Page 59 of Welcome to Bone Town
“Fuck!” Roman’s curse rings down the stairs. “The other wall’s still up.”
“See? This way!” Jax tugs my arm, swinging the flashlight from one grate to the next as we all rush toward the door. More and more scorpions scramble into the hall.
“Guys,” Bear’s voice wavers. I look back to see a swarm of glowing scorpions flooding from the grates behind us like water.
“They’re huge!” I pick up my pace.
“That’s good, actually,” Archer says, panting. “The big ones are less venomous.”
“That isn’t reassuring,” Roman huffs.
We make a mad dash toward the door. It’s metal, with symbols I don’t have time to study, but I notice Lunara’s rune right in the center. On either side of the door are large, ornate braziers, the base of each supported by a golden jackal.
“At least we’re on the right track,” Jax says when we’re right in front of it. He immediately reaches for a brazier, trying to find anything that might light it. Panic tightens my chest as the scorpions get closer. There’s so many of them that they’re crawling over each other and climbing the walls, a mass of writhing creatures.
Shit! The door has no handle, no lever, nothing to indicate it opens at all.
Everyone searches for a trigger mechanism, except Jax, who’s still looking for a way to light the brazier. Our hands glide quickly over the cold surface. With the dim light from the water draining away, it’s hard to see anything.
My fingers snag on a strange bump about the place a doorknob would be. Raised lines create uneven trails across the smooth surface, a different color than the metal of the door. Pulling my hand back, the shape of the odd area strikes me. A hexagon. It’s roughly the size of… no… maybe? I pull the puzzle box from my bag, grateful that I kept it on me. If I hadn’t been studying it so regularly, constantly playing with it in my hands, I might not have felt the similarity.Please let this work.
Lifting the box to the wall,I spin it first one way, then the other, until I feel the raised trails align with the grooves on the bottom. I twist it, and it locks into place with a loudclick.
“What was that?” Bear asks.
“The puzzle box wasn’t missing another part, it was the missing piece to this door! I think it’s a key.” Maybe there are even more of them somewhere.
“More opening, less talking,” Jax grits out.
I try to twist the box, expecting the door to open, but it doesn’t turn. “Shit, I think we still have to solve the puzzle.” My thumb glides over the disks at the top of the box, and this time, they spin. “I need light.”
“I’m trying, love,” Jax says. “But I’m a little busy at the moment.” He’s no longer looking for a way to light the braziers. He’s stomping scorpions one after the other, kicking them away as fast as he can. “Unless you want scorpions all over you.”
“We might have that either way.” Bear points up. A few of the braver creatures are slowly crawling along the ceiling.
“Fuck!” Jax swings the flashlight overhead and two of them fall a few feet away. Bear grunts as he heaves the brazier Jax isn’t trying to light until it tips over. The metal crashing onto stone is deafening in this confined space. The unlit coals scatter like seeds from the momentum of the fall, startling the scorpions enough that they scatter briefly. Our reprieve is short lived, though, as the glowing bodies regroup and crawl toward us once more.
Shit, I need to focus. Roman unzips my bag and pulls out my little pen light. I’d completely forgotten about it. He holds it steady while I spin the little dials.
“No, turn that one to the right. I think these bright gold sections line up,” Archer says from over my shoulder.
A shape starts to take form as I align the parts Archer points out. An omega symbol.
When the last piece clicks into place, the sides of the box open, revealing a metal piece the shape of the same omega symbol. I fit my hand around it and try to turn, but it doesn’t budge. Cursing, I try the other direction.
“Push it!” Archer suggests frantically.
I put pressure on the extrusion, and it sinks cleanly into the wall, the door creaking open in the process. Thank the goddess!
Bear whoops loudly and ushers Archer and me through first, the rest of them rushing in behind us. Jax moves to slam the door, but I yell out, “Wait! The puzzle box.”
He unhooks it, then shoves the door closed. Only one scorpion makes it through, but it meets its end quickly under Jax’s boot, the crunch of an exoskeleton ringing through the space.
For a second, we all stand there, staring at the door,catching our breath, dripping wet. That’s when I realize I can see. It’s not bright in here, but there’s a low, red-tinted glow. In the center of the room there’s another bioluminescent pool, but this one is different from the ones a level above us. I’ve never heard of a red bioluminescence, maybe it’s something else making the pool glow a crimson red, blood red, almost like it’s warning us away with its eerie light.
The room is large, with six even sides. What I see along the edges makes me catch my breath.
Treasure.
