CHAPTER 12: SINISTER SHADOWS

The four students were silent for once, glancing around the caves and sometimes glaring at one another. Jill was never asked her opinion, but she thought the accident was all three of their faults. Ace and Grim were harsh to her earlier today, and Deuce had been friendly after the first run-in… but now she was sure that the trio hated her. And each other. The tension was like smoke between them, light on the surface but impossible to ignore.

As they walked, Jill found loose stones and placed them directly in the middle of the path. Hopefully, they would help the group find their way back to the Dark Mirror like the bread crumbs from Hansel and Gretel. She wanted to announce this little idea, but she just didn't have the courage to talk at the moment. None of the others even looked back to make sure she was still following them.

Slowly, the rocky mine walls began to change. It started as plain earth, but then the lights started to flicker at bent angles, reflecting gemstones in the floor and walls. Everyone stopped in a large clearing with multiple caverns leading to different parts of the mines.

"Okay, we're looking for a clear magestone," Ace said. "Deuce, how big does this have to be again?"

"15.24 centimeters big and 7.62 centimeters wide," Deuce read aloud from his piece of paper.

Ace took out the tape measure and drew two lines in the loose dirt, a long vertical and a short horizontal. "There! Now we just hold the magestones up to these lines and see if they match up. And remember, it's gotta be clear."

"Huh, that's actually a smart idea," Grim said. "Didn't think ya had any of those."

"Shut it," Ace snapped. "Just spread out in this area and let's find some dumb magestones."

Jill drifted over to the southern side of the clearing. She still didn't know how to make her pen glow, so she used her phone light as a light source. The phone was on low battery, so she tried to use it sparingly. She saw several gems that looked like rubies, emeralds, sapphires… were these even magestones, or just regular gems? How could she tell the difference?

She checked her phone nervously. Fifteen minutes had passed since the four entered the mines. How long until a magestone of the right color and size could be found? What if they couldn't—

"Found it!" Grim cried triumphantly.

"Huh?!" Jill turned to see Grim holding a little clear magestone in his paws. He had it lined up against the lines that Ace had drawn.

"Hey, you did it… Grim, is it?" Deuce said. "Good job!"

"Yeah, good job replacing the magestone that you broke, Grim," Ace seconded with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, put a sock in it!" Grim huffed. "This just proves that you dumb humans need me to guide you!"

"Can we please just leave?" Jill asked timidly. "Being in the dark this long gives me the…"

"…the creeps?" asked a high-pitched voice behind her.

"Yes, exactly!" Jill said, only to realize someone was literally breathing down her neck. She shrieked and spun around, and she was face-to-face with a short female ghost. The ghost was also cartoonish-looking, with wide yellow eyes and her head wrapped with aged cloth.

"Ooh, how about the heebie-jeebies?" A spindly ghost appeared at her side, with a cloth around his shoulders.

"The willies?"

"The shivers?"

"The screaming haddabs, maybe?"

Other ghosts appeared around the area in all shapes and sizes, each of them wearing faded cloth.

"Oh no, not more ghosts!" Grim complained.

"You think you can just take one of our magestones?" one of the ghosts challenged, floating up to Ace.

"Look, we need this, okay? You have others!" Ace cried. He quickly snatched the magestone from Grim's paws and shoved it into his pockets.

"Hey, that was mine!" Grim shouted. "Give it back!"

"Cool it, we need to make sure the ghosts can't take it," Deuce whispered to him.

"I-I…" Jill swallowed, then finally found her voice. "We all broke a magestone by mistake, so we need to replace it. It's for school—we go to Night Raven College," she explained. "And if we don't get a magestone in time, we'll be expelled! So this is very, very important!"

"Hey, don't spill your guts like that!" Ace scolded her. "Haven't you ever heard not to talk to strangers?"

"Aw, how sad… you'll have to go back to school soon, won't you?" the littlest ghost crooned. "Perhaps we can have some fun with you fleshies? You're the first living ones to come down here in some time!" She grinned mischievously.

"U-Uh, no thanks…" Jill tried to leave the way she'd come, but the ghosts blocked the path. Then the horde of spirits flew around the whole group like a swarm of bees, pushing them around and laughing. Grim, Ace, and Deuce all tried to shoot spells at them, and while a few attacks hit the target, the other ghosts were just too fast. Jill froze in fear, not knowing the first thing on how to attack, and not even sure she could try.

…
The moon shines bright…
…
Your bones shiver tonight…

Those same words, echoing through her head like a mantra… what did they mean? Jill bit her lip and snapped out of it.

"RUN!" Jill cried. "We'll find another way around!"

She took off into the rightmost cavern, and to her relief, the others followed. Ace used his wind magic to push the ghosts back, but the undead miners were still in pursuit.

"Why do ghosts always wanna mess with us?!" Grim cried.

"Maybe they just like us," Jill said dryly.

Jill had lost track of the time. All she knew was that another series of caverns was coming up, and the mines were somehow getting even darker. How was the group supposed to find their way back now?!

"Ouch!" Jill placed her hand on the wall to keep her balance, and a sharp rock sliced into her palm. She winced and continued to run, trying not to grow faint.

Suddenly, it was like the wind shifted. The ghosts that were doggedly chasing the students for fun abruptly stopped in their tracks and flew off in different directions.

"Huh? Why'd those guys stop all of a sudden?" Deuce asked. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Who cares why? Ghosts are weird," Ace said, catching his breath. "C'mon…"

There was a rumble of earth, and a deep wheezing sound. In the limited light of the magic pens, Jill could at last see what had caused the ghosts to flee. The only thing that could scare a group of monsters…

…was a bigger, nastier, and meaner monster.