Page 45 of Truth
We passed another arch, and as we walked through, my fingers grazed the stone. A static traveled up my arm, shocking me, and I pulled back. “Here.”
“Here?” Sterling’s brows were drawn together in concentration. “You sure?”
No. But this was the closest I had been to feeling much of anything in the last few minutes, and I had to try it. “Lift me up to the center of the arch.”
Without question, Oak picked me up and lifted me. He was tall. But even then, I barely reached, and the stretch to the ornamented center of the arch made me miss Lenin. He would have been able to get me closer. Still, I stretched as far as I could, placing my palm on the symbol and ignoring the static traveling through my body at the touch. I concentrated on my core, ignoring the pain and searching for the well of energy there. I pulled more from the surrounding walls, from the cobblestone. From the dirt. Then when I couldn’t physically hold any more energy within my body, I pushed it outward, closing my eyes to shield me from the sparks flying toward me.
The arch crumbled under my fingertips and with the crack that formed in the symbol, the surrounding shields broke, exposing not stone walls, but a hall lined in barred prison cells. The silence that once surrounded us broke, replaced with shouts of people and the clinking of objects being beaten against the bars. Babies cried, women sobbed, men screamed, the sounds almost too much to bear.
“The place is going to collapse.” Oak sounded over the noise as he placed me on my feet, “We need to get out of here!”
Then the arch crumbled in front of me, taking half the wall with it.
Chapter 22
STERLING
The arch overhead crumbled down,nearly hitting us all with the pieces that fell in chunks, pulling half of the wall as it smashed to the ground. But that was nothing compared to the sound of screams, the sorrow and anguish that filled the air.
With the destruction of the arch, the spell around us fell away, exposing rows of prison cells, thick bars held tightly into the rock, making it impossible for them to leave. Women, children, men. The cries were haunting, a sound that may never leave me for the rest of my existence. The filth and conditions were horrifying, a sight my imagination could never conjure up.
Liberty stepped toward the bars, toward a hand that was outstretched toward her and my arm shout out, “Don’t.”
“We have to save them!” Panic and fear were clawing at her, her voice high pitched.
“You can’t go to them until the bars are broken, they could be under a spell as well.” I explained, though she seemed like she didn’t care.
“I have to save them, we are running out of time, Sterling.”
“He’s right.” Oak agreed, “If you touch the bars before the spell is broken, they could be reversed and put you on the inside.”
“How much longer?” She asked, pacing in front of the people, covering her abdomen as if we didn’t know the pain she was in.
Oak looked at his watch, “Five minutes, fifteen seconds.”
Tears fell, trailing down her cheek, and it hit me right in the stomach. The pain she was feeling, not only physical but also emotional was too much, and it had finally broken our strong girl. I grabbed her hip, pulling her close to me, wrapping my arms around her body and encasing her in.
My lips met her forehead before I pulled away, looking her in the eyes when I said, “We will figure it out.”
“I can’t think. All this noise.” She mumbled.
“I’ve got you.” Michelle stated before bringing her fingers to her lips and whistling the loudest, most piercing whistle that I thought my own ears would bleed by the time she finished. The noise in the room ceased. “Does anyone know how to open these bars?”
A female nearest to Oak spoke, her voice scratching from all the shouting she was doing. “You – you can see us? And h-hear us?”
Michelle tilted her head, answering her shortly, “I see you. The bars, how do we open them?”
“It’s just you walked by us unseeing four times.” Interesting. So not only was this place designed to make us lose time, but it was a loop. Though we walked straight, we repeatedly continued to walk by the same cells, without knowing they were there. “I- I don’t know how to break the bars.”
Michelle looked around, her voice booming, “Does anyone know how to break the bars?”
Everyone looked to each other, all heads shaking no. Shit. Time was not on our side. We all knew it. But to go through that portal without saving a single person when we were all so close was not an option. I felt helpless. A problem that money for once couldn’t solve, and it was tearing me up that I can watch the despair in these people’s faces and not be able to rescue a single one.
“Stand back,” Oak told the people who were lining the bar, “I’m going to blast it with some bolts of lightening.”
Liberty perked up. “That’s actually a great idea. Do you think it would melt them?”
“Worth a try.”