Spliced

“Amanda!” Wolf yelled again. He pounded on the stone.

Wolf and Zephyr had both been thrown by the blast but Wolf had quickly found his feet and was now confronted but a pile of rubble where Amanda had been.

Zephyr slumped against the side wall in shock. He jerked upright again as a growl sounded from nearby. Wolf spun to face whatever it was. Neither could see. Without Amanda their only light was gone.

More growls. Closer this time.

“What do we do?” Zephyr whispered as he backed himself against the wall as much as he could.

“Pray?” Wolf suggested without conviction. “Fight,” he added beneath a breath, determined. What else could they do?

“Pray to whom?” Zephyr felt light headed. The darkness was everywhere. It was suffocating him, sucking the air out of him, pressing against him until it threatened to replace him. And the growls moved in like something out of a childhood nightmare. So this was it then.

“Come on!” Wolf roared at the darkness. A challenge. He was a predator himself. He knew how they thought. Don’t show weakness.

There was an energy to Wolf’s voice that Zephyr just didn’t feel. His heart beat far too quickly. He slid down to the floor and tried to take up as little space in his corner that he could. He pulled his legs up in front of him, covered his face with his hands and closed his eyes. How he wished for spines. Something to surround and protect him. For this nightmare to end.

He heard another growl. A different one.

Wolf had transformed. He was ready to fight.

There was movement nearby and the next thing Zephyr knew, he was falling backwards. He sucked in a breath, startled to find it wasn’t a dream. The wall behind him had vanished, turned to warm rubble and dust. A bright orange light filled the corridor. Was he dead?

The light was so bright it lit up the entire corridor and all the creatures in it. A pack of hairless chalk white monsters stood before them. They almost looked like a cross between a monkey and a human. Their white eyes stared unseeing. Their fangs stuck out like tooth picks, not two, but several rows of sharp meat shredders. The one that had leaped forward landed right in front of Wolf and quickly scampered backwards.

As Zephyr fell someone stepped past him. Amanda! Fireballs glowed in each hand. She focused on the creatures. She burned them all before they had time to turn tail and run. They emitted high-pitched wails. So human-like that Zephyr was sure it something he would never forget.

“Miss me?” Amanda asked once the creatures were all dead and she had lowered the brightness of the flame.

Wolf gave an uncharacteristic yelp and wagged his tail.

Zephyr just gave a soft smile and breathed in some precious air. He lay back on the rubble momentarily to get his bearings. He was too drained to speak.

Wolf changed back. Still naked. His clothes would be buried among the rubble somewhere.

Amanda shot him a curious glance, then remembering herself politely turned her eyes away.

“They’re Mimics” Wolf breathed. He didn’t seem to pay any mind as to the current state of his dress. To werewolves nudity was as natural as the Earth itself.

“Mimics?” Amanda repeated her eyes meeting his.

Wolf gave a nod. “They’re supposed to be related to vampires, a distant ancestor or something like that.”

“Like vampire monkeys?” Amanda asked.

Wolf gave a chuckle “Sort of. They feed like vampires do, only they tend not to leave so much behind. Like you might eat an orange. They suck everything dry. And they mostly feed on vampires, witches and humans too but their preference is vampires.” Realisation dawned on his face. He rubbed his forehead. “It makes sense now.”

“What does?”

“Indi, and her headaches, her light-headedness. Mimics are capable of emitting a high frequency sound which can render a vampire unconscious. It can be countered and tuned out, maybe even more easily given Indi’s a half and a shielder. It takes a bit of practice and reasonable amount of control, and of course you would have to know that they Mimics were doing it in the first place.”

Zephyr pushed back upright. “Why are they called Mimics?”

“Because of the sounds they make. Did you hear the screams? They are capable of precisely mimicking or imitating almost any sound you can think of. They’re known to live in caves and make the sounds of wounded young crying for help in an attempt to entice the adults in.”

“Why haven’t they been doing it to us?” Amanda asked.

Wolf shrugged. “Probably because we’re already in their territory. I don’t know.”

“Why do they prefer vampires?” Zephyr asked as he climbed to his feet.

“They like the blood.” Wolf shrugged again. “The way it’s processed? If you keep them in captivity or as a pet, you often feed them leeches. Don’t tell Indi I said that.”

“Who the hell keeps those things as pets?” Zephyr exclaimed. The near miss they just experienced had finally sunken in and he was feeling almost euphoric at simply being alive.

Wolf shrugged. “Some people do.”

“In cages right?”

Wolf didn’t reply.

Zephyr turned and looked back at the rubble. “How did you do that?” he asked Amanda.

“I focused the direction of the blast away from me but in on itself, enclosed it so it wouldn’t hit you guys or me. Might have overdone it just a tad, didn’t mean to blow out quite so much rock. Given the earlier impenetrable wall I figured it was better to err slightly that way. Sorry.”

Wolf shrugged. “We’re fine.”

“Impressive,” was all Zephyr could think of to say. He wasn’t sure it even came close to describing it.

Elsewhere...

Josiah stopped. He’d completely forgotten that apart from Angelic, none of the others could hear his footsteps. Therefore, Cat crashed right into the back of him and Angelic.

“What?” Cat hissed.

“It’s a room.”

Cat pulled out Tanya’s key chain light and shone it into the darkness. At first she thought that the floor was gone but then she realised that it was only because in this particular room the floor, and the walls were made of a dark black marble.

“Who wants to go first?” Cat dared.

“Not us,” Angelic replied. “We’ve done enough of these ourselves. It’s usually alright until you enter the room. There’s usually a puzzle or sometimes a test of skill.”

“You’ve passed them all so far?” Cat asked. “You haven’t lost anyone?”

“So far,” Angelic replied.

“It’s just us” Josiah added, and then more hesitantly “although we did run into some who had. We stayed with them . . . for awhile”

“Until?”

“Until the traps and the mimics got them,” Angelic replied.

“The what?” Indi asked.

“The mimics. Surely you know. You’re a vampire too after all. I can smell it on you.”

Indi shifted uncomfortably. “I’m half.”

“Don’t they affect you?” Angelic inquired.

Indi hesitated.

Cat answered for her. “She gets lightheaded when they’re nearby. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes. There’s a way to counter it. It requires some focus. Perhaps I can teach you. Perhaps you learn. Perhaps not. It requires a lot of energy though.”

“How do I do it?” Indi asked.

“You have to send out sounds. Silent, high pitched, ones that counter theirs. You must focus. It’s a bit like using the echo locator but in your head.”

“Umm. . .” Indi stammered and rubbed her head. She wasn’t sure how to do what Angelic suggested.

Angelic picked up on her hesitation and added “Or you could try another way. Hmm, you say you are half. Do you have a power?”

“I’m a shielder,” Indi replied.

“Ah well, try that then. Just focus on what you want to keep out.”

“Okay,” Indi replied but she still wasn’t sure. She’d never even thought about trying to shield sound. Mostly she focused on keeping physical things out. She wasn’t even sure it was possible but then given she’d never tried it maybe it was. There was no way to really test it or practice until those things showed up again though. She shivered. Hopefully she wouldn’t get a chance to practice it before they were out of this place.

“Okay, follow closely,” Cat said. She waited a moment for them to process and then continued forwards into the marble room. She didn’t want anyone getting left behind. She needn’t have worried. There was little hesitation among the group. No one wanted to get shut out in the corridor by themselves. As they gathered just inside the doorway of the room Cat shone they light around. She lit up as much as she could without straying too far from the rest of the group.

The room was large. Much larger than any they had been in so far. Cat couldn’t even see the corners or the other side of the room. Once every one had caught up she started to move forward once again.

“Maybe we should stick to the walls,” Indi suggested. “In case the light runs out.”

Cat paused. She considered the idea for a second then gave a nod of agreement. They walked back to where they door should be only to find that it had disappeared. That wasn’t unexpected. It was characteristic of this place. Where the door had been now there was only wall.

Left or right Cat pondered. She decided it was probably easiest if they stayed as close as they could to the Splice. They walked single file along the outer wall. Cat kept the key ring light on for a while, internally debating if it was worth it. A minute or two passed and she decided to turn it off, letting Josiah take the lead again.

Time got lost in the darkness. The speed at which they were forced to go made things pass slowly and the distance appear much further than it really was. It was probably only a few minutes but it seemed like hours before Josiah told them to stop. Cat turned on the light. At Josiah’s feet lay a shallow channel of clear liquid. It was too wide to jump across but looked only a foot or two deep.

“We could wade across,” Indi mused.

“What makes you think it’s water?” Cat replied.

Indi didn’t answer. The thought had crossed her mind almost immediately after the suggestion had left her own mouth.

“We should test it” Kass suggested.

“With what?” Cat asked.

Kass shrugged. “A piece of clothing.”

Cat waited, not wanting to offer up her own too quickly.

With a loud rip Josiah tore off a piece of his shirt and dropped it into the liquid. They watched it sink. A moment later it lay on the bottom, seemingly undamaged.

“Seems fine,” Angelic said as she bent down to retrieve the cloth. She dipped her hand into the liquid.

“Wait!” Cat said a second too slow. She threw out a hand in front of Indi to stop her following Angelic’s lead.

At first nothing happened. Angelic pulled the cloth out of the channel and all was well. She smiled up at the group.

But a moment later she gave a gasp of pain as her hand started to burn and melt. The strange acid started to eat it’s way slowly up her arm. Her eyes widened and a bloodcurdling scream burst out of her mouth.

“Angelic!” Josiah cried, as he reached for her.

“Don’t touch her!” Cat warned. This time she was fast enough, but he didn’t listen.

Angelic fell into his arms. Her own arm dripped into a bloody pool at her feet. Some of it dripped onto her pant leg. As she fell to the floor among Josiah’s arms she reached for the cuff of one of her pant legs and pulled it up. The acid had passed through leaving her pants untouched. It was now eating away at the flesh on her leg. White bone could be seen though the bubbling bloody mess. Indi hid her face not wanting to see anymore. The others found that they could not look away.

The worst was yet to come. As the acid reached her face and neck Angelic’s screaming became a gurgle. She started to choke on the blood. Only seconds had passed and already Angelic’s face became nothing but a screaming flesh dripping skull. Suddenly Josiah took a step backwards. The skin on his arm was starting to bubble. He raised his wide-eyed head to look at them. His eyes pleaded.

“Help me!” he gasped.

What remained of Angelic’s body lay on the floor, a bloody, bubbling, pile of nothing but bones and clothes.

Cat raised her gun and pointed it at Josiah. “Don’t come any closer” she warned. They didn’t need the acid getting on anyone else. They stared each other down for what must have felt like an eternity to Josiah. In reality it was maybe half a second before Tanya took a step forward, hesitant.

“If you stay very still I can try to heal you” she told Josiah.

She waited another half a second for his trembling nod of agreement before she stepped closer to him.

Cat kept her weapon trained on him. “Get back” she whispered to Kass and Indi but they were too transfixed to move away.

Acid was already at his hands and inching it’s way up towards his shoulder. Tanya worked quickly. She held her hands inches above his arm, careful not to touch him. She focused. New skin started to form in places but the acid was fast. For every patch that Tanya healed a new patch would melt and fizz away. She was struggling to keep up. Josiah was sweating, his face contorted in an expression of pain and whimpers escaped his mouth, but as promised he held very very still.

“You’re going to have to kick it up a notch,” Cat told Tanya. She still held both the weapon and the key ring light on Josiah.

Tanya took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as she could. She visualised what she wanted to happen, seeing in her mind the skin reforming and reconnecting. It worked. Slowly her healing overtook the rate of the acid. Beads of sweat formed on her brow. Rarely did a healing take so long. She wasn’t sure she had the energy to finish the job but the alternative was letting Josiah die. To Tanya that was as bad as killing him herself.

Cat wouldn’t have minded. Throughout the whole ordeal she never removed her weapon’s firing line away from Josiah. She was ready to shoot him the moment he endangered anyone else.

Black spots and white stars started to form across Tanya’s vision. She was almost done though. It felt like an eternity but eventually his skin reformed. She could barely see it, her vision was so blurry and out of focus by this point. She wanted to be sure the acid didn’t start eating away at him again once she stopped so she held out as long as she could. Kept going, just to be sure. When she did finally stop she stumbled backwards, exhausted. She would have fallen if not for Cat who quickly dropped and holstered her weapon then grabbed Tanya and held her steady.

“Thanks,” Tanya gasped as she started to feel less light-headed, although still completely wiped out.

Cat eyed Josiah wearily. He seemed physically fine. Now that he was safe his attention returned to Angelic, or what remained of her, bones, clothes, and a puddle. He starred in shock.

“We should keep moving” Kass said quietly. Cat gave a nod of agreement but made no attempt to do so just yet. She kept watching Josiah.

“I’m so sorry,” Indi whispered to Josiah.

Tanya bit her lip. If only she’d been faster to react.

“Okay, let’s go” Cat said.

“Cat he just lost . . . “ Indi began to protest.

Cat gave her a stern but soft look. Indi didn’t say any more. She understood. Cat was right. Even if it was hard for Josiah.

Kass and Cat both started to walk along the edge of the acid river. They went a few metres then turned and looked expectantly at the others.

Tanya and Indi hesitated. Tanya took a cautious step towards Cat and Kass.

Indi wanted to make sure Josiah was okay. He looked up suddenly. He blinked. “Wait . . .” He trailed off his eyes returning to the remains of Angelic’s body. Indi looked at the others, her compassionate eyes pleading behind glasses for them to wait just a few more seconds. Cat cocked her head and raised her eyebrows. A warning. They needed to keep moving. The light from the key ring would run out eventually. Indi sighed. She reached for Josiah and gently touched his arm.

“We have to keep moving,” she whispered.

He grabbed her arm with his other hand. Hard. Indi instinctively pulled back slightly. He didn’t let go. For a second he stared at her unblinking without really seeing her.

A deep rumble started up somewhere beneath them. The ground began to shake. Cracks started to appear under Josiah and Indi’s feet.

“Let’s move!” Cat barked.

Josiah didn’t seem to notice. Still gripping on to Indi’s arm his eyes returned once more to the remains of Angelic.

The rumbling got louder. The cracks in the floor widened. More cracks formed. The spread out like spider’s webs. One large crack snaked its way out toward where Cat and Kass stood. They instinctively each took a step backward. Tanya backed up so she stood about half way between them and Josiah and Indi.

“Let her go!” Cat commanded of Josiah. She brought her hand to her weapon, just in case.

The cracks widened. She raised the gun. Before she could speak again the ground opened up. Cat leapt to the side out of the way. She narrowly missed falling down the crevasses that opened up. Indi and Josiah were not so lucky. Indi fell forward and managed to grab the edge of the crevasse. Josiah grabbed Indi.

Indi struggled to pull herself up but Josiah’s weight kept pulling her down. Josiah looked down and realising where he was started to scream and thrash, further pulling Indi towards the dark void. On the other side of the crevasse acid ran down the wall.

“Stop thrashing,” Tanya yelled from up above them. She’d ran to the edge of the crevasse shortly after they had fallen and now knelt there with some difficulty due to the continued shaking. Indi looked up wide-eyed, struggling to keep a hold on the edge. Tanya reached out a hand down to Josiah.

“Climb up gently. I’ll help you out” she called to him.

He just kept thrashing. The terror and grief had overwhelmed him.

“Come on. I can help you” Tanya said stretching out her hand.

Cat handed Kass the key ring light. “Keep the light on us.” She ran over and grabbed a hold of one of Indi’s arms with both of hers. She gripped firmly beneath Indi’s upper arm then she turned to Tanya. “Grab her other arm. We can try to pull them both up. Tanya nodded and did as she was told.

Together they struggled to pull Josiah and Indi up. For a while they made some progress but for every inch they pulled Indi up, Josiah’s incessant thrashing would just pull them down.

“Help us!” Cat barked at Kass.

Kass was there in an instant, light on in one hand, trying to help pull Indi up with the other, but it did no good. They were too much weight.

“Use your powers!” Cat barked at Kass.

Kass shook her head. She wasn’t sure she had the control for it.

The ground shook again. Kass almost toppled forwards into the crevasse but Cat grabbed the back of her shirt with one hand and pulled her back. Kass fell over backwards.

Josiah and Indi almost dropped into the dark depths of the crevasse. Cat cursed and grouped in the darkness for the light Kass had dropped when she had fallen over backwards. Her fingers found it and she shoved it in her mouth, teeth holding the button down.

Without hesitation Cat pulled out her weapon and aimed it at Josiah’s head. She pulled the trigger. The sound echoed through the dark room. Josiah stared at her through dead eyes. His grip loosened and he dropped away into the dark abyss. Kass scrambled forward and with Tanya and Cat’s help managed to hoist Indi up and out of the crevasse. Cat put her gun away. Not that it was much use anymore. That had been her last bullet. She hoped she wouldn’t regret the use of it later.

Indi sat for a second trying to get her breath back, despite the room still shaking. She would have stayed sitting there for longer but Cat was already standing next to her and trying to pull her to her feet. Indi let herself be tugged up. In mere seconds the group was on the move. Running was too difficult with the ground moving like a bowl of jelly every few minutes and with their light so limited. At least the shaking seemed to be decreasing in frequency. They half-walked, half-stumbled, making sure to keep a good distance from the edge of the acid canals. They reached a bridge which crossed over the canal. On the other side they could just make out the path branching out to the left and the right. More acid channels lay beyond the bridge.

‘It’s a maze,’ Indi realised. A maze within a maze. The thought pushed her into puzzle solving mode.

“We have to cross,” Kass breathed as she looked around.

Cat didn’t reply. She just squared her jaw and starred fixatedly at the bridge.

“There’s no other way,” Kass insisted.

An extra strong jolt almost knocked them off their feet.

“Okay,” Cat nodded.

Indi started to walk forward. Cat threw out an arm to stop her then immediately pulled it back. If she stopped Indi she would have to go first herself. There was something about the acid channels that gave the usually fearless Cat hesitation. Maybe it was the bridge? She didn’t see any logical danger other than the obvious though so she didn’t see any reason not to cross. She was just scared? Indi had managed to make it halfway across by the time Cat finally worked up the nerve to follow. She glanced down at the liquid and immediately wished she hadn’t. The shimmering surface so resembled a river. A flood of memories resurfaced and she almost stopped right there on the bridge. She didn’t though. She forced herself forward and didn’t look down again. Kass and Tanya followed close behind. Much to her relief Cat soon found herself standing on the other side, next to Indi, who was looking around with some crazy look of fascination.

Cat gave her a bewildered look and was about to comment when a loud crack came from the bridge. She turned and watched in horror as the bridge started to collapse. Tanya and Kass stood in the middle of it all, about two-thirds of the way across. Kass jumped forwards as the section she had been standing on fell into the canal. Tanya, further ahead of Kass, almost lost her footing. She stumbled but kept going. Seconds later she stood, breathing heavily by Cat’s side. She was tempted to sit down on the floor, she was so exhausted. She remained standing however and turned to watch Kass.

Kass slid right to their feet, as the last of the bridge fell away. As suddenly as the shaking had started, it stopped. Completely. They waited several moments. Everything was quiet except for the exhausted panting coming from Kass and Tanya. A glance back across the bridge showed the extent of the devastation. It wasn’t just the bridge that had collapsed but the entire floor on the other side. It was all gone. Not a stone was left. Nothing but blackness remained. They had no choice but to continue forward.

“It wanted us in the maze,” Indi commented, breaking the silence.

“It?” Cat asked.

“It’s a maze” Indi said gesturing around. “A maze within a maze.” There was a hint of awe in her voice.

Cat narrowed her eyes.

“What do you mean by ‘It?’” Kass asked.

Indi shrugged. “The room, the maze, whoever is controlling it, fate?”

Cat rolled her eyes then looked around more closely at everything, studying their surroundings.

“I can get us out we just have to follow the wall,” Indi said.

Cat gave her a frown. Indi had gone loopy. She was sure of it.

“It’s a common maze solving technique,” Indi elaborated. “You stick one hand on the wall when you enter a maze and you don’t take it off. Eventually you’ll come out the exit. It’s not the most efficient method but . . .”

“There aren’t any walls,” Cat interrupted.

“The edge. Trust me” Indi gave a reassuring smile.

Cat hesitated. Maybe she wasn’t crazy. Or maybe they all were. “Alright.”

“It doesn’t work for islands,” Kass commented.

“Well it’s unlikely the exit is an island,” Indi replied.

“And if it is?” Cat asked.

Indi was silent for a moment. She shrugged “We’ll take our chances. This is a puzzle, like the others, that means there’s a solution.”

Well, Kass seemed to know what Indi was on about. Cat gave a nod.

Somewhere in another part of the compound Falco and Sirius made their way along the darkened hallways, heading for what they hoped was the centre of this goddessforsaken place. They had taken to avoiding rooms where they could, sometimes even doubling back, in an attempt to avoid encountering any more traps. Eventually they reached a point where doubling back would take them too far off course. They remained faced with a choice of two rooms. The only distinguishing feature was some words engraved into the wall outside one of the rooms.

“Might be Latin,” Sirius theorised.

“Can you read it?” Falco asked.

Sirius shook his head.

“If Indi was here I bet she could. Maybe. It’s the sort of random stuff she’d know,” Falco said with a tinge of longing.

“Or Kass,” Sirius added. “I think she’s fluent in it.”

Falco gave him a thoughtful look. “What’s with you and her anyway?”

Sirius frowned. “Nothing.” He nodded towards the door in front of them. “Let’s just pick one.”

“Not a bad suggestion” Falco replied, although his tone implied he wasn’t just referring to the doors.

“This one,” Sirius said, walking towards the one in front of them, the one with the writing.

Falco hesitated. “Maybe we should think about this a bit first. Try punching through the wall again?”

“Waste of energy,” Sirius replied as he walked through the doorway leaving Falco no choice but to follow.

Falco didn’t let him escape the other issue that easily though.

“You mess around with Kass you put this team in danger you know. You put Indi in danger. You want to mess up your marriage you do it on your own time,” Falco told him.

Sirius spun, growling. “I didn’t . . . “ but he trailed off feeling guilty.

The conversation ended there. Neither said another word. They turned their attention to the room they were in. It wasn’t much wider than the corridor they had just come from. A few metres in the floor was gone. It just ended and a dark pit lay ahead. Fifteen or twenty metres beyond that the pit ended and the floor resumed again. Another door lay a few metres on from that. Several square platforms stuck out from both the left and the right walls, creating two paths across to the other side. A mechanical joint connected each of the platforms to the wall. It looked like they could either stick out like they were or fold down. Each platform was far enough apart that one would have to jump between them.

“I guess we have two choices again,” Falco observed.

Sirius gave a nod.

Falco walked to the edge of the pit and stared down in to the darkness.

“What do you suppose is down there?” he asked.

“Whatever it is we don’t want to find out.”

It was Falco’s turn to nod. He walked over to the start of the left hand path and stood looking out at the first platform.

“Should we just pick one?” he asked.

“You’re the Flyer.”

Falco gave a laugh. Right, how could he forget? He took a moment to strengthen his resolve. Then he leapt. Despite his ability to levitate he still felt his stomach jump as the platform gave way beneath him as his feet touched down. He always half expected his powers not to work. Most of the time they did though, and this time proved no different. Moving about was always the hardest part. It was effectively like being weightless. It had taken him years to learn how to avoid the spinning.

He managed to manoeuvre himself for the second time today back to solid ground. This was becoming way too common. Once landed he glanced up to find Sirius standing at the starting edge of the right hand path.

“Careful, they could both be rigged,” Falco warned.

Sirius nodded but then replied, “It didn’t fall so fast. I think I could make the whole thing, if I run fast enough.”

Falco gritted his teeth together, apprehensive., but he didn’t say anything. Sirius looked far too focused. Ready to move. He didn’t want to distract him, besides he couldn’t think of a better way to get them both across anyway. There was no way he could lift Sirius.

Sirius leapt forward with a force of strength.

The platform dropped. Sirius was already in the air, leaping for the next one. He landed with thud and immediately pushed off again. He was cutting it close. Falco watched with horror. One mistake and Sirius would fall into the darkness. Sirius was surefooted, however, and soon he stood grinning at Falco from the other side. Falco breathed a sigh of relief.

“Coming?” Sirius asked him.

God dammit. Falco wasn’t looking forward to leaping out into the abyss again. He knew the dangers of being separated from Sirius too long though so without giving himself time to consider it he ran forwards and leapt into the air. He soared smoothly across, not looking down even once. Eventually his feet touched down on the other side.

“I guess we were both supposed to run across,” Falco observed.

“And if there’d been more of us?”

Falco shook his head.

They exited the room through the wall again. For some reason the door hadn’t opened and wouldn’t unlock so Sirius punched a hole through the nearest wall. Falco wondered if it had even been worth it to cross the pit. The flying probably took as much energy as it cost Sirius to punch their way out. Either way they kept moving. They seemed to be in a different part of the place now. The walls looked older and the corridors weren’t all the same sizes. Sometimes the stone walls were closer together and sometimes they were further apart as if they had naturally formed like that instead of being made. They seemed to be losing their light somewhat as well. The bulbs were becoming sparser.

“What do we do when we run out of light?” Falco asked.

Sirius glanced up. He wasn’t sure. “We use a torch I guess.”

“Do you have a torch?”

Sirius didn’t answer.

They weaved their way onward. The corners of the halls were smoother now and moist with water and slime. The light flickered above them. It blinked out then back on. They didn’t notice, not at first. Then the blinking increased and eventually the lights just went out. They stopped. Without the sound of their footsteps they could now hear the sound they had been missing. Distant growling and several footsteps. They were coming from somewhere behind them and they were approaching, fast.

“Run!” Sirius ordered.

Surrounded by the darkness it was difficult. They ran hands on the wall but the floor was slippery. They couldn’t be sure if they were making any headway. They came speeding around a corner and Sirius’ foot landed on a patch of slime that had been growing across the ground. His feet suddenly sped out from underneath him. Falco kept running at first not having noticed. Realising Sirius was gone he stopped and hesitated. Did he wait? Turn back? Keep running? He decided he couldn’t leave Sirius so he turned around to go back, even if it meant certain doom.

Sirius lay on the ground. He started to get up but froze when he heard the growls, only metres away. He sat still, bracing for the impact. It never came. Falco arrived on Sirius’ other side just as the floor rose either side of Sirius, locking Sirius in.

Somewhere up above Trevor leaned over a monitor, watching.

“I like the entertainment value of this one,” he justified to no one in particular. The room was empty, apart from his seer on the floor. “I should see if we can join him up with the redhead again, and then kill one of them off. Wouldn’t that be fun? I didn’t actually expect her to get out of that last trap.” He sat back, hands clasped, enjoying his show. The door to the room opened.

“He wants you to finish the job,” the newcomer stated.

Trevor sighed. “No, not yet. He promised me some fun. I’ll get his job done but he must be patient. We’re almost there. He’s waited for how long? A few more hours won’t kill him. Let me enjoy this. Just twenty more to go.” He leaned forward to get a better look at one of the images in his mirrors. “Oh oops, nineteen now.” he laughed.

"The ritual is almost complete," the newcomer insisted, but at Trevor's glare he quickly backed out of the room.

Trevor smiled, happy to have his peace back.

Falco ran right into the wall. “Ow,” he yelped. He felt around it. Yup, the hallway had just sealed itself up again. He took a few steps back and leaned against the side wall thinking about what to do now.

Sirius found himself inside a stone box. It was chillingly like a vertical coffin. He punched at the wall. It did not work the way he wanted to go. He didn’t dare attempt it back towards the creatures. The only way left to try was sideways. He took a deep breath and thrust his fist out. Nothing. The other wall? Also nothing. The walls didn’t budge. Hi knuckles stung. He sighed and sat back down on the floor to think. The floor! That was it, maybe. He crossed his fingers and prayed to whatever demons there were in this world with that kind of power. He punched down. The floor cracked and a moment later he fell though.