Ancient Rituals

The Map Chapter Three

The Map

          Ronnie carried the old papers to the table, as Cassandra put all the books that they’ve found in a pile on the floor so they would be out of the way. They weren’t so much in a rush as they were excited. They’d found something big, they would be going on an adventure.

          He spread out the biggest piece of paper, which was old, yellowed parchment and as Cassandra got back, both the girls made their way to the table to stand by Ronnie so he was in the middle, Thea on the left, Cassandra on the right. The three of them were the perfect trio.

          Thea set the smaller papers on a chair for later, and leaning with her hands holding onto the table she broke the silence, with her eyes scanning. “Oh my…” Her mouth was hanging open with her eyes full of surprise.

          What they had stumbled upon was a map to a tomb, a well-drawn sketch. There were words were written in a different language... nonsense words. Also there were other words, written in Latin. “Obviously whoever wrote it like this had to do it because they knew someone was after them,” Ronnie said to Cass.

          She nodded and kept roaming with her eyes around the map. “Or, we could be dealing with the possibility that this thing isn’t human.”

          Thea coughed and looked over at her. “You’re really thinking like me now. I’m surprised.” Thea gave a half smile, and she saw Cassandra look back and give the smile back out of habit.

            In the sketch the door was open and you obviously couldn’t see any farther, since it was just a drawing and not a real picture, so they decided to move on and research the languages, and the map, later.

          Ronnie folded up the map and put it in his biggest pocket of his leather jacket, following the girls over as they picked up the small stack of Polaroid photos. He sat down in a chair, crossing his arms on the table and putting his head down in the hole his arms made, resting his eyes. Cassandra flipped through them, Thea saying each object to Ronnie as it went to the back.

          “They’ve got Polaroid photos of a black iron gate, looks pretty creepy… I could imagine dead bodies hanging on it, being decayed and all...” she shuddered. “Anyway… They’ve got a picture of the whole cemetery from an aerial view and several other views as well, and a picture of the name on an arch, Shadow Ash Cemetery.”

          Cassandra turned the last one over and it the photo of the tomb, grey bricks stacked on top of one another, a wooden door open so you could see the entrance and the ground underneath.

          The three of them at the same time peered in closer to look at the more detailed picture, seeing that the grave went underground farther than it should.

          Ronnie pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time. It was now 4 a.m. “Hey guys, we should probably go… we can’t just run off. That would require sneaking past our parents, which I can’t,” He turned to Thea. “You know I can’t,” his eyes were pleading her.

          Cassandra looked over at Ronnie, felt sympathy for him again. “Oh, your parents weren’t home when she told you were they…?”

          He shook his head, now staring at the floor with a grim expression. He put his phone away, adjusted his jacket around his figure and said “We should get some rest for tomorrow; it’s the weekend, then I’ll meet you guys with my motorcycle. How does that sound?”

          Thea grinned, and that brightened Ronnie’s face and turned up his lips slightly. “Sounds great!”

          “I’ll bring my car since Thea is more of a motorcycle person, and, well, it’s more of a two person ride, obviously,” Cass replied.