Into the Pit

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

It's everywhere, covering nearly every inch of the room; the walls, the ceiling, everywhere except the floor. The extreme heat hits my body all at once and I have to squint my eyes to keep smoke out. Why exactly was Ajax excited about this?

There's a group of people in cloaks walking around a pit of fire. They must be burning in those things. They each held a long stick with some sort of rock or gem tied to the end of it. They're chanting something, although I can't understand what they're saying because the crackling of flames is so loud.

"Is this some kind of cult?" Misto says.

"I don't know but isn't it cool?" Ajax says, wanting a response as enthusiastic as he is about this.

"Well I wouldn't say cool," Melina says fanning herself. Her hair is completely dry now.

"Look up there!" Dylis points to something above the fire pit. All our eyes look and see something dangling from a chain about fifteen feet over the fire. At first I can't make out what it is, until the chain begins to lower it down closer to the fire. Then I realize that it's a person.

He looks lifeless, but his facial expression looks like he's crying. He's been stripped of his clothing, and his body is covered with dirt. He looks like he's in his mid-twenties. The chains continue to send him towards the fire, which suddenly burns higher and brighter than before, like it's excited that it will soon be able to eat.

The people wearing the cloaks stop walking and stick the rock at the end of they're sticks into the fire, making it glow an electrifying green. The man begins kicking his feet around frantically, but his arms are chained to his sides. When he's only a couple feet above the fire, the chains stop lowering him. For a second, he looks relieved. I sigh for him. I'm about to suggest that we get out of here, when the chain disappears; sending the man screaming to his doom. The fire shoots up a firework of flames in gold and green, exploding with enormous light.

We all scream. Even Ajax. The cloaked people whip they're heads towards us. We stare for a period of a few seconds, until Misto screams, "RUN!!!"

We turn around and book it. But five kids running through a narrow muddy tunnel just isn't the best idea. Most of us eat it face down in the mud, scrambling to get up. The members of the cloak cult are gaining on us, they're hoods somehow still shadowing their faces.

We reach the pond again, back to the arches. Misto, who happens to be in the lead, picks a random arch fives arches over and dashes through it. The rest of us have no choice but to follow. We're in another tunnel, and someone behind me flat tires me, and I lose my other shoe. This tunnel leads to a room that resembles a small bedroom- and there's someone in it.

A boy who had been sitting on a stool next to the bed gasps and stands up, eyes wide. He blinks his eyes once and I hear a door slam behind us. I spin around. Was there a door there before?

The boy takes a good look at us. I can't tell if he looks confused or scared. He must have been sleeping before, because he doesn't have a shirt on and is just in his boxers. He chuckles. "Let me guess, you came with this guy?" He motions to his bed, where Velotz is asleep.

"Velotz!" Ajax goes over to the bed. "How...Where..?"

The boy laughs again, letting his dark hair fall into his eyes. "Your friend there fell into Despair's Lake. Luckily he got himself out of there, usually once someone steps foot near the lake they never come back. I found him passed out next to it. He's alive, but he hasn't woken up yet." He sits back down on his stool and folds his hands in his lap. There's a harsh knocking on the door.