In the Shadows (17 page)

“Isobel and Jacoby found a portal,” I explain to them. “I’ll transport us to the caves. Jacoby marked it so we’d be able to find it.”

It's almost as if he knew I’d be returning without him. I can't help but be reminded of what Sol said before.

Not everyone is who they seem.

I shake the thought from my head. Of course Jacoby didn't plan this. That's crazy. He'd never hurt Isobel. Would he? No. It's not possible. I know him. I shouldn't even be having these thoughts of doubt about him.

“Mia?” Grey asks. “Are you okay?

“Yeah.” I nod. “I'm fine. Are we ready?”

They nod so I reach out for both of their hands and a moment later we’re engulfed in bright white light, then just as quickly the warmth leaves the room and we are standing in front of the slippery, damp caves we explored just a week ago.

“The entrance is this way.” I point to the large boulder we have to climb to get into the cave.
At least I’m wearing tennis shoes this time,
I think to myself
.
 

The inside of the cave is pitch black. I reach for a flashlight out of my backpack and guide Adele and Grey toward the portal.

“I think it’s over here.” I head toward the vicinity of where I think I remember Jacoby pointing out the portal entrance. I wish he was here. This would be a lot easier since he’s the one who can actually see the disturbance in the atmosphere instead of trying to just guess.

“How will we find it?” Grey wonders skeptically.

“He marked it somehow,” I say. “I happened to be unconscious when he marked it so I don’t know exactly how, but I’m assuming we’ll know it when we see it.”

Its times like these I really wish my Spirit abilities were as advanced as Jacoby’s. Seeing auras would definitely come in handy right about now. Unfortunately, I lack that Spirit skill.

As we step carefully over the slippery stones with only the narrow light of my flashlight to guide us, I notice a sudden slight change of temperature. “Do you guys feel that?”

“I feel it,” Adele comments. As an Air user I’d imagine she’s probably sensitive to the slight change.

“All I feel is cold, damp air which I thought was normal for a cave.” Grey says.

“Yes, but it feels different over here,” Adele says curiously. 

The feeling gets stronger the further I walk in that direction until finally I see, in the middle of the small body of water,  a circle of stones around a hole about the size of a sewer drain that is so dark that I can’t see the bottom.

“This is it,” I point to where Jacoby encircled the portal with river stones. “I think we’re going to have to dive in to it.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Adele points out, and I have to agree. We’re about to get really wet.

Where on earth am I going to get the courage to dive into this seemingly bottomless abyss?  We have no idea what part of the Underworld we’re going to land in. We have no clue what to expect.  Grey and Adele are close behind me and soon the water is up to our necks.

“Who wants to go first?” Adele chirps with forced cheerfulness, her short blonde hair slicked back and glistening.

“I will. This was my plan. I’ll go first,” I tell them both. They exchange a look and Grey looks like he wants to protest but I don’t give him enough time. “Here goes nothing.”

I take a deep breath and dive into the opening. And then I’m no longer swimming, I’m falling.

I'm reminded of Alice falling into the rabbit hole. It feels like fast forward and slow motion all at the same time. I’m surrounded by a dark vacuum, there’s nothing to see and nothing to mark how much time has passed since I’ve made the dive. It could be seconds, it could be hours and I have no way of knowing when it will end. Just when I start to worry that it might never end, my feet hit the rocky ground with such force that it brings me to my knees.

I take a moment to catch my breath and when I stand, Adele appears by my side followed quickly by Grey.  They land much more gracefully than I did.

Show-offs.

Adele offers her hand to help me up which for some reason  irritates me—like I couldn't get up by myself? I wave her off and stand up, brushing the dirt off of my knees.

“So this is the Underworld?” I say to myself. Though I've been here before, this is the first time I’ve been outside the castle walls—which were anything but pleasant. The inside of Dugan’s castle is dank and definitely something out of a cliché horror movie. The onyx walls glisten with thick cobwebs. Creepy gargoyles frame every entranceway and look so life-like you’d swear they were staring at you, patiently waiting for you to drop your guard so they could pounce and eat you for breakfast.  It’s definitely not an attraction I’d want to visit again.

Once my eyes adjust, I can tell that the outside of the castle is frightening in a much different way. Not horror movie scary. More like the fear of something completely foreign and unknown. I reach out and touch something hard and bark-like so I assume it’s some sort of tree. Upon closer inspection I can feel the thorny branches.

I can barely see my hand when I hold it in front of my face. The sky is the same inky-blue purple-ish color I remember seeing through the only window I was able to sneak a peek out of during my time inside the castle. Is it always this dark? It’s hard to tell whether it’s day or night but I seriously hope it’s night and that it never gets any darker than it is right now. 

“What do we do now?” Adele asks from somewhere in the dark. I hear her try to switch on her flashlight. It must’ve gotten wet because it just flickers faintly before dying out completely.

How are we going to find anything here in the dark when we can't even see each other? As soon as the thought enters my mind, my fingers start to tingle and a little ball of dim light forms in the palm of my hand lighting up the immediate area just enough so that we are able to see each other without attracting any unwanted attention. I hear Adele let out a sigh of relief. I can see Grey scanning our surroundings.

I look at Adele who just shrugs and we both wait silently for Grey to finish making sure the area’s safe and clear.

At last, he finishes his inspection and turns to us. He tucks his dark brown hair behind his ears like he  does when he’s feeling anxious.

“I think we should go ahead and make camp. Rest and get dry. We should be well-hidden over there,” he says, pointing toward a nearby heavily wooded area. Though I’m sure he’s right, I can’t help but wonder about the kinds of creatures we might stumble across. “We should rest for a few hours until day break and then we can begin the search.”

He begins pacing, circling the area he has designated as our camp for the night, his arms raised slightly with the palms of this hands facing downwards.

“What? Why can’t we just start looking for them now?” I’m not even tired and I’m definitely not going to be able to sleep knowing where we are, especially when Isobel is back in Álfheimr dying a slow and painful death and Jacoby’s being held responsible for it.  He doesn’t look at me as he continues on in his circular path. “What on earth are you doing?” I ask, annoyed.

“It was a little after midnight when we left Álfheimr. We have no idea where to start, we can’t see anything, and we don't know what we will be up against here. We need to make sure we are well rested. You need to save all your excess energy, you know how using your power exhausts you. We will have to make do in the darkness,” he explains before adding, “And I’m using Earth to camouflage us with our surroundings so that any Dark Elves passing by won’t be able to detect our presence.”

“Oh, so you’re allowed to use your elemental magic but it’s too much for me to do the same?” I blurt out defensively. “This isn’t enough to wear me out. It’s barely taking any energy at all and obviously we need to be able to see.”

“Mia, maybe Grey’s right? You should conserve as much energy as possible,” Adele says soothingly, but it just irritates me that she is taking his side and making me feel weak. I realize now that Finnegan was right. They do consider me to be inferior. Do they not remember that I'm able to engulf my entire body with the beams of light? Producing this little glow of barely-there light is nothing. I’m irritated that they doubt me. I know I’m stronger than they’re giving me credit for. Isobel has faith in me and I think, in his own way, Finnegan does too. Why else would he tell me about the Black Crystal? He obviously has at least a little faith that I’ll be able to get the stone and heal Isobel. I won’t let her, or him, down.

I close my palm, extinguishing the ball of light and feeling more frustrated than ever before. Grey pulls out three sleeping bags and hands one to each of us. Miraculously they somehow managed to stay semi-dry.

“I’ll take first watch,” he says once we’ve managed to start a small fire. “We’ll trade off in a couple of hours so everyone gets a little sleep.”

“Fine. Whatever, but as soon as day breaks we have to get going. We can’t make Isobel suffer any longer and we have to clear Jacoby’s name.”

Grey nods with a tight smile before turning his back to me to begin his watch.

Chapter Eighteen

A
dele wakes me up at dawn and I’m relieved to see that the Underworld does in fact have something similar to our daytime. It’s not exactly bright like I’m used to; it’s more like the dim light of a full moon, but it’s definitely enough that we will be able to see without any aid. The sky is a soft lavender hue that’s surprisingly peaceful even though I know this place is anything but. It offers a false sense of security.

The trees are just like I imagined they would look like after feeling them last night in the dark; thorny and ashy. It's hard to reconcile just how beautiful it actually is down here in the Underworld.  With the light, I can see the majestic deep violet hills rolling in the distance dotted with the crisp white blooms of the
Noctis vigeo
flowers. Though they are miles away, I can still smell their overwhelmingly sweet fragrance which reminds me of brown sugar and plums.

“Who would’ve expected this place to be so pretty?” Adele says from behind me. I've been so focused on the observation of my new surroundings that I’ve wandered farther away from our camp than I realized and she must’ve followed me. “Grey’s packing up our tent.”

I nod. “It’s so much bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

It’s a little overwhelming now that it’s light enough for us to really see the vastness that is the Underworld. I know that we need to head toward the mountains but the prospect of trekking the terrain  by foot is a little daunting. Not only will the hike take us days to complete, but I have no idea what kind of creatures lurk in that forest waiting for their next meal and quite frankly I’m not all that excited to find out.

After all, nothing good has ever come from people  venturing into dark, unfamiliar forests. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley came across those giant spider thingies. Dorothy was attacked by flying monkeys.  I have a bad feeling that the creatures native to the depths of the Underworld forest are far more frightening than oversized arachnids or lions and tigers and bears—oh my!

I must look as scared as I feel because Adele reminds me, “Mia, think about Isobel and Jacoby.”

I know that Grey and Adele think they followed me here to help get the flowers in hopes of concocting an antidote to help Isobel, but they have no idea of my real motivation for coming here and I don’t think I want to tell them.

Somehow I’m going to have to find a way to sneak away from them to search for the Black Crystal. I have to find it, not as a back-up plan in case the antidote doesn’t work, but because I have something to prove. I just have to figure out a way to do the impossible—I need to think of a way to distract Grey and Adele once we get the
Noctis vigeo
and somehow convince them to go on to Álfheimr ahead of me.

Easy enough, right?

“I know. Okay. Let’s do this.” I need to suck it up and remember that I’m doing this for people I love. “I think we should head this way.” I point toward the mountains blanketed with the
Noctis vigeo.
.

“Hold on a second,” Grey stops us. He approaches Adele first and standing in front of her, holds his palms facing the ground, a look of concentration upon his face. It almost looks like he’s trying to bring the dirt up away from the earth but nothing actually happens. Then he runs his hands up and down, his hands hovering an inch or two away from her body. Once he’s finished he looks at me. “You’re next.”

“Next for what?” I ask him curiously.

“I’m going to blend you in.”

“But I can still see her.” I think that maybe Grey has lost his mind.

“This is called a glamour,” he explains as though he has heard my thoughts as clearly as Jacoby would have. “It's a charm that will allow us to blend in with our surroundings.”

“But why can I still see her?”

“Because you are half-Ljósálfar.”

“So nobody else will be able to see us?”

“Not unless they know what to look for.”

“Okay then, go for it.” I stand perfectly still, looking away from Grey as he places the glamour on me. He never touches me, but even without looking I know exactly where his hands are. I can somehow feel the spell—it’s a tingly sensation as if someone is pouring warm, bubbly soda all over me. I hold my breath until he finally steps away.

“Finished.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath.

I lead the way weaving in and out amongst the ashy white trees toward the mountains with Adele behind me and Grey bringing up the rear. The forest is eerily quiet and I find myself glancing back frequently to make sure they are still with me.

Adele quietly observes our surroundings with mild curiosity, but Grey’s coiled tightly in his surveillance of the area. His eyes are constantly scanning, his muscles tense and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

I don't really know what I was expecting, but my only experience with forest ambiance has been the bustling sounds of animals scurrying for food, birds chirping in the trees. But there’s nothing but the rhythmic sound of crunching fallen leaves, twigs and pebbles beneath our feet as we continue to traipse through the silent trees.