The Legend Of The Six

Chapter 3

Ugh. Who keeps groaning? Oh wait, that's me. Whoops. I open my eyes, blinking them rapidly and trying to figure out what's happening. It all comes rushing back to me. The lever. The fall. Ouch. I sit up quickly, my heart pounding inside my chest. I get up and dust myself off. Then I notice Rowan and Jack on my left side and almost have a heart attack.

"Guys, wake up!" I whisper-yell, shaking them. The both moan, and Rowan's eyelids flutter open. I keep shaking them till they're wide awake. I look to my right. Penelope and Nick are there. In front of me is Claire.

"You two get them awake." I whisper to Rowan and Jack, pointing at Nick and Penelope. I start shaking Claire awake.

Once everybody's conscious again, I look around and take in our surroundings. Behind me is solid rock. It seems we're in a cavern of some kind. Ahead of me is a hallway. At least it's not pitch black. Torches line the sides of the walls like in the action movies, and the hallway is pretty long. As I peer down the tunnel, I notice it leads into an open space. A room maybe. I can't decide if that's good or bad.

"You just had to pull the lever," Claire says to Penelope.

"Hey! Scientific curiosity!" Penelope tells her.

"So....are we gonna go down the creepy hallway?" Rowan asks.

"It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice," I say. "I can't see any other way out."

"Well, let's get on with it then," Penelope says cheerfully, skipping ahead.

"Scientific curiosity," I mutter, chasing after her. She's almost to the end of the hallway when I catch her. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Stop for a second," I say. We wait for the others to get here. When they all arrive I ask them, "So all of you are sure about going in the super creepy dungeon vibe room?"

"Wow, creative," Claire tells me. 

"I think we can all agree that we can't ignore this," Rowan says, looking at the others. They all nod. I shrug at them.

"Okay. Whatever," I say flippantly.

"How can you just 'whatever' this?" asks Rowan.

"Well, you see the trick is.....I don't care."

"You just got roasted," Claire informs Rowan, patting his shoulder. He smiles at me.

"That was pretty good," he says.

"Stop looking at me like that. You should be mad," I say, bewildered.

"Well, you see the trick is....its hot when a girl is fierce," Nick says. I narrow my eyes at him and nod at Claire subtly. She nods back, then elbows Nick in the ribs.

"Why did you do that?" Nick asks her.

"I don't need a reason," she replies, smiling sweetly as he clutches his stomach.

"And do you really need to ask?" Penelope adds.

"Seriously dude," Rowan says.

"Yeah, even I know not to say that to a girl," Jack agrees.

"Ok, let's just get this over with," I say, stepping inside before they can respond.

"Whoa," I whisper. Nothing else seems fit to say. The room is huge, and the ceiling is pretty high up. The cavern is still all rock, but it's shaped into a giant circle. There's a spiral staircase leading to a huge circular table made out of the same type of rock as everything else. There are six chairs, so six places at the table. I walk up the stairs and reach the large table. It has a swirl pattern on it. Uh oh. In the center of the table is a fat, ancient-looking book. Wait.....that's my book! I hear the others finally come in behind me. They react just about the same way I did. 

A small rock wall surrounds the chairs, excluding the stairway entrance. It acts as a sort of railing to keep us from falling. I look down from where I am. It's not that high up. I notice a door on the opposite side of the room. The others climb the staircase and come to stand by me.

"I think it's time for you to tell us what you know," Rowan says.