They arrive at night, the dark city looming over them. The collapsed marble buildings and ruined streetways are less than inviting, and the alleys are all cast in shadow. No matter how hard the kids try, they cannot see inside any of the old buildings. A street paved with a pale blue stone stretches out before them, but no one's feet dare touch it. Instead, they remain crowded around the edge of the city.
"Well, this place is…"
"Haunted?"
"Sinister?"
"I was going to say spooky, but those work too."
Joe peers around the ancient city. He can't tell what it is, but something is buzzing in the air. It thrums in his veins as a tingling sensation builds up in his palms. He glances down at his hands. "What was this place?"
"Cealus. It used to be the largest magical community on Earth. The capital of the magic world. Now it's just a shadow of its former glory." Tessa's lips twist up in a half smile. "But you feel it, don't you? There's still magic here."
Joe gazes at Tessa. He nods, suddenly forgetting how to speak. The tugging in his gut starts up again, pulling him into Tessa.
"Just wait until you're awakened. You'll feel like that everywhere you go."
Joe bites his lip to suppress the thousand questions he wants to ask. Instead, he moves forward, heading into the city. A sudden hand on his shoulder pulls him back.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Arwen removes her hand. "Trust us, the city is not safe at night."
"What? Scared of a few empty houses?" Fred snickers.
A stone pedestal collapses ten feet ahead of them, knocking down the wall next to it and taking down the house with it.
"Yes."
"But more importantly, the people of the city may be gone, but their defenses still remain." Juniper tilts her head to the side, her black hair falling into her face. "Do you hear that?"
The boys pause and listen to the jungle around them. The area is soundless. Not even the birds are chirping anymore and the nearby waterfall had been muted.
"I don't hear anything."
"Exactly. Even the animals here know to avoid this place. It's dangerous." Juniper turns her attention to Arwen and Tessa. "And I don't feel like getting caught in any traps again. It's much safer to go through the city during daylight when we can see everything."
Arwen and Tessa nod in agreement. The boys exchange confused looks, but shrug their consent and look to the girls as to what to do next.
"We'll stay the night out here. Tomorrow, we'll get through the city and hopefully be in the All Father's chambers by early afternoon." The corner of Tessa's mouth twists up, and she stares down Joe. "Then we'll find out how magical you really are."
Arwen rolls her eyes. "Don't you have homework to do? Maybe you should show him how magical you really are."
Tessa narrows her eyes at Arwen, grumbles under breath, and stalks over to a nearby tree. She plops down onto the ground. With a flick of her wrist, she summons a deck of cards. Each card glows faint purple and looks translucent when held up to the light. She begins to shuffle through them, her lips pursed and eyes lowered.
Her eyes dart over to Joe. "Come on. I'm sure you have a thousand more annoying questions to ask me."
Joe blushes, but doesn't deny the accusation. He shuffles over to Tessa and joins her on the ground.
The rest of the group watches as the two young wizards begin to talk. Tessa gradually places the cards on the ground, carefully stacking them next to each other, and explaining to Joe as she goes.
"I give it a month before Tessa scares him off." Arwen purses her lips.
Juniper scoffs. "She may be… intense, but I doubt Joe will scare as easily as the last one."
"The last one? You mean the person who was here before Joe? I thought Rowena and Cassius said that the last guy was sent here by accident?" Sam wrings his hands, eyeing Tessa.
Arwen shrugs. "Accident or not, Tessa made sure he was never coming back," she snickers. "You should have seen the look on this guy's face when Tessa challenged him to a duel."
"Poor guy never stood a chance," Juniper adds.
"Yeah? Well, I bet Joe won't be going anywhere." Fred crosses his arms. "He's way too much of a magic geek to give this up."
"How much?"
Fred blinks. "What?"
"How much do you want to bet?" Arwen raises an eyebrow at him. "If you're so confident in your boy, let's make this a little interesting."
"Uh… ten bucks?"
"That's it?"
"It's all I have."
Arwen pinches the bridge of her nose, taking a moment to collect herself. "How about this? If you're right, and Joe can make it through the rest of the summer with Tessa, I'll give you fifty dollars. But if I'm right, and he wants to run away from her, you have to wear Red Sox gear for a week."
"A week? No way!" Fred scowls. "I'd never be able to step foot in Yankee stadium ever again."
"I thought you were confident in Joe." The corner of Arwen's mouth lifts up in a smirk. "If you're so sure about him, then you should have nothing to worry about."
"Fine," Fred huffs and puts his hand forward. "We have a bet."
Arwen grips Fred's hand, sealing the deal.
"Pfft, I've got this in the bag." Fred grins and leans his shoulder against a nearby column. The column careens back, crashing onto the ground. The rumble shakes everyone off their feet. Plumes of dust fill the air, and several of the kids begin to cough and groan.
The dust gradually clears away. Everyone pushes themselves to their feet.
"Everyone still alive?" Joe calls out.
A round of 'yeahs' fills the air.
"What did you do?" Tessa glares at the others, her magic cards had vanished with the crash. A small scorch mark in the ground is all that remains.
"Um… just a little feng shui." Fred stares at the spot where the column just stood. Pieces of stone littered the ground, but in the center of the crash site, a large gaping hole appeared in the ground. A small amount of light filters down, revealing what appears to be an underground cavern.
The group gathers around the hole, peering down into it.
"What's down there?" Joe squints into the darkness.
Sam takes several steps back. "Nothing good. Everything bad. Probably a lot of death."
"I think there's someone down there." Juniper crouches down, tilts her head, and listens for any signs of life. "I hear voices."
Everyone else listens in. Minutes pass, but the area remains soundless.
"I don't hear anything."
"No, I definitely hear something. People are down there." Juniper sits on the edge, legs dangling into the hole. "What if they're trapped? We have to help them." She begins to push herself forward.
Arwen puts a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. "Maybe we should think this through first, June. We know Cealus is full of magical traps. This could be one of them. I mean, how would anyone even get down there? This city has been abandoned for centuries. If anyone got underground, they're long gone now."
"Yeah, June. Let's listen to Arwen." Sam wraps his arms around himself. "I vote to not go in the spooky cave."
Juniper glares at the others. "I know what I heard. If there's someone down there, then we have to help them. Even if no one's there, what if this gives us an alternate path to the temple? We can walk right to the All Father without having to worry about traps."
"I don't think it's worth the risk. You might be wrong about all this."
Juniper sighs and continues to stare into the hole. "I could be wrong, but I could also be right. And I'm usually right."
Without another word, she slips down into the darkness.
"June!" Tessa and Arwen lunge forward, grasping at air. But it's too late. Juniper is gone.
"That little…" Tessa growls. "Great, now we have to go on a rescue mission." She crouches, preparing to jump into the hole. Arwen follows suit. They both glance at the boys, who are still staring wide-eyed at the spot where Juniper was sitting moments ago.
"You boys stay here, we'll be back with June soon."
Joe shakes his head and snaps out of his stupor. "Wait, you can't go alone. We're coming too."
"We are?" Fred and Sam frown.
"Yes."
Tessa smirks at them. "Fine. Try not to break your legs."
Tessa and Arwen slip quietly into the hole, vanishing as quick as Juniper did.
The trio takes one last glance at each other before reluctantly following the girls down. The fall is shorter than they expect, but far enough to result in a painful landing. They crash in a heap on the hard ground. The only light in the space comes from Tessa's glowing hands. Arwen stands a few feet away, dusting herself off.
"How are you so fine?" Fred says while rolling out his shoulders and pushing himself to his feet.
Tessa shrugs. "Acrobats have to learn to fall before they can learn to fly. I'm used to walking tightropes thirty feet in the air. That fall was nothing."
Everyone rights themselves and takes a moment to look at their surroundings. The space is actually quite narrow, and the kids stand almost shoulder to shoulder. The floor is smooth stone and the walls are lined with empty shelves. The stone archway behind them is impassable, filled with crumbled rocks and debris. The only way out is to move forward through the other stone archway.
Awen looks around, eyes skimming over the bleak space. "Juniper isn't here. She must've gone ahead. Let's get going."
"I swear, Juniper gets us into more dangerous situations than I do," Tessa says as she moves towards the empty archway. The rest of the group moves along with her.
"She does this often?" Sam asks incredulously. "Wait, does she hear voices often?"
The girls share a furtive glance. "Juniper is a very… inquisitive person. But this is the first time she's mentioned any voices. She didn't say anything last time we were here."
"Juniper?" Arwen calls out. "Where are you?"
There's no response. The group pushes on. The scenery stays the same, a narrow passageway lined with empty shelves. They pass under several more archways before the path widens out and leads them into a large circular room with several archways branching off in different directions.
"Great, now which way do we go?"
"How far ahead of us could she have gotten?"
Arwen tries to call out for the hundredth time. "Juniper? June?"
A voice carries over from one of the dark openings. "Over here!"
The group perks up. Relief washes over Tessa and Arwen's faces. They quickly hurry to the center of the room. Juniper emerges from one of the side rooms and rejoins the others. "You're never going to believe what I've found."
"Did you find the source of the voices?"
"Yes, well, no. Maybe? I found some really interesting stuff."
"How did you get here? This place would have been pitch black without Tessa's magic to light the way." Arwen studies Juniper, expecting her to have some secret flashlight or torch.
Juniper rubs the back of her neck and frowns, as if she's not sure of the answer. "Honestly? I just followed my gut. It led me here."
"Okay, well now that we've determined that there are no voices, and you made us all come down here for nothing, can we leave?" Tessa places a hand on her hip, holding the other one out to keep lighting the room. "Sorry, June. Guess you were wrong this time. No one's trapped down here."
"Well, I wasn't entirely wrong. There are people here. I found some in that chamber over there." Juniper points to one of the many exits. "They're just dead."
"Dead?" Sam jumps back, eyes rapidly looking around the room as if he expected zombies to start crawling towards them at any moment. "Where are we?"
"Hard to say for sure, but I think we are surrounded by the last remaining citizens of Cealus. We're in the catacombs."