I grabbed Zenon’s hand, but the moment we touched, he transported us straight back to the secret tomb before I could think about breathing. It was so sudden and unexpected that when we landed at the bottom of the building near that same tree, I tripped, almost hitting a branch with my face.
“Jeez, brother, easy tiger,” I said, pressing my hands against the branch to stay upright. A flurry of butterflies fluttered inside my stomach while a swarm of bees erupted inside my skull. I gagged when nausea flooded my stomach and shuddered when bile rose in my throat.
“Are you okay?” Zenon asked, patting my back when I doubled over.
“Couldn’t you have waited for me to at least say when I was ready?”
“What?” He shrugged. “I thought you were used to it?”
“I was. I am.” I swallowed hard. “It happened so quickly you took me by surprise.”
Zenon’s gaze raked over my body with his cool, yellow eyes and arched an eyebrow for effect. “You’ve never been this ill before, and I always teleport quickly. That’s what you loved about teleporting with me.”
“I know,” I said, still hunched over and coughing into my hand. When I could breathe properly, I stood straight and rounded my shoulders. I pushed some hair out of my face and wiped my mouth dry.
“You ready?” Zenon asked when he reached the top of the stairs.
“And why are we out here instead of inside?” I asked, slowly climbing the stairs. “The last few times we’ve teleported directly inside the secret tomb.”
“I pictured the tomb in my mind’s eye, but alas, this was where it brought us.” Zenon pushed open the main door and entered, not bothering to wait for me. “Hurry,” he said sternly.
I ran up the last couple of steps and pushed the door open and smacked straight into Zenon’s back. “What…” I mumbled, rubbing my nose.
“Shush,” Zenon whispered, grabbing a hold of my arm to keep me behind his back.
I grabbed his upper arms to stabilize myself and peered around his right side. I flinched when I saw the beast and for a moment everything went quiet, as if my heart had stopped. There in the far corner of the entrance stood a strange creature hunched over, trying to open the door to the secret tomb; but it only had two thumbs on each hand. It stood on muscular goat's legs with a red cloth slung over its large, muscular back.
Zenon stepped backward, pushing me outside. My foot kicked a pebble, sending it clanking across the floor. I gripped Zenon’s arms in anticipation. We froze.
The creature stopped doing what it was doing and stood up, doubling in size. Slowly, it turned around to find the object of the noise—us—and another pair of arms unfolded from behind its back. It stared hungrily at us with glowing red eyes, spittle running down its toothy jaw and flaring its nostrils.
“What is it?” I whispered, staring at the strange man-goat-like-creature.
The demon had long black hair that would make most women jealous except for the two sets of curved horns protruding from the sides of its head. Its double pixie ears moved, listening. It grunted, sending plumes of smoke out of its nostrils. “Open,” it said, pointing a thumb at the door.
I swallowed my laugh and hid behind Zenon who shook me off his shoulders and approached the demon.
“Who are you?” Zenon asked carefully, closing the gap with the demon-goat.
The demon-goat grunted again, forcing Zenon to stop, and he raised both hands in surrender. The demon-goat kicked up a cloven hoof, sending dust everywhere. “Open!” It yelled, still pointing at the door.
“Okay,” Zenon said. “We mean you no harm. I’ll open the door and then you tell us how you got here and why you’re here?” He pointed at the door, silently asking the demon-goat permission to move, and the demon nodded. Zenon approached the demon cautiously, with me trailing closely behind him. If the demon were to attack us, he’d grab Zenon first, while I could help if he needed me. The best defense was to use a sibling as a shield. I grinned at the I’m-a-terrible-sister-thought but squashed it immediately. I’d never let my brother get hurt if I could help.
When we reached the door to the secret tomb, the demon-goat stepped away from us, and plumes of smoke continued coming out of its nostrils. I narrowed my eyes at the creature but kept Zenon between us.
“Are you from the Underworld?” I asked the demon. The short walk from the main entrance to this door, the demon kept its eyes on Zenon, but when I spoke, its eyes flitted from him to me, and they glowed redder.
The demon-goat nodded its head in affirmation, then its eyes flitted back to Zenon. Knowing that Victor was down in the Underworld while a creature was here now was too coincidental. If there was anything I’d learned from Dad was that nothing was as it seemed. Someone had sent the demon-goat here, but why. Was it sent here to fetch the mask?
Another puff of smoke came out of its nostrils and its second pair of arms folded across its large gray chest with glowing red tattoos. From a distance, its tattoos just seemed like red paint, but up close, the glowing red tattoos moved like a five-second clip. Thin waves of steam oozed out of its pores and at this closeness to the creature, I felt heat beat against me, making me sweat like I was in a sauna.
The more involved we became in Victor’s dilemma, the more I realized it related to the Underworld. There were too many instances that pointed to the Underworld; the Mask of Immortality, the reptiles who killed Alec, the magician and his assistant, and now this demon-goat, all connected to the Underworld. I just didn’t understand how, who, or why. There had to be something else at play here.
Zenon pushed open the door to the tomb and a wave of heat smacked us in the face, pushing him into me and I almost flew backward if I wasn’t still holding onto his shirt. Dust particles danced in the air, which I tried waving away, but they remained suspended near our faces as if frozen in time.
I entered the tomb first but didn’t get farther than the doorjamb. Everything within the tomb had frozen, with no air to breathe. It was strange at first to comprehend what I was seeing, but the more I stared at the room, the more confused I became. River sat motionless with the dust particles surrounding him. I cocked my head to the side and squinted. The sarcophagus was closed again and doubted River had the energy to do that, but I had no answer how he could’ve done it himself or why.
I glanced over my shoulder to tell Zenon something strange was going on, but that room had winked out into the darkness. My brother blended in with the shadows and the demon-goat with him.
I blinked and turned to face River when he, too, disappeared.
I gripped the satchel strap tightly in my fist and pulled my knife out from behind my back. The air whipped my cheek, pushing me against the doorjamb; at least this way I had a view of the darkening main entrance and the secret tomb.
Screams sounded from both rooms as everything darkened. The demon we’d seen earlier materialized once more and reached for me.