Supernatural Games (9 page)

I was about to give up when I spotted something. I trudged through the deeper muck until I found a partial print of a booted foot. My guess was a men’s size ten or ten and a half. I stepped closer and knelt down for a better look when I sank into the muck up to my mid-thigh. Yuck, they didn’t pay me enough to get mired in this muddy mess. The only mud baths I liked were at Glen Ivy. I started to pull my leg out when I sank in to my waist. What the hell? I tried to do the breaststroke toward the edge of the muck and sank further. My head was just above the muddy surface. I sucked in air and strengthened my shields just before I sank out of sight.

“
I
can’t find her. She is nowhere near where I left her. I tried to follow her tracks but, I lost her trail in a boggy area near the oasis.”

“Come on, we will look for her. Take us to where you lost her trail,” Traygen commanded.

We suited up and headed back into the second universe. Corbin led everyone to the place where he’d lost Lauren’s trail. We searched the area and came up with nothing. Retracing our path from where we’d transported in, we still couldn’t find her. She had vanished.

“Let’s do a fly over to see if one of the creatures in this place took her.”

“You and Tokem go. I’ll stay here in case she comes back.”

“Corbin, radio us if you see anything.”

“Traygen, I will, and I’m sorry, man.”

“Corbin, this is Lauren we are talking about, and she can take care of herself. You keep your guard up and your eyes open.”

“Traygen, I’ll fly ahead just above the sand, and if I see anything, I’ll let you know.”

“Tokem, be careful in there.”

Corbin flew off over the dunes, and Tokem moved down so he was barely skimming the sand. Traygen retraced his steps and followed in the direction Lauren took. This time, when he got to the last place where they found her footprints, he worked his way farther and farther out. That’s when he found a set of footprints heading off into the dunes. They were too big to be Lauren’s. He tracked them farther into the dunes until he lost them in a rocky area about a quarter of a mile in. He started back toward the clearing when de decided to radio the team, opening the channel so Tokem and Corbin could both hear him.

“Everyone, let’s meet back at the portal where we entered. I didn’t find Lauren, but found a pair of boot prints that ended at the edge of a scree field. They may or may not mean a thing. They could have been left over from the design team. We need to contact Jason and get help.”

We assembled in the conference room and while we waited for Jason, Traygen went to speak with the design team. He wanted to know how the universes were constructed. Jason arrived while Traygen was gone, and we filled him in.

“Corbin, did you see anything after you left Lauren?”

“I was up in the air looking for any trace of the invisible intruder. I didn’t see Lauren again once I shifted and flew off.”

“Traygen, did you find out anything from the design team?”

“Jason, they tell me the universes are constructed like a movie set. So under all the dirt, sand, and ice is a concrete floor. Posin told me the contestant’s suits have a tracking device, so if they are caught in any of the traps designed for a specific universe, they can be extracted. There are hatches built into the floors of each of the creations. Then they can pull the contestant out before they are harmed or killed.”

“Can we access the area under the second universe?”

“Jason, we can, but we wouldn’t know where to look.”

“How many hatches are there in that universe? We will send a team to check out each one of them.”

“There are a dozen, but I think we can simplify our search by starting at the hatches closest to the entry.”

“Let’s go, what are we waiting for?” Tokem spat.

“Follow me; I can get us down to the level where the hatches are located.”

We trailed Traygen out of the room and down several flights of stairs. He came to a locked security door and entered a code. We were in a long, low, narrow tunnel. It hummed with motion- detecting florescent lights. The air was stale and hot, the ventilation was poor. We walked in silence for ten minutes before Traygen stopped to consult a diagram. Then he stepped over to a door and punched in another code. Lauren, hang in there. I am sorry I let you down.

We followed Traygen through the door into a small room with a floor to ceiling Plexiglas window. All we could see was dirt, tree roots, boulders, in short, a rocky conglomeration of rubble. I imagine it looked like viewing a terrarium from the side. There was a round glass door leading into the space in front of the window.

“I don’t see anything in there. Let’s move to the next,” Traygen said.

He headed down the hall and tried the next door. We repeated the search, but again found nothing. I was sweating bullets. Lauren had saved my life, and if anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself. Traygen squeezed my shoulder.

“Corbin, this is not your fault. Don’t blame yourself. Lauren can take care of herself.”

I nodded at Traygen and we moved on to the next room. That’s when I saw it. Tokem yelled, and Traygen tore open the hatch and pushed his way out into the water pooling around his thighs. He yanked the suit out of the muck and pulled it into the room. Tokem flew out into the area where we found her suit, but he couldn’t get very far.

“I don’t see any holes or rips, or blood, which is a good sign,” Traygen added.

“Look, over here by the hatch opening. There is a set of footprints and they’re too big to be Lauren’s.”

“Tokem, good catch,” Jason said.

“Those are the same size prints I found in the location where we were fired upon.”

“Corbin, are you sure?”

“Positive. Check the suit. I doubt it was Lauren’s. It’s too big. Stretch it out and see how long it is.”

“I’ll be damned. This would fit me, which makes it too big to have been Lauren’s,” Jason offered.

“Jason, I think you need to call in those teams and start at the opposite end. We’ll keep looking, but this may prove to be harder than we thought,” Traygen sighed.

“I’ll send them immediately, and convene the council to see how they want to proceed. Contact me straightaway if you find anything.”

We moved along, checking each room. The areas around each hatch were different, but still we found no evidence Lauren had been there. It took another hour before we met the group Jason had dispatched. No one found a thing. We returned to the conference room to decide how we would proceed. No one made eye contact and everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. We left guards to cover the tunnel and bring us any news. We retreated to the conference room while we awaited Jason’s return.

“I’ll review the footage from our surveillance cameras to see if we missed anything.”

“Tokem, why don’t you and Corbin check it out? I don’t think I would be of much use.”

“Come on Bat Boy, I’ll put you to work.”

They moved off to study film, and I slumped down in my chair.

“Lauren, you hang in there. We didn’t come this far to have it end here. I can’t sit around here and do nothing. I‘ll see if Tokem and Corbin found anything.”

“Tokem can you replay that part again? I thought I saw something.”

“Sure, but I didn’t see anyone. But here goes.”

“Freeze it there and enlarge it.”

“Aye, aye, captain. What the heck?”

“Follow it and let’s see where it leads us.”

We watched in stunned silence until the footsteps disappeared.

“What’s so interesting?”

“I’ll show you. Let me rewind the tape.”

We all watched again as a pair of muddy footprints departed from the fourth room. The footprints went further into the tunnel until the mud wore off before they vanished.

“I’ll be damned,” Traygen whistled softly.

“Tokem, fast forward to the part where we lost the footprints, then go forward.”

“Corbin, we aren’t going to see anything. The mud is gone.”

“Not necessarily, we may see where our visitor went.”

“How?”

“Just like that,” Corbin said, as a door opened and closed by itself.

“Do we have any more surveillance on the exits,” Traygen asked.

“Yes, hold on. It will take me a minute to find the right time.”

We waited until Tokem found the corresponding timeframe. Then we studied the film, looking for any clues of where our invisible intruder might have gone. It didn’t take long.

“I’ll be damned; our ghost just entered our conference room. We’ve been bugged the entire time,” Corbin mumbled.

“I’ll call Jason, and we will let him decide where we should move to.”

“Traygen, any news?”

“Perhaps, can you transport us all to a safer location?”

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Jason nodded and we followed him back to the council portal. He transported us all to the council building. No one spoke as we followed him through a labyrinth of halls and floors, until he arrived at a sealed door requiring a retina and thumb print for entry. He supplied both, and we entered.

I wrote down what I suspected, and he motioned for us all to sit. He dimmed the lights and muttered a spell. The room exploded with a blinding white light. No one moved until Jason spoke.

“You can open your eyes now. We weren’t followed. Now will someone please explain what is going on?”

“Jason, Corbin saw muddy footprints when they were reviewing the tapes from the time Lauren was abducted. Eventually the mud wore off, and we lost track of our invisible intruder. Then Tokem suggested we view similar footage from around the time Lauren went missing. That’s when we picked up our invisible guest exiting the hallway and entering our conference room.”

“We plan to review all the footage since our arrival and see if we can pick up when this all started,” Tokem added.

“Have you told anyone else about this?”

“No, we wanted to let you know first.”

“Traygen, you are in charge until Lauren is found, and I want you to conduct business as usual. You are going to set a trap for our invisible spy. I will need time to spell the area so anyone visible or invisible will be trapped. I’m thinking we should use the area where Lauren went missing in universe number two. We can say we’ve found evidence about Lauren that will tell us who has her. Then we will snare our spy.”

“Jason, how long will it take, and what did the council say about the games?”

“Traygen, I can have the trap ready by tomorrow morning. The council wants to proceed with the games. I strongly disagreed, but I was overruled. I will meet you all tomorrow morning at nine AM by the oasis where Lauren was last seen. You should freely make your plans known to each other later tonight.”

Jason brought us all back to the Four-Courts, and we went back to searching the video feeds for any clues. We did indeed find evidence our spy had been there since day one. Not surprisingly, we found signs from our spy near the door around the time the alarm sounded. Once we had exhausted ourselves and all leads, we went back to the conference room and laid out tomorrow’s plan.

I
was nearly out of oxygen when my feet hit the bottom of the oasis. I saw nothing outside my shielded space and was running out of options. With nothing to lose, I tried to draw in the water surrounding me. If enough water pooled around me, perhaps I would float up to the surface. I whispered my spell and pulled with all my magical might. The water pooled around me, but not fast enough to help. I started to black out and my shield came down. I am going to die at the bottom of this oasis. Traygen, my love, I am sorry. Before I could feel any sorrier for myself, I felt a stinging sensation on my neck; then nothing.

My head was pounding. I rolled to my side and threw up everything in my stomach, mostly dry heaves. The rough stone floor felt cool to my face. Where the hell was I, and how did I get here? The last thing I remembered was sinking to the bottom of the oasis. I closed my eyes, letting the nausea pass. I wasn’t sure, but might have slept. My stomach had settled. I opened my eyes and tried to look around, but it was pitch black. I didn’t know if it was day or night. I ran my hands along the surface I was stretched out on. It felt like rough stone and was cool to the touch.

I rolled over onto my stomach and pulled myself up on all fours before I turned around and sat down. I whispered a few words and my bracelet glowed. Ouch, too much. I dimmed the light from my bracelet, giving my eyes time to adjust. I was in a large cavern vast enough to swallow the light from my bracelet. Water dripped somewhere nearby, reminding me how thirsty I was. Shrugging my shoulders, flexing my fingers, and stretching my legs, I groped around for my staff. I was grateful, because no matter how I got here, they hadn’t bothered to disarm me. Everything seemed to be working, so I pulled my legs under me, leaned hard on my staff, and slowly stood up.

I sent out my senses to check for any magic in the area. Damn. I dimmed my bracelet so I was leaving the slightest trace of a magical signature. I was afraid it might be too much, but couldn’t see without it. Wherever I was, the air around me hung heavy with magic, clinging to me like a wet blanket. I moved cautiously forward with my staff, ready to fire if necessary. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, and I fought the urge to flee. This place was creepy. There were skeletal remains scattered around the room. I couldn’t be sure, but they didn’t look like human remains. I was too freaked out to investigate.

Snapping my head up, I glanced around me. There was something out there, something malevolent. Then I saw the red eyes staring at me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t human. I turned my bracelet up to illuminate more of the cavern and saw the Phouka. Where the hell was I? This one looked like a giant cougar, replete with demonic red eyes. Phouka are fae assuming the form of animals; never a good sign. Let me emphasize, this wasn’t an adorable cat. As if on cue, this one charged me. I pointed my staff at it and waited while I built up my magic to fry it. Wait until it gets closer. You can’t afford to graze it. A pissed off Phouka is nothing to mess with. Come on, kitty. Just before it leaped at me, I hit it and leaped sideways. I rolled to my feet and hit it again. It burst into flame and I moved back and away from the heat.

I dimmed my bracelet again and continued to look for a way out of the cave. There weren’t many landmarks, and I walked on in silence. Finally, I noticed the cavern floor slope slightly upward. Wherever it was, I wanted to put as much distance as I could between the Phouka and myself. It might have friends, and I didn’t think my energy would go undetected for long. The surrounding area became increasingly lighter, so I extinguished my bracelet. It took a few minutes until my eyes adjusted well enough to continue forward.

Finally, a breeze ruffled my hair, and the air felt fresher. Soon, I would be out of here. Another ten minutes and I was at the mouth of the cavern. I looked out at a heavily forested land. The cave opening was near the top of a large mountain. Nothing looked familiar, and I had no clue where I was. I sat down at the mouth of the cave to think. Something told me wandering around in those woods was a bad idea. That’s when I heard it; the baying of hounds. Oh shit, not Mab’s realm. There was no mistaking the baying of the Cwn Annwn, or as we like to call them, the Hounds of the Hill. Hill my ass, hounds of hell was more accurate. They are two giant white hounds with red ears and matching eyes, fabled for never quitting until they run their prey to ground. They had obviously tracked me across an ocean.

I had no option but to run. Turning, I climbed farther up the mountain. The higher I got, the fewer the trees until I found myself on the talus near the top of the mountain. I had to settle on a plan, and if I was right, I only had about ten minutes to get it done before they would be on me. I looked around for something to use. They were too quick for me to blast them both. I might hit one, but the other would be on me before I could fire a second shot. Then I got an idea.

I moved off over the talus and looked for any boulders I might get moving. I scrambled further out across the scree-filled boulder field. It looked like there had been a recent rockslide. Yes! Below me, a large group of boulders wedged up against fallen trees and debris. I needed to do something to get the hounds to charge me. Where was a T-bone when you needed one? Then I settled on a plan. I took off the one-piece suit I’d been wearing when I got sucked to the bottom of the oasis and buried it, leaving only one sleeve out. Next, I cut my arm and dripped blood on the sleeve. Then I ripped a piece of cloth off the suit and tied my arm. At that point, I spoke a few words, and flew twenty feet up the mountain. I landed just before I heard the hounds rushing up the hill. I would get one chance to bury them, or would seriously piss them off. I had few options. We all have to die someday. I just hoped this wasn’t my day.

Then I spotted them as they ate up the ground on their way to my suit. They sprang at the suit and tore it apart, trying to pull it from the rocks. That is when I spoke the words to send a river of rocks and brush down on them. I didn’t stick around to see whether I’d hit them. They were magically enhanced creatures. I couldn’t kill them, only slow them down. If I were lucky, it would take them a while to dig out.

Now I was in the Unseelie realm. I needed to get out before Mab realized I was here. She still had a price on my head. I had to get to a place where the veil was thin enough for me to teleport to safety. I needed to find a higher vantage point to survey the terrain, so climbed and scrambled until I pulled myself up to the top of the highest peak in the surrounding area. Since I use the elements in my magic, I needed to find one that would transport me. Then I spotted the pond off in the distance. The water would act as a medium for me to use to teleport back to the Four-Courts. Luckily, I had memorized the runes for our portal.

I jogged off toward the water as fast as I could safely move. The terrain was steep, rocky, and studded with tree roots. It was difficult landscape to navigate, and I didn’t want to twist an ankle. I was making steady progress, but the baying of the hounds meant they were free. With no time to waste, I picked up the pace. I caught glimpses of the pond through the trees. It would be close, but it looked like I would make it. I rushed out of the brush, sprinting for all I was worth into the open area surrounding the pond. That’s when I saw the two sets of hounds. I was in trouble, because one of those pairs was an illusion, and if I guessed wrong, the real hounds would have me.

The fae are masters of illusion, and it was possible to pick the fake pair if I had time. Unfortunately, I was shit out of luck where time was concerned. I needed to think. Most fae could project their illusion down one or two layers, so I would know if I got below the surface of the illusion. But how? I needed to move because both sets of hounds were circling and were between me and the water. I did the only thing I could. I pointed my staff at the water and chanted a spell. At first, nothing happened, then the water began to churn, spinning faster and faster until it created a waterspout. I poured energy into it until it rose above the water, then I sent it at the hounds.

I stood my ground as the two pairs of hounds moved silently forward, stalking me while I watched and waited for the right moment. When the water towered directly over the animals, I released it, sending the torrent cascading down on the hounds. I looked twice to make sure, and saw the hounds on the left had water going through them, not over them. I ran at them and dove into the water. I swear I heard the snapping of powerful jaws coming from where I’d been standing only moments before.

I pulled myself deeper into the water until I was close enough to the bottom to draw my runes in the mud. I sat and pulled a protective shield over myself while drawing the symbols into the muddy bottom of the pond. Then I muttered the spell. I was immediately tossed around like the spin cycle in a washing machine. Just seconds later, I was unceremoniously dumped on the floor in the basement of the Four-Courts. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see a storage closet. I sat there for several minutes before I pulled myself to my feet and went to look for my team.