and smiles when he finds a groove. Using both hands, he pushes upon the dark pool and it sinks a quarter inch into the wall.
“Jiron,” he says, “take the orb and run back to see if anything happened.” Continuing to press upon the pool, he waits while Jiron runs back the way to where the bubble had indicated a secret door.
“A doorway is open!” they can hear from down the corridor.
Releasing the dark pool, James turns and makes his way through the dark to where Jiron waits by the opened secret door.
Even before reaching it, the stench coming from the opening hits him like a hammer.
“Gah!” says Miko. “What’s down there?”
All James can do is shrug as he takes the orb from Jiron and begins to descend down the stairs.
Chapter Six
The stench only increases as they descend, making their eyes water and bringing them almost to the point of gagging. The bottom of the stairs comes out in a large cavernous room. From the looks of it, the ones who built this place left the cavern just the way they found it with only minimal alterations.
The prickling increases to an almost painful degree as James reaches the end of the stairs. He pauses a moment before entering the cavern, gasping from the effect the area is having on him. Five feet from the end of the stairs, a dark pool begins, the same as had been depicted in the mural upstairs. The light from the orb doesn’t illuminate far enough for them to see to the other side of the dark water.
“This looks just like the pool you pushed in the mural to open the secret door,” Miko says when he enters the cavern.
James nods his head and replies, “That’s what gave me the idea. When I saw the mural, I figured we’d eventually find this.”
“What is it?” Jiron asks as he approaches it for a closer look.
“Don’t get too close,” James warns him.
Stopping a few feet from the pool, he wrinkles his nose as he turns back and says, “It’s the source of the odor.”
James just nods his head as he gazes around the cavern. Increasing the luminosity of the orb, he’s soon able to see to the other side of the cavern where the pool ends. Mirror black, it sits in the center of the cavern without even a ripple. The light from the orb isn’t reflecting off its surface either, more like it’s being absorbed.
Plunk!
A ripple begins to from in the middle of the pool where a stone had been cast into it. James quickly turns and grabs Miko’s arm as he’s about to throw another one. “Are you crazy?” he shouts at him.
Looking guilty, Miko drops the rock and says, “Sorry.”
“James, look!” Jiron exclaims as he points to the ceiling of the cavern, directly over the pool.
A crystal, enormous in size, hangs suspended several feet from the ceiling. It pulses a soft white light, almost like a heart beating.
“What is it?” Miko asks.
“That,” James explains, “is the source of the magic maintaining the barrier.”
“You sure?” he asks.
“Not entirely, as I didn’t create it,” James replies in exasperation. “But I can’t imagine it being anything else.”
“Now what?” he asks.
Turning to him, he says, “Miko, stop asking me questions. I can’t think of what to do with all of your interruptions.”
“Sorry,” he apologizes.
He begins to move around the dark pool as he tries to consider his next course of action. There’s nothing here but the pool and the crystal.
Coming back to where the others are waiting, he says, “Jiron, do you think you could hit the crystal with a stone?”
“Maybe,” he replies as he bends over and picks up a fair sized rock. “Isn’t this going to be dangerous?”
“I hope not,” he says. “I just want to see what will happen.”
He takes aim and then throws the rock toward the crystal with all his might. They watch as the rock soars upward and then is suddenly deflected away by a barrier when it nears the crystal.
“Thought so,” James says when he sees it being deflected.
“Then why have me do it?” Jiron asks.
“Now I know for sure,” he explains.
He stands there, staring up at the crystal as he considers his next course of action. Then from the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of a ripple out near the center of the pool. Turning to Miko he glares at him and says, “Stop throwing rocks in the pool.”
“I didn’t,” denies Miko.
Looking to Jiron, he sees him shaking his head. “Then what…?”
They all turn and look out to the pool. Four separate rippling formations can be seen in the water. “James,” says Miko with fear in his voice, “what’s going on?”
Staring out at the ripples, he replies, “I don’t know.” He gestures for everyone to begin backing toward the stairs as the ripples begin moving in their direction.
“James?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t know!” he replies vehemently, never once removing his eyes from the pool.
They pause a moment at the base of the stairs as they continue watching the ripples approaching the edge of the pool. When the ripples are a mere three feet away from the shore, something begins to emerge from the water.
In growing horror, James watches as a headless torso makes its way out of the water and begins shambling toward them. “Run!” he yells as he turns and shoves them, propelling them up the stairs.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he pauses as he looks back down and sees the torso, along with others, reach the base of the stairs. Without pause, the lead torso steps onto the bottom step and begins climbing up after them.
“Up to the surface!” he yells as they turn as one and break into a mad dash for the next set of stairs.
They race up them to the upper level and then run down the corridors to the winding stairs which lead to the courtyard above.
Jiron is the first one to reach the stairs and takes them two at a time, Miko follows close behind. James reaches the stairs and begins to follow them up when Jiron stops suddenly and crouches down near the top. As Miko nears him, he grabs him and pulls him down as well.
“What’s wrong?” James asks as he comes up behind them.
Jiron motions for him to move up and join him at the top of the stairs.
He moves past a shaken Miko and settles down next to Jiron. Outside is dark, night had fallen while they were down below.
“Over there,” Jiron says as he points off to the right.
Looking in the indicated direction, James sees a ghostly apparition moving among the ruins. And then he sees another one. Scanning the entire courtyard he sees a dozen or more ghostly apparitions moving about, both men and women.
“What do we do now?” he asks.
Suddenly from behind them, Miko screams, “James!” as he shoves his way between them.
Looking at the bottom of the stairs, James sees one of the headless torsos from the pool. It steps upon the bottom step as it reaches for Miko.
James lets loose with a blast of power which knocks it back but fails to stop it. Blasting it again, he motions for the others to follow him back down. “If there’s only the initial four we saw coming out of the pool, we’ll have a
