The Pegassian Order

12. Moonlight

Cara walked ahead of them and Elliot found herself filled with a dozen questions about the whereabouts of Galen and Duke, but she was too afraid of the outcome to even ask. Making it seem like he was psychic, Rafi offered up a concise explanation himself. Galen was dead, he had an accident that went badly and Duke had been taken. Elliot wanted to ask who took him, and when or even how it had happened. But she opted against it. Rafi wasn't too happy and to be fair, neither was she. This had turned into an awful situation. They were injured, hungry and tired and trapped in catacombs beneath the city which were rigged with deadly traps at every turn. Not to mention the cult that seemed to be lurking at the edges of their vision now and then.

There had been no sign of Chloe, but by Elliot's calculations, they had managed to solve most of the riddles representing key aspects of Medusa's journey within a day, so they must have been nearing the end, or the final stage… whatever that may be. She wasn't sure what it could mean yet, or what the final trial would be. But she intended on finding out and defeating it.

They hadn't resurfaced with Chloe's corpse, meaning they still had her somewhere down here away from the rest of the world.

‘Do you really think your sister will have survived all of this?’ Cara spoke loudly, her voice resonated through the catacombs. They had navigated their way through the maze, it was much easier when you could foresee the layout and weren't drugged up on whatever they were pumping into the contraption.

Still, Elliot was reluctant to speak as loudly as Cara, afraid they could alert the figures lurking around the catacombs and tombs, to their presence.

‘Yes.’ Elliot replied in a low voice.

‘What?’ Cara called back to her. She paused as Elliot gave her a look. Cara rolled her eyes and looked from Elliot to Rafi.

‘You realise they know we're here.’ She exclaimed with exasperation. ‘Who do you think was pumping all of that hallucinogenic gas into the maze? They wouldn't waste it on an empty maze.’ She pointed out. Rafi nodded.

‘She's right, Elliot. They must know we're here by now. How else would you explain my body being moved from one room to another?’

Elliot fell silent. She knew they were right, someone moved her and Cara too and tried to drown them in those vertical concrete coffins. Although, she was beginning to suspect the point of the challenges was to survive, alas Medusa herself had survived the monstrosities she was subjected too. This was all about surviving.

‘Woah.’ Cara's voice said in a tone that was softer than normal. Rafi and Elliot turned and looked up at whatever she was looking at. A spatter of dots lit up one half of the domed ceiling above them and the other half was allowing moonlight in.

‘Are those…’ Elliot trailed off in disbelief. Rafi stepped forward and stared at the beam of pearly moonlight.

‘Constellations.’ Rafi said. ‘Sequences of stars… but why?’

‘They must have a lunar thing going on… there’s been a series of small meteor showers all year round… Maybe it's a ritual.’

‘You mean, the murders are linked to the appearance of the meteor showers?’ Rafi asked.

‘It would make sense.’ Elliot said with a shrug, after all, there must have been some rhyme or reason to why they would wait before killing the women then returning the body to the surface.

‘I hope not…’ Cara said after a moment. Elliot saw the uneasy expression dash across her face.

‘Why?’ Elliot asked, her face was serious. She needed answers. Cara shook her head. She didn’t want to say and it filled Elliot with dread. Elliot stalked toward her.

‘Why, Cara?’ She demanded.

‘The next one is due tonight.’ Cara confessed.

‘When?’

‘A little after midnight.’ Cara revealed, flinching as she spoke. Her words blew chunks through Elliot's composure and she keeled over, crouching on the ground. She buried her head in her hands and took in a deep breath.

Rafi approached Elliot tentatively, crouching beside her he placed a hand gently at the base of her spine.

‘It's okay.’

Elliot leapt to her feet and put distance between them.

‘No it's not okay. How is this okay, Rafi?!’ She demanded. Cara watched on in silence. ‘Do you know what time it is? It's easily an hour from midnight and we have no idea, no clue of where to go next or what waits. And they know we’re here.’ She spewed. ‘They aren't gonna let us waltz in and free her and you can't free the dead!’ She shouted, not realising her voice had grown louder with every passing moment.

Her words hung in the air between them.

‘I shouldn't have said anything.’ Cara apologised in her roundabout way. Rafi shook his head reassuringly.

‘This isn't your fault. Or mine.’ His soft eyes turned to Elliot's. ‘Or yours.’

His words made her get up and walk away. She stalked across the vacuous chilly space and breathed deeply, sucking air into her lungs and setting it free. She needed to get a grip. She couldn't bare sympathy, it felt so patronising, so pathetic.

She needed to figure out what was next and she needed to do it soon. Every passing second hammered another nail into her sister's coffin, and possibly her own. Cara approached Elliot with a small hipflask in her hand. This one had the initial ‘CL’ across it. She offered it to Elliot, and Elliot could feel Rafi's eyes on her as she took it from the mysterious woman.

‘Helps me think.’ Cara said as Elliot unscrewed the lid and took a gulp. She trusted Cara, implicitly. Cara may have been a thief but the woman had not lied, judged or misled Elliot from the moment they had met. In fact, she had even saved Elliot's life. The drink had the sharp and clear taste of gin, as it refreshed her senses and loosened her nerves to the point where she could think clearly and not be so wracked by concern.

She looked at Rafi who quickly looked away. She no longer cared for the judgement he was passing. He may have wanted her to better herself, but right now wasn't the time or the place. Right now, she was whatever she was, and it was all she had to work with.

She put the lid onto the hipflask and tossed it back to Cara. Rafi walked toward the wall from which the moonlight was pouring in. He narrowed his eyes at the point where the dome met the walls.

‘It's a clock.’ He said. ‘It's timing something…it's been ticking since we entered.’ He said, suddenly re-examining the room. Cara, who was examining the walls turned to Elliot and nodded.

‘He's right. There's a ruler-like system along the edges.’

‘What's it counting down to?’ Elliot asked.

‘I don't think we want to find out.’ Cara said, turning to the engraved image of a giant serpent head in a hood.

‘Why does has the roof got teeth all of a sudden?’ Cara asked. Rafi and Elliot looked up to find small points protruding from the domed roof. Elliot jogged over to the four rectangular statues in the room, each of them had a cylinder shape inside, like that of a cone. She looked up.

‘Guys, get down!’

As the dome turned, it suddenly dropped down, clamping over the trio. The only thing stopping it from crushing them to death were the four cylinder statues.

‘Stay low!’ Elliot warned. Three openings appear at the edges of the wall. Elliot cowered forward, she could feel the points from the roof pressing deeper into her back as she crawled toward one opening.

‘Which way?’ Rafi asked.

‘Try one each.’ Cara instructed, who did a forward military crawl to avoid being impaled by the spikes overhead. She slowed as she caught something moving in the black space ahead of her. It glimmered.

‘Snake!’ Rafi cried and instinctively leapt. He cried out as the tip of a spike wedged into his shoulder. Elliot turned back and crawled over to Rafi. He was bleeding. She gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him free from the spike. He howled in agony.

‘I have a snake too!’ Cara warned them, as she doubled back the serpent slithered toward her. Its beady eyes were entrancing. ‘Guys, go, go!’ She called as she tried to catch up to them. The hissing was so loud, she could feel the snake whipping at her heels.

She followed Elliot and Rafi through the small opening and as soon as they could stand they began running down a long, dark corridor. After a while of running, Rafi slowed down. He struggled to draw air into his lungs and planted his hands on his knees for support. His shoulder sent waves of burning pain through his torso and down his left arm.

Elliot turned back, which made Cara pause.

‘We don't have time to stop.’ Cara warned.

Elliot looked at Rafi then back to Cara. She knew Cara was right but she couldn't leave Rafi behind, not now, when they had gotten so far.

‘You go.’

Cara held Elliot's gaze then looked at the endless dark tunnel ahead. She turned back to Elliot and squeezed her arm. ‘Good luck.’

‘I hope you find what you're looking for.’ Elliot said, a part of her wanted Cara to stay. Their odds of surviving were stronger together.

‘You too.’ Cara replied before sprinting into the darkness. Elliot walked over to Rafi, who had slumped onto the ground and leant his back against the wall to prop himself up. He panted, raising a hand to his shoulder to stop the blood loss. His hand was crimson and blood continued to pour anyway.

‘It's gone clean through.’ Elliot observed as she sat beside him.

‘Go. Time's running out.’ He said between pained, shaky breaths.

‘You once told me you hated the dark.’ Elliot said as she looked around them at the shadows. Rafi nodded through the agony.

‘It's not so bad. It's peaceful.’

‘I'm gonna stop you right there. If you think this will make abandoning me in this abyss easier, it won't.’ Rafi smiled sadly. ‘Just… go, Mara. For God's sake.’

Elliot frowned as her eyes searched his.

‘You're such an idiot.’ She griped. ‘I'm having a rest, then we're both continuing down this tunnel together.’ She looked at the wall ahead.

‘I'm not abandoning you. I don't do that.’ She concluded. Rafi scoffed.

‘Thank god for that.’

‘Thank him all you want, but it's my choice to stand by you and get us both through this alive.’ She retorted. He didn't argue. He simply nodded. She extended her hand and he took it. She pulled him up to his feet, then removed her shirt and wrapped it under his arm and around the top of his shoulder twice, then tightened it with all her might and knotted it. Rafi grunted.

‘There. That should stop the blood until we get out of here. If you feel light headed, just say and we'll stop.’ She told him. Rafi nodded. The pair walked through the tunnel. Elliot could no longer hear Cara's footsteps ahead. Either she had found a way out or something had happened. There was only one way to find out.

‘Elliot…’ Rafi's voice interrupted the silence filling the air. ‘I'm sorry.’

‘You should be.’ She replied in that matter-of-fact way she spoke when proving a point.

‘This is the moment you pick to say ‘I told you so'?’ Rafi grumbled.

‘No. This isn't it. I'm just saying, you should be sorry.’ She explained. ‘You did a jackass thing by abandoning me in that hospital.’

‘Oh, this was a bad idea. Just leave me behind.’ He muttered.

‘Actions have consequences.’ Elliot remarked and Rafi couldn't help but wear an exasperated smile on his lips as they navigated through the darkness.