Albert got out of his car and then walked around slowly, stretching his legs.
"Old age is catching up with me...."
He kept looking in the direction that Shelby had disappeared, worry lines coating his face.
"It’s been a while since Miss Shelby went out there. She should be back by now."
Albert looked at his wristwatch, noting the time while trying to stifle the slight anxiety.
"It’s been hours, and it’s almost evening. Maybe I should go look for her and help her come back?"
He asked himself, but then the main issue was where he could start with the search. The park was too huge. Still, Albert took a chance anyway.
"Miss Shelby could not have gone far with all the things she brought with her. I will check around as I am doing nothing anyway."
He had barely taken a few steps when he received a phone call.
After hanging up, he turned back to the car. He was a bit hesitant, but he drove away.
It was a series of bizarre occurrences.
Just when Shelby thought she was truly done for, she heard a faint voice somewhere around her and, in the pit.... Or so she thought.
She opened her tear-stained eyes wide, swinging her head around as the voice seemed to resonate all around. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to get some warmth onto her cold and fear-stricken body.
She never found the source of the voice, but she did hear the voice once more before chaos reigned.
"Is that you, Murray?!" A surge of hope warmed her heart, only for it to die down because no matter how she called out to him, there was no other response from the man, and she could not see anyone there. She did remember that voice as she had heard it once before.
She backed her back to the cold and uneven walls of the pit as the last few bits of the twigs being woven fell into place, above her, as did her panic. There was everything wrong with whatever was going on. In her life, this was the second time she had experienced an out worldly phenomenon and all in the same place.
Her ring started pulsing so brightly, but she could see none of that, however, there was no one with spiritual eyes, who could have noticed this. In the faint glow of light cast by the ring, it was visible that the tree’s root-like vines inside the pit had all started crisscrossing around each other and had all started towards her, this time a bit more slowly. She was trapped and not going anywhere soon.
The shuffling of feet was heard from above, and Shelby perked her ears, another surge of hope blooming in her.
"Hello! Is anyone there? please! Someone is down here! Help! Please!"
A creepy chuckle echoed out making Shelby’s skin crawl.
"She wants to know who I am.... Hhahaahahaaahahhhaaaaa.... Isn’t she an entitled one?"
Shelby was sure that she had heard multiple feet there, but no one answered the question asked, and Shelby did not think that she was the one being addressed.
A very small gap had been left, and one person squatted and peeked into the hole.
"This is all I have to do?"
Shelby was not sure if the voice was a male or female one. She blamed it on her state of mind, but she could not understand what someone would want against her. Whatever or whoever it was, it was definitely not human or was a human who knew of the worlds that Ian had told her about. She came to that conclusion because they did not seem surprised that she was trapped underneath there in those circumstances.
"She is curious too in the face of death. I kind of like her!" The voice said to whoever was there with her.
On the park’s forest floor, two individuals stood covered in cloaks from head to toe and gazed down at the covered pit, as if it were an everyday sight. Even their faces were hidden so no one could make them out. The pit that Shelby had fallen in was indeed in the very heart of the park and in an area restricted from the public. So, no matter how much Shelby shouted, she would not be heard.
With the wave of one of them, the last few twigs paused, leaving a tiny hole there.
"You are sure that getting rid of her would get me that?"
"This is too tiring! Couldn’t we have just snapped her neck?"
The other shook its head at that.
"You are too complicated! Why can’t we just do everything the way I want?"
The other part did not say a word.
"What of the other thing I talked to you about? When can I get it?"
"Fine! Just tell me when the time is right!"
The first cloaked one got up.
"She’s a sweet one, but why did it have to be her? I need it back, so there is nothing I can do. She should take her sweetness to her grave."
The second cloaked one, who had not said even one word, turned and started to leave.
"Hey, wait! What of the one there?"
The person gestured to one corner of a big tree. To the naked eye, there was nothing there, but whatever was there was able to catch that person’s attention. With a dismissive wave of the hand, the person continued away.
Inside the then very darkened pit, Shelby sobbed uncontrollably, folding her arms to herself. The conversation was very clear to her. They were not there to help! They were there to make sure that she did not come out alive.
The slow-moving vines inside the pit had gotten to her. They bushed against her, and she screamed out, "Ahhhhhhh!" But before she could move back, they grabbed her leg yet again, and the speed increased, trapping her in place as the vines crawled up her legs as if she were being mummified.
It was right at that time, that her ring pulsed so bright that it caught the attention of the two persons above ground. The pit looked like it had piercing white light from its depths fighting its way out. The person by the tree who happened to be Murray, felt his heart start to calm down and a wide smile spread across his face.
Murray had been caught by surprise. He had been used to a life where no one but only a handful of people could see him and had let down his guard! He had realized too late that he had been caught in a trap. At that time, he had one thought, ’If she dies, I might as well die too because his highness would not let me live anyway.’
Murray focused his eyes on the bright white lights that looked like sunlight piercing large, dark, and gloomy clouds, and his dwindling hope started awakening. He did not know that his mistress, Shelby, could do that .... At least not until that happened, but whatever was going on was one thing that both he and she desperately needed. They had met formidable forces that they were not prepared for.
"What’s happening?!" The cloaked figure asked. The answer never came as the whole place plunged into that white light suddenly, lightening the whole darkened forest as if it were a bright lamp that had been lit up.
A giant-like figure appeared out of nowhere and plunged feet-first into the pit. The twigs that had been woven all parted out for him as if they had been burnt off.
For Ian, he had been engrossed in getting to the bottom of the meetings, and then he was not. The apprehension and discomfort he had been feeling was something he had never felt. He had been distressed to the point of wanting to kill. That, for Ian, was new.
He only partially understood it when his ring started to pulse, but he did not have the time. He had been about to instruct Currey to close the meeting when he had just lost control of his body and found himself on the forest floor of a place that he more than recognized.
The piercing lights drew his attention, and without any thought, he jumped into the place it came from even though it looked like the solid ground of tree root vines crisscrossed over each other.
His rage was sky-high, and he did not know why; however, when he saw his Elfin covered in the same vines as if she was being buried alive, he snapped.
His eyes were the same; all the grey irises were nowhere to be found, leaving only the whites.
Back in the meeting room and on the premises of the T-Vino winery, Currey heaved a relieved sigh.
’That was close!’ He thought.
He looked at the vacated seat and walked up to it. Currey had felt it before he had seen it. The surge of power was one that he was very much used to and had experienced once. Ian never displayed such.
His ’abilities’ were always obscured, but Currey had seen it go out of hand only once, on that night years back. He could very much deduce what could have happened. It was not the ’what’ but the ’why’ that kept him puzzled.
Currey had moved quickly and pulled the giant display’s plug just before the white light had blanketed the room.
The Manager Agents exchanged glances as the giant screen in front of them went blank.
"Did I do something wrong? Did I say something bad?"
The one who had been speaking asked, but no one had a response for him. Just then, the screen flicked back to life, and they all flinched, expecting the worst!
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