Chapter 16
I’ll keep you safe.
Though Ludo’s words are comforting, fear still gnaws at my insides.
Dark energy is being pumped into our world, and I’m supposed to stop it.
Me.
Theodora Wilson.
Impossible.
“There,” Donovan says as we round a corner and a golden, eerie glow lights the tunnel's end. “Finally,” he groans, “I won’t feel whole again until I smack Wes in the face for leaving me.”
I know the feeling; although I don’t want to punch my love, I just want to hold him and possibly never let him go.
“Lu?”
—Nymph?—
“How sure are you that this will take us home, and not to some other freaky realm?” I ask.
—I am certain. I know not how, but I do—
Amazing. Ludo is amazing. He’s taking us through these labyrinths; never flustered, always there keeping me safe. Keeping us all safe.
Shit. And now I’m supposed to be the protector, and of the whole Earth realm.
OK, yes, my spark is alight now, and sure, power thrums through my veins, but still. Me?
We all halt at the portal. Once we go back to Validus Vale, nothing is going to be the same again.
“Who goes through first?” I ask.
Ludo raises an eyebrow—The most expendable—
I think he’s joking, but I’m not sure. “Hmm, and who do you think that is?”
—Dragon—
I give Ludo a stern look, even though Cosmo would be my vote as well. He’s strong (a dragon for crying out loud), has tons of magic, and well…I don’t love him.
Or even like him.
Maximus would be my second choice. He’s also ridiculously strong, and not my love either. Though I have to admit his antics do make me laugh, and he did save Ludo. Speak of the devil.
“I’ll go,” Max says. “That weird space-time-trippy thing was dope on the way in.”
“No, I’ll go first,” Alexis says immediately, wanting to keep his cousin out of trouble.
“I’m still a ‘professor’ at the academy.
If there are officials or something in the tunnels, it might be better if it’s not a student turning up first, especially one that has been missing for a year—that’s going to take some explaining. ”
“Yeah, Feniks should go,” Cosmo contributes. I give him a dirty look. “Whatever, dud. You got a better idea?”
I’m opening my mouth to suggest that he put his big fat dragon head through the portal right now, when Alexis throws himself into the light.
“And there he goes,” Maximus sighs. “Always gotta be the hero.”
The next second, and without any discussion, Max follows his cousin.
“You coming?” Cosmo asks Donovan.
“I’ll go with Theo.”
—I also—
Cosmo gives a dismissive shrug and steps through the intense beams.
Donovan takes one hand, Ludo the other. I look at the portal. “Do you think there’s room for us to go three abreast?”
“I’m not opposed to a three-way, Tee-Tee,” Donovan replies, bending down and kissing my nose. “You know that very well.”
“Ha-dee-ha.”
A quick vision appears in Donovan’s mind. A memory of him, Wes, and me, hot and sticky, tangled in the sheets.
It makes my heart kick up a notch, and I instinctively squeeze both his and Ludo’s hands.
—Are you ready?—
If it means finding Wes, I’m ready for anything.
◆◆◆
With a groan, I open my eyes.
Someone has a hand around my waist, helping me to my feet. Alexis gently strokes my back. “OK, pulu?”
“A little wobbly.”
“No one’s here,” Maximus says. “But I can shift and use my dog-nose, really check things out.”
“No shifting,” Alexis growls. “We already discussed that.”
I’m gazing around, amazed that we so easily got back to the academy. And truly, it looks like no time has passed. I look around. Everything seems exactly as we left it. Nothing seems to have moved in the cavern. Nothing.
Wait.
“Guys, what’s that?” There’s a tiny green light glinting on the wall.
Ludo, back in his human form, raises a hand.
—Move to the shadows—
I instantly whisper his command, and as soon as all of us are in the deep shadows, Ludo approaches the rock wall.
His head angles to one side.
—Camera—
"There’s a camera,” I tell the others.
“Is it on?” Cosmo asks.
—I think yes, Someone watching the portal—
“It wasn’t there before, was it?” I ask Ludo.
—No, this is new—
“What’s he saying?” Alexis asks.
I explain, and he frowns. “Helvetti! Then we should expect company shortly. Ludo, is there another way out of here?”
—One way in, one way out—
I shake my head at Alexis.
“In that case, I suggest we haul ass. No point just waiting here like immobile chickens.”
Immobile chickens? Oh, sitting ducks. I’ve noticed he acts more Kormovian when he’s stressed.
“I’ll contact Striker while we move,” Cosmo says, pulling his phone out, then cursing. “Fuck, no battery.”
“There would be no signal down here anyway,” Max says. “That's a good thing. Means the camera can’t stream a live feed unless it’s hard-wired. Which it obviously isn’t.”
Huh. Max must be a tech-guy. I wouldn't have guessed that.
“Let’s move fast anyway. The camera proves someone has been down here.”
Maximus ignores his cousin and walks over to the secreted piece of equipment. He gives the lens the middle finger, then removes it from its mount.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Alexis hisses.
“Chill, Lex. You’re gonna burst a blood vessel one of these days.”
He fiddles with it some more then returns it to its original place. “I just wiped the last thirty minutes. And it doesn’t have any sound recording, so it’s OK to speak. If you all keep to the edge, you’re out of range and won’t be picked up. No need to all rush and thank me.”
That was actually excellent thinking. “Thanks, Maximus.”
“No problemo, princess,” he winks. “Someone’s got to keep you safe if these meat-heads can’t.”
Growls sound around the cavern. I’m not sure who from.
“Oh, for fucks sake,” Cosmo snaps. “Can we go? Another hour in your company and I’m going to kill someone.”
◆◆◆
Moving into the main tunnel, my skin once again reacts to the wards surrounding the cavern. Now, though, I’m more able to understand the strange, complex wards.
They seem almost…loyal to me.
Do they keep away anyone who may cause Avalon harm? Or be a danger to me? I’m not sure, but it’s something like that. It makes me feel more relaxed about the video camera monitoring.
That had to be put up by a friend, rather than a foe—right?
We travel at a fast jog over the uneven stones. Ludo, obviously, is up front, and I’m behind him.
As we move, I’m thinking about time. We’ve only been away for twenty-four hours or so, but as I glance behind me, I see some differences in us. Maximus and Donovan are obviously changed, but more than that, Cosmo and Alexis are taking turns to cast the magic lights.
There is currently no sniping, just forward motion, like a team.
And as for me? My spark is still completely and utterly woken, and I’m apparently filled with a divine essence called Lumina.
At a tunnel split, Ludo scans both passageways, his sharp eyes looking into the gloom.
“Can you sense things down here?” I whisper. “Like you could in the labyrinth?”
—My minotaur is slightly dulled, but is still present. He doesn’t sense any humans or otherwise, yet—
“Gotcha.” I put a hand on his back. “Hey, guys, Ludo doesn’t sense anyone else down here. Let’s keep going.”
Once more, we are running.
Within five minutes, Ludo slows, then raises a hand in a stop motion.
—Person is ahead. I’ll go. I belong down here, none of the rest of you do—
“Someone up ahead,” I say quietly. Alexis instantly extinguishes his light globes. “Ludo’s going to check it out. Please be careful,” I tell Lu.
—I am the guardian of these tunnels. I will see who trespasses—
I press myself back into the dark shadows and wait.
“Good thing our giant has tunnel vision,” Maximus whispers in my ear. “Get it? Tunnel vision.”
Alexis shushes, but Max ignores him. “If he has a nap, do you call that bulldozing?”
“Maximus?”
“Yes, princess?”
“Give it a rest.”
“Sorry, sexy. I know my jokes are terri-bull.”
ARGH!
I’m about to elbow him in the stomach when I freeze.
Footsteps are coming back down the tunnel.
But the rhythm is wrong. I know the careful tread of my Minotaur. This is different. There’s a second set of footsteps accompanying him—loud and unwary.
My stomach drops. Did Ludo get caught? Is he being marched back here at gunpoint?
“He’s not alone,” Alexis hisses, extinguishing the last globe of light. The tunnel plunges into absolute darkness. Max stops joking, his breathing shifting into a low, threatening almost animalistic growl.
“Get behind me,” Donovan whispers, shoving me behind the hard wall of his body. Next to me, Cosmo flexes his hands, like he’s readying to cast.
The footsteps get louder, echoing off the stone walls.
To my panicked ears, it sounds like a struggle is about to break out.
I clench my fists, feeling something flare hot in my palms.
Holy shit. I guess it’s the Lumina.
If they’ve hurt Ludo, I will burn this tunnel down. I will incinerate them all.
The footsteps round the corner. I raise my hand, ready to strike—
“So I set up dedicated short-range wireless, you see? It just needed a localized, point-to-point system to stream the feed.”
The voice is bright, chatty, and completely oblivious to the impending violence.
We all freeze.
Ludo steps around the corner, and with him is Duncan, looking very pleased with himself.
“Dunc!” I’m out of the shadows and hugging Duncan within seconds.
“Am I glad to see you,” he exclaims, hugging me back. “Me and Wills have been freaking.”
Alexis joins us. “How long have we been gone?” he asks immediately. “Days? Hours? Weeks?”
Duncan blinks, obviously confused. “Huh? What do you mean? It’s Wednesday.
You’ve been gone for three days. How could you not.
..” His eyes grow wide. “Ooh! Spacetime continuum problems? Sweet! What was it like? How did you experience time?” —Did space bend/black hole/this tunnel is dark/who are the new guys—
It makes me smile to have Duncan’s brain bouncing around my head again, but Alexis frowns down at him. “If we can hold off the inquisition, Links. We are tired, hungry, and thirsty.”
“Oh, right, sorry, sir. Are any of you hurt? What do you need?” Duncan turns serious, and my heart swells with love for my friend.
“Extra-large deep-pan, four-cheese pizza,” Donovan says. “Cold Coke with ice, salted caramel chocolate ice-cream, and tortilla chips with guac.”
Duncan's mouth drops open.
“What?” Donovan says. “I haven’t eaten anything but two apples in four years.”
“Ah, maze-ing,” Duncan gasps. “This is like Void Weaver come to life!”
Knowing Duncan, I’m pretty sure Void Weaver must be a video game.
“Did I hear you tell Ludo that you were streaming a feed? You mean that camera in the cavern was you?”
The wards let Duncan through; that makes sense.
He nods enthusiastically. “Yep, I put it up the night you left. Took a little while to figure out the logistics, but I got it streaming onto me and Willow’s tablets. I also added some open-source Python code so that it would alert us to any movement around the portal.”
I’m completely lost, but Max is impressed. “Dude! Nice. I used something similar to keep an eye on my weed-grow in the woods. OpenCV library?” Maximus muscles his way forward to talk to Duncan. “What’s your name, little broseph?”
“Oh, I’m Duncan, and yes, the script used the OpenCV library.”
I can’t imagine males more different than Maximus and Duncan. Max is all reckless impulsivity, cheeky charm, and swagger. Duncan tries to keep a low profile, blushes at the drop of a hat, and is a total nerd.
I guess they both have that ADHD thing going on, though, along with tech-geek.
Finally stepping into the Defectivum basement, I barely make it into the center of the room before Willow throws herself at me.
It’s so good to see her; my throat contracts, and I swallow down a sob.
“Beee-itch! You scared the crap out of me! Are you OK?” She quickly scans me over.
“I’m OK, Wills. We’re all OK…”
She cuts me off with a squeal as Donovan and Max step into the room. “You got your boys back!” Turning around, she hugs me some more. “I’m so happy for you.”
“It was a 66% successful mission,” I sigh. “I’ll fill you in.”
Donovan’s stomach rumbles loudly. “But first we need to eat—like stat!” he groans, turning to Alexis. “I guess we can’t just go to the cafeteria, right?”
“Not yet. We need a plan first.”
Fortunately, Willow is the best kind of friend. “Gods! Food! Of course, why didn’t I think about having supplies here waiting for you? Give me ten minutes. I’ll take Dunc. Duncan, we’re on a provisions run!”
“She's a friend of yours, Tee-Tee?” Donovan asks me.
“The best,” I nod.
“Seems like it.”
Cosmo slams himself into one of the rickety folding chairs. “Much as I am loath to spend any more time in this basement, or in this company, I agree that it’s not wise to just reappear after being absent for days. We need a story.”
“Yes, we do.” Alexis pulls out a chair for me before taking one for himself. I flop down, reveling in the familiar comfort of my damp, shabby basement.
We did it.
We found Donovan, and fingers crossed, Wes should already be here somewhere on campus. My poor Wes, he must be losing his mind with worry. I can’t imagine how shocking it was, going through the portal alone, then finding out you’d been gone for a year.
“Alright, let’s brainstorm,” Alexis says, rubbing his temples like his head hurts. “How to explain the sudden emergence of Max and Donovan, keeping in mind that we have no idea if anyone here has been affected by the dark essence?”
“I doubt anyone noticed the dud or janitor missing,” Cosmo says in his usual sneering voice.
I give him a dirty look, but actually, he’s probably not far from the truth. “But we know the school, or at least Dean Dartmouth, covered up the twins’ disappearance,” I say, trying to think through the problem. “That fucks things up.”
“Striker can back-date communication with Dartmouth, giving them all a leave of absence for a gap year,” Cosmo suggests. “And we can donate to the school fund for any inconvenience.”
“Money does usually solve every problem,” Donovan grins.
“Yeah, I’m with Dono,” Max says. “Say we took a gap year, and then drop some dough. Only, I’m broke, so you guys have to do that part.”
“So, you just roll up to the gates after your leave of absence?” Alexis asks. “That’s the plan?”
“Don’t see why not,” Max grins. “After all, it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission beforehand. Everyone knows that’s my philosophy.”
Why am I not surprised?