Haven [1] A Stranger Magic (10 page)

Sam smiled back at Travis. Travis stepped forward with the lantern dangling in front of him and Sam stayed close behind him. Their footsteps echoed and the gravel beneath them crackled as they made their way down the long corridor.

It was becoming colder and more and more damp the farther they descended. The tunnel twisted and curved until it finally opened into a large cavern.

Travis held the lantern high and moved it slowly from side to side. Sam’s mouth fell open and Travis’s breath caught in his throat. They stood in astonishment; it was simply magnificent. It was as if they had stepped into another world. The cavern walls sparkled like diamonds when the light struck them. Enormous stalactites covered the slanted ceiling, suspended like huge stone daggers ready to fall. The cavern was vast, with a large emerald pool in the center surrounded by massive stalagmites protruding from the ground.

“Wow, what is this place?” Travis whispered, his voice echoing through large chamber.

“A cavern. A really old one from the size of the stalactites,” Sam said with bated breath. “The water from the lake must feed into here somehow.” They were amazed by the sheer size of the cavern, and by the beauty of its stone landscape. Tans, pinks, and greens were fused together in the rock, coloring the cavern walls.

“It’s fantastic. I mean really beautiful, don’t you think?” Travis marveled.

“I’ll say. Hey, what’s that?” Sam grabbed Travis’s arm, guiding the lantern toward the center of the cavern.

There was something shining in the middle of the pool, something large and round.

“I’m not sure what that is,” Travis said leaning over to whisper more quietly than before.

“Me either. Let’s have a look.”

“You think that’s a good idea?” Travis asked with hesitation.

Sam looked over to Travis with a devious smirk. “Come on, where’s your spirit?”

The rocks where jagged and extremely uneven; each step was carefully planned so they didn’t fall on one of the many stalagmites that surrounded them. The lantern swayed back and forth as they pushed forward. The light shimmered on the walls of the cavern and reflected off the calm body of water in front of them.

It took them several minutes to get to the body of water, but at last the ground finally smoothed out near the water’s edge. It was a murky, luminescent green and still, like a solid sheet of glass.

Both Sam and Travis stood at the edge, staring at the object in the center of the pool.

From a distance it looked like a very large mirror perched on something they could not see. The lantern light was clearly visible in its reflection.

“How in the world did that get down here?” Travis asked, his voice crackling just a bit.

There was no sound; it was deathly quiet. Travis realized that Sam hadn’t replied, and turned to look at him.

Sam stood frozen, his gaze fixed and full of fear. Whatever Sam was staring at had rendered him momentarily speechless.

“Sam … what’s wrong?” Travis asked. There was no hiding the fear in his voice now.

Sam swallowed hard, then slowly lifted his hand and pointed.

“The mirror … it’s floating …”

T
ravis turned toward the mirror. Sam was right; the mirror was floating above the water.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Travis said, his voice barely audible.

Sam stood, taking in every detail. This was the most extraordinary moment of his entire life. It was unbelievable, incredible, and frightening all at the same time. His mind was racing;
I
’
m no longer crazy,
he thought. This proved it. Travis was here; he was a witness now. Did this have something to do with the dark stranger outside his home, he wondered. Sam didn’t know whether to stay or flee, but he had to find out. He had to know if there was a connection between the two.

He stepped forward into the cold water, inching his way little by little toward the ornate mirror.

“Ummm Sam, where you going …?” Travis asked. His eyes widened as he watched Sam move past him as if he were in some kind of trance.

Sam didn’t utter a word as he anxiously inched his way forward through the emerald water.

The water was freezing. It felt like a thousand needles were stabbing his feet as it seeped into his shoes and socks. But that didn’t matter to Sam. He had to know what was going on.

Travis stood resolute near the edge of the pool, reluctant to follow his friend.

“Sam, what are you doing? Come back here!” he said through gritted teeth.

But Sam continued to move forward, wading through the water that was up to his knees now.

Disinclined, Travis put his foot in the water, then quickly snatched it back out.

“Crap, that’s cold!” he said, his voice ringing out.

A small squeal echoed above them from something they could not see. Travis whirled around, swinging the lantern in all directions. Sam, who was several feet ahead of him now, stopped, turned back, and glared at Travis. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Sorry,” Travis sighed, looking at Sam remorsefully. He placed his foot back into the water followed by the other and waded through the water quickly trying to catch up to Sam.

“This is not a good idea, Sam. I have very bad feeling about this!”

Sam turned back toward the mirror.

“I mean, I am not sure if you are seeing what I’m seeing, but that’s a mirror, and it’s floating in mid-air!” Travis said.

Sam didn’t respond; he kept walking toward the unbelievable sight.

“Mirrors don’t do that, ever! Not to mention we’re a few hundred feet down in a cavern. That’s not a good sign in any movie! Oh, and we are standing in freezing cold water up to our knees. Now, I don’t mean to dampen your spirit buddy, but we need to get out of here!”

Sam finally stopped. He stood quietly, analyzing the mirror, deep in thought.

“Sam, are you listening to me?” Travis asked, his voice quivering from the cold water.

“Hold the lantern still,” Sam finally said.

“Fine!” Travis replied hastily. “But if my grandmother wants to know how their only grandson died you can tell them—Noo, wait, you can’t tell them anything! Want to know why Sam? BECAUSE YOU WILL BE DEAD WITH ME!”

As Travis approached, Sam turned and grabbed the lantern and held it closer to the mirror.

The mirror was gigantic, at least eight feet tall and trimmed in gold. It hovered about a foot above the water, as if it were hanging by invisible strings. The top was pointed and cambered down on each side to the base, much like a teardrop. The gold trim was heavily etched with the same twelve symbols on either side. An elaborate pattern of scrollwork and vines had been scored in silver between the ciphers.

“I’ve seen these symbols before,” Sam said, and lifted the candle lantern high into the air.

“What? Where?” Travis asked, scrutinizing the bizarre mirror.

“Here along the edges.” Sam pointed to one of the symbols that looked like the letters M and P written together in cursive. “I’ve seen this one for sure.”

“Hey, that’s the sign of Cancer,” Travis exclaimed, pointing to a symbol that looked like the numbers six and nine turned sideways.

“That’s it!” Sam said, his eyes wide with enthusiasm. “They’re Zodiac signs!”

“But what about this?” Travis asked, pointing to a different set of symbols. These symbols were a bit larger than the Zodiac signs. There were four in all, set in a silver inlay near the outer edge of the mirror, just beyond the gold and silver trim of the Zodiac signs. The positioning of these larger symbols reminded Sam of the four cardinal points on a map, one at the top, one at the bottom, and one to each side.

They stared at the strange design. Travis was still shivering, but Sam stood entranced. He was cold too, but it was like white noise to him now, just something in the background. His mind was focused on the bizarre floating mirror.

The first symbol looked like a pyramid with the top of a question mark inside it. The second resembled waves or water. The third looked like three separate coils in the shape of the number nine, and last was most definitely fire.

“Wait, water, fire … ELEMENTS!”

“Yes!” Travis bellowed, “The pyramid is Earth and the other must be Air!”

Suddenly, without warning, a mechanical grinding noise reverberated from the mirror, as if large gears were turning somewhere inside of it. Each Zodiac sign began to glow a brilliant gold. The grinding sound picked up speed. The two boys stepped back in alarm. Travis gasped and Sam’s mouth fell open.

“Sam! What … what’s happening?” Travis asked, but his voice was drowned out by the grinding sound that echoed through the chamber.

The Fire sign at the top of the tear was the first element to illuminate. The scarlet glow was blinding. Each symbol radiated its own individual color; Earth with a brilliant jade, Air, a stunning amethyst; and Water, a spectacular sapphire.

Both Sam and Travis covered their eyes. Sam almost dropped the lantern.

“Sam, what’s happening?” Travis repeated.

Sam removed his hands from his eyes just in time to see his reflection disappear from the surface of the mirror. Next to go were the glimmering cavern walls, followed by the emerald water. It was all vanishing, like a portrait being torn away piece by piece.

“Travis, our reflections—they’re gone!” Sam shouted, trying to speak loud enough so Travis could hear him over the grinding noise.

The mirror was blank for a moment, but then quickly revealed an unfamiliar image. Moonlight appeared, then tall trees, and all the makings of a forest from somewhere else beyond the cavern. The sound resonating from the mirror was getting louder, like that of a car engine being revved to top speed.

Squeals and shrieks rang out from above, as thousands of bats flew from the ceiling, flooding the cavern with a swarm of black fluttering wings.

Sam and Travis looked up in shock, stumbled backward, and fell into the icy water. Two of the small votives in the candle lantern went out from the sudden movement as they struggled to reach their feet. A barrage of colors bursting from the mirror streaked across the cavern in every direction. Shards of light reflected off the water in rapid flashing succession. It was like they were trapped in the center of a rainbow. Every corner of the cavern was illuminated now.

“Sam, the mirror!” Travis cried.

The glass on the mirror was quivering and rippling like water. Suddenly, hundreds of small black and green spiders fell from the mirror, splashing into the shallow water.

With their bodies soaked and freezing, the two boys scrambled backward, their feet sliding on the smooth rock beneath them. Sam and Travis watched in horror as the splashing wave of spiders moved toward them.

“Run, Travis. RUN!”

S
am slipped again, falling back into the water with one arm raised, suspending the candle lantern only inches away from being snuffed out.

Travis stopped and circled back, grabbing Sam by the arm. His foot slipped and he fell back into the freezing water again.

The enormous wave of splashing spiders moved closer, like a school of piranhas advancing on its prey. Bats screamed and shrieked around their heads, colliding with the two boys. Sam and Travis frantically waved them off and scrambled to their feet. Hurriedly, they sloshed through the water, moving as fast as they could. Their feet felt ten pounds heavier wading through the pond. As they drew close to the water’s edge, they grabbed the nearby stalagmites to better balance themselves.

Travis had taken the lantern, and was doing his best to keep the last candle from going out completely.

They moved as quickly as they could back over the rocks and around the stalagmites, but the trekking was slower and more cumbersome this time around. There were bats to deal with now and wet shoes that continued to slip on the rocky terrain. Sam was the first to reach the tunnel they had come through. He looked back at Travis and saw a large black and green mass on the ground behind him, gaining on him. The spiders were only a few feet away from them now.

Their speed was impressive, jumping into the air and squealing as they swarmed over the rocky landscape. They moved as a unit, a combined arachnid force chasing their prey.