Afectrus approached Calico. “Calico, they’re just kids,” she said into his ear, but of course, the silent cavern carried it to James. “We don’t know what lies ahead.”
“They’re perfectly capable,” Calico said at a normal volume.
“But—”
“Enough,” Calico said, cutting her off. He turned toward James, Rocky, and Katie. “Let them decide. Will you three go forth into the unknown, to find the other Supers? To find the Chintamani Stone?”
“I—” James started.
“Which is it?” Katie interrupted. Her voice was harsh. “Find the Supers or the stone?”
Calico cocked his head.
Katie continued. “If you guys can’t climb these stairs, how could they? The stone may be up there, sure, but is that the goal? I thought it was finding the others.”
Calico nodded. “Great question. I don’t think it’s likely the others found a way past this point. But you see, whatever power is in this place, whatever power killed our dear Mungus, it is inextricably linked to the Chintamani Stone. It must be. Find the stone.” He held up his hands. “Find the source of power. Perhaps if we remove it, the other Supers can free themselves, if they are indeed trapped down here.”
Katie’s eyes were narrowed, but James couldn’t think of any way around that logic, and apparently, neither could she. They nodded to each other, and Rocky shrugged.
“Good,” Calico said. He glanced at Mungus’s body. “We must pay our respects to our fallen brother when we are finished. Auri and Afectrus, you two return to the base with the body. Keep him safe.”
“But—” Auri started, but Calico silenced her with a raised hand. James thought Auri was about to say, What if they need to be healed? The truth was, though, if they got injured up those stairs, there was no way for the Supers to help. They would truly be on their own.
As Auri and Afectrus grabbed Mungus between them—James averting his eyes from the limp corpse—Calico turned to James, Rocky, and Katie. “Go forth now, brave ones. You are doing something even the Supers cannot, and for that, you will always have our gratitude.”
James turned back to the steps. The temple was dark above them, foreboding. But the only way was forward.
THEY CLIMBED THE STONE steps, soon leaving the Supers behind. As the darkness swallowed Calico and the other Supers, James felt supremely alone. They were just three Normals, climbing ancient steps in an underground city, searching for a mythological stone of great power. Nothing to worry about.
They were all panting slightly when they reached the top of the steps, far above the abandoned city. The entrance to the square temple-like building at the top towered before them. It was larger than it had seemed at the bottom. The doors alone dwarfed James, massive stone slabs that seemed impossible to move.
“Well,” James said, looking between Rocky and Katie, his two friends who had come so far with him. They were on the other side of the world, doing what even the Supers could not. “Shall we?”
Katie nodded.
“Let’s do it,” Rocky said.
James pushed against the giant double doors. He expected them to offer resistance, but surprisingly, they swung open easily, revealing the darkness within.
Together, they entered the temple.
They stepped past the doors and into a large room. James peered forward, but the darkness dwarfed his torchlight. Whatever was waiting inside, they wouldn’t see it until it was right in front of them. They continued deeper into the room.
Boom.
James jumped and Katie let out a small scream as the massive doors swung shut behind them.
“Of course,” Rocky said, shaking his head. “Why not?”
James noticed a strange pattern on the floor before them. A line of gold was inlaid in the stone, weaving up and down like a wave. It glittered in the torchlight. James followed it, and it led him deeper into the room. It twisted and turned around several large pillars before coming to a sudden stop in front of a large, blank piece of wall.
“Well, that was fun,” Rocky said, coming up behind James. He stroked his chin and studied the wall as if judging an interesting piece of art. “But I don’t see anything.”
“No,” James said, then realized Katie wasn’t with them.
“Katie?” he said loudly into the dark, panicked.
“Over here!” Katie said from nearby, just out of reach of the torchlight.
James turned and illuminated her. She was bent over a long stone trough raised a foot from the ground. The inside was speckled with gold.
“Check it out,” Katie said.
James held up the torch, revealing more of the trough. It had a similar wave-like pattern as the floor. They followed it several feet toward the wall. It ended abruptly in a small circle that reminded James of a cupholder.
“Let me see this.” Katie held out her hand, beckoning for the torch. James obliged, and she turned it and touched the flame to the cupholder.
It caught fire immediately. The flame leaped up and spread down the length of the trough, casting an orange glow as it went. It raced toward the middle of the room and quickly broke off into two different directions, then two more. Soon, multiple paths of flame weaved around the room, some working toward the middle, others heading for the walls. Three different paths of flames met in the middle, revealing a massive stone brazier. It burst into flame, bright and brilliant.
“Wow,” was all James could say as he turned in a circle, taking in the room.
The ruby flames twisted around the room, illuminating every corner. And the wall directly across from them... it glowed. It was covered in a strange ink that shone with dull blue light. He stepped around the brazier and took in the full scene.
The lower half of the wall was covered in handprints outlined in the glowing blue ink. Hundreds of them pressed into the stone, too many to count, their fingers splayed like a child’s stencil. They reached toward the sky,
