The Death's Game

27. Game of Cemetery

Lost in her thoughts about Veronica and whether she would be capable of the triple murder, Percy almost missed the grayed-out place that they swam above. She has so absorbed in her reflections that only Blake's touch on her arm brought her back to this afterlife reality. First, she looked at him, not sure what happened, then she noticed a cemetery below. 

The cemetery looked exactly as Percy would have imagined an underwater sacred burial place for paranormal beings - full of towering supernaturally shaped figures over a meter high, which she thought acted as tombstones. As they swam closer, Percy recognized among the figures entities such as mermaids, Cetus, Kraken, Medusa, water nymphs, and even - the largest of all the tombstones - The Lernean Hydra, which in mythology was a nine-headed serpent that lived on the coast of Lerna.

There was yet something beautiful about its place. Although the water became muddy in this part of this paranormal swimming pool, each of the gravestones was overgrown with beautiful, luscious green vines with white blooms. Some of the figures were even holding torches, which didn't burn, but instead released bubbles. Percy must've admitted, that was one of the prettiest cemeteries she has ever seen. Except for the darker and grayer color of the water, it was nothing like horror movies.

"We're here, so what's next? Are we supposed to dig up somebody's bone?" Percy asked, not sure what they were about to do next. She surely wasn't up to gravestone robbing, especially in a place that potentially could end up like a zombie apocalypse scenario. She would place all of her belongings on the possibility that those water creatures would start crawling out from the ground as soon as they would try to rob them of their bones.

"I wouldn't dare to dig up here anything," Blake admitted, thinking about the same as Percy. "I'm not prepared to face Kraken or anything else that's for now lying buried in this place."

"So, what? Are we supposed to swim through those gravestones and look for a bone that would freely lay on the ground, waiting for us to return it to the lifeguard?"

Blake didn't answer for a moment, curiously looking into the distance. He squinted, trying to see something better, and a slight smile appeared on his lips, barely visible through the tight-fitting mask. Percy felt like it was her own skin, which was not necessarily comfortable. It reminded her of that one Goosebumps episode in which the main character couldn't get the Halloween mask off her face.

"Maybe we should try the Mausoleum instead?"

Percy also squinted her eyes, seeing the big building in the distance. They slowly emerged, and the closer they were getting, the more breathtaking it became.

"This place would surely make it to the paranormal seven wonders of the world. Honestly, swimming was never a better feeling than right now." She took a big breath, savoring the opportunity to breathe freely. "Not only can we stay underwater without surfacing for the air, but we also have the chance to see all of these wonderful masterpieces."

The Mausoleum was entirely built of a greenish, diamond-shining material, the name of which none of them knew. They doubted if such material existed in the earthly world they knew. The water around it shimmered the same greenish color, as if the Mausoleum was a source of light and generated its energy. Built on tall columns, entwined with the same luscious green shoots with white flowers and enhanced with blue starfishes, it was a beautiful spectacle. Plus, those amazing huge windows with colorful stained-glass windows. The only disturbing thing about this masterpiece was the Beisht-Kione, which was a monster from Irish Mythology, known as one the most feared beasties among Irish fishermen. His other name was the Beath with a Black Head. The figure of a serpentine eel dragon, which could be found in the deepest depths of the ocean, stood motionless on the roof of the Mausoleum, like a Sphinx guarding the passage.