Liquid Diamond (18 page)

“
That's it! These carvings have to be a code to open that door. Now if only I can figure it out,” said Natalia out loud.

X

3 Green

4 Blue

2 Red

1 Grey

6 Orange

7 Purple

8 Yellow

5 White

9 Black

0 Pink

Righteousness sets you free, all else keeps you bound.
“Hmm, what does that mean?”
wondered Natalia as she looked at the coded numbers and colours.

Remembering the word righteous from church and the sermons she'd heard and trying hard to recall what was said and looking at the numbers rather than the colours,

Natalia couldn't help but feel completely lost.

“
Okay, stop, think. What do the numbers zero through nine have in common with the bible?” mumbled Natalia.

“
Ah! Six is the number of the beast and seven is God’s number. Now what?” continued Natalia as she looked at the carvings.

“
With the way this place works, try the bad one first because it'll probably work,”
said Natalia still mumbling to herself.

Six, pushed Natalia, with the six clicking into place only once and nothing happening.

“
Okay, let’s try six, one and two and three and four and? Ah, there's no way to make a third six out of what's left,”
mumbled Natalia as the five numbered carvings clicked back into place.

“
Okay, this is nuts. I can't make six, six, six, three times from this, so how about, seven, five and two and three and four,”
she said, with nothing but a click to tell her she was still wrong.

Pushing seven and one and six and five and two, click was all that happened.

Stamping her foot in frustration, Natalia backed up, sat down and began to study the carvings once again.

“
Okay Natalia, you’re smart, you’re a girl, you can do this
,” she muttered, knowing she was halfway there.

On the other side of the door and halfway down the hall, Catalyst was still stuck trying to figure out how he was going to get across the rolling-pin floor. After digging through his fitsall and finding nothing that could help, he stood looking at the rollers and the walls. There was no trip switch and nothing to slide on and no edge to walk. It hit him like a ton of bricks, making him shake his head for only thinking of it now. Backing up against the wall, Catalyst pushed off as hard as he could as he ran for the rollers and dived chest first onto them, sliding
straight across to the other side hitting the cobbles and rolling right into the wall, bringing him to an abrupt stop. With only one more to go, Catalyst pushed off once again, slamming into the wall.

“
That wasn't
so
bad,” said Catalyst as he wobbled to a stand.

“
To tell the truth, I've seen better,” said the guard standing at the door watching Catalyst wipe out.

“
You’ve been standing here all this time? Didn't you hear me calling for help?” asked Catalyst.

“
Yes and yes,” replied the guard.

“
And?” demanded Catalyst.

“
I don't leave my post,” said the guard with a smug smile on his face.

“
Did you hear the Keft’s horn?” asked Catalyst in disbelief.

“
I heard it, and all that meant was free passage to whomever was coming down the hall. Now be on your way,” ordered the guard, looking down on Catalyst still wobbling and opening the door for him.

“
But my friend – she's disappeared back there on the other side of the metal rollers. I need your help to find her,” said Catalyst, standing his ground with the guard.

“
Not my problem,” said the guard, pushing Catalyst through the door and locking it behind him.

With the door now firmly closed in his face, Catalyst kicked it as hard as he could. He stood there not know what to do and took a moment to think.

#

Still sitting on the floor studying the carvings as she racked her brain, Natalia thought,
“
Hmm, I wonder. What if the code is colour coded as well as numeric, that would make sense,”
She felt silly for not seeing what was staring her right in the face.

Standing back in front of the carvings Natalia pushed two and green, three and blue, four and red and after a few seconds all six carvings clicked back into place all at once but this time there was a sound that Natalia hadn't heard before.

Stepping back and looking at the puzzle Natalia knew she had got one step closer. As she held the crystal up she reached out from where she was standing and tried again.

Two and green, three and blue, four and red
–
Natalia watched the whole face of the carving closely as everything reset itself, and waited just the extra second for the noise. Natalia watched as the + at the top of the puzzle span back into the X and dropped back into place.

“
That's it,”
said Natalia confidently as she stepped back to the puzzle and pushed the carvings one more time.

Two and green, three and blue, four and red and grabbing the + before it could spin back into the X, Natalia shoved it back into its slot and with a click the sound of gears spinning could clearly be heard.

“
Ha ha, 777+, now that's righteous. Let's see Catalyst figure that out,” said Natalia.

Turning to the wall she had fallen through, Natalia watched to see the passage open up and let her out
–
there it was, a way out even if it was a crawl space.

Looking cautiously around the stone door, Natalia’s face fell as she looked into the small tunnel.

“
I've got to crawl through that after all this work!” she groaned as she looked at all the dead bugs, dust and gross stuff on the floor.

With her crystal in hand and two crawls in, Natalia’s eyes opened wide as the sound of growling filled the tunnel in front of her.

#

Catalyst was not able to get the guard to open the door for him. He knew he wouldn't be able to get through the ceiling before the Acquittals had him. He didn’t trusting the guard not to push him through that door as well, so Catalyst found himself with only one real option – to break through the cell wall right beside him.

Pushing off the wall behind him, Catalyst kicked the door as hard as he could with both feet only to land on his butt. The cell door didn’t budge. He got back on his feet and tried and tried again as he unknowingly cracked the latch that held the bolt in place. Kicking off from the wall one last time with all he had, the door flew open and he went crashing face first into an old stinky mattress filled with bugs and straw that looked as though it had been peed on more than once.

Coughing, choking and wiping the gross stuff off, Catalyst looked at the wall between him and the last cell. Knowing he couldn't kick his way through it, he needed a tool, something he could dig with, because if he couldn't go through it, he would go under it.

Digging through what was left in the cell from its last guest, Catalyst found a piece of metal no bigger than his arm that looked as though whoever owned it had been scratching notches into it to mark the days spent there.

Kneeling at the base of the wall and scraping away the dirt and rubble, Catalyst noticed a line of damp mortar. He ran the metal edge down it and found a new and easy spot to dig through. Digging, scraping, grinding and prying as fast as he could with pieces flying everywhere, Catalyst knew it would still take time.

#

Natalia tried hard not to make a sound as she backed out of her crawl space. The growling moved closer but whatever was coming Natalia knew it was aware of her. Peering out from behind the pillar, Natalia watched as a big black ball of fur came out and started towards her.

“
Nice wolf, nice wolf,” whispered Natalia trying not to show fear or aggression as she and the wolf circled around the pillar. When the wolf was in the right spot, Natalia backed up gently to the opening of her crawl space.

Spinning around and dropping to her hands and knees Natalia scurried into and through the tunnel as she made her way to the end, squishing every single bug dead and alive under her hands while its stench filled her with the urge to vomit. The wolf was growling right behind her. It nipped at her shoes as Natalia reached the end.

Hanging her head in defeat as she faced another wall with no time or way to work out how she would get it open, if it opened at all, she noticed a small beam of light shining on her hand. With one good push, Natalia found herself in another room with a locked door and a small boy chained to the wall.

She stopped dead in her tracks. All she could do was try and free the boy, forgetting about herself. With her first step towards him, the wolf pounced in front of her, growling, its hair standing on end. Natalia was backed up against the wall.

Screaming and with his bones cracking, the small boy changed into a man, kicking the air between him and Natalia as he pulled on the chains that bound him to the wall.

As she stood and watched, Natalia could see that whatever this creature was, it had gone mad long ago. Shocked by its change all Natalia could do was watch as it changed back into the small boy with eyes that begged to be free. All at once it bit off its thumb and slipped its hand free of the cuff. It grabbed the wolf, biting, ripping and tearing at its fur.

The wolf broke free of the creature and stood between it and Natalia. Natalia could only watch as the wolf attacked him and with blood flying everywhere Natalia turned her back and waited for it to be her turn.

When the room was silent Natalia glanced over her shoulder only to see the wolf sitting at her feet and leaning on her legs as though to offer comfort after everything she had just seen. She sat down to catch her breath and the wolf snuggled up beside her.

“
So I guess all that time you were really trying to save me weren't you, boy?” said Natalia to the wolf. The wolf got up and walked over to the crawl space. It stood on a particular cobble, closing the door.

Natalia heard the sound of pounding and scraping coming through the wall from Catalyst’s digging, so she began backing up, not realizing she was now holding the wolf. She was pulling it back with her as she tried to protect it from whatever was coming through.

With the metal frame now sticking through the wall, Natalia’s heart was pounding with fear as one big rock dropped followed by another and another, giving Catalyst enough room to stick his silver head through for a look see.

“
Catalyst!” yelled Natalia, running and grabbing him by the head. She didn't realize in her excitement that she was only choking him, not pulling him through.

“
Wait...wait...Natalia, let me get this wall open more,” gasped Catalyst.

With Natalia and Catalyst pulling on the wall from both sides it wasn't long before they had a hole big enough for them to walk through.

Catalyst went to hug Natalia, so grateful she was okay. A strange growl came from behind him at his third step toward Natalia, stopping him right in his tracks. Catalyst just stood looking at Natalia for help.

“
Sh...sh,” whispered Natalia as she stroked the wolf’s fur to calm him while taking Catalyst by the hand.

“
See friends...see,” said Natalia to the wolf, showing that Catalyst was to be trusted.

With the tension in the room easing, Catalyst took a look around. He saw what was left of the boy lying dead and stared at Natalia and the wolf.

“
Wow!” was all Catalyst could say.

“
I know. I feel sick now,” said Natalia.

“
Why?” asked Catalyst.

“
Are you kidding, Catalyst? That creature, whatever it was –
I mean first it was a boy, then a man, then a boy again. Anyway whatever it was it's just been ripped apart,” replied Natalia, stunned by Catalyst’s coldness.

“
Well count yourself lucky. You just met a Morph and survived. Most don't walk away you know,” replied Catalyst.

“
Metamorph?”
thought Natalia, twisting her face, confused.

“
No Catalyst, I never metamorphed. I'm Natalia and always have been,” said Natalia as she held her hands up while looking at him as though he were nuts.

“
No, no, that's not what I mean. I didn't mean you metamorphed, I meant you met-a-Morph, as in you met this creature, like hi how are you, that kind of met a Morph,” laughed Catalyst, his red eyes twinkling.

“
They’re very dangerous. They can change from man to boy in just seconds. They try and trick people into thinking they’re a child and in need of help and then when anyone gets close enough, the creature grabs on and morphs into a man and eats them alive. For those that have got away after being bitten, the poison from their spit...well they’re never right in the head again. Here, see how its skin is pink except for here around the joints where it's blue and brown? That's the bruising and scar tissue from all the morphing. You'll want to be watching out for that on people,” continued Catalyst as he pointed everything out to Natalia.

Standing there looking down at the wolf, Natalia gave her hero a big hug and kiss.

“
Now why would anyone leave an animal with a creature like this?” asked Natalia, looking up at Catalyst.