The Jewels of Jezebel (The Reluctant Hero Series Book 2) Read online

  “Daniel,” she said. “What if we see your dad again?”

  “I hope we won’t, but if we do, he won’t hurt us. This door situation was much worse.” He patted her cheek. “Let’s try again.”

  He took the lead.

  Chapter Eleven

  Daniel reached back and clasped her hand.

  It was sweaty, so he squeezed it. Testing the first rock step with his foot, he made sure it was sturdy enough to support his weight. He knew that if it supported his weight, it would definitely support Magena’s.

  He did the same with each step as they descended into darkness. After the fourth step, she shined her flashlight downward as well. As the stairs descended, they turned, almost in a spiral. The air started to become thicker and harder to breathe. Daniel glanced back at Magena who shined her flashlight on her face. “I’m okay,” she said, as if reading his mind.

  He put the flashlight up to his chin, as the light shined up into his face, casting an eerie shadow. “Boo! Ha ha! Just kidding!” He did that to alleviate the tension. Given Magena’s expression after she jumped, he knew he shouldn’t do things like that anymore. The stairs ended on a dirt floor with no obvious exits, other than the way they just came from.

  “Great,” Daniel said, sarcastically. “This is like some of the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns I was on when I was younger. I hated these kinds of puzzles then, and I hate it now.”

  Magena looked questioningly at her traveling companion, then glanced around the area. “No visible signs of an exit, but there obviously has to be one. We didn’t bleed for nothing.”

  He placed his hands on one craggy wall and started to feel around for any indication of a hidden lever or button.

  Magena decided to take time to sit on the ground on her knees and take a break. “I don’t know, Daniel. It seems like this is really getting outrageous now. It feels like we’re trapped in some sort of B movie with crappy special effects.”

  “Maybe,” he returned, while trying to split his attention between her and his present task. He walked around in a circle, “I never gave up as a role player and I’m not giving up now!” His determination increased, as he moved around the small room even quicker.

  He shined his flashlight up at the ceiling which wasn’t as far up, as he originally thought. It looked like he could jump up a few feet and be able to touch the ceiling, so he tried. His first jump was less than successful, as he only went up about a foot. Trying to judge the distance, so that he wouldn’t hit his head, he became braver and jumped up two more feet. He still couldn’t reach the ceiling with his hands fully extended upward. “This is insane, Mags! This is like some weird optical illusion! Does this look like it’s more than a couple of feet higher than I’m reaching?” He extended his hand with the use of standing on the tips of his toes, as if to stress his point.

  She smiled and stood up, while shining her light just above where he pointed. “I’m not sure. It looks like it’s only a foot above your head. Now that I’m paying more attention, try it again.”

  She narrowed her eyes at the ceiling, as he jumped up again. That time he went up two and a half feet. When he landed, it sounded like he landed in mud, because a squishing noise resounded.

  She shined the light at his feet, as he panicked. “Mags! My feet are sinking! What is th… quicksand? Are you kidding me?”

  Magena stood in shock, looking at the moist ground swallowing his feet, as he slowly descended. He struggled and tried to find something that he could grab onto. “Help me, Mags!”

  She backed up to the nearest wall, to avoid being sucked in herself. “Toss me everything non-essential and the pack, too! That might lighten your load while I try to think of something! You have to remain calm!”

  “Then quit shouting at me!” He threw the pack toward the wall next to Magena. Then came the flashlight. She caught that, so it didn’t smash up against the rocky walls. She then put it inside his pack and pushed it as far against the wall, as she could.

  She thought about the contents of their packs and knew they had rope, but nothing that would help secure Daniel enough to fight off the quicksand.

  Needless to say and despite having some knowledge of quicksand through movies, Daniel kept struggling, which quickened his descent even more. He was up to his shins. She went into a panic as well, feeling helpless. If only she could trade places with him, then he would surely be able to just lift her right out of the muck and mire. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and she had to be the hero.

  His pleading eyes told her that she had to do something fast. He was up to his knees.

  Shining her flashlight around the area, she hoped something new would pop up and be the perfect item to get Daniel out of the quicksand. Yet, when she realized her futility, tears rolled down her cheek. She realized that she had nothing. Hooking her feet behind the backpack, she laid down on the cold sand and stretched out toward Daniel. “Take hold of my hands, Daniel.” She tried to remain confident, but she still sounded shaky. He refused at first. She kept shaking her hands at him. “You don’t have a lot of choices, Daniel!”

  He was up to his waist when he gave in. He reached out and touched the tips of her fingers with his. She crawled a few inches toward him and grabbed his hands. “Yes!” She exclaimed with joy, before she completely understood the situation.

  As he sank, she was pulled in with him. There was absolutely nothing anchoring her or preventing his bigger mass from pulling her in with him.

  “Let go of me!” he screamed, gurgling through the gritty slush. “No sense... both of us going into… whatever this is!”

  She pulled her hands back and curled into the fetal position, while letting out the sobs, she had been desperate to contain.

  She just wanted to be comforted and no longer a player in the insane game she was so much a part of. The comforting words of her parents were always within reach, whenever she felt troubled. She could always hear the soothing voices of those she trusted and respected the most.

  Usually.

  Not now.

  She heard nothing, but her own whimpering sobs. No matter what happened, she knew that she wasn’t finished trying to save Daniel’s life. Magena stood with new life and new determination, as she glared at the man she now shared so much with. He was up to his stomach and spitting sand from his mouth, but at least he stopped squirming, which slowed his progress.

  Instinctively, she looked down at her waist. My belt!

  She unbuckled her belt and pulled it out of the loops, while thinking about what a wonderful story it would be in years to come. We were on this expedition to find Queen Jezebel’s jewels, when we came across this pit full of quicksand. Needless to say, Daniel was stuck and it was up to me to save the day… again.

  Something like that, anyway.

  “Hey! You want to stop daydreaming long enough to save me?”

  She shook herself out of her thoughts in time to see Daniel covered in the wet sand up to his chest. She shook her head, knowing how wrong she was to be distracted. She grabbed hold of the belt and flipped the other end to Daniel. He just looked at it in disbelief, but showed courage.

  His demeanor went from panicking to abnormally calm. “Nice try, Mags. If I was too heavy for you to pull up, what difference is a belt going to make?”

  Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened with realization. He was right. The belt wouldn’t enable her to gain any more advantage that just grabbing his hands did. He would still pull her into the quicksand.

  She froze in fear and frustration, as she saw him sink even further without anything she could do to prevent it from happening.

  He looked up weakly, as he sank down to his neck. “It’s okay, Mags. I know you did everything you could. I don’t blame you. I really don’t.”

  She glared at the now smooth surface of the quicksand. There was nothing to disturb the trap of death. No squirming. No sinking. No Daniel.

  Despite what he had said to her, mere seconds before he disappeared fr
om view, she knew that he was wrong. It should have been her in that pit. Her who disappeared from sight. It wasn’t.

  She knew that as long as she lived, she would blame herself for letting Daniel die.

  Chapter Twelve

  Magena was stock-still, just staring at the spot in the ground where Daniel had disappeared. Her mind was blank. She couldn’t think of anything. It felt like none of her bodily function would work correctly. Even her tears dried up.

  After about a half an hour, she started to go back the way she and Daniel originally came, only to find that the entrance was no longer there. She couldn’t remember whether it had closed up behind them or not. Her finding that she was trapped, felt as empty as everything else she was feeling.

  She hadn’t known Daniel long, but she was growing closer to him—almost like a brother. Since having met each other, they shared the most bizarre adventures together. If he wasn’t with her, she would have felt isolated and totally alone. She felt that he bonded with her too, considering that they had no one else. Glaring at the floor, she contemplated following him into the muck. In her mind, she refused to believe almost everything they had been through up to that point. Her gut ached with wanting to believe that she could fix the something that was wrong. She just could not pinpoint what it was or how.

  She must stay with Daniel. That was a starter. Her confidence increased as she moved closer to the center of the dirt floor. Her breathing became rapid, as mentally prepared herself to step onto the very spot where Daniel had disappeared.

  “Alright, God. I don’t know if my gut is right, but everything inside me is screaming that this is what I should do. For some reason, I really don’t believe anything will happen to me. If my calculations are correct and corresponding with all of our near misses in this adventure so far, this experience will probably take me to the brink of something bad. Let’s test that theory. Shall we?”

  Closing her eyes, she saw this message on her eyelids. “North to those who wish to seek the queen. Two rocks are large, while one is lean. Seek not the brightest way. The light you see will betray. Lying between the death and life. The husband will not be near to the wife. Shadows foretold will block the view. The oldest one will now be new. Fewer steps and fewer still. Closer yet might break the will. Peaceful triumph will not last. War breaks out, but not that fast. Baubles, trinkets, and glittering galore. Take only that which your thoughts surround, or to the ground you will be bound.”

  Taking in a deep breath, she jumped onto the spot that consumed her traveling companion. With her eyes closed, she expected the worst.

  ***

  He landed on his back.

  Daniel’s eyelids were exceptionally heavy as he opened them. His vision was blurred, but that didn’t stop him from gasping for air. He felt as if he had just been buried alive. Maybe he had been for all he knew, but for some reason it didn’t feel exactly like that was what happened. He began to cough. Soon a coughing conniption overcame him, until his chest cleared.

  He wiped his eyes to clean the sand from them, making sure not to touch his fingers on his eyeballs directly. He knew where his hands had been.

  He realized that he was on his back, which was dangerous. He sat up quickly, as he continued to cough. He expected to have a dry mouth with all that sand, and who knew what else. Surprised, he realized his throat was clear. Instead, he felt refreshed in a way that told him, someone or something had kept him hydrated.

  The floor where he sat was almost comforting. He stood to his feet. When he did, he was surprised that the room was brightly lit. Looking around, he saw no visible means for the light. There were no windows or holes in the rock walls or ceiling that would let in light from the outside. No electrical outlets.

  He breathed in. When he did, he realized that the air was not thick as it should be underground.

  Then he checked himself for cuts or limb loss and saw that he was good. All of his gear that he had when he sank into the earth, was still with him.

  Mostly, he was still alive, and his mind was alert. A smile crept across his face, as he realized for the first time that he was blessed. Another near miss.

  Standing still, Daniel began to feel dizzy. He leaned against one of the walls to prevent himself from falling. His mind swirled with memories of Magena, the Hive of Baal, the Sabotinis, Cardinals Cinos and DiStazzi, and finally Alan Cranston. Visions of everyone flooded his mind, but Magena stood out prominently over everyone else. It was almost as if the others were just some weird figment of his imagination. That can’t be right. Can it?

  The room was twirling around. His vision was blurred, as the dizziness continued to overtake him. He fell to his knees with one hand still braced against the wall. In an attempt to make sense of everything, he closed his eyes and lowered his head.

  “Hey, God? I don’t know what’s going on here, but I could really use Your help. I don’t get what is going on. It’s like some crazy dream. I just want to wake up.”

  Attempting to be reverent, he remained silent for a few moments. He then slowly opened one eye and was disappointed when he saw that he was still in the same place. “This is insane.”

  “I have to agree with you on that.”

  The familiar voice sparked his energy as a huge smile came over him. He turned to see the most welcoming sight. “Magena!”

  She stood about ten feet away from him with her hands on her hips and sporting a sneer.

  He stood quicker than he expected and almost fell. She rushed over to embrace him. “Oh Daniel!”

  “Mags!” he cried out, squeezing her tightly. “Mags! You made it.”

  “Ow!” she gasped. “I’m glad to see you, too, but please ease up on the super hug!”

  “Sorry.” He pulled back and held her shoulders. Looking her over, he grinned, like he never expected to see her again. “Look at you!” He paused. “I missed you, Mags!”

  She patted his cheek. “Poor Daniel.”

  “For a moment there, I almost didn’t think you were real when you appeared.”

  “I came down the same way you did, Daniel. It was highly unpleasant, but I’m here, nonetheless. Waitaminute! Did you just say you almost didn’t think I was real?”

  He looked confused at the fact that she was concerned with his delusions and not as happy to see him as he was to see her. “Well… yeah. I mean, I got real dizzy and it seemed like everything we’ve been through was like make-believe or some kind of game.”

  “Part of the problem is this room is so big.” She shivered like a cold chill ran up her spine. “None of this seems real to me either. You know, I know exactly what you’re talking about. We’ve been sucked into one crazy adventure after another since we were first introduced. Look at this. It just keeps getting crazier.” She glanced around. “You agree?”

  “Yes. I know!” he exclaimed. “The Hive of Baal and the Italians! It all sounds like a really cool novel or an action movie! It sure as heck doesn’t sound like anything I would or should be going through! What I mean is…” He widened his eyes. “You know what I men.”

  “I do understand.”

  “What do you think, Mags? Am I wrong?”

  Daniel now had his eyes glued on her, waiting impatiently for her validation of his perceived madness. If he could get her to agree with him, then he knew he wasn’t going crazy.

  Magena paused as she thought long and hard about Daniel’s rant. “It confirms everything I’ve felt, which means it makes it more crazy. I guess it can be as real that you wish it to be.”

  He said, “That is too creepy.”

  She said, “Thinking like that makes me skittish, too.” They both admitted they were quite nervous. But agreed that neither of them wanted to just jump in and let fear overcome them. They could not completely agree with each other. Not yet. If they did, then something would come along to change things. Something bad. They needed to keep their thoughts to themselves for now.

  “What is next?” he asked.

  She shook he
r head. “How can we know? You were led up on the knoll with leaves covering a deep hole. Yet I walked down the hill and went in a side entrance. Then we both fall deeper into this underground room, which makes no sense.”

  “I feel like I am an adventure book. There are stones sticking out of the wall for us to climb out of here, if we want,” he said. “Want to follow me out?”

  Her mouth opened slowly to give him an answer. Any answer, just to satiate him. Before she could, something happened that took her off of the hot seat.

  A woman screamed.

  Daniel immediately turned toward the sound of the scream as Magena looked up and mouthed the words, thank you.

  Daniel turned away from the steps and toward the screams. He ran over to one of the walls as the scream reverberated again. It was blood curdling, to say the least. The sound sent chills through his body.

  Just as Magena caught up with him, Daniel said, “It’s coming from the other side of this wall!” He pointed toward the sound while looking back to see how his partner was able to follow him. I think there is a sealed in room back there.

  Magena ran up to the wall and placed her ear against it. Once more, the woman’s scream echoed throughout the closed in room. There was a metallic element to the sound, so that the wall muffled it. Magena felt anxious. “What do we do, Daniel? How do we get to her?”

  “I don’t know, Mags,” he replied, while feeling around the area for secret ways to get through the wall. “Maybe it’s like the other thing where you had to bleed to get us through. This time, I’ll supply the blood if it comes to that.”

  The screams started to pierce Magena’s very soul. She placed her hands over her ears, to keep from losing control. “Find some way to make it stop! I can’t deal with this anymore!”

  Daniel gave her a confused look. “I know it’s eerie that there’s some woman in a lot of pain on the other side of the wall, but I can’t help her until I find a way to reach her. It might go faster if you help, you know. Besides, the screaming isn’t that desperate.” He thumped the wall. “It’s bad for her, yeah, but… What about you? Are you okay?”