Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XXXIX: Something Scary

Ch. 39: Something Scary

Mara supported a hand on the cold column beside her and looked around. A shower of dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling, waking up a colony of bats and small insects that swooped down in search of shelter. She locked a scream in her throat when one of the critters buzzed past her ear.

"Shit, shit, shit." Mara tackled the narrow, stone steps toward the chamber like a newborn fawn. She held onto whatever she could, pressing the side of her body against the rock face and trying to avoid the falling pebbles. Mara let out a deep sigh of relief when both of her feet touched the floor. "Mimi, wait," she shout-whispered.

With widened eyes, Mimi and Godo turned around.

"What the hell are you still doing here? I thought I—"

A loud grumble came from the rock overhead. More dust. More pebbles. More tremors.

"Shhh!" Mara pressed a raised index finger against Mimi's lips and furrowed her brows. Her eyes jumped to the cathedral doors, and a pressure in the pit of her chest told her she should hide. Mara pulled Godo and Mimi and hid behind the wooden base of a tall display case. Inside it, Koieré, the singing ax, hummed a song lost to the ages, oblivious to what happened around it. "You can't go into the Cathedral right now," Mara said. "There are people inside."

The world stopped shaking. After a few more tremors, the earth felt stable again.

Mimi huffed and looked at Mara. "How do you know that?"

"I...." she didn't want to keep lying. "I just do. Trust me."

Godo shrugged when Mimi looked at him. Mimi opened her lips to answer, but as if to prove Mara's words, one of the cathedral's narrow side doors opened. The light coming from it cut a bright shade of yellow on the floor, and the distinct sound of a gun being cocked filled the newfound silence.

Mimi and Godo shared a look. The three of them stood there in silence, perfectly still, until the gun was uncocked, and the cave plunged into darkness again.

"Thank you for warning us, Mara," Godo whispered. "We might've been used as target practice if you hadn't."

Mara did nothing but nod, despite the uneasiness welling up in her chest. Her mission had been completed, so she turned around and was ready to leave when Mimi gripped her arm.

"You've been here for a while longer. Have you seen how many people are in there?" Mimi's eyes were hard—harder than Mara thought they could be.

Mara peeked from behind her hiding spot and sharpened her hearing. There. The distant heartbeat she had heard before, loud and strong. Apart from that one, she recognized another three, beating quicker and softer than the others.

"Four people. No." Her eyebrows flinched. Wait. There was another, but this one beat quietly and in a weird rhythm, as if its owner was weak or... "Injured. I'm guessing five people, but one of them seems to be in very bad shape," Mara whispered.

"Shit," Mimi mumbled. She took in a deep breath and rested a hand on her sword's hilt.

Mara heard Mimi's heart too. It beat fast, the muscles tensing in her legs and jaw. She was scared.

Godo placed a hand on Mimi's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. Then, he pivoted around, his big feet crunching pebbles under his weight. "Thank you for warning us, Mara. You better go."

She nodded. Mara tried on a smile, but it didn't stick. She couldn't go. This was the closest she got to Numa—Mara was certain she was inside that cathedral—and she needed to make sure that damned person wouldn't flap her lips about her secret.