“Maybe we can make it out of here.” Wade sounded surprised.
Susan and Jennifer said nothing as they kept going. Jennifer cast the sound of the angry Dark Ones out of her mind. She could still hear their muffled roars, but she could also sense they were leaving them behind. To make matters worse, her head was beginning to throb. With everything else that was going on, she didn’t need a migraine headache added to it.
“Let’s just keep going,” Jennifer said.
There was a guttural roar, this one loud. They froze in mid-stride. Jennifer held her breath, trying to pinpoint the location. The beast roared again, followed by more of the same. Jennifer’s heart pounded in her chest and she felt Susan’s fingers grip her hand hard. It was difficult to tell where the sound was coming from due to the echo effect. It seemed to come from all around them.
“We can’t just sit here,” Wade said after a moment. “Let’s keep moving forward.”
He urged them on and Jennifer began to move again, more cautiously, into truly unknown territory.
Tony would not have been able to see his hand in front of his face if Ruby and Diamond hadn’t produced flash-lights. He’d practically fallen on his ass chasing Clark down the hidden chasm at the base of the tree. The downward descent beneath the earth had been steep— practically a forty-five degree angle—but he’d managed.
Once at the bottom, Ruby had taken the lead again, flashlight illuminating the way as they ran down a narrow cavern lined with small stalactites. It was cool down here, and behind them the Dark Ones were trying to shove their large bulks down the narrow entrance way. They weren’t having much luck judging by the tone of their guttural voices. It sounded like mass destruction up there.
“I sure hope you know where we’re going, lady.” Tony’s head was starting to throb and he felt that weird pressure in his chest and abdomen again start to tighten up.
Ruby didn’t answer him. She just kept running, darting down corridors seemingly at will. The deeper they wormed their way into the cave, the dimmer the angry roars of the Dark Ones behind them became.
“Hold up,” Clark said. “Can we regroup?”
Clark halted. Tony stopped beside him. Diamond and Amethyst drew up behind them. Ruby stopped and turned around.
“What’s wrong? Why are we stopping?”
“Well,” Clark said, sounding frustrated, “I’m still not sure what we’re supposed to do when we get to where we’re going.”
“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Not for nothing, but I’d kind of like to know, too. We just supposed to shoot up the place, or do you have a plan?”
“Our original mission has not changed,” Amethyst answered. “We must stop the Dark Ones from summoning Dagon.”
“And rescue Jennifer Wasco,” Tony said. “But how are we supposed to stop it? What do we do? Drive a stake through Dagon’s heart?”
“What is Dagon, anyway?” Clark asked. “I mean, you told us a little back on the plane, but I’d like to know more. Wouldn’t you, Tony?”
“Damn straight I would.”
Amethyst groaned. “We don’t have time for this. Even an operative within our organization with a security clearance of Adept would still have to study for years before they’d know everything there is to know about Dagon. You can’t possibly hope to understand it all. There’s no time to explain.”
Tony fingered the trigger of his M16. “Give us the Cliff Notes version then.”
“The longer we delay,” Ruby said, “the thinner the barriers between our worlds grows. Dagon is crossing over. The Dark Ones believe he is rising out of a long slumber— millions of years worth of sleep. In reality, they are rending the very fabric of the universe. The stars are not only right, they are in perfect alignment. The spheres are thinner, the Shining Trapezoid is much stronger.”
“The shining what?” Tony was confused.
“Be quiet,” Diamond yelled. Spittle flew through his mouth. The big man stalked the cave floor in front of Tony and Clark, his tone scolding, furious, as he verbally dressed the ex-hitman down. “You ask for answers but when the secrets are revealed to you, you scoff at them or greet them with sarcasm.”
“The fuck is your problem?”
“You! My problem is you. I was against bringing you down here from the very beginning. When it was revealed that you were one of The Seven, I told those who sit on the Outer Circle that you would only pose a danger due to your arrogant nature, your willful ignorance and disdain for order.”
“You calling me arrogant?”