The Undercave [Incomplete]

Chapter 4 - In Good Time

Cliff held the phone up to his ear, listening to the ringing from the other side. He was half expecting Adele to pick up, but wasn't surprised when he heard Jake's voice.
"Hello?" He said from the phone.
"Hi Jake! It's Cliff. I was just making sure this was the right number!" He lied. He was actually just calling up to hear that irresistible voice.
"Oh," he hesitated, "Well I wouldn't give you the wrong number!" By his tone of voice, Cliff knew that he had a smile on his face. "Mr. Trust issues."
"I haven't got trust issues!" Cliff snapped.
"Sure...." Jake replied sarcastically. "So anyway, how are you?"
"I'm good. Although I'm kind of stuck on this History homework." He glanced down at his pink sheet of paper, which had on it an image of three creatures crawling out of the River Thames.
"Oh." Jake seemed surprised, probably because he thought that since Cliff was so smart, he would be able to do it easily. "Well, I can come round and help you if you want."
"What? No, I'm fine!" Said Cliff, turning down the offer, "Besides, it's getting quite late."
He heard Jacob whimper back an "Okay..." He started to speak a little louder, "Well, my only advice is to pick out little things from the picture and then summarise it at the end."
"OK, thanks." Cliff said softly, taking a look at the time, and deciding that he should leave the phone call there. "Bye then, see you tomorrow."
"See ya!" Jake returned before hanging up. He grumbled, knowing that he should probably get to sleep soon. Already in his bed, he simply slipped under the sheets and switched the light off beside him.

"J.... Ja...... Jak..........." He heard a voice echo inside of his ears. It struggled to pronounce his name, as if it were a baby learning a new word. But it wasn't an infant speaking. It was a familiar voice. A voice that he knew. As it finally managed to spit out his name, he awoke to the sound of his alarm clock.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! BEEP BEE-
He slammed the button down, eliminating the pestering noise.

Cliff was doodling on a piece of paper when Jake came up to him in tutor.
"Cliff, I had a really strange dream last night," he stated, slamming his bag down beside him.
"Really?" Cliff asked, not tearing his head away from his picture, "What was it about?" Jake froze.
"Um, well.... Uh..." He stuttered, "It- It was just a voice. I- I couldn't see- anything. It was trying to call out my name."
At this point, Cliff had whipped his head around to give a concerned look to Jake. "Uhh... I'd say it's nothing to worry about," Cliff commented, still with a worried tone of voice.
"OK," Jake returned calmly. However, he couldn't stop the images of the dream from flooding into his head and drowning his other memories.

"So!" Lana stood in front of her friends who were sitting on the bench. "The plan is that we go to the Undercave this Saturday with our weapons, and find that gemstone." Their intrigued eyes were hooked on her. "We might run into some Cuniculators on the way, but-"
"Woah, wait," Sheri cut her off, "What are 'Cuniculators'?"
"They're the creations of Malum Tempus," Lana said proudly. Sheri and Theo stared at her in confusion. "Malum is the one who was created by the scientist," she explained.
"Cuniculators?..." Theo muttered under his breath. He then started to speak normally, "We need an easier name for them. They all live in a cave, right? So how about we call them 'Miners'?"
Lana sighed, but her mind was changed by her brother and Sheri agreeing. "Ugh, fine," she gave in, "But only if you come to my Aunt's house later to find out more about them. Deal?" She held out her hand.
"Deal." Theo said, grabbing her hand and shaking it firmly.
They changed the subject when Jake came over to them whilst eating some pasta.

The group knocked on the front door, stepping back a little. Soon, it was answered by Rachael, who welcomed them in and led them into the kitchen. The first thing that she did was turn the kettle on. "What did you come here today for?" She asked, realising that it had come out in an unintentionally rude voice.
"Well," Lana began, "We were wondering if you could tell us more about the Cuniculators." She spotted Theo glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. "Or Miners, if you don't mind us calling them that."
"Call them whatever you'd like!" Rachael demanded, placing a teabag into each of the mugs that she had laid out, "I don't think they'd care, they've got much more on their mind!" She then proceeded to pour the boiling water into each of the cups and stirred them individually. "Let's see," she said, trying to find information in her mind that would be suitable for them, "They're all made from the DNA of humans which were found dead in the cave, however some were made with the DNA of different animals and insects." She glided over to the table that they were sitting at with the teas in her hands. "That DNA is then put into an egg cell, which isn't fertilised until it's put into a mass of some sort of super-charged compound. I don't know what the name of it is though." She dragged a chair from underneath the table and sat herself down on it. "The ones made with human DNA form into a humanoid shape, and the ones made with animal DNA form into the shape of the animal the DNA was taken from. However, if it's animal DNA, they will still have human characteristics and facial features, they'll just be shaped differently."
"So we might have to fight a giant spider?" Sheri questioned, already showing panic in her face.
"There weren't any spiders the last time I was there, but there was a wasp. Her name was Apocrita, or something along those lines." Sheri and Theo shifted their eyes to each other in fear, and then looked back at Rachael. "It's alright though," she assured them, "She probably won't be able to use her stinger against you. Since it's big, it probably wouldn't be able to pierce your skin." She casually took a sip of her tea as they all stared at her in shock.
"Wait, hold on," Lana brought the conversation to a hault, "What do you mean by 'the last time you were there'? And how do you know about their plans? Also, how do you even know about them?"
Rachael paused. If she gave everything away, what would they think of her? "Well, uhh..." Finally, she sighed, and let go of some of the truth. "I can't tell you exactly how I know they exist, I don't think you're ready for that yet. All I can say is that I worked around that area for a while. But I can tell you that I'm friends with one of them."
They stared at her in awe, finding it hard to absorb what she had just said.
"Her name is Nuntius. She was made as a messenger. I can't exactly tell you what messengers do yet, but she's good. I promise. That's why she told me about what they're going to do. Because she knew about you two." Her attention was diverted towards Cliff and Lana at this moment.
"But what makes us so important?" Cliff was curious to find out the answer to this question, however it was turned down once again.
"I'm sorry," she replied, "As I said before, I can't tell you everything." She paused to take a sip of her tea, then spoke again. "You'll know in good time, though."