Star-Crossed

Part 15

Suddenly, I feel the weight of slimy worms wiggling across my arms and legs. Ants crawl all over my face and in my hair. Mini bat-like creatures flutter around me and create a cacophony of sounds that sends chills up-and-down my spine.

Swarms of baby beetles buzz in and out of my ears.

I do everything in my power not to scream.

"Your arm okay?" I whisper to Zayn, trying to distract myself.

"Yeah, it's fine," he answers. "You good?"

"Been better," I retort.

Zayn's still holding onto me, his back resting slightly against mine, our arms interwoven in a way that allows his right arm not to feel any pressure.

After hovering downward for a few more minutes, my feet finally touch something. Zayn and I let go of each other. At first I think we've hit the bottom of the well, and then I realize the ground beneath us is moving.

"Activate night vision," I hear Zayn say, barely audible above the noises that all of the different creatures are making.

"Uh, Karina," says Zayn, "maybe it's better if you keep your night vision off for now."

I gulp, wondering if I should take his advice or not.

"Activate night vision," I command, unable to curb my curiosity.

I look down and see that I am standing on a huge pile of hairy, black spiders. In fact, moving walls of hairy, black spiders surround me. Zayn and I are literally the only things taking up space that are not hairy, black spiders. And they all have glowing, red eyes.

A few of them crawl up my legs but I keep shaking them off.

"We need to get out of here, ASAP!" I scream.

I start to dig ferociously at the ground, wading through mounds of spiders. Zayn mimics me. Together, we dig and dig.

But as we dig, more spiders rush to fill in the valley that we've just created. They are now crawling all over me. I panic. How are we going to find a way out of here?

I can't breathe. I'm having an anxiety attack. Yet, I keep digging.

"Good thing we have these special gloves on, right?" Zayn jokes, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. But, I am having none of it.

Eventually, my hand hits up against something quite hard.

"Ouch!" I exclaim.

"You ok?" asks Zayn.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answer. "Look at this."

I keep my right hand there and continue to dig around it with my left hand. And finally, I see it. It's a black metallic box. I yank at it, trying to pull it out of the ground.

It doesn't budge.

Zayn tries his best as well, but it won't move. I'm not sure what to do.

Think, Karina. Think!

Then, I take the tips of my index and middle fingers and give the top of the box a light push, and the lid slowly opens.

Inside, there is a piece of polished, white onyx stone in the middle, to the left of which sits a gold ring, and to the right of which sits a folded piece of paper.

I grab the ring and the piece of paper and stuff them both into my pocket. I try to grab the piece of onyx as well, but it doesn't move, so I push it. I hear a sound behind me - a small door begins to slide open!