Chapter 17
“Kitty?” Evie hissed as she entered into the side room. She figured her friend must be hidden in one of these side rooms. The first two she tried yielded nothing save for a few cloaks. If there was more light, she would be able to see without worry.
“Evie? Is that you?” Kitty asked from a dark corner. She couldn't see too far either – relying on her ears not to play tricks upon her. Maybe someone tipped her off into coming here.
Evie moved closer. She was fairly certain her friend stayed nearby. The closer she moved, the more light she seemed to get from more of the strange words scrawled upon the wall. “I'm here. Hang on.” She continued moving until she reached the dim silhouette of her friend. Her eyes visually checked out the shackles. They seemed to be on rather tight. She wasn't sure how she planned on getting them off.
“I need to get out of here. Harry’s talking about me being the final one or something. I think he's the one who’s been killing all the girls around campus.” Kitty panicked, pulling on her chains once more.
“He has.”
Kitty's face dropped. “You knew all along?” She couldn't imagine her roommate let her get close to someone who was a murderer. It showed how much she knew about her.
“Not all along. I just found out a short while ago. It's a long story. Do you know where the key is?” That would be the only way to get her out without breaking bones.
Kitty shook her head. “I saw him standing over there though so maybe he hid it close.” She didn't know much more than Evie at this point.
“That's fine. Let me look for it,” Evie said moving off around the room. Anything to bash in the shackles to weaken them would also work. The room was rather sparse, only the essentials around. No one came in here often she surmised. This was only a holding chamber for the host. It chilled her to think of how many people must’ve been held here before Kitty.
“I don't think I'm ever going to a party again after this.” Kitty gave a halfhearted chuckle as she tugged once more on the chains. All of her faith was being placed in Evie.
Evie laughed. “I'm going to agree with you on this one. I think we should stay home and watch TV. Maybe once in a while we can leave the house.”
There was a pause as both girls remained focused on their own endeavors. Evie ran her hand along the table top without nudging against anything. She hoped the key stayed nearby. She could use Uriz's help right now – he seemed to know what he was doing.
“Do you know what Harry was talking about?” Kitty hung her wrists slightly. She gave up on breaking the chains herself. It was no use.
Evie turned towards her friend, opening her mouth to respond then closed it. In a situation like this, the first thing they needed to do was get Kitty out of here. Without her, there wouldn't be a sacrifice and no strange elemental lord would roam the world. Everyone won. “We can talk about this later.”
Kitty sighed. “That's never a good sign.” She knew her friend understood what happened around them. No one ever wanted to speak when it was something negative.
“It's a little complicated.” Her hand reached under the table. Maybe if she was lucky – yes. Her hand hit against a small object which felt like a wooden box. She tugged on it, breaking it from the table briefly. Opening the box, she spied the small brass key. That was it. As Uriz said, at least they were predictable. She raced over to her friend and began unhooking the shackles.
“We have to get out of here right now,” Kitty said, “Do you know how?” She didn't know they were and it greatly limited her options on how they should escape. All she thought of was making a mad dash and heading towards the police station.
“It's a long swim.” She didn't know if they’d make it. The first time almost cost her life. She hesitated jumping back into the water, especially with the Reachers able to swim around easily.
“Let's get out of here,” Kitty said taking Evie's hand. They ran out of the room and headed back towards the main chamber. Remaining close to the edge, they could see the Reachers congregated once more in chanting at the center of the room. Their attention remained focused on the altar which seemed to glow brighter than she remembered.
A terrible thought raced through her head. “Wait,” Evie said, slowing down for a moment. Her eyes scanned the room but couldn't spot Uriz. Something was off. He wouldn't leave without waiting for them.
“What's wrong? They're all distracted. Let's get out of here before they spot us,” Kitty repeated, tugging on her friend's hand. These creatures would kill them if they stayed around any longer.
“I...,” Evie stated unsure how to word it, “I have someone I need to check on.” She wasn't sure if she should explain who he truly was. It might be too much for Kitty to take in one evening.
“Who?” Kitty couldn't understand who else would possibly be down here. She couldn't see anyone carrying a gun. That was the only kind of person who could save them against these things.
“He's this guy.”
“A guy?” No one appeared to be different in the room aside from those strange fish creatures. She wanted to get out of here right now.
“Well, more like a fire elemental but still.” She worried if he could take care of himself in this situation. Based upon the amount of Reachers she could see, he was outnumbered by quite a few. The lack of detecting him also bothered her. He wasn't one, she noticed from their brief interactions, to remain silent.
“Don't worry about him,” Kitty said, “We have to get ourselves out of here. I'm sure if he is an elemental he can take care of himself.”
“An elemental lord,” Evie corrected. She didn't know why but she felt the lord part was needed. He certainly wasn’t one of these creatures.
Kitty shook her head. “Whatever. I'm sure he can help himself. Now let's go.” She tugged once more on her friend's hand. She felt Evie pull her hand out of her grasp.
“You go ahead.” Evie didn’t take her eyes off of the cluster. She knew Uriz was in the middle of it. That was the only place in the room she couldn't see. She wasn’t leaving him. He helped them so far and it was her duty to help him if she could.
“Are you serious?”
“Just go. Remember to take a really deep breath. It's a long way to swim.” That was her mistake the first time. No one would be there to help Kitty if she almost drowned. Evie bit back from explaining to her the watery abyss where these creatures came from. It wasn't necessary to add more pressure to the situation.
Kitty hesitated for a moment. “Fine. But you better make it out of here. If not, I'm sending everything to come find you.” Her first stop when she got out would be the police. No doubt they wanted to know about these strange creatures living down here. She might make the ten o'clock news tomorrow.
“Of course.”
Kitty continued moving towards the entrance, using the shadows to mask her exit. After a few futile glances back in Evie's direction, she disappeared completely.
Either what Evie was about to do would be incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. At this point tonight, either seemed like a viable option. 'At least it’s something', she told herself.
She saw all of the Reachers lower their heads, the chanting reaching an almost fever pitch. The flames continued rising higher than she saw them before. They were going to use Uriz as a sacrifice. She guessed the part about needing only a human for the part was wrong. They would use anything. She made her way around the room, using the wall to help hide herself. It was up to her to save the day.
Harry stood above them all on a raised stone platform, his hand outspread as he continued chanting in a cryptic language. She didn’t understand what he said but she saw the flames beginning to dance and rise almost to the ceiling of the underground cave. She barely saw Uriz struggling to free himself from the shackles he was in. His face twisted as he pulled harder, more vigor than Kitty when she tried freeing herself.
She moved closer and closer, unsure how she planned to stop him. A good rock would be nice to b
ash him against the head. Then she would at least stop the chanting from going on. No, she needed something better. Her glance fell upon a broken stick, the end of which was jagged, having broken apart probably during a fight. She picked it up. It would have to do.
She crept closer towards Harry, her feet moving as silent as possible. Everyone continued chanting around her, their pace increasing. She thought for one moment she saw a face appear in the flames. It gave a hollow laugh. Had she not seen everything else today, she would have lost her composure. Instead, without thinking, she jabbed the stick into Harry and pushed as hard as she could.
He abruptly stopped chanting, the green liquid eking out of him onto the ground. He looked down to see the protrusion sticking from his middle. Turning around, he saw Evie standing there. “What?” One little girl, one little human girl, managed to kill him.
She looked at him, her eyes wide. He would probably try some retaliation on her. The others were going to come. She braced herself. Maybe she could throw them into the fire.
Instead, he took two steps forward uneasily. Dropping onto the ground, he dissolved into a puddle of liquid goo before uttering another word.
The other Reachers looked at her, their expressions stony. The face appearing in the flames screamed out, the stones from above beginning to topple upon them. With an exchanged look between the remaining creatures, dark water began coming over them, whisking them away. Before she knew it, she was alone in the cavern with only Uriz. Even the flames left them alone.
She rushed to him and began taking the bonds off. Compared to the earlier ones, these were weakened from the lack of otherworldly magic which bound him before.
“You need to get out of here,” he told her as she released his arms, “This entire place is going to drop on you.” He sat up and unhooked his legs easily.
“You too. Go.” She grabbed his hand and rushed towards the entrance. The water started coming towards them, the rushing sound filling the hollow chambers. The entire cave was being destroyed as they spoke.