The Gifted

Chapter Twelve: James

"You only think you know me, Flint."  With one last smile, I let myself fall into the darkness.

The instant I tipped my weight backward I felt my heart drop.  The air whipped past me as I watched the light from the torch quickly grow out of sight.  I couldn't see anything.  My mind flashed through different scenarios of hitting sharp rocks. 

This was insanity.  

Suddenly, I fell into something stretchy that seemed to fall with me.  The air around me started to still as whatever I was in made me slow down. I guess whatever was wrapping around me came to the end of its tether because I was suddenly jerked to a stop. 

Relief flooded through me.  It's so dark I questioned if my eyes were even open, but at least I wouldn't be falling to my death.  My hands gripped the thing curved around me, trying to find the end of it.  It felt rough, like thick rope, and had large gaps in it.  Was I in a net?

Iron screeched as I heard a door open and I stopped struggling with the net.  "Well, you're not who we were expecting.  Are you going to get down or do I need to come up there?", a rough voice asked, not all too politely.

I looked down, there were three men towards the edge of the net that was hanging a few feet off the ground.  Being mindful of the gaps, I crawled to the edge and lowered myself to the ground that was pure blackness moments ago.

Two of the men went over to a system of pulleys I hadn't noticed before, while the third came up and grabbed me by the arm.  He pulled me to the side and went to work patting me down for weapons.  He looked at my necklace filled with water and gave me a questioning look. I shrugged, "a good luck charm."  The man looked as if I was insane but let the necklace fall back in place against my chest. 

I looked at the two other men who were now pulling on one of the ropes, the action hoisting the net back up, readying it for the next jumper.  Soon there was a shout of excitement from above and all of us looked up as a falling Enoch came crashing into the net.  One of the men cursed as the rope he had been holding slid out of his hands.  The net came back down to meet us, a grinning Enoch in its center.  

"Oi! Hasn't anyone told you, you have to give us time to get the net back in place?  A few moments earlier and you would not have had such a graceful landing."  The man next to me crossed his arms, looking at Enoch in a way when an adult scolds a child.

Enoch made his way out of the net, over to us, and gave the man a sheepish grin.  The two men at the pulleys were giving him annoyed looks but started pulling the net up once again.  Three jumps later and some more annoyed glances from the men at the ropes, we had all gotten down safely.  

Flint looked over at me and smiled, "fun right?"

I laughed, "Enoch certainly enjoyed himself."

"Eliot", Flint greeted the older man that seemed to be in charge of the system and grasped his hand.  He leaned in, not quite whispering, "he jumped too early again, didn't he?"

The man flung his arms in the air as if giving up on the matter. "Mark my words, it won't be the King's soldiers that kill the young man, it'll be the damned rocks in his own home." 

Enoch yelped as Flint smacked him on the back of the head. The boy immediately started rubbing the spot with a hand.

"Well, that's taken care of.  Are we ready to move on?", Flint was asking everyone but went through the open door before receiving an answer.  Torches lined the hallway, blocking out any signs of darkness.  It was vastly different than the mine's tunnels.  For one, it was perfectly carved from the interior of the mountain.  The edges weren't rough, but smooth.  I felt more as if I was in a stone building than underground.