“Over here!” I whispered, running my free hand along the wall. Finally Callista let me go so that she could press her palms against the walls too. The wood paneling fought to throw me off so I had to imagine it wasn’t there.
“That spot?” Callista checked. I nodded, then dove out of the way as her fists suddenly came forward. With sharp, commanding jabs, her silver hands pounded the wood like eggshells in two strokes. Thad and I jumped forward to peel the wrecked panels off, revealing that behind it was a wall of solid white stone.
Instantly, the newly revealed walls fell into place in my memories. In another life, I’d pressed against this wall and sealed a doorway behind it. I ran my fingers across the flat panel instinctively, feeling the cold rock, discovering the thinnest of seams too small for even a fingernail. As the memories of the dream came back, a lump formed in my throat. I knew that if I tore all those hideous panels off the walls and threw the games upstairs, then this room would be the exact same as I had left it minutes before I’d died the first time.
We were so close to finding the Blade that when I whirled around to look at the others, I saw that their faces had matching expressions of anticipation.
“There’s no hinge or anything,” Thad observed.
“If I remember correctly,” I said, “the whole thing kinda just sealed into the wall. I don’t think we’re going to get it open in a normal way again.”
Thad shrugged. “Not like that’s ever stopped us before.”
Callista nodded with a knowing grin. Seeing her face brighten gave me the confidence I needed. So with renewed power inside, I spun back to the wall, claws out. I wasn’t sure how much strength those blades could take before they’d crack off. They’d been rather strong against everything they’d faced before. No time for hesitation.
I jabbed my fist forward. Their bladed tips slammed into the wall so heavily that I was pushed backwards, shoes sliding. They’d broken deep chips off, though, so that was encouraging. I shook my head. This was going to take some extra work.
I started again, this time with legs spread to support myself. I’d slam with the scale-covered back of my hands and then dig at the cracks with my blades, sending slivers of rock and whirling streams of dust flying through the air. I had to close my eyes lest I be blinded by the stones that darted at me, the blades hitting like picks then slashing like saws, grating the stones down with such a horrible noise I feared someone outside would surely hear.
But no one came, so I continued to attack. It was working. I beat it again and again, and before I realized it, I was hitting the wall with angry, vengeful growls, striking it as if the stone was Wyck standing before me. It was a thousand screams of pent up anger let out soundlessly, my voice replaced by the cries of the wall as I tore it to bits.
The smooth outer surface was soon wrecked and slowly began to thin out and turn gray. Suddenly, at the very center I saw one of my blades break a tiny hole through. I felt a spray of cold air in my face.
I battered the wall with even more passion. In seconds, the center of it crumbled, and all at once there was an opening covered in falling dust and debris. I beat it again and again, and the wall crumbled even further.
I felt a hand on my shoulder reaching to stop me and all of a sudden I was back from my frenzy. I coughed when I breathed in too quickly. Thad motioned for me to lift the edge of my shirt to my mouth.
The dust was thick and refused to settle easily, and even Thad’s flashlight wouldn’t cut through it. But sure enough, I saw that there was now a hole in the wall, and beyond it on the ground, a wide metal plate. It was a single stair, and as the dust fell to the ground, I was able to see that others curved down behind it.
The circular stairway.
When I saw it, I drew in air too quickly again and fell into another fit of coughs. Thad patted me on the back as I doubled over.
“Should I run and get you water?” he offered. I shook my head and waved a hand at him. I wasn’t going to let that stop me now. I knelt toward the opening I’d made so I could see through the hole better. I took the flashlight from Thad and shone the light down.
I couldn’t see far around the corner. But when I turned the beam of the light downward, I saw through the large slits in the steps that they wound far out of my eyesight. I kicked the lower part of the wall, widening the hole and placing a foot through.
The others didn’t seem as eager to step inside, so for a few moments I was entirely in the dark of the tunnel by myself. One of my hands rested on the cold stone, the other waving for them to follow me. Callista went first with widened eyes as she crawled through the jagged hole. Thad was even more hesitant, so I took his light and guided him inside.
“We’re so close,” I whispered to them, voice sounding like it was in a can. At first, none of us walked ahead, studying our new surroundings. The tunnel was no wider than a car, like a tall chimney vent from some underground base the military had forgotten about. When I shone the light up, the ceiling was just inches above our heads, and when I turned it down the middle, it wasn’t bright enough to see the end.
I took up the lead. The steps were hollow and metallic, supported by heavy beams. Each time I stepped further down, it was like walking deeper into the heart of a drum. The stairs were so tightly packed that their bottoms nearly touched our heads as we walked below them.
It was difficult to feel any eagerness when I was surrounded by tons of rock. Who knew how sturdily this place was constructed? After all these decades, maybe the walls had worn down, and if we only touched it in the wrong way, it would collapse and bury us alive. We were so far underground that nobody would hear us screaming. The tunnel would become one tall, triple-occupied coffin.
Step. Step. Step. The metal reverberated. Step. Step. I quickened my pace, feeling that the ground was coming up soon.
A few seconds later, I left the last step abruptly. The solid ground took me unawares and I had to catch my balance. The flashlight spilled all over the room.
Where the stairs ended, a gray carpet began. The walls were so narrow that I couldn’t have stretched my elbows out. They were lined with bookshelves going as high as the ceiling. Glass panels in front of the shelves guarded what appeared to be an assortment of old tattered books and bound up stacks of paper, mostly eaten by age and appearing too weak to touch without turning to dust. The hall ran at least ten steps like this until the next opening. I shone the light into the shelves curiously, wondering if the Blade was anywhere in them. What was I even looking for, exactly? How would I have hid it in my first life?
I didn’t think it was there, and by that time I was content with trusting my instincts. So we continued to the end, where the room opened up one final time.
The crypt was circular with a roof that domed over our heads. It was about as large as my living room, the walls made of rough, undecorated stone that was chipped and cracked in many places, lines running through it like the marks of marble. The space was incredibly empty. The only thing inside was a rectangular pillar in the center that looked like it had once held a coffin.
Something was on the pillar, but it wasn’t a casket. It was a rectangular box with a design on its top so intricate I couldn’t help but recognize it right away. In the midst of the swirling artwork and the sweeps of expertly molded metal were two orb-like stalks protruding from the center of the box. Just like the box in the bank.
No less than a perfect place to secure the Blade.
We all laid eyes on the box at once, and suddenly the room became a rush to see who would reach it first. Thad managed to grab it, heaving its bulk up into his arms and trying to open it with his bare hands. I stopped him quickly.