Chapter 7 #3
“Yes. I think he did.”
She looked me up and down. “Your freckles are back, but otherwise you look the same. Is he not going to change you?”
“We got off on a different conversation.”
“I’ll bet,” she snickered.
“He said there are caves with hot water baths. Want to go look?”
“Yes, please.” She took a bite of her slice of thick bread and accompanied me back out into the hall.
The door he had pointed out to me earlier looked heavy, a single giant slab of rock easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there, but it swung open smoothly on its hinges.
I poked my head into the dark tunnel beyond it.
“We may need to find a candle or two,” I said to Mindy.
“Okay. I’ll go grab some.” She shoved the bread into her mouth and disappeared back down the hall. The one thing that would be easy to find in this old building should be candles.
I stepped back into the dim hallway to wait.
Mindy sounded happy, excited. She had willingly leapt with me into a real-life fairy tale, the kind which usually ends with someone losing a critical body part.
Instead, she was acting like a little girl who had discovered, after hard years of being the daughter of a peasant family, that she was a princess.
I rolled my eyes at my fancy. He was resistant to changing me back.
Or was he? What did he want from me in exchange?
A bright glow engulfed Mindy as she joined me in the hallway, handing me one of two lit candles.
I turned back through the doorway into the dark tunnel, which led back another ten feet before curving to the right.
A stone staircase spiraled down into pitch-black darkness, and I cast a reluctant look back at Mindy.
“It’s really dark down here.”
“Is there something I need to know about you, Freya?”
“Like what?”
“Any phobias? Are you going to freak out if we get dumped into a cave?”
“No, I don’t think so, but I’ve never been inside a cave before, so it’s not out of the question.”
“Then get moving.”
I took a few hesitant steps down. An unfamiliar scent tickled my nose.
“How come you’re so brave?” I whispered over my shoulder. And how come I was such a chicken?
“Keep walking, sister.”
I kept moving, bolstered by Mindy’s strength at my back. My arm was extended, giving off about a ten-foot diameter of light.
“Tell me you brought matches,” I said, as a gust of wind threatened to extinguish my candle. I cupped the flame as heat licked my palm.
“Nope. I lit them from the fire.”
We kept walking downward. The stairs ended in a small chamber. Another stone door, this one from an even larger piece of granite, sat at the far end.
“Your man sure is strong if he built this place himself.”
I was thinking the same thing.
“And he comes down here a lot,” I said, pushing the door open easily.
A sharp bite of warm wind extinguished both candles at once, and I drew in a breath.
But when my eyes adjusted, we weren’t standing in complete darkness.
Pale blue light glowed down the side of a large cavern, its source hidden from view.
We were in a cave, one complete with stalactites and stalagmites, big and small.
About half of the room’s floor was taken up by a large pool.
Steam billowed upward, playing with the blue light.
Here and there, a bubble burst on the surface of the water.
Mindy walked straight to the water’s edge, bending down to brush her fingertips in its dark depth. “It’s warm, hot even.” She turned back to me with a huge smile on her face. “We should get in.”
I joined her and stared into the black liquid. “I don’t know. Aren’t there creatures that usually live in places like this? Like worms or snakes? Or millipedes?” I shuddered. Those especially grossed me out, with all those feet.
She laughed at me. “Do you think he’d send you down here if there was a chance you could get hurt?”
“How would I know? All I know is he was once worshiped as a Mayan death god. I know he introduced himself as Benjamin, but I overheard his real name when he was talking to the other god-man, whatever they are. Camazotz means ‘death bat.’ I’m pretty sure there were human sacrifices made on his behalf, but that was a long time ago.
” I scanned the cave ceiling, thick with stalactites, looking for bats.
Bats didn’t bother me as much as the creepy crawlies, but it would be good to know if they coated the ceiling.
“And you’re only just telling me this now?”
“Well, I kind of wrote it off as internet nonsense.”
“Jesus, Freya. Then why would he introduce himself as Benjamin? That’s such a normal name.”
“Honestly, I have no idea. Probably to get you to overlook the horns.”
She shook her head and then proceeded to take off her clothes.
“Seriously? You’re going in?”
“It’s too late now. We’re here. And I’ve always wanted to try out some natural hot springs.” Mindy slid off her pants, underwear, and bra and slipped into the warm water. "Oh, Freya, you have to come in. It feels heavenly. Years of stress are just melting off my body.”
I hesitated a bit longer. The blue light was hardly bright.
Since I couldn’t see any bulbs, I had no idea if they were powered by electricity or magic.
I didn’t mind taking my clothes off in front of Mindy, and my Monster had seen me naked a few days ago, when he had left me near the airport.
Hell, he had even transformed my body, but I still felt shy.
With that thought in mind, and with another glance at my friend, who had settled into the water with a blissful look on her face, I decided to go for it.
I tied my long hair into a knot and slowly walked into the murky liquid.
The water came up to my waist, but Mindy had found a place where she could sit with only the tops of her shoulders and head exposed, so I swam over to her, pretending that not being able to see below the surface didn’t bother me.
Hopping up onto the natural shelf, I leaned my head against the stone behind me and let the warm water work its magic.
“Now what?” I asked the cave, surprised I had spoken aloud.
Every fiber of my being seemed to be asking this question.
I had worked so hard, for so many years, only to have driven my career off a cliff.
I’d always been someone who had a plan, who knew not only the next steps for my life but also the five or ten steps after those. Now I felt adrift.
“Tell me again why you don’t want to stay here,” said Mindy after some time had passed.
“Here in the caves?”
“No, here, in the mountains. With him.”
“Because I thought I’d have to be a crow. He didn’t exactly invite me to move in with him.”
“Yeah, changing you into a crow was an extreme reaction. But he seems happy to have you here now. Making us both feel welcome. Inviting you into his world.” Her voice was peaceful, as if we were relaxing in a luxury resort instead of a demon’s cave. “And now?”
“Now, what?” I asked, deliberately dense.
“Do you want to stay here? If it’s an option.”
“Now, I don’t know what I want.” For the first time in my life, my path had veered out of sight.