The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 4: The Pendant of Light

Chapter 20: The Fox and the Hellhound

Chapter 20

     Rain Fox stood in an empty, windowless room that was dimly lit only by a lantern in the very center. The barren walls were made of concrete. There were puddles of water throughout the room. There was no scent, no smell in the room that she could sense. She had her wand, the Pendant of Death, and nothing else. She reached for her blades but they were not in her hands. The Pendant of Death gave a faint blue glow which lit her face and the immediate area around her. She took a few timid steps around the room.

     “Where am I?” she asked. She looked around and wondered how she had got there. She remembered the dragon attacking the boat. She remembered the others struggling to stave off the dragon’s destruction of the boat. She looked at her hands and remembered her blades not having any effect on the dragon’s scales.

     “Fire,” she said quietly. She remembered the flames about to scorch her sister. “What happened to us?” she wondered.

     She stepped towards the lantern and poked at it. It flickered a little at her touch; it was an old gas lamp. She tried to smell the gas from the lantern but she could not distinguish any scent from it. She reached up and tried to put her finger to the flame of the lantern. The closer she put her finger to the lantern, the hotter the air became around it. “I could feel,” she said, “I just can’t smell anything. Strange.”

     She stepped away from the lantern and jogged to the concrete wall behind her. She put her hands to the wall and felt it. It was cold, almost icy to the touch. She felt along the wall, heading to her left. She continued along the wall until she came to a lip in the wall. The lip went up from the floor six feet, then across six feet, then back to the floor. She took out her wand and tapped the wall with it. The lip lit up eerily. She pushed on the wall and it opened up, swinging out like a door. She stepped through it and gasped.

     It wasn’t the Hall of Mirrors as she had expected. It was a room, though, that she was familiar with.

     “Good heavens,” she whispered to herself. The room looked like an amphitheater in the round. It was large, with huge stone walls and a rock floor. In the center of the room was the Veiled Archway. She had seen it in her nightmares since that day in the Ministry. But this time, the Veiled Archway wasn’t alone as it stood on the raised dais. Around the Archway, in a circle around it, were Cheval mirrors. Each was made with cherry oak with gold trim along the mirror’s edges. Each stood tall and straight, with carved legs that looked like wolf’s paws. There was a circle of mirrors around the Veiled Archway, then another circle of mirrors. Hundreds of mirrors circled the Veiled Archway, radiating in larger, longer circles in rows from the center. The whole room, aside from the Veiled Archway, was lined with mirrors all radiating in circles, each identical to each other.

     Rain Fox stepped towards the Veiled Archway. She made her way by the mirrors, row by row. The mirrors were beautiful and creepy at the same time. She stopped at one and looked at it. To her surprise she did not see her reflection. She saw nothing in the mirror at all. There was no reflection of the room or its contents, either.

     Rain Fox scratched her head. She then turned back towards the Veiled Archway and walked to it. As she neared it she could hear voices from within. The voices spoke louder and louder as she neared it. She could not discern what the voices said, but it sent chills up her spine with each step closer.

     Then she heard a name that made her stop.

     “Rain Fox,” the voice said.

     She stopped. She stared at the Veiled Archway and shuddered. The voice was low, creepy, and sounded dripping and scary.