Chapter Twenty-Two
They drove in silence to the park in White Plains, Martin at the wheel, Surt next to him, and two more of his men in the back. The exit was just ahead.
Surt was pleased. Martin had done well, using Thane’s trust in him to gain the location of the vortex, a pivotal point in the energy grid. He had sent his flock ahead to search for them. The moment Reya found the vortex, he would know. This would be far easier than he expected. By this time tomorrow, he’d be the most powerful man on this planet.
“What do you plan to do to them?” Martin asked suddenly.
Surt turned his head slowly. “What do you care?”
Martin’s voice sounded strained as he pulled the car over to the side of the road next to the park behind a Cadillac. “Thane came to my son’s birthday party.”
Surt narrowed his eyes at his second. “So?”
Martin was silent, but his hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. A flicker of light bubbled up through the exterior of his mottled soul. “He brought a basketball. My son loved it.”
Surt knew then that he was losing Martin. His soul was too well entrenched to keep down forever. Once Surt had the power of the grid, he’d be able to convert souls at will. For now, he’d have to accept losing this one. And nothing made him angrier than losing to the light.
Surt said to him, “You stay with the car. Don’t leave until we return.” Then he got out and slammed the door. As much as he could have used Martin to distract Thane, he was simply too unstable to trust anymore.
Surt’s other two men followed him into the woods. About fifty feet in, Surt turned to one of them. “Go back and kill him. Then find us. We’ll send you GPS readings along the way.”
“Yes, sir.”
Surt turned to the other one. “Garth, come with me.”
* * *
“An hour we’ve been walking through this damn forest,” Chu griped from the back of the line. “Not a single pyramid.”
Reya smiled despite herself as she led them through the thick woods. Morning had yet to penetrate the canopy. Their flashlights passed over leggy tree trunks and low brush. “You’re the one who pointed south.”
Chu nearly tripped over a downed tree and swore. “I just said, that if it’s here, and that’s a big ‘if,’ it would be at this end of the park where there’re fewer trails. If I’d known this place was so damn big, I’d have lied.”
She flashed her light across the forest’s undergrowth. There wasn’t much here, and she was already fighting off the feeling of failure. Red signs tacked to tree trunks signaled that they were leaving the park and entering private property.
Despite the rising sun, the forest seemed to grow darker and thicker all around her. There were no sounds other than Chu’s swearing and an occasional scurrying of something through the leaves on the ground.
But she pressed forward because with every step, the crystal in her pocket vibrated more. They were heading in the right direction, she was certain. If it didn’t know the way, no one would.
“So what do we do once we find this thing?” Thane asked from behind her.
“We wait for Surt to show up,” she said.
“And then you have a plan for how to kill him, right?”
She didn’t actually. “Yup.”
He swore. “Jesus, I knew it.”
“I’ll think of something,” she added. “Plus I have the crystal—”
Then Reya stopped suddenly, and Thane nearly ran into her. Her flashlight was fixed on a massive rock outcropping to their left, a hundred feet wide. It was about fifteen feet high in the center and sloped down into the ground on each end. She felt the change in the crystal drawing them toward it.
“That doesn’t look like it belongs here,” Thane commented.
His legacy senses were dead-on. She stepped through the brush to the mountain of stone. The crystal in her pocket vibrated more the closer she got to it. They climbed over the smooth surface of the granite mound and found an abandoned cemetery on the other side. Thin, brittle headstones leaned out of kilter or lay on the ground. The stone wall and wrought-iron fence that enclosed the grounds had toppled long ago. A weathered statue of an angel on a square base stood in the center and guarded the graves.
The trail of energy led them straight through it.
All the headstones bore the same last name—Burning. “A family graveyard,” she said. “Must have been abandoned a long time ago.”
Chu walked up next to her and studied the stones one by one with his light. “As if walking through woods in the dark wasn’t creepy enough.”
On a hunch, Reya took the crystal out of her pocket. It vibrated visibly in her fingers, the energy traveling down her arm before flooding the entire area with light.
Chu and Thane covered their eyes until they adjusted to the instant daylight. The immediate woods were bathed in a white light as Reya held the crystal over her head. She could see deep into the woods ahead.
They hiked for another thirty minutes until she noticed another even larger outcropping. As she approached it, she realized that a doorway had been built in the side of the massive stone. It was small; only about four feet high and two feet wide. Two slabs of stone on each side held a lintel across the top. A solid slab of smooth rock blocked the entrance.
Tiny crystals in the stone reflected under the crystal’s light back to her. The ground beneath her feet began to shift as she stepped up to the shallow doorway.
“No one home,” Chu said from behind her. “Looks like we’ll have to go back.”
There was no going back. Already, she could hear the wings overhead. Surt was here, following them. There was only forward into the battle. She knew it would come to this, even when she’d left Surt behind. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew they’d finish the karmic dance they had started.
It was destiny.
She held the crystal to the door and touched it lightly. The vibration increased. Pebbles danced around her feet. There was a great grinding sound from behind the slabs—crunching, dragging, heavy groans.
Dust fell from between the lintel and supporting stones as the slab blocking the way fell backward, revealing a tunnel that slanted down into the earth.
She turned around to find Chu gaping in disbelief and Thane smiling. “I think we found it.”
Chu shook his head. “I’ll be damned.”
Reya said to him, “You sure you want to come in with us? Surt will be here soon. You could head back to the car.”
Chu frowned and looked back through the dark woods. Then he turned and peered past her into the tunnel. He gave a heart-felt sigh and waved his hand toward the tunnel. “Hell, I’ve come this far. Plus my feet are killing me.”
Thane’s expression turned serious as their eyes locked. Their time together was nearly over. She wondered if he knew it.
Thane stopped her just before she entered. “You won’t be alone in there. I have your back.”
It was a pure intention. No mention of his father or revenge. He just wanted her to know he’d be there for her. Her heart filled with hope. “And I have yours.”
There was a flutter above. Hellraiders circled overhead and perched in the trees around them, waiting for their master to appear. The air turned cold and heavy with the weight of negative energy. Reya held the crystal out in front of her and ducked into the tunnel. “Let’s see what it is that Surt’s been killing people to get to.”
* * *
Thane waved to Chu to follow Reya. The old man ambled by him, and Thane took one last look at the woods before heading inside the death zone.
The crystal lit up the tunnel ahead and behind them as the walls narrowed and curved sharply to the right. The stone floor, ceiling, and walls were hand-chiseled, the marks visible. He wondered how old this tunnel was and who built it.
“Smells like a locker room in here,” Chu said.
It might, but it looked solid and structurally sound. There were no tracks in the dirt on the floor. No one had been this way in a long, long time.
After a few moments, he realized they were going in a downward spiral. Every once in a while, he’d looked behind him to see if they were being followed.
Surt would be within his grasp soon. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and he used his training to calm them.
Do your duty. Do what we raised you to do. His mother’s words came back to him. He was here, and he would face Surt. This was his duty, to save the world from Surt. He was right where he was supposed to be, even if he didn’t know how he was going to kill Surt.
He glanced up ahead at Reya. She thought Surt was hers, but not if he could help it. The crystal belonged to her and this world, but Surt was his.
* * *
Surt stood in front of the open stone doorway. He should wait for his second man to catch up, but he couldn’t leave Reya too much time alone with the pyramid and vortex.
All the plans he’d made, all the alliances he’d created and broken, it all came down to this moment. He’d get this one chance. If he failed, the ascension would roll through, uninhibited, and he’d be relegated to another planet. Few places were as rich and ripe as Earth. He’d found a home here, and he wasn’t going to lose it. Not to a bunch of cosmic bureaucrats.
His hellraiders hung in the trees and hid behind rocks, watching and protecting. His second man would catch up sooner or later. For now, he had enough with one.
He took out a staff. It was much like Reya’s, but far more powerful. He’d had a thousand years to perfect his use of it, and a thousand more to build his strength. No one was better than he was in battle. And it would be to the death. If he’d known Reya would be the one standing in his way, he would have killed her back when she still trusted him.
He nodded to his man, who brandished a gun. That was for Thane. “You know your orders.”
“Yes, sir.”
Not particularly bright, but obedient. In the east, morning threatened. By the time the sun rose in the sky, this would be over. Surt took a deep breath, filling his mortal body with immortal protection, and entered the tunnel.
* * *
The sloping floor turned into steps carved into the quartz schist. Reya had no idea how far underground they were. Ten stories, maybe more? So far the tunnel had been clear of any falling debris, the surfaces in strangely excellent condition. She couldn’t ask for more. Except maybe an end to it.
It was slow going and getting warmer with every step. The tunnel had become increasingly narrow, and the air was still and claustrophobic. The steps were covered with a thin layer of slick moss, making footing tricky. She couldn’t see around the curve of the staircase, and that was slowing their forward progress. Although she was far more concerned with what was behind them.
On the upside, the crystal was becoming more alive and brighter, leading her on.
“I don’t know about you two, but I’m not looking forward to walking back up,” Chu said, his voice echoing.
She wanted tell him that that should be the least of his worries. “Maybe we’ll find an elevator.”
“Really?” he asked, sounding optimistic.
“No,” she and Thane said at the same time.
She heard the muffled sound of running water ahead. The humidity had increased substantially and moisture coated the walls. It smelled musty. “Water ahead.”
The stairs finally ended at a small landing that opened to an immense chamber, and her crystal flooded it with light. Brown stalactites dripped from the ceiling into shallow clear water that covered the floor and trickled through a series of tunnels on the other end.
The three of them gathered on the landing and surveyed the cavern. It was spectacular and ancient. Just what they were looking for.
“Any idea which way we go?” Thane asked.
“Give me a minute,” she said and stepped down into the shallow water. It was warm and splashed softly as she navigated from opening to opening. The energy in the crystal flared at one of them.
“This one,” she said and turned to look at Thane and Chu. Chu started in her direction, but Thane was staring up the stairs they’d just come down. She felt adrenaline flood her body and fill her senses. Surt was here.
Thane turned to look at her, and she saw the dark intensity in his face. It hit her then why. He was debating whether or not to ambush Surt in the tunnel. He hadn’t given up on revenge. It would be his undoing.
“We need to move,” she told Thane. “Together.”
The darkness in his soul bloomed, and for a moment, she didn’t think he’d follow.
“You promised to back me up,” she said, playing the loyalty card.
He hesitated only a moment before walking through the shallow pools. He was with her for now, but how long would it last? How long before he couldn’t fight the hate?
It hurt. She knew what was going to happen if he didn’t change.
She turned and led them deeper.