“W-who Who’s there?” asked Siouxsie. “W-w-who said that?”

  “Someone who has waited a very…very…long time.” The shadows spoke. “And now that you’re finally here, I have no intention of letting either of you see the sun ever again.”

  “Ignatius!” Siouxsie yelled. Something is down here!”

  “What is it?” he yelled back. “Siouxsie what’s happening?” he asked. “Robert, fetch me a broom, quickly!”

  “Why? What’s happening?”

  “Robert do as I say!” he shouted.

  “Alright, alright I’m going!” said the witch as his winklepickers “tic-tacked” out of sight into the night. He was gone but a few anxious moments before he returned with the pirate, prince and old soldier in tow.

  “What’s all this?” asked Atticus? What’s with all the shouting? Is it more soldiers, scouts?”

  “We don’t know. Everyone, stay here. I’ll get to the bottom of this commotion.” Said Ignatius, snatching Siouxsie’s broom from his brother before vanishing down the hole.

  “How come I never have the slightest notion of what’s happening with you people?” asked Loxo. “I can’t close my eyes for the smallest of naps anymore without someone conjuring a tragedy or inconvenience.” Down on the lower level, Ignatius leapt from his broom to land ankle deep in the bones of his ancestors.

  “What are you doing, standing here?” he asked his sister. “You have light. Help Morell find his way to the exit.” Unnerving was the expression of sheer terror upon the children’s faces.

  “There’s s-something d-down here with us-s-s.” Morell chattered as he trembled with fear.

  “Is that so?” said Ignatius, swiftly pulling his sword from its scabbard as his eyes scanned the darkness. “Come out, whoever you are! show yourself!”

  “Ah…Ignatius” The heavy shadows spoke. “I see you’re wearing fresher skin these days.” The voice of the blackness was like nothing Ignatius had ever heard before. The deep voice filled everything but came from nothing at the same time. It was a true test of intestinal fortitude to keep from flying away in fear. But with the boy not being able to fly, it would likely doom poor Morell to leave him alone with whomever or whatever lurked just out of sight.”

  “Who are you?” he waved his sword about, not knowing which way to point it. “How do you know my name?”

  “Names…” the voice swelled. “Names are just things to know… and I do know a great many things.”

  “It sounds ancient and slow,” Morell whispered to Siouxsie. “Like the voice of a gargantuan slug a hundred years old.”

  “Only one hundred years…” laughed the shadows. “Oh, but one century would have been a gift to endure, truly a treat compared to the number of years I have waited for the day of your return.”

  “Enough games and riddles!” shouted Ignatius, the sword still wavering this way and that. “Reveal yourself and speak your business!”

  “But I am ever so present, witch.” Said the voice. “It is your perception that must be widened if you are to see me.”

  “I said reveal yourself!”

  “If you demand it.” It spoke. And then, from every side, the slithering sound of every shadow of the tomb moving on their own. With the exception of the immediate area occupied by the three guests, a dark ichor seemed to weep out of every surface of the walls, the floor the ceiling. The bones and skulls around them appeared to be sinking. Black ooze swelled and filled the chamber. Their eyes glared wider and wider to behold the waking nightmare of what was coming to life all around them. Morell held his glowing gel high to light their way but the more the luminescence revealed, the less he wished he saw. The ooze was not only seeping in like water, but it began to stand vertically, filling the chamber like a pool with a substance neither solid or liquid but gelatinous. The long deceased skeletons of witches by the hundreds began to stand upright, their swords and broom still clutched in death induced grips. Jaws of skulls hung slack full of cries long gone silent.

  “Such unholiness.” Ignatius cursed. “You’ll not find me frightened by your twisted sorcery. I command you to reveal yourself if you’re not afraid!”

  “Afraid.” The gelatinous mass spoke. “I’ve not known fear in ages, witch. It should be you who are afraid in this moment.”

  “I cannot see you through this viscus illusion you’ve fashioned.” said the witch

  “Then perhaps you should look closer if you wish to gaze upon me.” It replied. Ignatius handed his broom to Morell and raised his arms to the sky.

  “Tinder and cinder.” He said. A bright white fireball “poofed” into existence in the palm not holding a sword. He held it high to illuminate the area. What the three of them saw was nothing short of blood curdling. A macabre tapestry of old death painted itself around them as several generations of the dead were now standing straight as though life still surged through them. Morell turned as pale as the moon and Siouxsie clamped a hand across her mouth to keep from screaming at the sight. “Easy sister.” Ignatius whispered with a backward glance. “Keep your wits about you. Still hiding? What mirages have you conjured here, fiend?!” he said to the hollow sockets glaring him down.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Closer.”

  Ignatius did so, moving one winklepicker ahead of the other. Cautiously he advanced until he could not only see further into the dark ichor suspending the bodies but even his own reflection. His eyes searched the surface for signs of their mysterious host. Seconds crept as they found nothing in the distance. Then his eyes refocused to discover the ichor itself had a face of its own just beneath the surface.

  “Gah!” he recoiled, retreating a few steps back with the tip of his sword pointed square between the eyes of the face floating on the vertical edge.

  “What?” Morell asked “What do you- Augh theres a face in it!” the boy shouted

  “Dip me in honey…” whispered Siouxsie in amazement. “What is that?”

  “Wh-what are you?” asked Morell.

  “Do you not recognize me, Morell?” asked the face that shifted and distorted within the gelatinous mass. “I suppose it has been some time since we’ve been face to face.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like you before!” Morell shouted back at it.

  “I think it’s time for us to leave.” Said Ignatius without lowering his sword an inch.

  “I think that’s the best idea.” Said Morell

  “But we’re surrounded by this jelly gunk.” Added Siouxsie.

  “Then we’ll wade through to reach the stairs at the far end where you emerged last time.” Said Ignatius. The other two were about to follow him to the opposite edge of the area when the dark mass spoke again:

  “I would not attempt to do so…if you value your lives.”

  “Oh?” asked Ignatius. “And why not?”

  “I’m afraid the surface area of my body is rather caustic. Your pink flesh would not last a minute against it.”

  “I know illusion when I see it, you monstrosity.” Said Ignatius. “I’m no stranger to hex and spell.”

  “But you are a stranger to me.” Said the voice. “I will not warn you a second time. The painful death you might suffer will be your own doing.”

  “What’s he talking about?” asked Morell

  “He speaks in upended meanings and threats.” Said Ignatius with disgust. “This…thing…is a simple abomination and perversion of leftover magic. We’ll leave, and when I return, I’ll bring several of the stronger witches to cast it out so that it can no longer make a den in the shadow of our old lands.” Morell froze in place.

  “Ignatius?” he said. “I think you should listen to him.”

  “Close your ears to its drivel.” The tall witch told him as he tucked away his sword and reached his hand out to touch the surface of the gel. “There’s nothing here but Auuuggh!” he cried out, dropping his fireball to the ground to cover one hand with a fistful of cloak.

  “Brother!” Siouxsie rushed to his side as he bent over with pain and clutching one hand by the wrist What is it?!”

  “It burned me!” Ignatius grimaced. “It burns like fire!”

  “Not fire, but acid.” Said the black mass. “My outer coating is strong enough to dissolve skin, bone, and steel to nothingness if exposed for too long.”

  “You fiend! How dare you?!” shrieked Siouxsie. Ignatius shook his hand to get the stinging sensation to stop but his face was still a mask of agony as he choked back the burning pain

  “I gave you a warning not to attempt to take Morell from this place.”

  “What right do you have to treat my friends so callously?” asked Morell

  “I will do as I please. I will do as I must. The voice resonated lower and slower now. Its rasp and depth made it seem bottomless when it hit the ears. “My moment of revenge is at hand.”

  “Revenge?” asked the boy “What revenge is yours to have?”

  “For abandoning me, dear Morell.” said the shifting goo. “In a time of chaos, you left me for dead. And for that transgression I cannot forgive you.”

  “You speak in madness!” exclaimed Siouxsie pointing her broom at the face now grown as big as that of a cyclops. “Clear a path!”

  “I think I shall not. The shaft above is still quite open for you to fly through. Flee if you must but the boy remains with me.”

  “I’ll not leave him here with the likes of your putridness!”

  “So be it. But heed my words, little witch. There will be only a sad and useless death for you here.”

  “That death will be yours if you don’t set him free!” she growled.