"There are only nine pentagons you can step on that won't break under your weight," Derek warned.
Cassie gasped. "I am not fat."
"But you weigh more than fifty pounds and that is the max these rocks can hold." Derek pointed at the tiles. "Regardless, if you step on the wrong tile, you'll fall to your death. I'm here to help you." He rubs his hands together like Mr. Miyagi. "Let's get started, shall we?"
He leaps across the tiles, landing on all and making it to the other side. He turns and faces her with a half-hearted smile. "Easy."
Cassie looked at the tiles, desperate to remember which tiles he stepped on. "What was the pattern?"
"If it helps you, think of a keyboard."
"A keyboard?"
"The first three letters directly in front of you are M, L, and P, from left to right. The pattern is M, B, H, T, E, A. Picture the letters on the tiles and use that as a map."
"M, B, H, T, E, A?"
"Yes."
Cassie took a deep breath and looked down at the tiles, her heart pounding in her chest.
M, B, H, T, E, A was the pattern, Cassie thought. M, B, H, T, E, A.
She feels her feet swim with nervousness in her shoes and she flexes her toes subconsciously. She was questioning herself if this could be the opposite end but she remembered the path she took in her visions with such astonishing detail.
She looked down in her notebook and saw a drawing of a keyboard.
I remember, her eyes beam, I was drawing a keyboard on the way to the warehouse where Bethany was taken. I wrote down the letters and a keyboard.
She holds up the journal close to her face that her nose was nearly touching before looking down at the tiles. To test to make sure everything was correct, she pressed her foot on the tile that would be letter L, putting the bare minimum of weight on the tile before it gave way. She snatched her foot back before it could fall through and sighed with relief.
"Thank you, Shaman Derek," she whispered.
Cassie runs for it, hopping onto the tile she mentally marked as M. Instead of waiting for confirmation, she jumped to the B tile before hopping like a frog to the H tile. She catches her composure before leaping to the T tile and without putting her foot down, jumps and plans on the E tile. She jumps off with both feet and lands square on the A tile.
Cassie's eyes widened and a laugh escaped her throat.
Cassie turned to look back at the hostages and hostage-takers with a smug smirk. She had replicated every step she took in her vision without looking at the keyboard for assistance and a sense of power she hadn't felt since she was trapped in this hopeless situation found her.
"Your turn," Cassie with smugly. "M, B, H, T, E, A."
In spite of the gun barrel being jammed in the back of his skull, Derek smiled.
Burak and Leyla shook their heads. Burak took out a walkie-talkie and called for assistance.
"Hasan, bring the ladder."
Cassie's smugness disappeared.
Hasan and Arda escorted the Priest through the doorway with Hasan pulling off his pack and taking someone off. An adjustable ladder that stretched far enough to reach the other side.
"Such a primitive person," Burak mocked, "hopping around tiles when you could've asked for a ladder."
Cassie felt herself blush but didn't give them the satisfaction of turning around. "Well... it runs in the Drake family to climb and hop around like a monkey. My grandpa said my father was climbing the rails of his crib when he was a baby."
The soldiers crossed over the ladder bridge with Derek in tow, Arda staying behind to keep the Priest in check at arm's length.
Once the soldiers and Derek were across, they urged her to keep going.
Cassie complied and lead the way. As she followed the lanterns across the wall, she noticed that they began to lack in numbers the deeper she got into the boat. Remembering something from her vision, she stopped and turned her angle head flashlight down at the ground once more.
There weren't tiles but there was lighting shining from the ceiling. The light covered ten feet of ground with and nearly reaching from one wall to the next, leaving no more than two feet of room to shimmy against the walls.
"What trial is this?" Burak asked.
"A spotlight?" Derek touched his lips. "A test to see if you're a vampire?"
Cassie chuckled. "No, it's a trial. Trial by fire."
"Go on."
Cassie picked up a loose piece of wood and threw it into the spotlight. The light seemed to shine brighter and the piece of wood was set on fire instantly. Cassie jumped and tried reaching for the wooden piece to put the flames out before the floors opened and the fiery wood fell into an abyss before the floors closed again.
"Ah..." Leyla mused, "if you step in the spotlight, you get burned to a crisp."
"Got any shade and cover for me?" Cassie asked.
"That thing is hot enough to set a block of wood on fire, adapt."
Meanie.
Cassie backed away as Derek stopped her with his forearm. He pointed to the spotlight in the center of the room.
"As much as we both know you love the spotlight, I recommend staying out of it."
Cassie looked up to find where the light was coming from and saw a hole in the ceiling. "At the depth we're at, it would be impossible for random lighting to get through."
"That's not lighting." He tore off a stick of wood from the wall and threw it into the spotlight. It exploded with flames before the floors opened and fell into an abyss, the floors closing once more. "That's something that will burn you to a crisp and drop you into the pits of Hell." He did not miss the horrified look on her face. "Think you got what it takes?"
"How am I supposed to cross that?" She pointed to the shadows against the wall. "There's barely enough room for me to shimmy against the wall."
Derek shook his head. "Not recommended because when you press your back to the wall, the wall will push you off and into the spotlight. The only way to get through is timing."
"What are you talking about?" Her eyes widened as he comprehended what he was saying. She removed a wooden piece from the wall and threw it into the spotlight. She peels off two more pieces, throwing one to the ground while holding the other at arm's level. The result was the same but she had the answer she was looking for and discarded the flaming stick she was holding.
"It takes two seconds for the object in the light to combust, two more seconds for the floor to deploy, but the stick I was holding, I didn't put it in the spotlight until the first piece caught fire. It didn't catch fire until after the floors opened and disposed of the combusted object. Meaning..."
"You have three seconds to jump ten feet across the light before it sets you on fire."
Cassie pulled out her notes and looked over them. If this is what her vision told her then this test was about timing. She tore off two sticks to test her theory from the visions. The result was near identical.
I have three seconds to jump ten feet across. I can jump that far, somewhat. But I'll have to jump and make sure that I get my legs out of there in time. Piece of cake.
She peels off the third piece from the wall and walks back until she was standing beside Derek.
Burak and Leyla tensed up. "What are you doing, Drake?" Burak demanded.
She ignored him and threw the stick piece into the spotlight. Two seconds later, it combusted and she started sprinting.
The millisecond the floors opened to dispose of the flaming wood piece, she nosedived across the spotlight and landed on her stomach with her legs dangling over the opening. She quickly pulls herself forward and snatches her knees back just as the floors finished closing.
"Hahaha," she laughed as she picked herself up, dusting her kneecaps. "How do you like them apples, Overlord?"
"Not as much as we like these apples, Drake," Burak answered.
Hasan and Leyla held Derek at gunpoint as Burak began tearing into the floors of the boat. Cassie questioned his motives but he ignored her. He tore out a wooden piece in the shape of a square that was big enough to cover his head like a top hat. He holds it over the spotlight and smiles when it doesn't catch fire. He holds the wooden square above his head like a hat and walks across the spotlight without combusting into flames.
He addressed the shocked Cassie, "You're lowering my opinion on you, Drake? Didn't you have enough brain cells to figure out that the floor standing under the spotlight wasn't going up in flames and you could've torn a similar piece off without jumping teen feet across?"
Cassie growled. "If you're going to undermine my awesome ways of solving these puzzles, you can find Aaron's Rod yourself."
Leyla cocked her gun and shoved it into Derek's temple, making sure Cassie noticed.
She held a finger up. "On second thought, I think it's ingenious of you to find lazy ways to cheat death."
Burak walked back and escorted his wife, and hostage under his anti-combusting top hat and joined with Cassie on the other side. Hasan decided to stay behind to make sure the treasure hunters don't double back. Leyla held onto Derek's shoulders while Burak kick Cassie to walk forward.
"Looks like we're on equal footing once more," Cassie chuckled.
The last test was within range.
Cassie followed the path, the lanterns on the wall now absent with only her angle-head flashlight to help guide her. She follows the path until she stops at a wall.
A blank wall.
"Watch out with this one," Shaman Derek warned, "this is a dangerous test and if you don't answer it correctly, you could die."
Cassie huffed and said, "When has a test NOT tried to kill me and whatnot?"
"True I guess but this one is dangerous. You have to carve a symbol onto the wall in order to be let through."
"What symbol?" She narrowed her eyes before widening them. "Circle with a cross in the center with three lines dragged across the center horizontally?"
"Exactly," Derek beamed with a smile.
"What does this symbol mean and why is it so important?"
"It's a symbol that means refuge. Refuge for prized possessions or items that were too dangerous for human hands to touch. This is a test of knowledge. Take out a knife and carve that symbol onto the wall."
She took out her climbing piton. "Will this work?" He nodded.
She put the tip of the climbing piton to the wall and began carving.
Cassie turned to Burak and Leyla. "Do any of you guys have a knife?"
"Why are you asking?" Leyla eyed the young girl suspiciously.
"Because this next trial requires me to carve a symbol on the wall."
Burak moved forward and pushed Cassie aside. "We'll make it easy for ourselves."
He kicked at the wall. It didn't budge at first but there was a crevice beginning to form.
"Cassie, I cannot stress how important it is to open the door using this method."
"Why?"
As the crack began to spread and a foot-size hole grew from Burak's constant kicks, a faint hissing sound could be heard over the cracking. The hissing grew in volume and clear smoke began floating through the hole.
Poison gas, Cassie thought, thanks for warning me ahead of time, Shaman Derek.
A/N: Merry Christmas Eve