The Fiction Games

Chapter Fifteen - Reconcile

"Was that an earthquake?" Hermione whispered.

The tunnel hummed for a great deal before settling to its normal cemented, echoing underpass. They all stopped, feeling the walls for crumbling flaws. Except for two light sources, they could not see a few inches ahead of them.  Wand alight, Harry wielded it behind him. If the undead had breached the dam, he would've heard snarls bouncing off in every direction. Still, he knew the tremor wasn't ordinary at the hands of the Gamemakers.

"Lumos Maxima," Harry launched a ball of light backwards. Despite the tunnel's wicked shadows, nothing appeared to be following them.

"Let's keep moving," said Peter Pevensie, directing the lantern's orange glow onward.

The more they pressed on further into the labyrinth, the less air Percy had to breathe. He would've believed it went on forever, spiraling deeper inside the earth until their lungs imploded. A sweat broke all around him, and he wished of peeling off his layers when the tunnel shook.

Everyone stopped. Peeta Mellark felt the wall. Less violent than the previous quake, it seemed longer, and growing louder every second he left his hand on the moist rock. "It's coming closer..."

Percy's brain screamed his attention as though Poseidon planted an alarm clock in his skull. It was near. So near he had only enough time to catch sight of it.

Suspended inches from Peeta, torrents of water surged to break the bonds Percy's ability allowed. Knees buckling, veins jumping out of his skin, he stood his ground while gallons of more water caved in, contorting and writhing in place. 

Katara sprung into action. With one hand, she lessened the strength of the flood and drove it away, every step the water creeping backward. She swallowed a gulp of whatever air remained in the tunnel and blew. Her breath could be seen, spreading from her mouth and enveloping the water. Once she exhaled all she could muster, a block of solid ice endured. sealing off the tunnel. Percy relinquished his focus. 

"Brilliant," said Harry, mesmerized.

"We have to go," demanded Peter. "This way."

While monsters pounded on the ice, they scurried like rats, scrounging to find an exit  in a maze of tunnels. Percy scattered to a stop. The orange glow of the candle revealed the tunnel splitting in two black holes. 

"Which way?" he said.

"Right," said Susan, dubiously. "I believe I remember Mr. and Mrs. Beaver taking us to the right one. It leads to the other side of the dam."

"Where the rest of those flesheaters are?" Percy's voice escalated from a whisper to a shout.

They were so close Percy heard their voices fluttering about the tunnel. Percy tried to decipher if they were apparent to the others or it only happened inside his mind. Did the water toppled down the frozen  barricade, sweeping a crowd of beasts with it?

"Lumos Maxima!" Harry sent a ball of light down the right tunnel. Gliding through the air dreamily, it traveled until it reached a long distance from Harry. It glowed tremendously, yet it did not show them what lied ahead. The groans bounced from one wall to the other, unceasingly.

Then figures began to materialize.

"Left!" Susan screamed.

Nine of them propelled inside the opposite tunnel. The ceiling dripped icy cold drops on their necks, and the walls seemed to be oozing water from the river. Puddles collected by their feet, so deep that the further they tumbled down the tunnel, the higher the puddles rose. 

Harry turned around. "Stupefy!"

One contour dropped to its knees, reasbsorbed back into the enormous crowd. The water line reached to their thighs.