs, about twenty feet away. I ran steadily down the stairs. Ashlen and Raleigh tromped down behind me, along with Ashlen’s heavy breathing. The stairs widened, and as I came around the bend, it opened up to reveal a vast cut out on the side of the hill.
We arrived at the large opening at the base of the hill. The opening was about ten feet across and fifteen feet tall. They had cut out the tunnel from the side of the hill; the tunnel shrank as we trekked farther in. At the entry of the tunnel, we were stopped by an incredibly thick and ornate wrought iron gate. The iron gate was about six feet wide and ten feet tall.
The gate swung inward when I pushed it, letting out a loud screeching noise as it swung on its hinges. We came to a bend in the tunnel, which brought us to another door. This door was made out of walnut. A mass of carvings made up the door. At first, I couldn’t tell what the picture was, but as we grew closer, I could pick out the details. Skeletons that belonged to people and animals were at the bottom of the door, their hands reaching out and their mouths gaping in a silent scream. Floating above the skeletons were a host of angels, their wings and robes flowing out behind them. Large trees framed the picture, the roots entangled with skeletons, and the branches and leaves brushed the faces of the angels.
A keyhole was set into the middle of the two doors.
“Alright, now what?” Callum turned his dark eyes to me questioningly.
I stepped toward the door to investigate and bent down to inspect the keyhole. It wasn’t a regular keyhole. This one had a simple small round hole.
“I don’t think it takes a regular key,” I turned back to my friends.
Ashlen came closer to look for herself. She traced the keyhole with her fingers, “It obviously doesn’t take a Norm key,” she turned to me, “but a Realm one.”
My eyebrows rose, “Realm key?”
Callum was the one to answer, “Yes, a Realm key. They can be any shape or size. We need a key that is small and round and comes to a point.”
We all looked at each other. Great, where am I going to get a key?
“We could go back to the library to see what Clifford might be able to tell us?”
“Well, why didn’t we do that before we made our way down here?” Callum didn’t sound amused.
“Well, if I remember correctly, someone said we didn’t need to go see Clifford.” I looked at him accusingly. He answered me by rolling his eyes.
Light reflected off the gold of my necklace. The needles moved slightly. I picked it up, holding it in the palm of my hand. The necklace had two points, one at the top and the bottom. Both points were two inches long. I studied the necklace th
en at the keyhole. Could it be that simple?
I lifted the necklace off my neck and over my head. I fit the point into the keyhole, pushing it as far it would go. There was a soft click and a hum started thrumming. Everyone gathered around me watching. I twisted the necklace to the right. Several clicks sounded inside the door and ended with a loud snap. Dust sprayed out from the cracks in the doors. We immediately took several steps back. Of course, Callum jumped in front of me, blocking the door in case something emerged so he would be attacked first.
As the dust settled, the doors made a popping noise and came apart, pushing outward by an inch. Callum stepped forward and heaved the doors back to reveal a dark hallway. Callum walked into the dark. He struck a match, and a torch that had been hanging on the wall ignited. The torch was simply made. It had a metal cone shape bottom that supported the wood. The cone sat in a small wooden ring that had been set into the rock wall. He turned to the opposite wall and lit another torch. He took one of the torches. We entered the tunnel, and at every ten feet, Callum would light the torches that adorned the walls.
The tunnel beneath the main building was like the kind you see in every horror film. Dark, wet, moldy, humid, spiders, insects, rats, mice, webs, and the atmosphere had that ominous feeling like around the next corner, some creature or murderer would jump out. We were all jumpy, and our eyes wide, trying to keep on the lookout for anything. The tunnel was made out of block masonry, something like sandstone because it was crumbling away, and they had gone back with wood to try and stabilize the tunnel. The floor was made up of leveled dirt. Torches lined the immensely long hallway. The fire waved back and forth as we passed by them or by some slight breeze that blew through the tunnel. The breeze blew strands of hair from my face.
Callum was in the lead. I peered around him to see the tunnel was opening up into a large cavern. Callum stepped to the end of the tunnel, swinging his torch to the right of the large room. Fire leapt up from along the edge of the wall and traveled around the whole room. The fire lit the entire space. A kind of shallow trough lined the room, filled with kindling, so the fire was able to travel quickly. The fire crackled, and the warmth of the flames began to heat the room, almost making it hard to breathe.