Chapter XVI

"Ariel!" I shouted, stomping my way through the tunnels half full of water and waste, while holding a torch, so that the flame flickered and danced against the low, damp ceiling. The waving shadows loomed menacingly and then shrank against the dark walls. The flame was beginning to weaken.

Mr. Crepsley and I had been searching for hours, but it felt longer. I could feel a clock ticking inside my walls, a death clock, and it was driving me crazy.

Time was running out.

The flame on my torch was still alive, but barely, so I let it fall to the water. Pitch black. I didn't care though, I just kept going. I had to get to Ariel if it was the last thing I did.

After bumping into a wall for the seventh time, I turned around, suddenly wondering where Mr. Crepsley had gone.

He was just behind me..

"Mr. Crepsley?" I called out.

No answer.

"Mr. Crepsley? Where-" I was stopped short by a hand that drove hard into my back and sent me crashing into the floor. I gave a shout of pain and surprise.

"Who's there?" I asked shakily. "Mr. Crepsley?"

"Even better." A chuckle replied.

A flashlight flicked on right in front of my eyes, momentarily blinding me. I grunted, covering my eyes, then attempted to shuffle away, but he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and breathed into my face.

Murlough's breath entered my lungs and knocked me out.

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As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a skull with some flesh still on it, and an eye still in one of the sockets. I screamed and tried to pull away, but I couldn't.

I was looking up at my body, realizing that I was tightly bound by rope. After a brief moment of puzzled panic, I noticed that there were ropes tied around my ankles, and I was hanging upside down.

"I bet the world looks different from up there, hmmm?" Murlough said. Twisting around- I couldn't move my limbs, but I could swing around- I saw him sitting near the skull, chewing on a fingernail.

"Say hi to Ari," He stuck out a foot and began to rock that skull.

"No!" I screamed, immediately baring my teeth. I tried to swing toward his leg and bite deep into his flesh, but the rope wouldn't swing that far. "You said you wouldn't kill her until tonight!" I cried.

"It isn't night yet? Oops, I lost track of time. A bit of a boo boo, hm?"

"I'll kill you!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "I'll-"

A whimper from below made me stop.

"Who's there?" I asked. I was certain, at first, that it was Mr. Crepsley. But it didn't sound like him.

"D-Darren?" A tiny voice asked.

"Ariel?"

Murlough flicked a bright light on. I tightly squeezed my eyes closes, but then slightly opened them, allowing myself to adjust to the light. Once I did, I could make out Ariel's outline. She sat limp in the corner, her back against the wall, arms tucked behind her. She was looking down, so a curtain of blonde hair hid her face. I noticed ropes that bound her ankles tightly together, and her arms.

"Ariel?" I repeated.

She slowly lifted her head to look at me, hair falling away from her face. Her eyes seemed almost hollow and solemn, her mouth stiffly trying not to quiver. One whole side of her face was a bruise going yellow and green at the edges, and I saw more purple ones on the rest of her body. Her body looked thin and dry, like a leaf. Bloody cuts covered her arms, legs, and face. She was a holocaust.

Still, she was alive!

"How romantic!" Murlough giggled.

"Darren, what are you doing here?" Ariel asked in a small, raspy voice. "How did-"

Murlough kicked her, sending the side of her head to crash into the wall. "Quiet!"

"Stay away from her!" I roared.

"Make me." He replied simply, then turned back to Ariel. "One more word out of you without permission and it will be your last, understand?"

She nodded shakily, looking up at him with panicked eyes in her bruised face. Fury ignited in me that anything, anyone could frighten her so much, and that anyone could hammer the sarcasm and the will to fight out of her.

Murlough walked away and went to sit somewhere. I think I had seen a bed in the other corner before, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from Ariel, who was looking away. I could hear water dripping from somewhere. The floor was littered with skeletons.

"How did you find me?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Wasn't hard." Murlough said. "Wasn't hard. I heard you and the vampire coming from miles away. Ari even heard them too- Didn't you, Ari?" He looked over to her.

She shook her head, up and down, trembling.

"I thought so. So I followed you and the vampire. Young Murlough knows these pipes like the back of his teeth, yes he does. Didn't just sit and twiddle my thumbs. Young Murlough's smart."