| Chapter 7 |
“Okay, seriously, how long are we going to be walking?” Nuri asked, her heaving chest visible through her cloudy flames. “I’m not really sure,” Scarlet answered, and Kammie looked up in surprise. “You mean you don’t know where we are going?” she asked, gasping in the cold air of, well, wherever they were. Cliffs jutted out of towering mountains, piles of snow heaped onto their rocky sides. The frozen grass crunched under their feet, and a freezing wind hit them like knives in the air. “No, we are just going to wander around until we find something,” was all Scarlet said.
Vesta shivered. “I am beginning to regret coming with you guys, just gotta say it,” she said, and a heavy shiver shook her voice. “Hey, I thought you wanted to come!” Nuri cried, her voice was barely audible over the wind. “I did, but you never told me what we were going to be doing! I thought we were going to, like, explore caves, and play in rivers! Not go hiking!” Vesta protested, but Nuri was looking the other way. Kammie came back to what Scarlet had said. “But wait, didn’t you say you knew where we should look?” “No, the book didn’t show any signs of where he went. We can only hope we come up somewhere he might be,” Scarlet explained, and Kammie groaned. Why, why! She thought that they would be going straight to where her father was, and then they would grab him and run back to the Cave.
“There has got to be a different way,” Kammie half begged Scarlet after another half hour of cold torture. “Well, we could cross Black Desert Plain, but that would be a longer trip. I’m sure he has been kept in Devils Pit, a giant underground castle that lies two hundred feet below the surface. That is where Dark Shadow lives, and he rules over the castle.” Scarlet considered, and Kammie exclaimed, “Then we need to get there immediately!” “Yes, but the whole thing is a giant maze of cells, and it is drenched in shadows. It would be very dangerous to visit there,” Scarlet told her.
“Yes, but-”
“Kammie, I think that your desire to find your father is clouding your ability to see the dangers of the path we would have to take.” Scarlet decided, and Kammie had to agree. But she couldn’t leave this place until she found him. Why? Because she would never be able to live with herself knowing that he might still be alive. “Even if you did get to the Devils Pit, he might not even be there. Dark Shadow captures humans, and then he slowly devores them. Your father may be dead by now, Kammie.” Scarlet sighed. “No!” Kammie cried, the news rolling around in her mind. “He can’t be dead. He just can’t be!” Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she fell to the ground. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure he is still alive,” Nuri coaxed her to keep going. “We can’t give up now.”
Look for Chapter Eight to learn more!