The Wicked Passage (A Blake Wyatt Adventure) (11 page)

CHAPTER 11

THE UGLY SIDE

“Are you all right, my dear?”

“Who said that?” Erica asked, snapping around in the dark.

“It’s Uncle Leopold. I’m in front of you now.”

“What happened? I felt like I was sucked into a giant vacuum cleaner.”

“We were ingested by dark
space,
I’m afraid--typical of Dagonblud’s captures. I believe we’re in a dungeon. Yes. Actually, we’re quite lucky he didn’t freeze us first. It’s quite unpleasant, I’m told.”

Erica shivered. “The giant has a name?”

“A name and power far worse than you can imagine.”

“I’m really cold! I think he’s freezing us now.” Her thin cotton blouse was no match for the temperature.

“Reach down. You’ll find stones at your feet. Pick one up. The glow will light our way.”

Erica gingerly picked up a rock that felt like it was covered in slime. She dropped it.
“Ewww!
What is that?”

“Residue from the membrane.”

“What membrane? It’s totally gross!” Erica wiped her hands on her jeans.

“The membrane is all around us. You touch it every day.”

“I do not!”

“Of course you do. It connects time with space--all eleven dimensions, in fact. We merely live on its thin surface. Albert Einstein studied it his entire life. Don’t worry, the residue won’t harm you.”

“But it’s disgusting! You pick it up.”

“Unfortunately the light won’t work for me.”

“Why not?”

After a heavy sigh, Leopold answered.
“Because I had to become one of them.
Now grab a stone so we can get some light in here.”

“One of
who
?” She picked up a rock with her thumb and forefinger. Tiny beams of light jetted out from where she touched the stone. She cupped it in her hands, and bright rays blasted from between her fingers. “Wow! That’s awesome!”

“It is, isn’t it?” Uncle Leopold's wrinkled face came partially into focus. “That’s the Rellium, my little niece. Goodness, the resemblance to your father is striking.”

“My mom told me that, too.” She smiled.

“Your mother . . . how I miss her cooking.”

“You know my mom?”

“Of course.
Now tell me what beautiful name
has your mother
given you.”

“Erica, but my friends call me Ricki.”

“Ricki.
How very quaint. I prefer to address you as Erica.”

“Okay,” she said softly, half listening to her uncle’s comments as she marveled at the lighted stone. “This is so weird.”

“I do wish I still had the power to do that.”

“What happened to your power?”

“Sometimes we do things that we don’t want to do for the good of everyone else. Raise your light a bit.” Leopold stepped on a boulder and pressed against the rock walls. “It’s here somewhere. I know it is.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Your father hid something in here.”

“My father was here?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a Wyatt.”
Uncle Leopold stepped down from the boulder and then brushed off his hands. “I hope the Tolucan didn’t find it.”

“Tool-can?”

“It’s pronounced Too-la-con, Erica. Unfortunately, they are my new family. I am the enemy now.
All for the good of the Rellium, of course.”
He ran his bony fingers over the cold, damp walls. “Move your light closer, please. My old eyes fail me in the darkness.”

“What are we looking for?”

“A tempus, a Tolucan timepiece--like the one Dagonblud took from you.
They use it to move through time.”

She rubbed her thumb over the lighted stone. “What can he do to us?”

“Mustn’t think about that right now.”
Uncle Leopold continued to move his hands up and down the walls. Then he suddenly stopped. “Yes, yes, yes, this is it!” He pointed. “Look there.”

Erica knelt to find a large hole beneath a rock protruding from the wall. She crawled inside, to a little cave.
“Eek!”
She dropped the stone when a large bone appeared in the light. The room went dark.

“Please, my dear, I can’t see.”

She picked up another stone, instantly lighting the area.

Uncle Leopold joined her inside. He inspected the bone and tossed it away. “Not a Wyatt.”

She wiped tears off her cheeks. “So, did my dad . . . die in here?”

“He was kept in this hollowed-out grave for weeks without food and was rarely given water. We’re in the dungeon, Erica--Tolucan justice. I had hoped never to see the inside of this place. The membrane of our planet was ripped to shreds in here.”

Sobbing, she said, “But we didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Goodness
gracious, that
makes no difference to the Tolucan.” Uncle Leopold continued to press on the walls.

“They can’t just leave us in here.” She lowered her head and whimpered, “We’ll die.”

“Crying is of no use to us now.”

Grinding rumbled in the distance.

She snapped around. “What’s that?”

“I don’t know.” He walked slowly in the direction of the sound. “Follow me.”

“Like, now?”

“Best to find out before it gets any closer.”

Hesitantly, Erica trailed her uncle. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Nonsense.
Fear teaches us how to be brave.” The grinding intensified as Leopold moved out of the light. “It’s coming from over there.”

“Don’t go too far.”

No answer.

“Uncle Leopold?”

She stepped slowly in the direction of the sound. “Uncle Leopold, please say something!”

The grinding ceased.

Erica’s heart pounded, and her breathing quickened. She retreated slowly. The cave walls moved closer. Moans surrounded her.

“Someone help! Please someone help me!” She sobbed. Closing her eyes, she crumpled to the ground.

“Sign your confession!” a deep voice boomed.

She opened her eyes. A balding man in a brown cloak stared down at her.

She scrambled backward and then jumped to her feet.

“I said sign your confession!” He lurched forward and grabbed her.

She screamed and fought to escape.
“Help!”

He threw her into a room. Gray stone blocks were stacked as high as she could see. Torches hanging from metal baskets lit the faces of horrified people bound to bolted wooden contraptions. A caged man who bled from the corners of his mouth shrieked with pain. She jerked away and tripped into the robed man.

“Sign the papers now!” He forced a sharp-tipped feather quill into her hand.

The grinding continued. She dropped the feather and turned toward the sound. She locked eyes with Uncle Leopold, who hid behind one of the huge wooden machines. “Unc--”

He held his finger to his lips to signal quiet.

She looked at the man strapped to the machine. His jaw hung open, and his vacant eyes stared as though he was dead. A large wheel ground gears and pulled his hands and feet in different directions. He shrieked again.

The robed man yanked her by the hair and clutched her throat. “Admit you’re a witch!”

Something roared above her. She looked up. A creature with the head of a lion and the body of a bird flew toward her. The creature clawed the robed man’s face with its talons.

“Run, Erica!” the creature cried out. “Go to the tunnel that glows like a sapphire. Run!”

“But Uncle--”

“Go!”

She sprinted through the cave but dropped the rock. Darkness masked the horror behind her. She fell to her knees and frantically searched for another rock. Then she heard her mother’s voice.

“Erica!”

She stood.
“Mom?”

“I’m right behind you, honey.”

She turned. Torchlight illuminated her mother’s face. She was standing with open arms.

“It’s just a bad dream, Sweetie.”

Erica ran into her mother’s embrace and buried her face in her soft sweater.
“Mom!
I was so scared. I saw all these horrible things. There was this--”

“Admit you’re a witch!”

She opened her eyes and shrieked as she pushed away from the brown scratchy robe.

The man reached for her. “Witches are burned at the stake.”

Erica whirled and ran back toward the darkness. Tripping on uneven ground, she fell and scraped her hands on the rocks. She picked up a stone and stuffed a couple more in her pocket. She scanned the cave. Soft purple-blue light filled the end of a tunnel. She raced through the passageway. The creature flew past her and landed on a gleaming purple boulder.

“Erica, slow down. You’re safe now.”

She stopped abruptly and tried to catch her breath.

“Don’t be frightened. My name is Nura.”

“Stay away from me.”

“It’s all right. They can’t follow us here.”

Erica stiffened. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because I just saved your life.”
Nura’s voice was soft and kind. “I am a Wyatt, too.”

Erica locked eyes with the creature. “How can you be a Wyatt?”

Small stones tumbled down the cave walls. “You’ll understand all in good time. Now we must make haste. The guards are coming.”

“I thought we were protected here.”

“Not from Dagonblud’s guards.”

“But what about Uncle Leopold?
He’s in that horrible room.”

“He’s unharmed.”

“I never saw anything so awful in my whole life. The people, their faces . . .”

“Yes, I know. It’s history’s ugly side.”

“History?”

“Every time Dagonblud rips open the membrane, evil from the past rushes into these caverns.”