Jeremy Chikalto and the Demon Trace (Book III of The Hazy Souls) (15 page)

They watched the video monitors in silence
as the animals grew larger and descended on them. An elephant
thudded down next to one of the tanks, stood on its hind legs, and
began to rock the tank back and forth with its front legs.

“Search for weapons, anything,” said
Ren.

Maren spoke with her hand over her mouth.
“We should have gone in when we had the chance.”

They heard a loud hiss outside the tank.

“That better not be what it sounds like!”
said Tina.

An adder slithered through one of the small
holes in the tank, and they all leapt back. It struck at the air a
few times, but got caught in the hole at its fat middle. Frisky
handed Ren a large Bowie knife which he unsheathed. He waited for
the snake to strike the air again, and then he countered with a
chop to the snake's head while it was recoiling. The knife just
glanced off.

At the same time in the tank next door,
General Forero and Anna were arming themselves. General Forero took
the shotgun, and Anna took a small pistol. A guy who they barely
knew named Ralph began to rock back and forth in his seat, saying
“no, no.” Mateo nervously twiddled his thumbs next to him.

“How are you going to shoot that thing from
in here?” asked Anna, gesturing to the General's shotgun.

The General frowned. “Good point. I should
have the pistol.”

“I think you both make good points,” offered
Mateo.

“Why should you have it?” snapped Anna.

There was a metal scraping noise and a crash
and they could see on the monitor that three elephants had
overturned one of the tanks.

The General grabbed the gun from Anna and
aimed through one of the slits in the tank, and shot a bull that
was charging another tank straight in the eye. The bullet glanced
off, and Anna stuck her fingers in her ears. The bull turned and
charged their tank instead. Just then there was screeching above
the tank, and several massive eagles opened the hatch above
them.

Jeremy burst out of the hot spring, and his
heart skipped a beat. “Stop!” The spirit animals ignored him.

To Jeremy's horror, an eagle dove into a
tank and pulled out poor Ralph, who was screaming “no, no!” and the
animals swarmed him. A tiger shark and a gorilla joined in on the
feast, and Ralph was torn limb from limb.

Jeremy flashed over to Maren's tank, and
pulled the snake out of the hole and tossed it aside. “You have to
get in the hot spring! I have an idea.” Jeremy raised his arms.
“Demons,” he said, and his demons appeared in droves, menacing the
spirit animals. An elephant sounded its trunk and a goat bleated.
The spirit animals retreated while the demons spread out, and the
hatch of one tank popped open and people began to evacuate.

“Go,” shouted the woman on top of the tank,
and the people fled towards an abandoned building across the
street. In their haste, they ignored Jeremy's frantic motioning
towards the hot spring. A nearby wolf leapt on the woman leading
the pack. Jeremy flashed over to the woman, but then saw an eagle
rise out of his parents' tank with Mateo in its talons. The great
bird hovered and flapped for a moment with its weighty captive, and
then the eagle was pierced by the horns of a demon, causing it to
drop Mateo. Jeremy rushed in and caught him before he hit the
ground, and then tossed him like a sack of potatoes into the hot
spring.

The wolf was tearing the woman into shreds,
and she let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Everyone jump in!” Jeremy
yelled, and he shot over to Maren, Tina, and Frisky, and then
dumped them into the hot spring. A baboon threw a demon off of its
back, sending it soaring through a man trying to get to the hot
spring. The man fell on his knees and began to convulse. A pack of
rats descended on him, and Jeremy dashed over and began picking
them off like leaches.
This isn't
working.

Jeremy stood up, and
pushed his energy out in a dome, and where he felt a spirit animal,
he made the energy hard, and where he felt a person, he made it
soft. The demons were unaffected. He pushed the energy out like an
expanding screen, and was able to sift the animals from the people.
Everyone got to their feet and scrambled towards the bubbling pool
in a blind terror. Some thirty-odd people jumped into the hot
spring while Jeremy pushed back the animals. He called more demons
forth, and the spirit animals took to the sky. “Be gone!” he
shouted, and he watched them fly into the distance. Then Jeremy
found abandoned personal effects—a purse, a shoe, a knife, a water
bottle—and dropped them into the hot spring. Empty tanks, ruins,
and corpses were strewn around.
This is
all my fault.
Jeremy posted sentry demons
around the entrance to Mantel's Maze, willing them to hold their
position until he called on them. Maybe the demons would prevent
the spirit animals from entering. He jumped into the hot
spring.

Chapter 31

Budding Hope

Jeremy drifted to the bottom and approached
the rest of the party. Everyone was hushed, looking down dark
caverns and row after row of tombstones. A few feet from the hot
spring's drop-off point, Maren was standing alone in a corner. A
gentle breeze blew through the room, and little lights began to
glow around Maren. Tiny green plant buds were sprouting up from the
stone around her, emitting a soft light.

Jeremy stepped through the crowd, some
thirty-odd refugees, and made his way to Maren. He bit his lip. “We
made it.”

“We did.”

“I can be such a jerk, right?” Jeremy leaned
forward and kissed Maren on the cheek.

Maren nodded.

He pressed his finger on her lips, then
pushed it into her mouth.

Maren closed her eyes for a second, and then
swatted his hand away. “You're even a jerk when you're trying to
apologize.”

“Sorry.” He held his hands up. “Sensuality
is gentle. I am trying, here.”

“What are you sorry for?” Maren crossed her
arms.

Jeremy sighed. “Oh God, Maren, everything.
I'm sorry I doubted your ridiculously stupid glow-in-the-dark watch
stunt. I'm sorry I have impulse-control problems. I'm sorry I'm a
pervert. I'm sorry that I'm so bad at saying sorry.”

Jeremy knelt down before her, lifted her
shirt up, and kissed her belly. “But I'm not sorry for this. I love
you.”

Maren ran her fingers through his hair.
“Okay.”

Jeremy stood up and wrapped his arms around
her. Then he kissed her.

Maren drew the kiss out, savoring the
moment. He tasted so good and she felt warm all over.

At last, Jeremy pulled back. “We lost a lot
of people. Where do we go now?”

Maren reached down and touched one of the
buds and it bloomed into a small yellow flower. “We need to go to
an oasis.”

“The one by Fedonis? So what, we take the
submarine? With this group?” Jeremy frowned. “I suppose they'll
need a briefing.”

A thin vine pushed out from the stone and
began to snake around Maren's foot. “Oh!” She pulled it free with
ease. “Do you see this?” The stone began to rumble softly and a
colony of vines twirled its way out of the stone, creating a thick
matted path into one of the chambers. It turned a corner.

“We should follow it,” said Maren.

“No!” Tina pushed her way into their huddle.
“Someone get TP, because you've got to be shitting me. It's just a
stupid trick like always.”

Jeremy winced. “Gross, Tina.”

“We should just check,” said Maren.

Horror spread across Jeremy's features.
“Wait! Mantel will try to get our baby. Maren, do not follow those
vines! In fact,” Jeremy marched towards the hot spring passageway,
“we need to get out of here. Terrible idea, I've decided.”

“Wait!” Maren stepped towards him. “We have
to follow the vines, Jeremy.”

“Don't you remember, Maren?” Jeremy slid
onto the stone floor and leaned up against a headstone. He put his
head in his hands. “Mantel believes he'll grow stronger if he can
eat babies. This is all orchestrated.”

The pack of refugees was eavesdropping on
the whole conversation, and began to murmur at the prospect of
baby-eating. “Hey, we can't live in a graveyard!” yelled a man. “I
refuse to stay here,” yelled a frantic woman. “Who's in charge
around here?” yelled another.

“I am,” said Maren, turning to face
them.

Jeremy sat upright, but held his tongue. The
General also flinched.

Tina stepped forward. “Maren's in charge,
okay? She knows this place.”

“I vote for Vor Wantoro,” said a man,
pointing to Wantoro. He saluted him.

Wantoro smiled. “What we need is someone
with fresh, clear eyes and a strong heart. Someone who always sees
the path in the dark. Maren Nononia's been here before and has
wandered these dusty corridors with my son. Jeremy is powerful, but
Maren is a beacon. She will guide us along to safety.”

Then Tina remembered back to the time she
was a Mantel's Maze newbie, and put her hands on her hips. “And
just so everyone knows, it's about to get really trippy down here.
Ghosts, talking ferrets, rainbow rocks, and even weird gross old
men with theme songs. So you might as well start freaking out now
and get it over with before we move.”

The crowd began to bicker.

“But,” said Maren, holding up her hand,
“there's also an oasis and it will provide all the sustenance
you'll ever need. It's refreshing too, like a citrus fruit.”

“All right,” said Jeremy, standing up. He
dusted his butt off. He leaned over to Maren and whispered in her
ear. “We can follow the vines for a little bit, but the first whiff
of danger and I'm going to fly you straight out of this place.”

Maren walked forward and beckoned for
everyone to follow her and they did. The trail of vines and buds
led her deep into the heart of the catacombs. Torches jutted out
from the ceiling at odd angles. The room itself was too expansive
to see from one side to the other. Occasionally, the ceiling would
connect to the ground in a snaky pillar of rock. Dusty tombstones
were jutting out of the ground. Maren brushed one off and read its
inscription:

Here Lies the Remains of Gestapo
Valencia,

With a hint of amaretto and a cherry
finish,

In his stead, a leather upholstered
foot-rest

Massages Master's feet.

Maren turned to Jeremy, who was at her side.
“I can hear voices from the vines. See how they grow out of the
graves? Inside the graves are scraps of souls that Mantel didn't
eat. These souls are resentful. They came here to Mantel on the
promise of everlasting life without being sorted, only to become
one of Mantel's foot rests.... How would you feel?”

“Like a rebellious servant.”

“The vines are growing out of the soul
pieces. They want to help us.”

Jeremy listened a moment, but heard no
voices. “If you say so, Maren.”

They continued to walk past the tombstones
and rounded the corner of a particularly large stone formation
until the path led to a wall of vines, and they hit a dead end.
Maren knelt down and touched the ground. The vines began to squirm
under her hands, and parted, and dirt crumbled into a small hole in
the ground. Below, they could see a tangle of roots beneath the
catacombs.

“Maren,” Jeremy began to widen the hole with
his hands. “We won't be able to get all these people down there. I
don't even know if I can fit down there, and I'm the fittest person
in this whole group.”

Maren leaned forward. “I'll go first, but...
how far to the bottom is it?”

“Yeah, let's just send the pregnant girl
into the dangerous hole. How far along are you anyway?” Jeremy
rubbed her belly, sighed, and then eased his way into the hole,
hanging onto a stone with one hand. The vines began to slither
slowly beneath him, hollowing out a tunnel going down. He emitted a
soft, blue light, and looked into the tunnel, but he couldn't see
the bottom. He then grabbed two fistfuls of vines, and began to
climb down.

“So far so good,” he called out, only a deep
chill washed over him. About forty grueling feet down in that
claustrophobic tunnel, he reached a bottom of sorts. The dirt was a
rich loam, with a deep earth smell. The vines were slowly receding
away from him, hollowing out a clearing in the slithering jungle.
He dimmed his blue light and allowed his eyes to adjust. Thin beams
of torchlight from the catacombs above began to pierce the jungle,
as the vines shifted. It seemed on purpose.

“Still good,” he called up.

Somehow they all managed to get down there,
even Raaychila with the manly assistance of Wantoro. The party
clung together and awaited direction.

“What now, Maren?” asked Jeremy.

“Keep your light going, please. Do you hear
that water?”

Jeremy lifted his palm up and emanated more
soft blue light, which intermingled with shadows. All around them
were structures of vine and dirt, and vines criss-crossing from the
ceiling to the ground. Maren walked into the jungle followed by
Jeremy, and the roots and vines parted into a path. They walked in
silence, twisting and turning through some hundred yards, before
arriving in front of a stone wall. Multi-colored blossoms began to
pop out of the cracks in the stone, traveling up the wall until
they formed a cluster forty feet up.

“Break a hole in that ceiling, Jeremy.”

“I thought you'd never ask.”

Jeremy struck a dramatic pose and angled his
palms upward. He blasted the wall a few times where the blossoms
had clustered. The stone crumbled with ease and Jeremy could see
the torchlight streaming through from above. “This place needed
some lighting.” Almost on command, the vines formed a ladder and
Jeremy climbed up, taking his time to inspect the latticework. At
the top, he reached through the hole and could feel a hollow inside
with a smooth wall. “It's a room,” he called down.