Trapped

12. THE LABYRINTH

THE LABYRINTH

I am a little relieved when Cordelia's flashlight comes on again. She shines it on my face and I flinch.

"Hey!" I say in reaction.

"Sorry!" Cordelia says. I somehow sense it's her mini payback to me since I somehow know how to translate Yoruba and she didn't know.

We can still feel the tremors, but unlike how amplified it had been up above, it's more muffled down here.

Soon, the shaking stops completely and we wait for a few minutes, wanting to be certain that it won't start again like earlier.

I look at the cold concrete wall beside me. There are green and brown moss plants growing between the cracks. I could have never imagined that a place like this was underneath our school.

Owen is now pacing this small space and seems to be on the edge of hyperventilating. He's trying to calm himself down, I guess.

Oscar's eyes are tightly shut as if he is willing all of this to be a nightmare episode, something he'll wake up from.

I hold on to Dart who is oddly silent now.
In my other hand is the picnic basket that Cordelia brought to the library.

Now, it's not like I like the extra luggage or I want to eat food in the middle of this mayhem. No, in the heat of our scrambling for cover, I had the discretion to take the Apocrypha book and some survival supplies. The basket was the closest thing I saw where I could fit it all into.

"Where is this place?" Cordelia says slowly, using her flashlight to scan the confined space.

Oh, she is doing a video recording. Probably to upload it to her blog if we ever get out of this place alive.

I look at Jadiel in question but she looks everywhere else but at me or anyone else for that matter.

I want to shake her and ask her what she knows about all that has been happening. It seems to me that she has an inkling of what's happening. Maybe I do too, but I'm too scared to admit it.

"Follow me," she says. Like obedient sheep, we trot after her as she leads us, taking a turn to the left.

Soon, we emerge into an open hallway space.

Using common sense, I traverse the same path we took and roughly conclude that we are currently below the school's assembly point.

The assembly above is a mini amphitheatre. It's the spot where we gather if we have an announcement so important or urgent-often sad news-that using the School's AI-automated PA system wouldn't suffice.

"Woah," Owen exclaims as he takes in the expanse of the space. "How did you know this place?" he says in question to Jadiel.

"Long story. Anyway, it's a special get-away route that the founding fathers of Lukan High had drafted into the master plan of the school."

"Oh, like a secret passageway," Owen says, intrigued.

"Not exactly. Well, I don't know much about it. I guess it was used as a hideout during the time of the war or as an escape route in case of a major emergency. My mom has a similar trap door in her office; discovered it by chance. Never even knew there was another one here in the library."

"So, are you saying you frequented this place?" Cordelia asks, a brow raised.

Jadiel shrugs and says while twirling the edge of her skirt, "Kinda. I know a route from my mom's office that leads out to the main road."
Then, she smirks. "Sometimes, when I want to clear my head or escape from the noise of school life, I come here."

"Oh!" Oscar says.

I stare straight into her eyes. Is this a place where she had contemplated or even attempted suicide? We seriously have to talk about what she was saying when I met her in the restroom. But in the light of our present state, we don't have the luxury to chitchat.

"Okay. Let's head into it then," Owen chimes.

"Wait!" Jadiel begins to say.

Owen's legs step on a stone tile-or is it concrete?-and suddenly a labyrinth is activated. A maze-like outline lights up on the floor. It's like gold veins on the floor but there is a specific pattern to it.

Plus, looking carefully closer, I see that words are dancing in the gold outlines-Words in Yoruba. I gulp. This doesn't look good.

Owen stumbles back, startled.
"What the-?"

Jadiel says hurriedly, "You should have allowed me to finish explaining before jumping. Now, you've just complicated matters."
She sounds angry.

"We have to be very careful and very fast and very smart to cross to the other side. This is the matrix of wits. It could get nasty," she says as she eyes the glowing patterns on the floor.

We all look at the echoing, space partitioned into a maze and involuntarily shiver.

"There's no way in the world we're going through that! I think we should just go back through the same door we came through,"

"What are our options?" Oscar asks in a gruff tone.

"Um, we cannot open the same door we opened when we came in. It's to protect the secrecy of the trap door," Jadiel says.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Cordelia squeaks, "What if we never find the door that leads out? We'll be forever trapped here! No one will ever find us!"

"Well then, maybe I should have just allowed you all to be crushed by the falling debris," Jadiel retorts sharply, her eyes narrowed at Cordelia in anger.

"Hey, hey! Now's not a good time to get into a squabble. Guys, let's just figure this out fast, together," I say, stepping in between both of them.

Cordelia glares at me as if I have just betrayed her. I sense Cordelia is silently blaming me.

"Look, I have a feeling that this Apocrypha book holds a great key to us finding our way out of here. If we work together, we can escape this simulated hellhole and find out why this series of weird happenings have been going on," I say.

My companions nod solemnly.

Oscar says, "So, what do we need to do to cross-?"

We all hear a sound and snap our heads in the direction where it came from. It's like the low robotic rumble that SciFi movies tell us is the signature sound that invading aliens make to announce their entrance.

I feel my blood run cold. Cordelia is visibly trembling now. Even Jadiel, who has supposedly frequented this place, is frowning so hard, completely perplexed.

Dart perks up at the sound, the hair at the back of his neck like sharp spikes, and begins a low growl from the pit of his belly. I don't even try to stop his growling, I am petrified by terror.

~~~

Author's note: Hey guys! Feels like it's been a billion years since I last updated this book. I apologize for the long wait. I was caught up in some special activities.

The target end date for this story is mid-September. Who would think that September will also fly this fast?
I mean, it's already the 5th. Anyway, happy new month, y'all. Feel free to check out my new stories here on Wattpad too if you haven't already.

I pray God helps me reach my target. God bless you all for reading through this story despite the obvious delays and maybe not-so-obvious flaws and glitches.

See you soon.