Mortal (13 page)

As the hands reformed, David jumped
forward and swung at the first fist. His blade passed easily
through the water—with no effect. The hand seemed to crack its
knuckles in response to David’s attempt.

"It was worth a try." David looked at
Kara and shrugged.

Together, the colossal arms lifted and
swayed backwards as they prepared for another deadly
blow.

"If they knock us down into the
ocean," yelled David, "—you’re a goner. Our mortal bodies will
disintegrate, and we’ll be back in Horizon, but you’ll be alone. I
can’t let that happen, not when we’re so close."

Kara narrowed her eyes—she knew it was
true.

But the hands came together, turned
upside down and formed a mouth and eyes with their fingers, like a
shadow puppet. The mouth moved, and a voice thundered all
around.

"Go back, spirit walkers, or your
souls will be mine!"

"Fantastic," said David, "talking
giant hands, that’s all we needed."

He waved his own fist at the giant
water-arms. "How about you cut us some slack? Hey, man! Manicures
don’t exist in your size—it’s not our fault!"

"You’ve been warned!" boomed the
voice.

The wind picked up with a vengeance.
The entire cliff trembled as rock and sand rained down on them.
Kara’s jacket flapped madly in the wind. Her wet hair slapped her
face, and she had to squat to keep her balance. Shivering in the
cold, her face burned with every gust of icy wind. If the giant
fists didn’t kill her, then she’d die of pneumonia.

Jenny and Peter screamed.

A giant fist came plummeting at them.
Miraculously, they jumped out of the way just in time. The fist
crashed into the side of the cliff like a giant exploding water
balloon.

The other fist came straight for
Kara.

She didn’t even have time to blink as
the giant water fist soared towards her. She leaped, but she wasn’t
fast enough. The great water fist crashed into the side of her leg.
She screamed, lost her grip, and fell.

Sharp rock scraped her face as she
smashed and slid down the cliff. Rocks and boulders raced past her
and wind howled in her ears. She flailed out her arms and
legs—desperately grasping for something to hold on to. She felt
like she had been falling for minutes.

Her boots found a small ledge and
stopped her fall. Stinging with pain, she grabbed hold of a crevice
with her bloodied fingers. She hung on by her fingertips and toes.
Adrenaline pulsed through her body. Her heart thundered against her
chest—she dared not look down.

"Kara!" David called above the wailing
winds. "Don’t move. I’m coming down."

She looked up—she had fallen at least
thirty feet.

She turned her face towards the
sea—another water-fist came at her.

She rolled to the side.

SMASH!

Seawater exploded on her back, and
knocked the air out of her. It was like being hit by a tidal wave.
The cliff itself shook under the impact. Kara was
drenched.

Then her fingers slipped, and she
fell.

T
his is it
, Kara thought.
I’m dead.

Wind whistled in her ears as she fell.
The side of her face scraped against the razor sharp rock. She knew
she shouldn’t fear death like a normal person would, but she
did—her instinct to survive was strong even though death seemed
inevitable.

She counted in her head.

One...

Kara crashed onto something pillow
soft. She spat the dirt from her mouth and sat up.

"
I’m alive?
"

She looked at her bloodied hands. They
stung like she had soaked them in acid, but blood meant life. She
was alive. A little banged up, but alive. Apart from a small strain
in her foot, she seemed fine. She was sitting in a bed of moss and
stringy coastal vegetation. It had saved her. Sharp boulders lay to
her left. If she had fallen another few feet to the left she would
have been human-mush.

Kara examined the cliff above her. It
looked like a regular cliff, made mostly of jagged rock with a few
spurts of vegetation in the crevices. The base of the cliff
disappeared into the ocean. Great ocean waves smashed onto the
rocks on the north side of the cliff. But she had landed near a
small semicircle patch of golden sand sheltered under the cliff.
And at the edge of the sand, was an opening—just as the Fay sisters
had said—the entrance to Shadow Cave was a perfect triangle like an
upside-down piece of pie. Was it a death wish that drew her towards
the mouth of the cave? Only shadows lingered beyond the narrow
opening. Something was watching her from inside the cave—she could
feel it.

David charged down the steps at a
frightening speed. He jumped the last step and landed softly by
Kara.

"Kara! Are you all right? Are you
hurt?"

Kara took his hand, and he pulled her
up. "Call it a miracle, but I’m fine." Her ankle throbbed and she
adjusted her weight on the other foot. "I think I sprained my
ankle."

"You have cuts on your face." David
squeezed her arm and didn’t let her go. "They’re
bleeding—"

"Watch out! They’re
coming!"

Peter and Jenny came crashing down the
last steps but managed to stay on their feet. Kara looked up.
Seawater dripped on her face like an outdoor shower. The sea-fists
hovered above the cliff for a moment and then plummeted towards
them like giant water grenades.

Kara pointed towards the cave.
"RUN!"

Jenny and Peter dashed towards the
cave. David pulled Kara with him. The ground shook as the first
fist hit the ground where Kara had stood seconds before. The impact
of the blow sent them sprawling. The second fist came at them with
a vengeance, as if it could see they were getting away.

Just as it hit, David pulled Kara out
of the way. The water-fist exploded in a great wave that pushed
them like body-surfers all the way to the entrance of the cave. As
the water receded, Kara was dragged back towards the deep
water.

With lightning speed David hauled Kara
out of the water, and they tumbled through the entrance of the
cave.

Even in the darkness, Kara could see
David’s smiling face. She pushed herself up and turned towards the
opening. "They’re gone."

"For now," said David. "I don’t want
to be here when they decide to come back."

"You guys all right?" asked Kara,
seeing the whites of Jenny and Peter’s eyes in the
darkness.

"As all right as we can be," answered
Peter with his back pressed against the wall of the
cave.

Jenny wiped herself down. "I’ve never
seen anything like those giant hands before. You think they had
something to do with the witch?"

Kara nodded. "I’m sure of it. Olga
doesn’t want us here."

"You mean us
spirit walkers
," said
Peter.

Kara didn’t answer as she inspected
the inside of the cave. It was shaped like a pear. The walls came
together gradually and disappeared into the blackness above.
Icicle-shaped formations drooped from the ceilings and stood up
from the floor of the cave. Multicolored mushrooms spread on the
ground like bumpy grass, and seeping water covered the walls like
sheets of a waterfall. The only source of light came from the
entrance.

They stood in a small oval-shaped
underground chamber the size of a large room. Thick roots covered
the inside walls like cobwebs, and the cave walls shook under the
relentless pounding of the waves outside.

On the opposite side was a large
crack. Kara stepped towards the fracture in the cave wall and
peered through it. She could see a network of underground passages
that disappeared into shadows. Somewhere down there was the witch,
Olga. Kara couldn’t see the roof of the cave in the darkness above
her. Humming that sounded like a cross between a motor running and
a language came from the deep. Goosebumps rippled across Kara’s
skin.

"I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of
what the witch can do. Must be loads of creatures deep in here,"
said David as he peeled purple moss off the side of the cave
wall.

"Anyone up for a stroll in the cave,"
he said and crossed the chamber. "Well, I am. Let’s show these Fay
sisters that we angels aren’t afraid of the dark."

"Did you guys feel that?" Jenny looked
over to Kara, her green eyes wide with fear.

David shrugged. "I don’t feel
anything?"

Jenny edged back. "That humming—it’s
like the cave’s telling us to get out."

"I’m feeling that, too." Peter was
glued to the side of the cave. "It doesn’t like us, it’s telling us
to go back."

"I feel it, too," said
Kara.

A shadow moved in the darkness
beyond—a bat maybe?

"But it’s not like I have a choice. If
you guys want to go back, I’ll understand. I won’t force you to
come with me. You heard what the witches said—"

"No way, Kara," said Jenny. "You heard
what Ariel said too. We’re here to protect you. We go with you,
those are our orders."

Peter nodded in agreement.

David pulled a soul blade from his
jacket pocket and handed it to Kara. "I know our weapons don’t work
against warlocks and magic, but I’d feel better if you had one with
you, just in case."

Kara wrapped her hand around the hilt
of the small blade. It felt awkward and heavy in her hand, not at
all like the lightness and balance of her blade when she was a
guardian. Could she even use it properly?

"Thanks," she said. "I guess I can
hack some stalactites if they try to attack me."

"Stay close to me." David was serious.
"You’re not in an M-suit like us—whatever’s in there is not
friendly, and I don’t want you getting hurt."

Kara’s insides fluttered,
and she stiffened with courage. "I’m not that useless, I still
remember how to fight. Besides, I’m more worried about you guys
than me. Remember what the witches said,
spirit
walkers
are not welcome in this cave. Olga isn’t going to roll out the
red carpet for you. I might have a better chance on my
own—"

"Forget it," said David. "Besides, I
think those two old bats smoke too much. It’s just a cave, what
could happen?" he said with a coy smile.

Kara glanced at her watch. It was
twenty past noon. Time was running out. "Let’s go find this witch
and hope she’s happy to see us."

But Kara very much doubted that. She
had a feeling it was going to take a miracle to convince the old
witch Olga. And Kara didn’t have a get-a-miracle-free card with
her.

David climbed through the crack first,
followed closely by Kara with Jenny and Peter bringing up the rear.
Immediately, Kara understood the meaning of the cave’s name. Twenty
feet into the first passageway, and Shadow Cave was as dark as
night. She waited for her eyes to get adjusted to the blackness,
but it was useless. It was pitch black and as silent as a tomb. The
world outside was shut out.

Kara unzipped her jacket. The thick
air was humid, and it was surprisingly warm. She smelled earth and
limestone.

"Uh...guys? Who turned off the
lights," Jenny’s voice called out in the darkness.

David held a moonstone the size of a
grapefruit in front of him with one hand and brandished his blade
in the other. The glow of light illuminated the underground
passageway and bathed David in a soft white light. Peter brandished
another, and between their two moonstones there was enough light to
see the network of passages more clearly.

They stood in the largest of the
underground passages that they could see. Smaller passages branched
off in every direction. A thick mist coiled around Kara’s boots and
covered the path in white.

"Which way do we go?"

David cast a long black shadow as he
explored the path by the light of his moonstone.

"Let’s keep on this one. I think it’s
the path the clown sisters talked about. It’s the largest one—we
should follow it."

"Okay." Kara saw movement in the
corner of her eye. She turned but could see nothing in the black
passageway.

Jenny slid her bow off her shoulders
and nocked a silver arrow.

"Something’s watching us," she
whispered and stared at the passages to her left. "I saw something
moving in there." Jenny eyed the cave walls
suspiciously.

Kara felt a shiver pass through her.
She also felt watched. She strained through the thick darkness and
tightened her grip on her blade, but it was impossible to see
without night vision. She took a step forward and
listened—

Suddenly the ground shifted and
trembled. The cave cracked like lightning.

All around them, gigantic mushrooms
the size of fridges sprouted from the ground and walls of the cave.
They looked like a cross between a humanoid and a vegetable, with
long gangly limbs and roots that looked like fingers and toes. They
appeared to be eyeless. Their skin was rough like tree bark, and
their colors ranged from bright red to forest green.