The Lunar Spirit

Chapter 37 The South Mines

 As we entered the abandoned mine, it was darker than I expected. We made our way along the main tunnel, and it was filled with spider webs and animal nests. I was hoping we wouldn't run into a bear hiding here. It smelled musty and had a scent of dead animals in the air. The further we went into the tunnel, the less there was the presence of animals. After about ten minutes of moving through the cave, we came to a corridor split into five separate tunnels. We all stopped and waited.

"So, my uncle says that emergency escape is through this tunnel here." Jepson pointed at the second tunnel on our left, from the middle.

"Okay," Lucas answered. "Alright. Everyone split up," Jepson instructed the group. I went with Jep and Lucas, while Jake went with one of the other groups.

"Best of luck," Jakob wished us.

The three of us walked with a small group down the tunnel. The other group members would be led to the end of the tunnel, while the three of us would explore the escape route.

"It should be about two hundred feet down this way," said Jep. We walked and walked, keeping our eyes open for any secret openings that could be another tunnel. One of the ways to sense a secret area is the rush of air that comes out of the passageway. Being lycan, we have a great sense of smell and can sense tiny changes of scent in the air. I kept sniffing along the side of the walls, hoping to feel something that could be the escape tunnel. "Should be around here somewhere," Jepson said, a bit eager to find the secret passage and slightly irritated that we haven't already seen it.

I continued to smell the air when I hit something different from the perspective in the main tunnel. The stale scent was very subtle, but I traced it down to a small hole in the wall, which upon further examination with my flashlight, was clearly walled up with large boulders.

"Here," I shouted. "I found an opening." Jepson and Lucas came rushing over, looking on the opposite side of the wall. Jepson smashed the boulder with his forearm, hoping that it would budge.

"We got to move these rocks." Jep looked to Luke. The two took a step back and rammed the wall with their shoulders. The rubble started to come loose, so they repeated the action until the boulders fell apart and opened into a smaller tunnel. It didn't look like a promising way out.

"This is the emergency exit?" I asked aloud.

"Well, not many people should be this deep in the mines. But, yeah looks a bit tight. I'll lead the way." Before entering the small tunnel, Jepson cleared more rocks out of the way. I followed, with Lucas behind me. We moved slowly through the passage, partly because there wasn't much room and also because we were looking for the talisman.

"Maybe it's not here," Lucas spoke out loud.

"It's possible, but we have to search anyway," Jep replied, feeling slightly defeated. We all thought we would find this secret tunnel, and the talisman would just be waiting for us. That was a lofty thought, but the reality is we had been walking for twenty minutes and found nothing. Granted, we spent twenty minutes and probably only walked a few hundred feet uphill.

After another ten minutes, I understood that we were coming to the end of the tunnel. I figured an emergency evacuation shouldn't take forever to get out, so presumably, we are reaching the end soon. Even with the headlamps and flashlights, it was still very dark and hard to see. In wolf form, our eyesight would be better, but I don't think we wanted to get naked in front of each other. I think I would die of embarrassment if I had to get naked in front of both Luke and Jep. Or I might die of attraction if I had to see both of them naked in front of me. So, neither of us entered the trance.

We could see the tunnel end about one hundred feet ahead of us. As we got closer, we noticed the passage get broader and wider. It opened into a big room, like a cul-de-sac at the end of a road. The three of us walked around looking for a way out. "I think it's here," said Lucas. He pointed above his head to a plank of wood covering up the exit. Jepson and I walked over to look at it, and Lucas hit the wood with his hand. It moved slightly, so he and Jep pushed as hard as they could, and eventually, the wooden plank moved to reveal some light from outside. A few more tries and the boys could completely clear up the opening. I was really happy that they were able to work together and put their feelings for me aside. Jealously doesn't look good on either of them.

I had to get up on my tiptoes to stick my head up through the hole, to feel the sun hit my eyes. The extra light really lit up the room. We could see more clearly and began scouring the large room, even into the narrow tunnel. I was getting tired, too, so I sat near the large area that looked like someone had once lived there. There was a small pile of rocks that looked like a fire pit. The ground was slightly sunken in as if someone had slept here. I relaxed after all of that walking. While I glanced towards the cave ceiling, the boys were still searching the walls.

It was dark, and some stalactites were hanging down. My aunt told me stalactites were mineral formations caused by dripping water. However, one of the stalactites seemed different. It wasn't hanging straight down from the ceiling but jutting out of the wall. It was angled downwards, and as I studied it closer, it appeared to be only partially covered in mineral deposits. I stood up and walked over to it. I placed my hand on the structure, feeling over the texture. It was grainy like wet salt, except in a few places where it felt smooth, like carved wood. It also appeared to be sunken into the rock wall, like someone buried it.

"Hey, guys," I called to Jep and Luke. "Check out what I found." I could hear the boys rush over to my side.

"What is it, Liv?" Jepson asked before he noticed what I was staring at on the wall. "Whoa."

"Do you think? Could that be it?" Asked Lucas. Jepson grabbed a small pickaxe from his belt loop and struck the stalactite. Some of the salt deposits started to chip off. He hit it a few more times, and as each chunk of the formation fell off, it revealed the wooden handle underneath.

"I knew it!" I exclaimed.

Jepson chipped away faster, working the object out of the wall where it had been encapsulated. The last blow knocked it loose, and it fell to the floor.

"No way!" Lucas sounded shocked. The three of us stared at it on the cave floor. It was a long, wooden handle with a small crystal on one end and what looked like a hilt made of bone.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "That's it. That's the talisman of Desmodus."