Bandits (30 page)

He looked at her and grinned with new respect. Took a loosened fist and tapped her upper arm and said, “You just might. C’mon… were almost there.”  Another slight tremor hit, remin
d
ing them to get completely out of the passage.

He grabbed her hand, and they both ran out of the pa
s
sageway and into the hallway leading them to the next opening.

BANDITS

Waiting at the hall that led to the next passage, they watched it move into place. This passage was slightly different than the others. It had large gray walls of jumbled rock. The floor was covered in a smooth rock that looked almost like glass with dimly colored lights within. Leaping into the new pa
s
sageway, they started to jog.

“We’re really close. I think the challenges may get much worst. I almost lost you back there,” Daniel said and glanced at Jade.

“I’ll be okay. How about you, are you okay,” she laug
h
ed.

He rubbed her back. “You are really starting to get an ego.”

“You should know, takes one to know one,” she smirked.

“You know you like it.” He laughed out.

“Did Deanna create this problem? Pump up your ego and tell you that you were hot.”

“Naw, it started when I was about five and Karla Mi
k
kiden told me I was the most beautiful boy on Merwin. The word got out and girls just kept throwing themselves at me. You included,” he
smirked
knowing she would rise to the bait.

“Oh please, I’ll never live that down. I told you, I only kissed you because you were available. If Faulk had walked into the room instead of you – he would have got smooched,” she said saucily.

“No way were you kissing Faulk. I would’ve beaten him up.”

“You already had. R’member when he offered to sleep with me. That’s when you attacked him. You tried to hide it behind being my protector – you know for my brothers and all. But I knew it was because you wanted me –
bad
. You couldn’t help but fall for me. I have powers.” She tapped him and ran ahead of him at top speed.

“Jade, wait!” He tried to pull at her shirt.

She came to a sliding stop. A pop sounded, the floor shifted and sharp shards of glass popped up out of it. The floor in front of her was riddled with glass that stuck up out of the ground in jagged edges. The glass was multi-colored and spiked up to cut anyone who walked in its path. It stretched out about twenty feet, much too far for her to jump over. Parts of the floor had glass pieces that were lit, and the colored lights shot up toward the ceiling.

Her body tilted over the glass as she fought to keep her ba
l
ance and from falling forward. Daniel quickly ran up to her and grabbed her shirt then pulled her back against him.

“That was close,” she said with a shiver.

“To damned close. Wait, look. Some of the glass pieces are flat. We can walk across on them. Of course they wouldn’t be the lit pieces,” he said with a frown.

“Oh yeah, that would be way too easy. Look, hey, you hear that?” Jade watched the other edge of the glass covered floor shift, and the flat pieces of glass sunk into the floor. Sharp pieces shot up with a pop. The other edge of the floor shifted, then sunk, and was quickly replaced by jagged edged glass pieces.

“The longer we stay here, the larger the glass floor gets. We need to move, and watch our step,” he said and straigh
t
ened up when she stepped forward.

“I’m going first.” She didn’t hesitate before she stepped onto the first flat piece of glass.

Daniel followed and said, “Move quick because these flat pieces change, fast.”

The floor behind them popped as shards of glass sprung up f
ro
m the floor. Daniel pushed down a feeling of relief that they had moved on when they had. Otherwise
,
their feet would have been cut through from the glass. Looking ahead, he rea
l
ized the shards that looked like glass were crystals similar to the ones he spied when they entered the compound. The cry
s
tals held colors of blue, white, yellow, and pink. The colors moved from crystal to crystal like hopping lights. Although it was beautiful, it distracted his eyes from the path of safe steps ahead.

“Don’t follow the lights. They seem to try and trick your sight so you miss your step,” he warned.

“Oww, too late.” She jerked her foot back after a misstep sunk a sharp crystal into the sole of her shoe.

“Hurry up, the flat pieces are sinking faster,” he said and reached out to tap her on the back.

“I know, don’t you see me jumping here?  Crap, ow!” Another misstep and the floor changed. The flat piece she stood on sunk, and she quickly leaped. The sharp glass that replaced it struck her heel, causing her to stumble.

Daniel grabbed her shirt to steady her, “You okay?”

Jade was breathing hard, her heartbeat coming fast, “Yeah, what a rush.” She tried to laugh, but it came out more like a sharp breath and a yelp.

“
This
floor is expanding again. Looks like we gotta do this for awhile,” he said with disgust. The tingling sens
a
tion of fear and anger
danced down his spine
.

“
Let’s go faster
,” she said with a hop to the next flat piece of glass.

They continued to jump, but only had enough space on each flat piece of glass to land on their toes.

“
I
t’s speeding up
!
So are the lights,” Daniel said when he leaped.

“Can’t see really, they’re getting brighter,”
Jade a
n
swered
.

She’d leaped about a yard in front of him and was closer to the edge. The floor in front of them creaked and moved to extend the crystal covered land mine in front of them. She picked up pace and the movement of the glass pieces doubled their timing. Jade
growled
and hopped again.

“So close,” she mumbled.

“So far
.
” Daniel jumped behind her.

“Ohhh
!
”

Daniel’s foot misstep his last leap and he
bellowed
, “
D
amn
it
!” The heel of his foot burned in pain.

The crystal cut through his shoe. He yanked his foot off of the sharp crystal, and put it in front of him on another flat piece. Blood dripped onto the clear crystal
beneath
.

“Jump now, you have a chance to make it before it e
x
tends!” Daniel
pointed
.

He watched Jade
make her way closer to the edge of the jagged crystals
. Smiling his relief, he confirmed she made it. Hopping from crystal to crystal
he made
the final jump to the flat surface near the entrance to the hall that led to the next passag
e
way.

Off balance, he reached out for Jade who grabbed his hand to pull him forward when he landed. Moving into the connecting hallway, he inspected the map. “Okay, the map says this hallway will put us in the main room. It’s where the trea
s
ure is. The timer’s ticking and we’ve got under ten minutes to get to there.” 

Daniel let out
the
breath
he’d been holding
and collapsed the map on his arm.
Finally, the last room.

“You think Nickel and Faulk are here?” Jade walked while looking around the well-lit corridor.

Daniel took in the streaks of colors that flowed through the smooth walls of this passageway. The colors in the wall flowed together so closely that it didn’t look like a wall at all, but more like a curtain of color. The floor was flat and transpa
r
ent with black, gold, and copper specks throughout. It looked like they were walking on an invisible pathway of floating rocks. A loud crack sounded behind them. The glass corridor they left was being moved, and a large wall replaced it. They were sealed into this next section of the labyrinth.

“I hope they are here. The burning on my map is intense. When the time runs out, we all… everyone dies.”  Daniel stifled a
groan
from the ache of his injuries. With each step, his foot burned with pain, but he had to focus on finishing this. His entire body hurt, but at least he was alive.
Dad, I hope this is worth it.
His f
a
ther’s image jumped to mind, and the familiar heaviness of regret, anger, and love bubbled in his chest.

Jade looked at him with concern on her face. “You r
e
member when we got here?  I think these aliens are worshipped here, maybe even other places too. Do you think they come here a lot?”

“No, definitely not. This seems like some type of pla
y
ground or torture chamber for their race.” Daniel placed a hand on her back.

She lifted an eyebrow in thought, “They seem to carry light within them. You think they have the power to transport the
m
selves and others too?”

“Hmm, I guess it’s possible. When you teleported, the aliens talked with me awhile. Then they seemed to implode from the inside out
disappeared
. They left differently than you did. It was like you broke apart piece by piece, but they just imploded, like from within.”

She reached out a hand to stop him, “What’s that?  See that light up there?  It looks like some type of moving prism of colors.”

“That’s where we are going. Can you run?”

Jade rolled her eyes at him and smirked.

“C’mon then!” Daniel pulled her by the hand, and they ran at top speed down the hallway. Daniel’s soreness was forgotten, and a new burst of energy pumped through his veins.

Cracking and movement of walls
echoed
behind them, and the passageway to the main room shrunk shorter. The wall behind them moved closer as if pushing them further within. With a snap, the wall behind them stopped moving forward, as if it was locked in place.

They slid to a stop at the end of the passageway. Two replica statues that resembled the statues at the entrance to the lab
y
rinth flanked each side of the arched entrance to the room beyond. The large, imposing statues were filled with dull moving light, its brightness imprisoned within the statues’ hard exterior.

Daniel walked into the room. “Oh God!” His voice cracked.

He looked forward and saw a large altar of crystal. E
n
cased within the altar was something that resembled the pakeet. It was a glob-like circle of light about the size of a medium ball, and its brilliant moving colors were unexplainable. It turned slowly on an invisible axis, like a moving ball of
transparent
lit clay.

“Nickel!” Jade called out and ran forward to go to him.

Daniel grabbed her arm to steady her. “Wait, Jade! It may be a trap.” 

He looked up toward the ceiling at Nickel and Faulk. They were suspended over twenty feet high, held up by some invisible force that seemed to have them in a cataleptic state of rest. Their eyes were shut, they looked peacefully sleep, and they glowed in the same colors that represented them on D
a
niel’s map.

“We’ve got to get to them!” Jade cried out and stu
b
bornly yanked her arm away from him. She ran forward toward the altar. Daniel
trailed
behind her, and a laser wall of light sprang up out of thin air.

“Ahh!” she screamed, and the side of her face collided with the wall.

Daniel pulled her back by the shoulders just before her entire body hit the transparent wall of light. He heaved her back to his chest and turned her around. She moaned. Her face was burnt and blistered where it had touched the wall of blue light. Daniel was careful not to touch her burned face. Tears ran down her face, and he enfolded her in his arms while he studied the wall.
Damnit!

Jade sniffled. “Well, there goes all that beauty I was tal
k
ing about having.
Oh, t
his hurts so…so  –bad.” She let out a moan.

“Don’t say that! No mark could ever take away your beauty, not the beauty I see in you. It’s just a part of you, and I love all of you. Now, wave your hand to cool it off.” He blew her burned skin and kissed the top of her head.
Irritated, he
stared at the wall.
Screw it! I don’t have a choice. The time is ru
n
ning out, and we’ll all die anyway.

Jade let out a whimper. “Besides, you warned me.” She pulled away from him, her cheek red and blistered. She winced as she hesitantly touched the skin on her face.

“Well, yeah, but I have to go through the wall. Your face got burned, but part of it went through. It’s the only way to save them… to  – save everyone.”  He walked around her and stood in front of the transparent green and then blue wall of lights.

“Are you crazy?  It’ll burn you alive! Look at my face. And I didn’t even go all the way through!” She grabbed his vest to pull him back.