Jaxon motions everyone over, steps into the first cell, and starts to plug the code into the door so we can get to the tunnels. But Flint stops him with a hand to the shoulder.
“That’s not how we get to the tunnels that lead to the Boneyard.”
“What do you mean?” Macy asks. “I thought you said the only way to find it is through the tunnels.”
“It is.” Eden grins. “Just not those.”
Flint motions for all of us to join him at the back of the cell, where one of the walls appears to have several gemstones embedded in a crude circle of emerald, ruby, sapphire, obsidian, amethyst, tourmaline, topaz, and citrine. He taps each gem as though entering a safe code, then steps back.
A couple of seconds later the floor under my feet rumbles ominously, and then the huge stones inside the circle of gems move back one by one, until we’re all staring at a small, round tunnel in the middle of the wall.
“So who wants to go into the creepy hole first?” Macy jokes, and everyone laughs, but no one rushes to raise their hand.
“Well, you’re all in luck, because I think it’s going to have to be a dragon.” Flint’s eyes twinkle with devilish excitement. He turns to Eden and asks, “Should we tell them what’s on the other side? Or more specifically, what’s not?”
Eden rolls her eyes at him. “Yeah, I’m not risking a werewolf bite or fang to the neck in panic.” She turns to address us. “As you know, these tunnels were built for dragons…who can fly. So on the other side of this tunnel…there’s no ground for a bit. For Grace, who can fly—and Jaxon—when it launches you into the air, obviously, do your thing and you’ll be fine. For the rest of you, just count to thirty before each person goes in, and Flint or I will catch you on the other side.”
She nods as though that’s that, grabs the small ledge above the hole, and swings her whole body inside in one fluid motion, feet first. And then disappears.
Flint jokes, “I love this part,” before he, too, jumps into the hole and disappears.
The rest of us just stand there, looking from one to the other, wondering if they’re messing with us or if we’re really expected to just jump and let gravity do its thing. Either way, none of us is particularly excited about being the first one to jump.
Jaxon grabs my hand and says, “Hey, no worries. I’ll catch you.”
Before I can point out that I actually have wings and can “catch” myself, thank you very much, Xavier responds with, “Dude, she has wings. You better catch me instead. No way do I want a dragon’s talon through my heart.”
Everyone nervously laughs, and we tacitly agree as a group that yeah, Jaxon should be the one to “catch” everyone without wings, so he jumps in the hole next. I wait to hear a scream or a splat or something, but this is Jaxon, so…nothing.
Since I’m the last one of those left who can fly, I take a deep breath and walk up to the hole and peer in. It goes down pretty far pretty fast… My heart starts racing for all the wrong reasons.
“Don’t worry,” Hudson says with a deliberately smug look on his face from the spot where he’s been leaning against a wall the whole time, “Jaxon will catch you.”
And that does it. I glare at him and lift my chin right before I turn back to the hole and jump straight in.
80
A Gargoyle’s Guide
to Antigravity
I try to play it cool, but it’s a long, long, long way down, and I end up screaming before I hit the first turn. Beneath me, the stone is smooth and slick, and that only helps me pick up speed as I zip around each crook and bend, still heading on a massive descent. Honestly, it kind of reminds me of a slip-and-slide water park in San Diego, and I’m grinning madly by the end…at least until the bottom gives way and the tunnel ejects me out into a dark and yawning void.
Black hole anyone?
My lungs—and everything else—tighten up as terror rips through me, but somehow I manage to shift in midair, my wings catching me before I fall more than a couple of feet. I can tell the cavern is small in the near-pitch-darkness, because I can hear the echo of our wings flapping, but not much else. Also, there must be water somewhere nearby, because wet, musty air coats my skin within seconds.
I can feel Flint and Eden hovering next to me, but I can’t see them all that well as a shiver of fear skates along my spine. This place does not want me here; I can feel it in my bones. My inner voice is all but begging me to get the hell out of here, and I’ve never wanted to listen to it more.