Carrie's hearing was filled with echoes. Voices seemed to be speaking aloud and yet they were very quiet. For several moments Carrie tried to focus on the seemingly distant voices but only one voice managed to become clear.
"Carrie. Wake up, Carrie!"
Carrie opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of Henry's helmet. Carrie sat up weakly. "Are you alright?" Henry asked her. "Fine," she said.
"Are you sure? The whole time while you were asleep you were trembling as though you were very cold. And now that I look at you, you seem very pale."
Carrie felt that she was still trembling, and could not understand why. That was not true, she did know why. It dawned on her only moments before the vampires had snatched her. "I've lost it," she said simply.
Henry looked at her for a moment. Through the visor that went across his helmet she could see that he was staring into her eyes. "I don't have the power anymore," she continued. "All of the sudden we were surrounded by those vampires and I lost it. I couldn't do it anymore." Carrie tried to hold back her tears. "And then I was so afraid…" she finally said as a few drops rolled down her cheeks. Henry held her in his arms for a moment before looking at her again.
"Listen to me Carrie, powers or no powers you have not lost anything. You have your life and your resolve. When Reinhardt and I found you, you were more dedicated than us to go into this castle and destroy Dracula. That has not changed, I promise. We all have fear in us. The challenge is to conquer that fear. You cannot destroy it. Do you think me fearless? No, I was also afraid of all of those surrounding vampires, as I am also afraid of what possible danger lay ahead of us in this place. But I have learned to accept that fear and put it behind me where it can do me no harm. You will learn this as well. I promise you. Powers or no powers we will get through this. Now just follow me and we will fight together using whatever we have on us. Remember that Reinhardt and I were planning on surviving this even before you came along."
Carrie smiled. Henry then handed her a spare knife that he had. Carrie was not exactly experienced with using a knife but it made her feel better now that she had something to protect herself with.
Henry and Carrie were in some kind of underground labyrinth. They walked through the hallways in which they had landed for quite a distance. The halls twisted and turned. Each one was identical to the one before. One constant was the hundreds of candle lit lamps that hung from the ceiling. Finally Carrie and Henry reached an intersection. They had two halls to choose from.
"Well?" Carrie asked. "Which do you think?"
"I think, a sign saying 'this way to certain death' might help to eliminate some possibilities. But in the absence of such helpful hints, I say lets try through the left."
"Why?"
"I write with my left."
Henry then began to walk towards the left tunnel. As he approached the mouth of the tunnel the ground beneath tem began to tremble. Carrie turned around slowly and almost screamed as she saw that the floor of the tunnel they had just been coming through was now crumbling beneath itself. Carrie then darted for the right passage way.
"I hate it when I do that." Henry said to himself before he darted for the opposite passage as well. He quickly caught up with Carrie and both of them were running side-by-side. The crumbling floor was like a wave only a few feet away from overtaking them and sending them to lie below these tunnels. Henry and Carrie focused their vision forward and soon the sight of light at the end of the tunnel greeted them. Both made an increased effort to try and reach whatever lay ahead before the crumbling floor reached them.
Carrie who was much smaller and had better control of her self managed to stop running after exiting the tunnel. Henry, on the other hand, was much larger and had developed much more momentum than Carrie and could not stop himself in time. Henry was surprised to find that the tunnel did not open up into a large room of some kind but rather to a small ledge. Henry went over the ledge. His whole body suddenly felt cold as though he had fallen into icy water. While hanging half submerged in it, he looked and saw that he had fallen into some kind of green water.
Carrie immediately went to his aid. Although heavy, Carrie did her best to help pull him out of the green liquid he had fallen into. When he was finally and wholly on the ledge they both saw that the crumbling floor had ceased only a few feet from them.
"That…" Henry puffed from underneath his helmet.
"Was too close," Carrie finished. "What is it that you fell into?"
Henry dipped a finger into the liquid and smelled it from behind the helmet. "It's a poison. I do not know why there is a river full of it or how this particular one could be produced…naturally. In any case, it is harmful only if you ingest it. I would not recommend bathing in it but I don't think that my swim will kill me."
"So where to now?"
Henry looked around and saw that there was really only one path they could take. "This ledge we are standing seems to be the only way to go. The ledge seems to go all around this waterway."
Carrie and Henry then began to walk forward along the ledge. As they walked, Carrie could not shake the odd sensation that they were being watched. It was especially odd that since she had entered the castle they had not had a calm and quiet moment. Why should they now? Finally Carrie turned her attention to the poisonous water before. She suddenly felt that its murky depths hid some kind of danger or threat.
"Henry!"
Henry spun around and looked in the direction that Carrie was. He stared into the water expecting to see what it was that had startled her, but he saw nothing. "What is it?" he asked.
"I saw something. It was swimming underneath the water."
Henry un-holstered his side arm and pointed it at the water. "Don't worry, let's just keep moving. Every lake has its mouth; I assume that we can find our way back to Reinhardt from there." Carrie then turned her gaze away from the water only to watch as Henry fire his gun. Carrie quickly looked back at the water and saw something rise to the surface. It was a very large body but not one of a normal human being. Twitching slightly was a lengthy tail floating along the ledge.
"A lizard man?"
"A lizard man. They can breath underwater."
Carrie looked around, "then we have a big problem. We are surrounded by water." Unexpectedly a lizard man jumped out from the water and landed behind them. The lizard hissed at them as it drew a sword from a hilt hanging from its belt. Then another Lizard man emerged from the water. This one was already sporting its axe using both hands. The second lizard lunged at Henry who dodged it by a hair. The force of its lunge was so great that the axe stuck to the ground. Henry then fired his gun point blank into the lizard's chest. The force of the blast threw the lizard back into the water. Behind him, Henry checked on Carrie. Carrie slid through between the lizard's legs and jammed her knife into the lizards tail. The lizard moaned in pain. Henry grabbed lizard's sword from its own hand and slashed him across the chest. The lizard fell to the ground dead. Carrie jumped across its body and stood alongside Henry.
"They're repulsive."
"I doubt they like us much either." Henry then looked again towards the water. Although the water was dark and murky, he could now see that more than just a few lizards were floating just below the surface and were now swimming towards them. He pulled his backpack and shuffled through it looking for something that he thought might persuade them to keep their distance.
"What are you looking for?" Carrie asked.
"One of my explosives…here is one!" Henry pulled out one of his make shift explosives, basically a small bag filled with gunpowder and a fuse on top. Henry lit the fuse and laid it on top of the water. The sack floated on the water near the ledge. Henry grabbed Carrie and began to run for it.
"Whatever you do, don't look back!" he yelled.
Suddenly the whole chamber erupted into flames. "I seem to have forgotten that this particular poison is very flammable." As they ran several lizard men tried to jump to the surface. All of them moaned in pain as they were burned. Carrie stared as the lake of poison had been transformed into a huge holocaust.
Within a few moments Carrie and Henry reached what was apparently the mouth of the river. The poison water seemed to flow from a large waterfall. To the side of the waterfall and along the same edge they were treading on, was an archway that led into darkness. Carrie and Henry approached it cautiously. Carrie looked at the water. Although not as strong the flames reached even here. She was sweating and Henry must feel like a roast pig by now, she thought. The strength of the flame was not enough to go up the waterfall so the flames died at the bottom of it.
"Look," Henry said in a startled voice.
Carrie then saw that as they came closer to the darkened archway that previously hidden torches lit themselves along the passageway. Now illuminated, Henry gestured for Carrie to follow him. Carrie followed him until he stopped and she bumped into his backside.
"What happened?" Carrie asked. Henry did not answer. She walked around and faced him. "Henry? What happened?" Carrie then noticed something. His foot was slightly elevated off the ground. He was frozen. Then she realized that the waterfall had stopped. Everything had stopped. Carrie then felt the presence iof a great power. Powerful magic was at work here. She did not know why it was that she could now sense something like that but she knew she was right. She looked behind Henry and saw the source of the magic.
"Actrise. What have you done to him?"
Actrise smiled. "Done to him? Why nothing, dear child. How could you think such things of me. I merely paused everything so that you and I might have a little talk."
"I don't have to talk to you about anything!"
"Now, now, of course you do." Actrise paused. "You see you may not realize it, but you have enormous potential. The power that you can wield, why it can even rival my own!"
"Then I will use it to destroy you!"
"You have to learn how to use it first. That is what I offer. I can bring out your full potential and in exchange, you are of course free to do whatever you like, but when I need you, you will come and will do as I ask."
"I will not serve you! Never!"
"We shall see. I have noticed that you seem to be lacking your previous abilities."
Carrie's palms began to sweat. Actrise's eyes seem to burn into hers. She was taunting her. Unfortunately it was working.
"I am going to be even more generous. I am going to permit you to continue on this foolhardy quest to kill Dracula. I want to see how much longer you can stand to feel so helpless. The remainder your quest will be very perilous. You will face death at each corner. Of course should you wish to leave and abandon this foolish escapade, just cry out my name. I would be more than happy to transport you elsewhere so that we might begin your training."
"I will never do it!"
"We shall see. Until we meet again, Carrie Fernandez."
Actrise's body then began to fade. For a split second it seemed that all that remain were her eyes and her wicked smile. Then they too disappeared. Immediately Henry's voice sounded in Carrie's ears.
"Come on, let's go." Henry turned around and saw that Carrie was not looking in his direction. "Something wrong Carrie?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Then she turned and began to walk ahead of Henry. Underneath Henry's helmet he raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Henry suddenly had the feeling that he missed something very important.