35. Vera
Vera
Icrashed to the ground, knees buckling. A sharp pain shot up my ankle. I gasped and clutched my hand around the base of my boot. When I tried to put weight on it, I nearly collapsed again.
Shouts came from above. I looked up at the hole I’d fallen through, with grass and vines dangling from the jagged edges. Everett’s face appeared first, followed by Starke.
“Vera! Are you okay?” Everett called down.
“Just great,” I muttered under my breath.
Louder, I said, “I think I sprained my ankle. I’m going to see if there’s a rope or anything to…
” I trailed off as I took my first full look at the cave I’d fallen into.
From the glow of their torches above me, I could make out a large, sprawling underground cavern, with dusty, unlit torches inside brackets.
I limped to the nearest wall and braced myself against it as I wandered farther down the dark path.
“Where are you going?” Starke yelled from behind me. “Get back here so we can help you up.”
“Just a second,” I called back. My fingers dipped into indentations in the stone. It was too dark to see, but as I traced the curves, it felt like drawings, or maybe letters.
My foot bumped into something. I crouched and used my hands to feel my surroundings. My fingers groped a dry, dusty, circular rock jutting from the ground. When my thumbs pressed through two holes near the top, I threw it and scrambled backward.
A skull.
My adrenaline raced, making me momentarily forget the pain in my ankle. I limped back to where I’d fallen and looked up at the others. “I think you need to come down here,” I said. “And bring some torches.”
Firelight enveloped the vast cavern in an orange glow, and spiders scuttled from dark corner to dark corner.
Cobwebs stuck to my hands when I shoved them out of the way.
The etchings I’d felt were rows and rows of symbols carved into the stone walls.
They surrounded the cave, which was wide across the middle and narrowed into a tunnel that curved deeper to the right.
I started to move toward the tunnel when a hand grabbed me. “You shouldn’t be walking, V,” Starke said, putting an arm around my waist. “We need to get you back to the surface.”
I swatted him away. “I’m fine, Starke. What are we going to do if we go back up, anyway? We’re surrounded by krakens and sirens in the middle of the ocean with no ship or way out. Not to mention, Mortep is on his way. I think we’re better off down here.”
He let out a disgruntled sigh. I ignored him and limped to Odessa, who was studying the symbols on the wall. “Do you recognize any of this?” I asked.
“They look like the images on the star chart we found,” she said.
“I have no idea how to decipher them.” She ran her fingers over a spiral with a straight line through the middle, then moved farther down to another series, this one with a cracked pot turned upside down.
When the torchlight landed on the symbol right beneath, my lips parted.
It was a bird with a flaming tail feather and sharp wings extended to the side. Resting on its head was a fiery crown.
“It’s a phoenix,” I breathed out.
Rise.
The word startled me, thudding through me like a drum. The sound mingled with that same distant humming I’d heard on the ship.
“Vera,” Everett’s wary voice echoed from the tunnel to the right. “You should come see this.”
Rise.
My skin tingled. I staggered down the path, trying not to wince.
The tunnel swung to the right and opened into a smaller cave.
Everett and Tessa stood facing the back wall.
Etched in the stone was an enormous phoenix.
Unlit torches lined the adjacent walls, crumbling from disuse.
On the floor at the feet of the phoenix were piles of bones.
Snapped vertebrae, toppled skulls, and gray, splintered finger bones curved around what used to be spears.
Disgust swirled inside of me at the sight, but something else—something deeper—tugged me closer.
Rise.
A shiver ran down my spine. My heart pounded faster to the rhythm of the strange humming sound. Everett said my name, but I barely heard him. I ran a finger across one of the phoenix wings, feeling my own dormant magic shudder inside me.
The drumming reached a crescendo. I sucked in a breath, and on my exhale, whispered the word carved on my tongue.
“Rise.”
The cave trembled. Rocks fell from the ceiling, clattering to the ground in plumes of dust. From the bigger cave behind us, Starke and the others started yelling. Everett grabbed my hand to pull me back, but before I could move away, something else clutched my ankle.
Something slender and rigid, rough against my skin.
I looked down and choked on a scream as one of the skeleton hands wrapped around my leg. Everett gripped me tighter, and we both tugged away from the creature, but its hold was strong. Bony fingers dug into me and yanked, toppling me to the ground.
Tessa rushed forward with her twin daggers and hacked at the hand.
It convulsed and then released me, but as it slunk back to the rest of the bones, the entire pile began to shake.
One by one, fragments of bones gathered together, stirring up more dust. They stacked on top of each other with sickening cracks.
I watched in morbid fascination as a skull tumbled across the ground, only to be picked up by a pair of bony hands and fastened atop a crooked spine.
Before us stood five fully-formed skeletons, gray and chipped but hard as stone, with a gold light gleaming from their skulls where eyes should’ve been. When they held out their hands, spears flew into them.
“Do you think they’re friendly?” Tessa whispered, crowding closer to Everett as he helped me to my feet.
One of the skeletons let out a deep roar, twisting his spear toward us.
“I’m going to go with no,” Everett shot back.
“Run!” I yelled. The three of us turned and darted down the tunnel, with Everett supporting me and my weak ankle. We barreled into the larger cavern, causing Starke, Odessa, and Kieran to jump back in alarm.
Starke furrowed his brow. “What the—”
“Get back up the hole!” I shouted, reaching for the rope. “Lenny, are you up there?”
His lanky form came into view. “I’m here, but we’ve got a slight problem. There’s another ship almost to the island!”
I shared a knowing glance with Everett. “Mortep. He’s here.”
Above us, Lenny scrambled to tie the rope down. I helped Odessa start to climb, when the roar of the skeleton creatures told me they’d caught up.
At the mouth of the hole, Lenny’s face paled. “Wh-what are those?”
“Butterflies,” I answered. “Keep your hand on the rope, Lenny!” He peered down at me, and when the skeletons advanced, his eyes grew wider. He staggered backward and tripped over the rope, falling out of sight beyond the hole.
“Lenny! Lenny, get back here!” I called. The rope came slithering down, and with it, Odessa fell back to the ground. “Oh, I’m going to kill him,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “Odessa, stand back.” I grabbed the sword I dropped earlier, brandishing it toward the oncoming skeleton creatures.
Tessa and Starke were each dueling one, while Everett and Kieran took turns swiping at two more. The skeleton’s movements were jerky, as if pulled by strings, but they were strong. The fifth locked its beady, golden eye sockets on me and charged.
I pushed Odessa to the side and ducked. Its spear slammed into the stone wall behind me.
My ankle screamed, but I shifted my weight to the other leg and raised my sword.
Steel and spear clashed in the air, sending a vibration down my arm.
I twisted to force his weapon down, then quickly jabbed my sword at his chest.
It went straight through the gap between his ribs, hitting thin air.
“Where are you supposed to stab these things?” I cried in outrage.
Across the cave, Everett used his good arm to swing his sword at his opponent’s head, knocking its skull off its spine. The skull hit the wall, then bounced to the ground.
“That seemed to do the trick,” Everett said, lowering his weapon.
“Uh, Ev?” Tessa called out, eyebrows raised. The beheaded skeleton reached down, picked up the skull, and affixed it back to its neck. It bared its long, gray teeth at Everett.
“We need a new plan,” I said. “Odessa? Ever read about these things in your legends?”
“Th-they’re some sort of guardian,” she stammered. “I don’t think they can be killed. They’re already dead.”
“Wonderful,” I said, swinging my sword and cutting off the skeleton’s arm. It left the limb lying on the ground and roared after me. I backed away, but not before I saw another one charge at Odessa.
“Odessa!” I shouted. I threw myself toward her, but my opponent blocked me.
Out of nowhere, Kieran leaped into the air, knocking the skeleton’s spear to the ground. The creature roared and gripped Kieran by the throat. It thrust him to the side like he was nothing but a rag doll. Kieran flew backward, hit the wall, and went silent.
Odessa scrambled for the fallen spear and held it high in the skeleton’s face. “Get back!” she yelled, jabbing at the creature. “Get back, or I—I’ll—”
The skeleton reared its hand back and clawed her down the arm, leaving deep red gouge marks in its tracks.
She screamed and stumbled backward. I tried to get to her, but the one chasing me raised its spear.
The scent of moldy dirt and dust crashed into me.
Its mouth opened wide, jaw unhinging with a clicking sound.
I blocked its blow with my own sword, but it was too strong for me.
It pushed hard and forced my arms back into my chest, making me drop my sword.
Clenching my jaw, I brought my fist back and bashed it into its face.
Pain radiated up my knuckles. Its skull snapped sideways, then slowly turned back to me, jaw hanging loose.
I could’ve sworn it smiled.
It raised the spear to my neck, but I brought my arm up to block it. The tip of the spear cut into my skin with a sting. I cursed as drops of blood splattered to the ground.
All of a sudden, the skeleton went rigid. Its spine straightened as it backed away and held its spear at its side, staring at me with soulless gold eyes.
I blinked. “Okay, what—”
Around me, the rest of the skeletons mimicked its actions. They stopped fighting and stood at attention. As one, they turned to face me.
And they bowed.