Chapter 9: Belly of the Beast


I backed away from the teachers so I could talk to Cole and Jay in private. "We have to find Ouroboros," I said.

Jay and Cole looked at each other. "How?" Cole asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I want to find Nya too, but…" Jay trailed off.

I glowered at them. Failure was not an option. They couldn't meet my eyes. The silence stretched for several uncomfortable minutes. My hand clenched into a fist.

To my surprise, I heard the crumple of paper. I forgot that I was still holding on to Zane's message. I smoothed out the wrinkles and looked at the page. There had to be something I was missing. My eyes were drawn to the snake eating its tail. I know I had seen that somewhere else before. I had a feeling it wasn't that long ago either.

"Urrggg!" I growled out loud.

Jay jumped. "Don't scare me like that!" He scolded me.

I sighed. "Sorry. I'm just frustrated. I can't think of where I've seen this picture."

I showed the paper to Cole and Jay.

"Doesn't ring a bell," Cole said bluntly.

"Me neither," Jay said.

I sighed. So it was just me. Maybe it was in a book I'd read? No, I never read anything unless it was for class. Nya was always the one who read books. Where else had I been that the others hadn't?

"Kai," Cole said, shaking me out of my thoughts. "We should really get to class. We'll talk later."

"Alright," I finally relented. "Let's met at the library after classes. We'll search the whole school if we have to."

My friends nodded and we went to our separate classes. Mistaké didn't mark us late, which was nice. I hoped Cole's teacher did the same. I couldn't concentrate on potions though. All I could think about was Nya and that snake.

Word got around about the message on the wall. Panic spread through the student body. So much so, that the teachers were forced to cancel the rest of classes. Soon, I found myself being bounced around with a hoard of students all rushing to get to their dormitories.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the door to the fire common room was in sight. At last, I was going to be safe from this crazy crowd. If I had a choice between the Great Devourer and the hoard, I would pick the snake. Right as I got to the door, I noticed a painting. I normally never paid attention to the artwork in the hallways. My first year, it was cool because the photographs moved, but I got used to it after a while.

This painting didn't even move. It just sat there by the boy's bathroom. The painting was simple, just a picture of a snake in a circle about to swallow its tail. Now, something clicked in my brain. That's where I had seen the image on the paper. The others wouldn't have seen it because students weren't allowed to go by the other houses' dormitories. It all made sense now. Ouroboros must have something with the Fire House.

Hope rose in my chest. I needed to tell the others. I wondered if they would still meet me at the library. It was technically after classes. I wasn't sure, so I sent them an owl just in case. I nearly sent one to Zane, before I realized that he couldn't come. My heart sunk. It wasn't going to be the same without him. But I shook off the feeling and put my pen away. I hurried down to the library and waited by the entrance for the others to arrive.

Jay came first, panting heavily. His scarf was ruffled and his clothes looked battered. I guessed that happened during the mad rush.

"Did you find out were Nya is?" he asked eagerly.

"I think so," I replied.

Cole arrived shortly afterwards. Now that everyone was here, I told them what I had discovered. Cole didn't look that impressed.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We find the entrance to Ouroboros and save Nya," I said simply. How hard was it?

"With that giant snake?" Jay asked nervously.

"Come on, guys," I groaned. "If we can take on the Overlord, we can handle a snake."

The others stared doubtfully back at me. Anger boiled up in my chest. "Fine!" I snapped. "I'll save Nya myself."

Cole followed me with his eyes while Jay reached his hand out to stop me. "Wait," he said. "What I mean is, we can't just go out there and face that monster without a plan."

I sighed. Jay was probably right, but my sister needed me. "We'll come up with a plan on the way. Come on."

They followed me to the painting by the bathroom.

"Do you think the entrance is in the Fire Dorm?" Cole asked.

I shook my head. "Someone would have found it by now in there."

"What about in there?" Jay suggested. I followed his gaze to the rusty old bathroom that was probably as old as the school itself. No one went there if they could help it, especially since all the dorms came with a bathroom.

"It's worth checking out," I replied. I pushed open the door and went inside. Dust coated the floor and the paint was peeling from the stalls. At once I knew we were in the right place. On one of the sink handles was a snake. I walked over and got ready to pull the lever.

"Kai! It could be a trap," Jay warned.

I glared at him. Now was not the time for that. I left him to fidget nervously with his scarf and pulled the handle anyways. The sound of metal scraping metal echoed through the bathroom.

The sink began to lower into the ground, revealing a dark, grimy hole shaped like a snake's head. Inside, I could see a slide leading down into the belly of the beast. It reeked. Bile crept in my throat. I thought about Nya and swallowed it back down.

"Here we go," I muttered to no one in particular.

I put my hands on the sides of the hole. Thick, sticky grime coated my fingers. Yuck! I quickly snatched my hands back and rubbed them on my kimono. I stepped in the hole instead and carefully set my self down. For Nya, I thought.

Immediately, I began to slide down into the darkness. Wind rushed in my ears. My stomach gurgled and dropped, while a scream was torn from my throat. I couldn't see anything. At last the ride came to a halt. I stumbled and fell on my hands and knees. That was awful.

At last, I recovered my wits and stood up. There was an ominous green light coming from the stones, allowing me to get a feeling for my surroundings. It looked as old and disgusting as the bathroom above. The room was also full of cracks.

I heard a guttural scream and a high-pitched shriek. I smiled. At least I wasn't going to be alone down here. As they came down, I noticed dust was coming from the ceiling. I cringed. It didn't look like this place was stable. Cole landed on him stomach and Jay landed on top of him.

"Get off!" Cole shouted. The ceiling shook and dust fell like rain.

"Alright already!" Jay yelled back. "No need to get so upset." Small stones hit my shoulder. I glanced up at the ceiling. The cracks had grown into fissures, dark and ominous, looming like clouds over our heads.

"Guys," I warned.

"Well, you were squishing me!" Cole grumbled loudly. He stomped up to his feet and glared at Jay.

Jay glared back. "I couldn't help it!"

Cole opened his mouth, when the ceiling audibly rumbled. Massive chunks of rock were crumbling around us.

"Look out!" I shouted.

I jumped into a stable corridor while Jay and Cole backed up to the cover of the slide. The ceiling kept on falling, stirring up dust that burned my eyes and coated my nose and throat. I covered my face and coughed and coughed until at last there was no more dust to cough up.

At last, the horrible crashing noise stopped. I opened my eyes and saw a massive wall of rock had formed between the room we left and the place I was at. I didn't see my friends anywhere. I ran up to the wall.

"Guys! Guys, are you okay?" I called.

I pressed my ears up to the rock.

"We're here, Kai," Jay replied. His voice sounded small and muffled.

"I'm going to use my earth power to get us out of here," Cole yelled.

I backed away from the wall and let him do his thing. I heard a blast, and a small hole opened up, but more rock took its place so I couldn't tell the difference from before. This could take time. Time that Nya didn't have.

"I'm going to go ahead and look for my sister," I told the others.

"We'll catch up in a bit," Cole replied.

I ran down the corridor until I ran out of breath. This tunnel was long. I slowed to a brisk walk. The walls had a slimy, green glow about them that made my skin crawl. I needed to get Nya and get out of here. I could hear the trickle of water up ahead.

The corridor opened up into a large circular room. There was snake statue with four blades for the top and bottom fangs. There was lime green, luminescent water pouring out of its mouth into a fountain making a spiral green pattern on the floor.

At the center of the spiral was Nya. I gasped and sprinted toward her. I slid through the water by my sister's side. Her body was lifeless and her skin was dull and grey. I touched her forehead. She was stone cold.

I started muttering to myself. "No, no, NO!" I started shaking Nya, gently at first, then faster and harder. "Wake up!" I called desperately.

She wasn't moving. She wasn't even breathing. I checked for pulse, but I couldn't feel one. No. It couldn't be. I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it. I pumped her chest, pinched her nose, and breathed into her lungs.

"Come on, Nya," I pleaded. "Don't leave me." I sniffed and kept pushing on her chest and breathing into her mouth. I couldn't give up. "Don't leave me," I repeated softly.

"She can't hear you," a strangely familiar voice stated matter-of-factly.

I turned toward the voice and saw a dark, dragon like shape leaning against the wall. He smirked at me.

"That's right, Kai. It's me. The Overlord."

I gasped. It couldn't be. We defeated him last year. We destroyed the clock. I was sure of it. What kind of…thing was he?

He gave me a toothy grin and spread his arms wide. "What? You didn't really think you could get rid of me that easily?"


AN: The Overlord has returned! Please leave a review and let me know how you like this! Thanks!