Trines

Trines (13)

Chapter 13

Only the first few meters into the cave was encased by darkness. Once they had taken a few steps, the path lightened. When Ava’s eyes adjusted to the new light, she could see the torches that hung from the mountain walls. The inside walls were sharp and pointed, unlike the smooth outside wall.

“A Dark Shadows spell,” Aaron muttered in admiration.

“A what?” Ava repeated, eying her brother with wariness.

“A Dark Shadows spell. It may seem like a pretty easy spell, but it’s quite the complicated ritual and you have to use dark magic,” Aaron explained briefly.

Ava looked at him even more uncertainty. Why would he admire something that needed dark magic to work?

Aaron seemed oblivious as he walked past Ava. The path had widened out after the first few feet. They could easily walk side-by-side in here now. Ava ran to catch up with him, grabbing his arm from stopping him from wandering aimlessly. They needed to know exactly the route they took in to get out, and she didn’t want them to rely on her alone.

“Focus, Aaron,” she told him sharply.

Aaron snapped back to the present, staring at her weirdly for a short moment. Then he seemed to snap completely out of it.

“Right,” he agreed.

They continued to walk up the straight path until it curved in two different directions.

“Right,” they said in unison.

Doing as they said, they walked to the right. The light seemed dimmer once they rounded the corner. The path widened even more now, leaving two feet between each of the siblings and the walls.

“What are we even looking for?” Ava asked quietly, keeping an eye out in every direction.

“How am I supposed to know? Do you think I hang out with evil creatures as a regular past-time?” he snapped defensively.

“No,” Ava replied just as harshly. “But you’re the more experienced warlock here. You should know more about this stuff then I do.”

“Dad thought all this stuff to you too,” Aaron muttered sourly.

“Yeah, but you actually paid attention when he did it.”

Aaron grumbled a few choice words under his breath.

“This was your plan,” he said at last. “I don’t know what you want to find out by spying.”

“Maybe so, but it’s still you who should know what evil looks like,” Ava replied.

“But I’m not the one who can read energies in the air,” he muttered bitterly.

“Oh just shut up, Aaron,” Ava snapped back.

And he did.

****

When the light shone through the darkness, Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief. She hated the darkness, especially when it was in a small, tight place. Now, she felt she could breathe properly. Drew escaped the darkness right behind her.

“That’s weird,” Drew said, turning around to stare at the dark.

“Yeah,” Jennifer agreed, though she continued to walk forward instead of lingering to look behind them.

“What do you think caused this?” Drew didn’t move from his spot at the edge of the shadows.

“Magic,” Jennifer muttered, though by the “what?” that followed her reply, Drew hadn’t heard what she said.