The Playing Fields First Draft

Chapter Thirteen

     Claire looked over the trap door.

     The door was made of oak, with a metal handle to pull the door open. There's no lock. Claire realized. If it was the escape trap door, then she would find a lock holding the trap door in place.

     Here goes nothing.

     Claire pulled the door open, and almost fell over. The wood was as light as the trunk had been. I should really remember to adjust to how the Playing Fields assign weight. Claire winced.

     The sound of scurrying could be heard from the other room. "Claire? Are you all right?!" Mari could be heard shouting as she rushed to the dining room.

     "I'm fine." Claire said, as Rick and Mari stampeded through the entrance. "I found a trap door though."

     "The escape door?" Rick asked.

     Claire shook her head. "The crashing sound was me opening the door."

     Rick shook his head, while Mari unsuccessfully tried to hold back a giggle. "Was it hidden?" Rick asked.

     "Underneath a rug."

     "All right." Rick said, examining the door. "Doesn't look too dangerous."

     Rick picked up a piece of wood, and dropped through the trap door. The wood hit the ground after a short period. "And it's not a bottomless pit." Rick looked over at Claire and Mari. "I think we may have found our component hiding place."

     Rick looked into the darkness. They had nothing to light their way should they go down there. He walked over to the table, which he pulled a leg off the table, and turned toward Claire as he wrapped the top of the leg with a tablecloth. "Claire, can you perform pyrokinesis?" He asked, and held up the wooden leg.

     Claire blinked in confusion, she knew what pyrokinesis was, but she knew of it as an offensive ability. A psychic could produce fire with their mind, and from what Claire's mother taught her, it's that those with pyrokinesis were beyond the standard psychic ability set. These were what made up the core of the paranormal hunters.

     If I could, I'd use it against Will. Claire thought, but it hit her that the idea never came to Claire. Between everything going on with the abduction, Will's dreadful transformation, and the push to move forward, Claire never stopped to test her abilities. If I see those creatures again, I'll see if I can communicate with them.

     "I can try." Claire said with a shaky voice.

     Claire closed her eyes, held up her arm and pointed her hand toward the table leg. However, fatigue from Claire's previous attempts with psychic powers caused her to drop her arm.

     Rick frowned, as Mari went to Claire with concern. "That's all right Claire, you're still tired. We've got other methods."

     Claire held up her arm again, pointed at the table leg. "No, it'll just slow us down!" Claire protested, and she concentrated on the table leg.

     A small spark is created on makeshift torch, which began to spread over the cloth. Claire smiled weakly. "That spark was all I was able to do."

     Rick smiled at Claire. "You did good, that's all we needed."

                                                                                                       ********

     Rick was the first one to touch the bottom.

     Mari was the last one down, as she helped Claire make her way down. I need to see this through. Claire thought, tiredly. I found the trapdoor, and two out of the three components. I need to be there.

     The light from the torch showed the aged tunnels with walls of cobblestone and the patchwork wooden floors. Claire jumped as she stepped on the creaking floors. This is only going to get worse. Claire sighed, it was one of her curses as she would be incredibly jumpy while tired. I need to be careful.

     The trio made their way through the tunnel, Claire kept her focus on the light in front of her rather than the tunnel's walls. It wasn't certain to Claire whether she wanted to see what was in front of her, or if it she didn't want her imagination to run away from her, while the cobblestone walls looked secure and strong, there was a part of Claire that feared the possibility of the walls collapsing in on them.

     "We're almost there!" Rick called out.

     The last component! Claire could feel the excitement. Once they had the final component, all they needed to do was make their way to the City. "We're almost out of here!" Claire smiled.

     "Easier said than done." Rick commented.

     "What do you mean?" Claire asked.

     "We still have a spriggan keeping us inside." Rick reminded her.

     "Ah." In her excitement, Claire forgot about Will, forgot about his intent to brutally murder them all. Perhaps if Claire didn't go berserk on him, then Will would be open to talk. It may not convince him not to kill them, but it would at least give her a way to help Rick and Mari escape.

     "Looks like we're here." Rick said.

     The trail ended at a large metal door, to Claire it looked gothic in design, probably built a century before the Farmhouse. The words "Salvation or Damnation" were stenciled in a demented, erratic, way into the door. There was blood splattered across it, curiously still wet.

     Could it be that this is the last remnant of a previous Playing Fields? Claire wondered. Or was it added to the Farmhouse to make it even more horrific?

     Rick opened the door cautiously, as though a trap could hide behind it.

     Instead, a transparent creature ran out of the door, causing Rick to jump backward, Claire and Mari gave the creature as much space as they could in the tunnel. It laughed manically as it passed them, giving both women a good fright.

     "I think...that was a trick." Rick said, as he took the moment to center himself.

     "Yeah." Mari agreed. "That was crazy!"

     Was it a trick? Claire wondered, she was still shivering from the creature's scare. How many more tricks are we going to see before they aren't?

     The creature wasn't the same type as the ones in the Forest, while it went too fast for Claire to get a good glance at, she did notice that it was short and stocky with an elongated nose, like a tiny elephant running on two legs.

     "I didn't like that one at all." Claire said, pointedly.

     "Neither did I!" Mari added.

     "Hopefully we don't run into any more like that." Rick said as he finally opened the door fully.