Quest (OLD: the new version MIGHT be posted shortly)

Chapter 9-Sage

“Sage, you never told me how you got out of the Hole,” Heather whispered after half-an-hour of walking. “You usually tell me everything.”

“I can’t tell you that,” I told her. “I can’t tell anyone that.” My voice had gotten hoarse and quiet, and my eyes felt dry. An unbidden scene flashed in my mind, a scene much like the cave we were in. Stone surrounded me in the interrogation room. Miles of stone were on either side of me. There was no pure air.

“Gyps,” Pete whispered. I took a deep breath and nodded.

“So, yeah,” I muttered. I cleared my throat and my mind and looked back at Pete. “When are you going to stop calling me ‘Gyps’?” I asked, trying to ease the tension.

“When you stop being a gypsy,” he replied casually. “So, uh, around never.”

“You do know that the word gyps means cheat or swindle, right?”

“Yeah, and I use it on you,” Pete chuckled. “I pick words to describe my friends. I’m still working on Jae’s, though.”

“What about me?” Heather asked coyly. “You’ve known me almost as long as you’ve known Sage. I was your girlfriend’s best friend.”

“I’ll think of a nice name for you,” Pete promised.

“As long as it’s flattering,” Heather stated.

“Oh, it couldn’t be anything else,” Pete assured her.

“I wonder how close we are to getting out of here,” I thought out loud. The tunnel we were walking in seemed to stretch on forever.

I started to believe that it did, since we walked as long as our bodies would allow us. The path went steeply down-hill for a while, before leveling out again, but there was no end in sight. Instead we decided to make dinner and camp. We ate granola and drank water from our own packs so we didn’t need to start a fire. The torches along the walls lit the tunnel up enough.

I called everyone’s attention to read the legend to them.

Recall to yourself the distant dream of why you came to this land; remember that not everything is as it may seem, and is more than what you can understand.

“Well, that’s no help,” Michal scoffed.

“So, the next task has something to do with dreams and their meanings?” Landon asked.

“Well, I hardly ever dream, so that’s no use,” Carson sighed. A loud THUNK sounded through the tunnel and we all looked at Jason.

“Sorry,” he muttered, picking up the boot he had smacked on the ground. “There was a spider.” There was a smattering of blood and spider parts where the boot had been. Heather crinkled her nose in disgust.

“I hate spiders,” she commented. I smirked.

“Yeah, almost as much as you hate worms.”

“Ugh,” she shuddered, “don’t even joke about that, Sage.” She shot me a joking smirk and I smiled back.

We eventually got ready to sleep, trusting our inner clocks to wake us up since there was no sign of sunlight, or lack thereof, in the tunnel. I went to sleep quickly.

~*~*~

I woke up, but the torches had all gone out. I tried to wake up Pete, or Argus, or Jason, but none of them would even stir. Then I saw Sage sitting up on her sleeping bag, staring at me.

“Oh, you’re up,” she said quietly. She then stood up and I noticed that she was wearing a beautiful black gown that flowed to the dusty cave floor. It was almost impossible to see in the darkness, but it made her look beautiful.