A Time To Kill (Elemental Rage Book 1) (14 page)

After three more
flights of stairs, the girls decided to rest at one of the turns. Mindy settled
her stick on the stairs they had just come down.  Raven gladly put the axe down
on the landing.  Her arms hurt. As they worked their way down, she had moved it
back and forth from hand to hand as she grew tired.

“Mindy, do you
know where we are?” Raven asked, flopping onto the floor with her back against
the wall.

Mindy carefully
lowered herself to the floor next to Raven.  She shook her head.

“Why are we here
then?” Claire didn’t really expect Mindy to answer.  She didn’t think Mindy
knew.

Mindy said, “Jade.
Bottle.”

They rested
several more times.  Raven was beginning to think that there would be no end,
and then suddenly the stairs stopped at a door.  She reached for the handle,
but Mindy grabbed her arm.

“What is it?” 
Raven asked.

“Axe,” Mindy said,
pointing to Raven’s hand.  Raven exchanged a secret smile with Claire who had
rolled her eyes.  Raven said, “Yes, I have the axe.”

Mindy mimed
lifting it higher.  Raven lifted it higher, then pushed the door open wide.
Mindy’s flashlight reflected off a monster. 

Raven screamed.

She swung the axe without
thinking. 

In front of her
was a human-sized scorpion, its tail poised high above its body.  Her arm had
to extend completely over the scorpion’s creepy pinchers for the axe to bite
into the tail.  The scorpion grabbed for Raven with its pincher.

Mindy poked her
stick at the pincher, distracting the scorpion from Raven while Raven hacked at
the tail. 

Claire called out
from the back, “Watch out for the claw.  Mindy, be careful.”

The axe struck
hard, lopping through the tail while blood gushed from the scorpion.  Instead
of running away, it attacked.  One of the pinchers pushed the girls back and
Mindy dropped the flashlight.  It rolled along the floor, throwing Raven and
Mindy into the dark.  Claire yelled, “Retreat.”

She grabbed
Mindy’s arm and pulled her back just before the scorpion’s claw mashed closed
in the air where she had been standing. 

Raven yelled, “I
need light! Claire!”

The scorpion
glowed a bit in the dark, eerie blue light outlining its bulk.  Raven shifted
the axe, swinging down at the head while a pincher knocked her down.  She
struck her thigh on the stone stairs. The axe was still stuck in the scorpion.
Raven couldn’t get it back.

She stumbled up
the stairs, following Mindy and Claire.  Claire was shining a light down,
trying to help Raven find her way up.  The scorpion thrashed back and forth,
the axe lodged in its head screeching with a horrible sound.

Mindy snuck past
Claire while Claire reached to help Raven.  Just three steps above the
scorpion, she brought the stick down on top of the axe.  It pushed deeper into
the scorpion. The creature made a sudden dodge forward, pinchers raised. 
Shrieking, Mindy stepped back, bumping her heel on the step and falling.   

Raven screamed,
“Mindy, get up here.”

Raven scrambled
back down the stairs without a weapon.  The scorpion reached for Mindy.  If it
got that pincher around her body, it would crush her.  Raven leapt down the
four stairs over Mindy and directly onto the scorpion. It was the single most
disgusting thing she had ever done in her life. She fell forward and her hands
and face were covered with scorpion goo.

The scorpion
bucked and spun, throwing Raven down the corridor. Claire screamed her name. She
climbed down the stairs, shining the flashlight at the scorpion.  She could see
Mindy and the scorpion, but not Raven.

Now that the
scorpion was in light, Mindy grabbed her stick and lifting it high above her
head, shoved it into the spurting hole where Raven had cut off the scorpion’s
tale.  Mindy shoved the stick in at an angle, putting her whole weight into
it. 

Raven grabbed her
axe and putting her foot on the scorpion’s head, yanked the axe out. She
brought it down on the scorpion again and again until it convulsed and died.

    Raven found
her own flashlight and wiped it off on her jeans.  “Do we keep going?”

Mindy said, “Yes,”

Claire stared at
her like she was crazy.

Raven waited. She
said, “Claire, it has to be unanimous.”

“You mean because
we’ll likely die down here?” Claire asked.  She picked her way carefully down
the stairs, her revulsion clear.

“We don’t know
what other monsters we’ll find.  If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to,”
Raven said.

“Mindy, if we keep
going, can we help Jade?” Claire asked. 

Mindy pointed down
the long hallway into the darkness, “Yes. There.”

Claire jumped over
the scorpion’s dead body sounding braver than she felt when she said, “Then let’s
go.”

 Raven once again
took the lead.  No matter how many times she wiped her hands on her jeans, she
felt gross.  The axe handle was slippery and dripped scorpion goo.  Her shirt
was splattered in scorpion, and her shoes squelched every time she stepped. 
All in all, she felt miserable. 

The corridor
stopped at a wooden door.  Raven hesitated.

“What? You don’t
like the idea of fighting giant spiders?” Claire teased.  Raven hated spiders
passionately.  The fact that they had just fought a giant cousin to spiders was
a little too much to bear.

“Ewww.  Don’t even
go there,” Raven said.  She stared at the door. 

“Are we ever going
to go through?” Claire tugged on a lock of Mindy’s hair, “Anything scary back
there?”

Mindy pointed at
the door, “Scary.”

Raven stood in the
corridor. She stared at the door, trying to build up enough bravery to walk
through. Claire shifted from foot to foot, sometimes looking back over her
shoulder as if expecting the giant scorpion to return to life.

“I can’t do it.”
Raven said the words quietly.  She turned from the door heading back down the
way they came, “Let’s go back and regroup.”   

Claire turned in
step beside her, “You killed a giant arachnid.  That has to count for
something. Maybe scary is relative.”

Raven turned to
call for Mindy when she realized that Mindy had opened the door to “scary”, and
it was too late to stop her…

~~ Mindy ~~

Bones were scary. 
They were people that once walked with Earth and now did not.  Mindy shuddered
as she stepped into the hall of bones.  Raven was too scared to come through
here.  Mindy was the only one that knew where the Keeper’s bottle would be
found, the one that could help Jade.

Mindy ignored
Raven and Claire.  They were angry that she opened the door.  Mindy knew that much.
She kept walking, breathing slowly in and out so that the ghosts in the
darkness wouldn’t hear her. 

The dead people
were resting in ledges along the edges of the wall.  Mindy needed to find the
one on the platform, the one that the Shadow Man showed her.  She walked slowly
through the halls, her light shining just in front of her while she walked. 

She heard Raven’s
footsteps echo with Claire’s right behind as they ran to catch up.  Raven
grabbed her arm.  Her hand was yucky from the monster.  Mindy tried not to
flinch.

Raven said,
“Mindy, what are you doing?”

Mindy pointed.
“There.”

She ignored Raven
and walked forward.  They wouldn’t come back again.  If she let Raven leave
now, Raven wouldn’t save Jade.  She’d feel bad forever.  Mindy would, too. Mindy
loved Jade, the Jade who floated above the world now.  Not monster Jade who
would eat them all if she could.

Claire flashed her
light on a particularly gruesome skull with a patch of hair still coming out of
its head and its teeth seemingly thrown back in laughter.  She immediately
turned the flashlight to the ground where Mindy’s was. Claire asked, “How much
longer?”

Mindy pointed to
the large double entryway carved of stone up ahead. Strange figures were carved
into the wall and a gargoyle leaned down from the space just above two ornate
doors.

Claire grumbled,
“That doesn’t tell us anything.”

Raven changed axe
hands again. She wanted to tell Claire to be quiet, but didn’t feel like
dealing with the aftermath. As they walked through the dank catacombs smelling
grave dust and mildew, Raven decided that she was a coward.  Her much younger
sister was leading the way into danger.

Raven said, “Mindy,
let me take the lead.”

Pushing through
the double doors, Raven expected more of the same, crumbling bones on stone
ledges and a floor made of white stone.  She whistled when she saw this new
room. 

The room itself
was as bright as day and cavernous with a huge raised platform and a coffin in
the center.  The floor was veined marble and polished to a shine. The walls
glittered as if encrusted with precious gems. Marble statues watched the room
from alcoves with gold gilt frames.

“What is this
place?” Claire’s mouth hung open.  She wandered around the room looking at all
the statues and the intricately painted designs on the walls. “Where is the
light coming from?”

Raven walked
across the marble floor in shoes that left scorpion blood smeared on the
floor.  “What’s next, Mindy?”

Mindy didn’t
answer.  She walked toward the coffin in the center of the room.  The coffin
was gold and reflected bright a raised dais.  Mindy climbed the stairs to the
coffin. She grunted as she tried to push the lid off. 

Raven took the
other side and with a groan tried to force the lid.  After straining for a few
seconds, she gave up, “Claire, I think we all need to try this.”

Claire was tracing
her finger along a swirling gold pattern on the wall.  She looked up, “Oh.
Sorry.”

Once Claire was in
position, Raven counted to three and then they heaved.  The lid lifted an inch
and then fell shut as the girls grew tired. Mindy picked up her stick.  Raven
said, “One more time.”

She counted to
three.  As Raven and Claire lifted the coffin lid, Mindy slid the stick in
between the lid and the box.  When Raven and Claire dropped the lid, the stick
kept it from latching completely. 

Raven picked up
the axe, “Great idea, Mindy.”

Claire looked
askance at Mindy.  This was one too many great ideas from her little sister who
couldn’t read, couldn’t write, and often lost track of what she was saying.
Meanwhile, Raven shoved the axe between the lid and the box and used it as a
lever, pushing the lid up. 

Raven waved Claire
back to the box. “This time we’ll push forward.  Everyone get ready.”

They lined up, hands
on the lid, “One, two, three.”

With a huge
grimace and lots of noise, they pushed on the box.  It moved forward six
inches.  Raven shook her hands.  Mindy tugged on Raven’s shirt and pointed to
the open space between the lid and coffin.

“We’re almost
there. We just need to push a little harder.”

Mindy shook her
head and pointed to the opening.

Claire giggled.
Her laugh had an edge of hysteria to it.  She said, “I think she wants you to
wiggle inside there for something.”

Mindy nodded,
pointing to the sliver of purple that she saw in the crack

~~ Raven ~~

Raven pulled
herself up onto the platform. Mindy was steadily pointing to the place where
she would have to reach.  She leaned against the side of the coffin and pushed
her hand into the space between the coffin and lid.  She hated her hand in that
space as much as she hated reaching into the dish disposal for a spoon even
when she knew full well it was unplugged.

“Oh, that is so
gross,” Raven said as her fingers touched something hard, dry and smooth.  If
she had to guess given her position on the platform, it was a finger bone. She
recoiled.

Mindy made a
disappointed sound.  She pointed again.

Raven closed her
eyes and gritted her teeth.  In a single day she’d tasted dead vampire and
waded through dead scorpion, surely she could handle a little finger bone. 
With a sigh she said, “I guess I can handle one little coffin.  It would help
if I knew why I was poking around a skeleton.”

Climbing up to
join Raven on the platform, Mindy tried to see into the crack between the lid
and the coffin.  She said, “Bottle.”

Giggling again,
Claire said, “I can’t even believe we’re here.  This is so insane.”

Mindy put a hand
to her mouth, stifling the tiny laugh that exploded.

Raven tried to be
stern as she said, “Come on, people. I’m touching a dead person here.”

Something moved
under Raven’s finger and she jerked back, hitting her hand on the lid.
“Something moved in there.”

“You’re probably
just freaked out.” Claire said, squinting with her flashlight to look between
the cracks.

Raven could have
sworn something moved beneath her fingers.  She wasn’t about to chicken out
now.  Leaning down, she looked into the coffin.  The light was reflecting
brilliant purple.  It might be the bottle Mindy was talking about.

Taking a deep
breath and shaking her hands as if to shake off bad luck, she closed her eyes
and shoved her hand all the way into the coffin, wincing when her hand pushed
the bones of the skeleton’s hands aside.  She grabbed the bottle and started to
pull back, but something caught her hand.

She wiggled her
hand back and forth, running into bone. She reached in with her other hand,
grabbed the bottle and withdrew it from the coffin.  It sparkled like a
thousand tiny suns.

Mindy made an
oohing sound.

Claire clapped her
hands, laughing, “It’s like Christmas.”

Raven grunted and
shoved the bottle into her jacket pocket with her one useful hand, “Still stuck
here. Can you guys see how I’m caught.”