Spliced

“It’s like a labyrinth down here,” Tanya had commented as they walked along grey corridors. “Go too far and you won’t be able to find your way back, at least not without a map.”

“We’ll just make sure we take the same path each time” Amanda replied, more focused on finding Cat.

“What is this place?” Sirius asked.

“Storage mostly, I think” Tanya replied. “I don’t really know to tell you the truth, I’m not supposed to go down here.”

“Just make sure you keep close,” Amanda warned, not wanting anyone to get distracted and fall behind. Keeping the group together was important.

They walked along at a reasonably swift pace, checking any unlocked rooms that they came across. Many were empty, some just contained old furniture. It seemed Tanya had been half right at least; they did use this floor for storage. Other rooms were more interesting. They came across one which had jars containing various liquids, arranged haphazardly and seemingly without order along several shelves. This was the room they were in now and Amanda wandered along a row trying to read the labels on the jars.

“We should keep moving,” Sirius suggested. He stood in the doorway, agitated and worried about what might have happened to Cat. But only Kass heard him. Amanda and Tanya explored further in, their attention captured by the strange contents of the room.

Sirius glanced off down the hall and caught a glimpse of movement, something dashed around the corner. It was too fast to tell what it was. “Guys!” he exclaimed but again he was too quiet for Amanda and Tanya to hear. He didn’t want to lose whatever it was that had dashed around the corner so he chased off after it. Only Kass saw him go. She hesitated then followed after him, figuring she could bring him back before he got too far. But Sirius moved fast and soon they were several corners on. Eventually he stopped, realising it was a lost cause. He frowned as he realised he’d gone further than he’d intended.

“Sirius!” Kass called coming up behind him.

He turned around surprised.

“Did the others follow you?” he asked.

Kass shook her head. “I tried to call after you but you were moving too fast. They’re back in the room with the jars.”

“Sorry, I saw something run around the corner. I didn’t want it to get away.”

Kass nodded.

“I guess we should head back then,” Sirius said.

At least that shouldn’t be too difficult. Whatever he had been chasing had stuck to one wall, taking the same fork at each intersection. All they would need to do to get back was the same thing but in reverse.

Kass nodded again. At that moment something dashed past her feet. She screamed, leaped out of the way and once more found herself standing right in Sirius’s arms.

“Whoa!” he said initially surprised but then added with a chuckle “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

Kass shuddered as she watched the rat bounce along the floor and around the corner. Sirius laughed then sighed, “That was probably what I saw earlier. You okay?”

She turned to look up at him and Sirius was suddenly very aware of how close they stood and how blue her eyes were. It was like looking down at the sky. She gave a nod and a soft smile.

“Why are you so scared of them?” he asked. “They’re just fluffy little creatures going about their lives.”

Her smile disappeared and Kass was quiet for awhile.

“They just creep me out.” she finally replied.

“Sirius?” she started.

“Yeah?” he replied. He’d also never noticed before quite how naturally flushed her cheeks were, like early roses just bloomed among a late snow. Her features were so soft and innocent, that he found himself wanting to pick her up and carry her out of there. Protect her from the rats and whatever else roamed this place. He had trouble reconciling how she looked with what he knew of her past. He knew she’d been a sniper, that she’d killed on command. Sirius had killed before, when necessary to protect his own life. That was the nature of sailing the seas sometimes. But while he’d been in many fights he prided himself on only ever using the minimal amount of force necessary to end a conflict. Sirius was like a giant Redwood. He might look capable of knocking down a house during a storm but he was really quite sturdy and harmless. But Kass, Kass really was a rose, hidden thorns and all. He stood still so mesmerized by the contrast that he almost missed her question.

“What are you afraid of?” she asked softly.

Amanda had been studying a jar which contained what might have been a jellyfish of some sort except it didn’t appear to have any tentacles. The liquid it was submerged in glowed with a faint blue hue. She wondered momentarily if her sister would know what it was. Lizzy had always been much better at identifying different plants and creatures. Amanda picked up the jar wanting to look at it more closely but as she tilted sideways slightly her grip slipped and the jar went crashing to the floor. She winced as the poor creature inside thrashed around on the floor before finally falling still. She looked at it for a while, feeling sorry for the damage she had done.

“Where’d the others go?” Tanya asked. The crash of the jar had apparently jerked her back to reality.

“Huh?” Amanda glanced up realising that it was only her and Tanya in the room. The jars and their weird colours had been strangely mesmerizing. “I don’t know. Let’s go find them.” She suddenly found the room and all its colours unnerving. She left in such a hurry that Tanya had to scramble after her lest she get left behind. She followed along at a brisk walk only just managing to keep sight of Amanda. They took every left branch as before. A few corners on Tanya spotted some strange scratches on the wall. They grabbed her attention for just long enough that when she looked up Amanda was gone. She cursed and kept moving.

Sirius wasn’t sure how to answer Kass’s question. He could have said flying or airplanes and that would have been technically correct but he suspected that wasn’t what she was asking. Before he could think of a better answer however Kass put her hands on the front of his shirt, pulled his head down and pressed her lips against his.

Taken by surprise and not entirely in objection to it Sirius let her pull his head down. He didn’t resist. He didn’t push for more. It wasn’t passionate. It was quick. It was stolen. It was beautiful and sweet. Like tasting honey with just the tip of your tongue or drinking a fine wine with nothing but your nose.

It was reckless, and it was at that moment that Amanda walked around the corner.

Sirius pulled back just in time to see her standing there, mouth agape, her face twisted in anguish.

“Amanda” he began, but she was gone. As fast as she had appeared she turned and fled, running through twisting corridors.

Tears threatened to cloud her vision. She reached the previous junction and not wanting to run into Tanya, or anyone else right now, she took the other path. She just kept moving. She knew it was stupid but right now she didn’t care. She ran on through hopelessly grey corridors, around so many corners, and through so many junctions until she was no longer certain she knew the way back. Finally she stopped, lent into a wall, and slid down with her back against it until she was sitting, sobbing, on the floor.

Sirius took a step back from Kass, reeling from the full force of what he’d just done.

“I’m sorry.” He stammered “That was, that was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Kass blinked. “It’s okay,” she replied unevenly and with a hesitation that suggested she wasn’t quite as sorry about it as he was. But as she studied his face her expression changed.

“It’s okay,” she repeated, more genuinely this time and with a tone that suggested more of an acceptance. Acceptance at what she couldn’t have and at what she done. She dropped her gaze to the floor.

It cut him like a knife. She looked so sad and lost. Now he had hurt two people. He sighed, not sure what to say to make anything better.

He was saved from having to say anything by Tanya walking around the corner.

She stopped where she was and frowned. “Where’s Amanda?”

“You didn’t see her?” Sirius asked, sure that Amanda had to have run into Tanya after she’d fled. Where else could she have gone?

Tanya shook her head. She walked off so fast after you guys, I couldn’t keep up. Then I got distracted by some writing on the wall . . .”

“It’s okay,” Sirius interrupted, not wanting anyone to panic, worried if they did that he might too. Right now they needed to remain calm. He needed to think.

“I just passed a junction back there. Maybe she went that way. I’m not sure where else she could have gone.” Tanya said.

Sirius hoped she hadn’t gone too far. He hoped she would forgive him. What if he lost his sister and his wife in one day? Not wanting to dwell on it he started walking briskly back towards the junction. He needed to find them. “Come on.”

Tanya and Kass had to run to keep up.

“Sirius, slow down,” Kass warned as they reached the junction. “We don’t need anyone else getting lost.”

He stopped, nodded, and waited for her and Tanya to catch up. He tried to calm himself down but his stomach was full of butterflies.

“Amanda’s not stupid enough to get lost. She probably didn’t go very far,” Kass reassured him once they caught up to him.

He nodded but he wasn’t completely convinced. That look of anguish that had been on her face kept flashing through his mind.

Meanwhile, Cat and the others had arrived at the labyrinth entrance. They stopped at the first junction.

“Which way?” Cat asked.

“There’s more junctions,” Indi said. “So most likely they either went all left or all right. It’s the logical choice.”

“Wolf..?” Cat interrupted suddenly realising something.

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you good at tracking?” Cat looked at him perplexed, wondering why they hadn’t found her that way.

He sighed. “Yeah, I had trouble when we hit the body, too much blood. Amanda was convinced you weren’t on that floor.”

“And now?” Cat gestured at the two hallways in front of them.

Wolf growled slightly under his breath. “Turn around.”

The others did as told and Wolf removed his clothes so he could shift into Wolf form.

He sniffed part of the way down one corridor and then part of the way down the other.

Just as he was shifting out of Wolf form they all heard a scream. The others spun.

“Oi!” Wolf growled at them, turning to face the wall so they couldn’t see his front.

Cat ignored him and walked a little way into the right hand corridor. “That sounded like Kass.”

Wolf shook his head as he pulled his pants back on but no one was looking at him. “I couldn’t smell them that way,” he said as he turned and pulled his t-shirt back over his head.

“That definitely sounded like Kass.” Cat replied.

Wolf frowned. He’d only been able to get a scent from the other corridor.

“Maybe they split up.” Indi suggested. “Or the corridors wrap around and connect up again.”

Wolf didn’t reply. It was a possibility.

Cat looked from one tunnel to the other then at the group.

“Bad idea,” Wolf said, guessing what she was thinking.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” Cat replied.

“That we should split up. We’re already in too small a group.”

“Those creatures obviously don’t care.”

“So you want to make it easier for them?”

Cat was silent for a moment. “It’s the fastest way to find the others. If they come back and can’t find us what do you think is going to happen? We need to wrap this up quickly. Regroup and then sort out a plan.” She hesitated. “Maybe even leave, there’s something not right about this place.”

Everyone was silent. No one offered up a better plan so Cat made the decision. “Indi with me.” She took a step towards the right hand junction then pointed to the left .“You three go the other way.”

Falco started to protest but Cat interrupted.

“We’ve got a shield and a gun.” She pointed to Indi and then held up her weapon. “We’re probably a lot safer than you guys. So you get numbers.” She gave them a smile and headed towards the right hand corridor.

Indi, who was almost back to her usual perky self, gave Falco a smile. “I’ll be fine.” With that she followed after Cat.

Falco sighed. “Alright,” he said as he watched them walk away. Once they were out of sight he turned to the left hand corridor.

Falco, Wolf, and Zephyr made swift progress along the corridor and they’d gone quite a distance in when Zephyr, who was walking at the back, noticed some writing on the wall.

“Hey guys,” he said as he lent down to inspect it. It wasn’t in a language he recognized. He reached out to touch it and as he did the whole wall moved. It and the floor spun 180 degrees, so one moment Zephyr was on one side of the wall and the next moment he was on the other.

Falco and Wolf had turned around just in time to see it happen.

“Zeph!” they cried in unison.

Now on the other side Zephyr placed his hands on the wall again but it seemed the trap only worked one way. He sighed and turned around to see where he had ended up. It was a rather large room. Something in a jar gave off a faint yellow glow on a desk nearby. It was the only source of light in the room. Apart from the desk, the glowing jar, and a couple of tools lying next to it, the room was otherwise empty. There was a door approximately opposite where Zephyr crouched. Disliking being in such a dimly lit place, Zephyr stood up and walked over to the door. He hesitated only a second before he pulled it gently open. Outside he was relieved to find a more brightly lit corridor.

“Zeph!” Falco called from the other side of the wall.

“Yeah” Zeph yelled back, returning to the wall.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Stay where you are, the trap will probably reset itself.”

“That could take ages,” Zephyr heard Wolf say in a muffled voice through the wall, “if it even does reset.”

“Well aren’t you just Mr Positivity.” Falco replied.

“Just being realistic.”

“Making up for Cat’s absence?”

Wolf didn’t respond. No response really was the most effective argument against anyone likening him to Cat. She always had some type of comeback. Wolf liked to think of himself as not being that petty.

Falco turned back to study the wall. He tried pressing against different stones to no avail.

Wolf stood back and waited for Falco to figure out the obvious solution. It took only a few seconds.

A moment later Falco yelled through the wall. “Zeph, we’re gonna keep looking for the others. If we can find Sirius we can get him to punch through the wall. Just hold tight and err. . . try not to attract any creatures.”

“Great,” Zephyr mumbled then yelled back in what he hoped was a more optimistic voice, “Okay, will do.”

“Don’t go anywhere, we’ll be back soon,” Falco said.

Falco and Wolf continued walking down the corridor, taking note of where they had left Zephyr.

Kass, Sirius, and Tanya had reached another junction. There they paused. They had no way to tell which path Amanda had taken and they didn’t want to risk getting lost themselves. There was really only one other option.

“We need Wolf,” Sirius remarked. “He can sniff her out.”

“That didn’t exactly work well before” Kass replied.

“Why would she keep going this way?” Tanya asked, not aware of what had happened between Sirius, Kass, and Amanda.

“We . . . we had a fight,” Sirius said. “She probably wasn’t thinking.”

Tanya waited for him to elaborate but he stopped there so she didn’t push the subject any further.

They turned around and started to head back to the labyrinth entrance.

Somewhere in another part of the maze Cat and Indi’s corridor had reached an archway. It opened up into a square room. Bones littered the floor. On the other side of the room the corridor started up again. They stood at the entrance looking in. Indi took a step forward into the room.

“Wait!” Cat, still standing outside the archway, grabbed her.

Indi turned and gave Cat a reassuring smile. She looked around the room but nothing happened.

Cat relaxed and made a choice she regretted almost instantly. She stepped into the room.

Cat swore as stone walls came down across the exits. Indi and Cat were trapped.

More sounds of stone grinding. Blocks sunk into the wall all around the room revealing holes which immediately started funnelling water into the room.

Cat’s heart beat faster at the sight of the water.

“Oops,” Indi murmured.

Cat froze, her eyes wide with fear. How could this happen twice in one day? She tried not to look at the bones on the floor. A clear indication of what they would be if they didn’t figure a way out quickly.

Cat grabbed Indi’s forearm.

“Ow!” Indi cried as Cat’s nails inadvertently dug into her skin.

“We need to find a way out!” Cat commanded trying to keep the waver out of her voice.

“Okay,” Indi replied calmly. She didn’t move but instead took a moment to observe their surroundings. “So I don’t know much about the Hall of the Dead, if that’s where we are, but supposedly Splice Holes would have traps that were designed so whomever entered would have to solve a puzzle. One specifically catered to them, the idea being that if you were clever enough or kind enough or whatever they wanted to test you on...”

“We don’t have time for a history lesson,” Cat interrupted sharply.

“Okay, okay well assuming this is one of those traps we just have to solve the puzzle.”

“Okay, so there’s probably a loose stone somewhere?” Cat walked to one of the walls and tried pulling and pushing at the slabs.”

Indi didn’t move. She stayed in the centre of the room, exploring it with her eyes, looking for anything that looked like it didn’t quite belong.

“Are you going to help” Cat asked, irritated that Indi wasn’t moving, and panicked at the rising water.

“I am, I’m looking,” Indi replied calmly.

Cat frowned and tried to ignore the water lapping around her legs. It was almost at her knees. She tried not to think about the possibility that the stone they wanted was under the water.

Indi studied every rock in the room, committing them to memory as she looked. She set herself a mental timer for working on this problem. She knew it was possible there wasn’t a release trigger or that they might not be able to find it, in which case she’d need to think of another solution. But she found what she was looking for. An odd, very small almost circular slab stuck out of the wall about half an inch in one of the upper corners. She walked calmly over. It was well about her height. She jumped for it. She missed, but not by much. She leapt again. Still not enough. She needed more height.

“Cat! Over here!”

Cat turned, the fear in her eyes obvious. She waded briskly over to Indi. She saw immediately what Indi had found.

“Hit that!”

Cat leapt for it and hit it with her first attempt.

Something made a sharp grinding sound near them but the water kept rising. A string of symbols appeared on the wall. Below the writing five stones, each with a different symbol jutted out.

“I think it’s a pattern,” Indi exclaimed.

“What? And we pick which one comes next?” Cat asked, her voice cracking slightly. She avoided looking down to where the rising water level was getting scarily close to hip height.

Indi nodded. “Gimme a sec.”

Cat waited almost exactly that much. “Indi?”

“Hang on.”

Cat tried to be patient, she really did, but the water kept rising and Indi just seemed to be looking at the wall.

“What if we just pick a random one?” Cat asked.

Indi eyed her. Cat’s own eyes were wide and she was trembling slightly. Indi grabbed both her wrists and tried to look her in the eyes. It was hard because Indi was shorter than Cat and Cat really didn’t want to look down at the water so she was trying to keep her eyes on the wall instead.

“Cat!” Indi repeated until Cat finally made eye contact. Indi spoke slowly “Relax. We have plenty of time. I’m a genius remember. I will figure it out but you have to relax and be quiet so I can think, okay?”

Cat nodded.

Satisfied, Indi turned back to the wall. She narrowed her eyes. She ran through all the possible options in her head then repeated it once more to double check. Finally certain she took a step forward and hit one of the symbols.

The effect was almost instantaneous. The holes closed. The exits opened and water went spilling out into the hallways.

Cat closed her eyes momentarily in relief. “Let’s go back. There’s no way the others came this way.”

Indi glanced at the wall were the patterns had been a moment ago. She was trying to decide if it could have been possible that the others had come this way and figured it out. It hadn’t been that hard of a puzzle.

“Think about it, even if they did come this way, there’s no way I could have. They would have known that.” Cat explained, guessing Indi’s thoughts. “They’d have turned around.”

Indi nodded convinced. There was no arguing that.

They turned back.

Zephyr had by now explored every inch of the room he was in. He hadn’t found anything more than what he’d initially observed though. He leant against the door frame, looking out at the corridor, waiting patiently for Falco and Wolf to return with Sirius. He tried to think of things to take his mind off this place. Things like which patients he was seeing next week, which vegetables he should plant in his garden next season. He was considering pumpkins when his thoughts were interrupted by the flickering of the lights in the corridor to his right. He straightened.

Zephyr hated the dark. No, he was terrified of the dark. Even at this age he still slept with a nightlight on. He’d been afraid of the dark ever since he was a child. When he was six years old his parents had died in a car accident and his mother’s brother had assumed custody. Zephyr’s uncle had often expressed how much he loved having young children in the house again. Few people had ever understood the true implications of that statement. Eventually Zephyr had grown too old for his uncle’s affections, but the memory never completely left him. For the most part Zephyr rarely ever thought about his childhood. He told himself he’d dealt with it but when the lights went out, Zephyr always felt like someone was sitting on his chest.

Zephyr briefly considered backing into the room and shutting the door. He hadn’t seen a lock though and the idea of cowering in the dark waiting to be eaten just didn’t appeal.

Something yowled from further down the darkened corridor. It reminded Zephyr of a house cat.

If he moved the other way down the corridor, staying left or right, and keeping track of junctions, maybe he could find his way back here after it had gone. Or even better maybe he would meet up with the other corridor at some point. Although how would he know? He decided to risk it anyway. To him it was better than being trapped in that room. If he was going to die, he’d die running.

He heard the yowl again. Closer this time. Another light flickered out. Something moved in the darkness. Something about his size. Zephyr took off running. He ran at a faster pace than what a normal person could, tapping into his power, but not too fast. He didn’t want to run into any walls. He went left at the next junction hoping it would take him back to the others and not into a dead end.

He stopped running when he felt he’d gotten far enough away, at least for now. He didn’t want to make too much sound and attract the creature to him. The lights were all on here. At least he’d get a warning when that thing was coming. He eyed the lights above him carefully, every now and again as he walked. It was so quiet. The sound of his own footsteps made his heart skip.

Zephyr reached another junction. He’d passed through a couple by now. Every time there were two hallways to choose from he took the left one. This time there were more options, a left, a right, both opposite him, and a third one which ran parallel to the one he had just come from, in the same direction, only a metre and a half to the right. Well he didn’t want that one. He was about to select the left one in front of him when he heard a noise coming from the right hand one, a faint sobbing.

He hesitated. Was someone else down here? It could be a trick? Both hallways were well lit. What the hell, if it started getting dark he’d turn around. He could run fast. He might as well have a look. Maybe someone needed help. He took the right hand path and walked toward the sobbing. Zephyr didn’t see it, but a moment later, a light back in the left hand corridor he’d left behind, flickered out.

Zephyr walked cautiously and quietly, following the sound of the sobbing. Eventually he came to a bend in the corridor. He was almost certain that whatever, or whoever, it was that was making the sobbing sounds, was around this next corner. He peaked around carefully, not wanting to alert them to his presence. He was so surprised by what he saw that he had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.

Amanda, was sitting, against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees, head buried in them sobbing. Zephyr shook his head, still not sure it wasn’t some trick.

He walked around the bend and approached her. She didn’t notice him until he spoke her name.

“Amanda?”

She jerked her head up and moved her hands up as if to get ready to fight. She stared at Zephyr poised with her hands still up in case it wasn’t really him. When he didn’t come any closer she lowered her hands and then wiped her cheeks quickly with the back of her hands as if she had any chance of convincing him she hadn’t just been crying. She glanced down and then back up her eyebrows knotted in confusion.

“How did you get here?” She eyed him warily obviously wondering if it was really him.

“Trap door, in the wall,” Zephyr replied. He moved slowly and sat down on the floor opposite her, then he stammered out a string of questions and answers, not sure what to start with. “It’s, uh, a long story. How did you get here? We found Cat by the way.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

Amanda gave a laugh than a small sniff. She was a little overwhelmed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Where are the others?” Zephyr asked, worried something had happened to them.

Amanda glanced down the way she had come from. “Back that way, somewhere,” she replied.

“Are they alright?”

“Yeah, I...” Amanda rubbed her face the shook her head. ”Sorry, they’re fine. I’m just, I’m an idiot.” She ran her hands through her hair.

Zephyr frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Amanda sighed. She opened her mouth as if to say something then closed it again. She stared down at the ground.

Zephyr just waited patiently.

Eventually Amanda looked up again and explained.

“I saw Sirius kiss Kass, or Kass kiss Sirius, I don’t know, I..” she trailed off and stared down the corridor.

Zephyr got up and moved over to sit next to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her into a sideways hug. Amanda didn’t resist, she just leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat like that, in silence, for a while.

Eventually Amanda raised her head. “How did you say you got here?”

“Booby trap,” Zephyr replied. “I touched some writing on the wall and the wall spun around.”

“What?” Amanda gave a short laugh of surprise.

Zephyr removed his arm, glad to see her smiling again.

“Do you know the way back?” he asked

She shook her head and looked more serious. “I fucked that one up. You?”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure there’s one of those creatures that way.”

“We could risk it.” She held out a hand and summoned a fireball. “Maybe they don’t like fire.”

“Or they feed off it.” he glanced up at the dangling light above them. “Their theory could be wrong.”

“Hence the risk.” She noticed where his eyes were looking and added, “I don’t know of any creature that eats both fire and electricity though, at least not dangerous ones.”

Zephyr nodded, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to move just yet.

She closed her hand putting the fireball out. “Maybe we can wait a bit, give them some time to move away.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Zephyr spoke.

“Are you sure you saw Sirius Kissing Kass?”

Amanda didn’t reply so Zephyr glanced at her to check he hadn’t upset her but she just seemed to be thinking.

“I don’t know.” she replied eventually.

“Well if he did he’s an idiot.”

Amanda’s lips curved slightly in a smile but her eyes looked off to the side as if she didn’t quite believe it.

“No, really. You’re a beautiful, amazing woman, and he’s lucky to have you.”

Amanda shook her head. “I did the same to him once.”

“What?” Zephyr frowned, not understanding.

“Kissed another guy. I was drunk and it didn’t go any further than that but...”

“Does Sirius know?”

Amanda nodded. “It was years ago.”

“Well you said you weren’t sure who kissed whom, so maybe Kass surprised him. Maybe he didn’t mean to either.”

Amanda nodded then mumbled “Thanks Zeph.”

He looked back down the hallway. “Shall we head back then?”

Amanda gave him a smile, slightly less sad this time. “Yeah, alright.”

But before they could get up the entire hallway was suddenly coated in darkness.

Zeph flattened himself against the wall and grabbed sideways for Amanda. He tried to breathe but the air felt heavy.

He felt Amanda grab his hand. He gripped it back, perhaps a little too tightly, he couldn’t tell. He could only focus on the darkness, too afraid to shut his eyes.

“Zeph,” Amanda said. “Zeph relax.”

Something growled in the darkness.

Amanda raised her free hand and created a fireball. She got up onto her knees and faced whatever it was. She pushed the fire out towards it, making it larger as she did. She caught a glimpse of something white and hairless which let out a shriek before turning and running. But it didn’t go far. She could still hear movement in the darkness further down the corridor so she created a wall of fire between them and it. The thing was still there but it kept its distance. What were they waiting for? She got to her feet and dropped her hand, maintaining the wall of fire subconsciously, something that would have been impossible for average firestarter. She fixed it there in her mind. It would stay now, even if she turned away.

“Zeph? You okay? We need to move”

He blinked a couple of times in the dim light and nodded.

Amanda held out her hand to help Zephyr up. He accepted got to his feet slowly.

“You okay?” Amanda asked again.

Zephyr nodded then shook his head. “I hate the dark” he admitted. “I . . . it makes me feel like I’m suffocating.” He half waited for her to laugh but she didn’t.

“Well, I’m not surprised given what’s out there,” she replied. “Okay,” she raised a fist and a second later it was surrounded in a blinding white fire. It gave off much more light than her wall.

“Better?” she asked.

Zephyr nodded, some of the weight lifting off his chest.

“I can’t keep it this bright forever.” She said “We need to keep moving.”

Amanda removed the fire walls but the one in her hand was enough to keep the creatures at bay. They started their walk back to the trap wall.

In another hallway Falco and Wolf rounded a corner to find Sirius, Kass, and Wolf walking towards them.

“Hey!” Falco called out a big smile forming on his face. Then he did a head count and his smile faded. His brows knotted together “Where’s Amanda?”

“We need your help to find her” Sirius replied guiltily.

“You lost her?” Wolf frowned.

“Where’s the rest of your group?” Kass asked noticing they weren’t the only ones short people.

“Did you find Cat?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah” Falco replied, “Cat’s with Indi. We need your help with Zeph, he triggered a trap and got stuck behind a wall.”

Kass gave a laugh, “Wait what?”

“How the hell did you lose Amanda?” Wolf asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sirius growled.

Wolf’s eyes narrowed.

“How far back is Zeph?” Sirius asked.

“Not that far.” Falco replied.

“Okay, we’ll get Zeph quickly and then we’ll go after Amanda. I don’t think we should separate anymore.”

They all nodded.

Wolf eyed Sirius suspiciously, wondering what he wasn’t saying.

Amanda and Zephyr had made it back to the trap wall in one piece. The lights above them were still out. The only light they had was the flame from Amanda’s fist. Every now and again growls sounded from just beyond the edge of darkness. Whatever it was out there wouldn’t come any closer. It seemed to be afraid of the light. Or rather, they. Judging by the growls there was more than one.

“I’m not sure we should stay here” Amanda said “but I’m not that keen on wandering around this labyrinth either and since you said Falco and Wolf are coming back this is probably our best option.”

Every now and again she’d throw a wall of fire into the darkness just to make sure the creatures stayed back.

“How long can you keep that fire going?” Zephyr asked, worried she was going to run out of energy.

Amanda smiled “Oh much longer than we should need it. A few days if I have to. But not this bright. I’ll knock it down a notch if they take more than an hour.”

“So what you said before, about not being able to keep it going forever, that was . . ?”

“Technically true. A few days is worst case, or best case depending on how you look at it, a meditative stance and lot of focus. Like this, I can do a few hours pretty easily. More than several and it starts to become tiring or at least a lot less bright.”

“That’s still bloody long,” Zephyr replied. He wasn’t sure he believed her but her confidence relaxed him at least. Most firestarters could not maintain a flame with nothing to burn but air for more than an hour, let alone several hours or a few days.

“Let’s hope they don’t take that long” Amanda said flashing him a reassuring smile.

Cat and Indi had almost made their way back to the entrance of the labyrinth when the lights above them started to flicker. Cat pulled out her gun just in case. Indi took a step nearer to Cat and winced as a sharp pain shot through her skull. Then Indi stumbled. Cat grabbed her. Something growled behind them. Indi whimpered. Pain coursed through her head.

Cat tried to aim her gun in the total darkness. She tried to listen over Indi’s whimpering. She heard it take a few slow steps then the steps got faster.

Cat pulled the trigger in the direction she thought it was then everything happened at once. Cat never found out if her aim had been good enough.

As the creature leapt at them, the pain in Indi’s head intensified. She slipped from Cat’s grasp and fell to the floor coming to rest on all fours. In a desperate attempt to quiet the sounds in her head she created a shimmering force field around both her and Cat. The creature smashed into the force field, yelped, and then scampered away.

Cat’s bullet ricocheted off the inside of the force field. It thankfully missed both Cat and Indi and ended up embedding itself in the floor.

The force field shimmered and the creature seemed reluctant to get too close. A white shape moved just beyond the light. It had four limbs and was smaller than a person. It could have been a hairless monkey but it was too dark to tell. One thing was for sure, it was out there, waiting for them.

Cat didn’t hesitate. She reached down and grabbed Indi under her arms. Cat hoisted her over her shoulders.

Indi whimpered from the pain in her head. Her shield flickered and appeared to dim in brightness.

“Indi, don’t you drop that shield.” Cat commanded.

Outside of the shield the creature paced on four feet, lurking, waiting for its chance. Cat noticed a second white shape appear.

“I can’t . . .” Indi murmured. She’d never had good stamina for shielding even on the best of days. Her personal record was maybe half an hour and that had been exhausting.

“Indi, you drop that shield we die,” Cat warned. She moved as fast as she could with Indi on her shoulders, hoping she could get them back to safety before Indi ran out of energy.

“It hurts” Indi cried.

“Yeah, well just think about how much it will hurt if you drop that shield.”

Indi whimpered but somehow managed to keep the shield up, at least for now. Cat didn’t stop. They were almost there.

Somewhere in another part of the facility...

“You were supposed to take them to the revival room.” the blue eyed man told Trevor.

“Well I’ve been busy with the other ones and they are in a rather large group. Plus those damn creatures are messing with my rooms. Can’t you do something about them?” Trevor replied. He sat in a comfortable leather chair in an almost completely dark room. It was empty except for the large mirrors in front of him and the woman who sat on the floor beside them. She held her hands to the mirrors. Instead of reflecting the room the mirrors showed images of a man and a woman walking down a stone corridor.

“You were supposed to take them all to the revival room.” The blue-eyed man repeated his statement.

“We agreed if I was to do this job then I get to do it my way and I get to have my fun first. We still have time. Did you see the water room? Oh, am I glad I had that one prepared.” Trevor didn’t bother to spare the blue-eyed man a glance. He just kept watching the mirrors and chuckling to himself.

“Just make sure they’re dead within the zone before the spell is finished.” the blue-eyed man replied, and he left the room.