Jesse pulled out the amulet, everyone looking at her as she did so. The red and green gems were glowing, but suddenly the glow faded. "Oh... huh." And she frowned at the amulet.
Lukas stepped forward, taking ahold of the amulet and trying to tug it away. "Here, let me have a look."
Jesse's fingers tightened on it. Gabriel had trusted her with it. She couldn't- she wouldn't- screw that up too.
Lukas tried to tug harder, but Jesse tugged back, and soon the two of them were engaged in a full-blown game of tug-of-war.
"Maybe you're just holding it wrong," grunted Lukas, trying to yank it away. "Or maybe-" more sounds of exertion- "you just have to jiggle it a bit."
"Do you mind?"
"I just wanna see it."
"You can see it without touching."
"Not if you can't get it to work."
Jesse opened her mouth to respond, before the thought struck her how ridiculous this was. She and Lukas had played tug of war a couple times as kids, but they'd quit the activity because they didn't honestly have any interest in it. Now they were re-engaging in it.
She started giggling at this. Lukas blinked at her in confusion before he started to titter, and then the two of them were having a giggle fit, the amulet clattering to the floor as they both let go, laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
Axel looked at Olivia. Olivia shrugged.
The two of them stopped giggling after a minute, letting out little sighs, before Jesse's eyes widened and the smile dropped into an 'o'. "Whoa!"
The white gem was glowing brightly.
"Soren!" all five of the hybrids chorused, Reuben squealing as well.
"Find him Jesse," Petra said, looking up at the dark-haired girl, "maybe he can help us."
Jesse stooped to retrieve the amulet, before holding it out and watching the glow. It grew brighter... brighter...
"He must be below us," Jesse hummed thoughtfully as the amulet clinked against the floor gently.
"Who knows how far down this goes?" Lukas wondered, frowning, "we might end up digging until we hit bedrock or something. Guys, we're not really equipped for this."
Jesse twisted her lips together and shrugged. "Well... we might not be equipped for it, but it's the only idea we've got. Unless anyone has any other bright ideas?" she smiled a little to show she meant no harm.
"Jesse's talking to you, Lukas," Olivia teased the blonde.
Lukas frowned. "I know, I-I just need a-"
"Boom!" and Axel punched the floor, leaving a small hole.
Jesse shrugged as she pocketed the amulet again. "Well, let's get to it, then!" And the five of them started digging, until it was just Jesse digging deeper and deeper into the floor, leaving a mock staircase behind her, before reaching a dark tunnel.
Jesse raised the amulet as she hopped into the tunnel.
"Are we cool?" Axel called down.
Jesse waved the amulet around. "Looks... pretty good, I think. Dark, but other than that, nothing too bad."
"Heading down, then," Olivia called, starting down the staircase Jesse had built, "don't look up! I gotta work up the nerve..."
A squeak from right behind her, and Jesse stiffened. "Wait..."
"You tell me that now?!" Olivia squeaked down to her friend.
Jesse swivelled on her heel, and let out a little yelp as a huge swarm of bats, which got startled by the light of the amulet, fluttered around in a swarm. Jesse batted at them, cringing as furry bodies and leather wings swatted her cheeks. "Bats!" she screeched, startled, batting them away with the amulet and her hands. The bats finally got past her and flew away, Jesse shivering nervously. "Um... okay, safe now!"
Lukas landed on the ground carefully, on all fours, Olivia bleeped into sight, and Axel free-fell right onto Lukas, who was practically flattened by the boy.
Reuben nudged Jesse's leg, as Petra hovered down, very unsteadily, and nearly faceplanted upon landing.
Jesse's eyes immediately filled with concern. "Everyone okay?" she asked, walking over to her friend.
"I slipped." Jesse frowned at Petra and arched her eyebrow, but Petra didn't say anything else. As Jesse turned away, she spotted Lukas staring at Jesse, then Petra worriedly, as if Jesse was going to call it out.
Jesse shook her head as imperceptibly as she could. "Later," she mouthed, and Lukas nodded in understanding.
"What's that smell?" Olivia wondered, making a face. Jesse had never known that Enderman eyes could wrinkle the way Olivia's did.
"Just... breathe through your mouth," Petra said, making a little face herself.
"Axel already does that," Lukas said, gesturing at Axel using his head.
Axel glared at the ocelot hybrid. "Hey..."
"Let's just get outta here," Jesse said, shaking her head with amusement as the two boys glowered at each other.
Continuing on through the tunnel, Jesse let Reuben walk right next to her as she held the amulet out. "Stay close, boy."
They reached the end of the tunnel, and Jesse stepped over to the edge carefully, looking around. There were thousands of other tunnels, below and above them, dyed wool decorating them and about ninety-nine percent of them connected by dyed wool staircases. Far below them, so far that Jesse had to squint to see it properly, was some sort of machine that was smashing together every few seconds.
Jesse slipped the amulet back into her pocket, the walls lined with torches. Lukas let out a gasp as they reached the edge as well.
Olivia said something that the smashing machine drowned out.
"What?" yelled Lukas in return, his ears pricking up as he strained to hear her better.
Olivia started retreating from the edge. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted back, over the machine's smashing together.
Axel frowned at his friend, who was really getting tall now- seriously, she was almost as tall as Axel, and Olivia had never been the tallest person. "We just got here!" he protested.
"You don't understand!" Olivia cried out, as one of the tunnels spat out a wave of water, taking several skeletons with it. The skeletons fell into the machine far below, which slammed together and made them explode into pieces, leaving bones and arrows behind and falling into... whatever was beyond it.
"This is a grinder!"
A/N: Annnd the grinder chapter is the next one. Yasss (fist pumps) I'm on fire! Over 30 chapters in less than a month! (dances around) And we're already on Episode 3!
Still can't access the stupid reviews section though.
x.X. A.L. X.x
