Chapter 49

Kelly “Sssssometimes things change,” The Naga said, getting closer to me. His tongue darted out and nearly touched my cheek, making me freeze in place.

“I couldn’t agree more. But whatever happens today, we are leaving with that crystal. So what do I need to do in order to get it without bloodshed?” I asked, refusing to back down even if he was a deity.

“A bold statement, don’t you think? From where I stand, you are vastly outnumbered.”

“That alone should tell you how serious I am about this. I need that crystal.”

“This crystal, as I’m sure you know, is very powerful.” He said, slithering around me, his tail brushing up against my leg. “What you might not know is that only one is processed from this cave every four decades. What makes you think you are worthy of such a prized possession?”

“It’s to save the queen. To save my mother.” I gulped, feeling more than uncomfortable. “My intentions are pure.”

“Are they now? Are you willing to prove it?” He smiled wickedly.

“Yes.” I nodded. “How could I do that?”

“Kelly-” Jonas began to warn.

“SSSSILENCE!” The Naga yelled, making me jump. “It’s a simple process really….” He purred. “I will look into your mind, examine your soul, and if in fact your intentions are as pure as you claim them to be, I will give you the crystal.”

“Okay-” I began.

“But, if your soul is not pure, it will be your death,” he continued.

I swallowed hard, nodding in agreement. If I said no, they would probably kill us there and then anyway. I was going to get that crystal to save my mom if it was the last thing I did. “Let’s do this.”

“Very good.” He laughed, eyeing me up. In the blink of an eye he was wrapping himself around me, making me gasp in shock. Oh, I didn’t like this very much at all.

“Kelly!” Emmett yelled.

“I’m okay.” I breathed shallowly, the Naga tightening his coil around me.

“Open wide.” He said, the end of his tail next to my face.

I hesitantly opened my mouth despite all the protests coming from behind me. As soon as I did, it felt like the air was being sucked from my lungs, and then, darkness.

– – – – – – – – – –

Thorin Jonas and Emmett were yelling at Kelly, begging her not to go forth with what the evil serpent wanted. She, of course, ignored all reason and proceeded. Not that I blame her. What other choice did she have? My panic did not truly set in until I watched the serpent suck the life out of Kelly. Out of her mouth came two balls of light, one blue, the other orange. They combined and turned into a gold orb, balancing at the end of the snake’s tail. He released Kelly, her body falling limply to the ground while he slithered over to the tree.

I ran to her side, pushing past at least four other snake people, Jonas and Emmett right behind me. I turned her onto her back, her body offering zero resistance. Emmett’s hand went to her neck, and then her chest, panic written all over his face.

“She doesn’t have a pulse! Why doesn’t she have a pulse?!” He yelled at the serpent responsible.

“Because I took her soul.” He said, swapping the crystal for Kelly’s gold orb of energy inside the tree.

The once pink colored tree faded and then reilluminated in a mix of blue and orange. The leaves themselves changed, showing images on each of them. Moments of time, as it were.

“What is this?” Jonas asked.

“This is your friend’s life in a nutshell.” The serpent answered, looking over each leaf.

“What are you doing with it? Will Kelly be okay? You cant leave her like this!” Jonas began yelling frantically.

“Weren’t you listening? I am examining her soul.” He hissed.

“Will she be okay?!” Jonas began yelling again.

“That depends, your friend here seems to have quite a toxic lifestyle. Hardly any good really.” He frowned.

“That’s not true!” Jonas protested. “Kelly is a good person!”

“Do good people murder their significant other?”

“That was a misunderstanding-” Jonas began to defend.

“Do they end life within themselves?” The snake asked.

“What..?” Jonas frowned.

“She couldn’t have the pup, it was too dangerous, she was being responsible!” Emmett jumped in.

“Do they have affairs with their betrothed?” He asked again.

“What affair?” Emmett frowned, both he and Jonas exchanging glances until I cleared my throat, admitting to guilt.

“Do they use drugs for pleasure? Do they ignore responsibility? Do they hurt people for sport? Do they keep secrets?” He continued.

This wasn’t going well. I had little faith that the snake would restore Kelly on his own free will and give us the crystal. I needed to think of something, and fast.

“Kelly isn’t like that.” Jonas said, approaching the tree with Emmett.

This might be the distraction I needed.

– – – – – – – – –

Jonas I didn’t want to believe it, I wanted to deny everything I saw, but on each of the leaves were brief clips of Kelly’s life. All of her highs and lows. I never knew she was pregnant. I never fully knew how bad things got for her. I had a feeling she had feelings for Emmett and Thorin as well as me, but I didn’t know to what degree. From the looks of it, some of this was new information for Emmett too.

“Its not like that.” Emmett began. “She has two spirits inside her. We are werewolves. The blue is Kelly, the orange is Keres.”

“Explain.” The Naga ordered.

“Our goddess, the moon goddess, gifted us, werewolves, with two spirits within us. We can speak to each other and and take control of each other and have opposing thoughts and ideas. Kelly’s wolf spirit, Keres, is sick. She makes poor choices and Kelly can’t stop her.” Emmett stuttered.

“Even so, your friend is dangerous.” The Naga said. “Why should I allow her to live?”

“Look at all the good!” I interjected. “Kelly has done so much good even amidst the bad!”

The Naga turned back to the tree and continued to study the leaves with a fine tooth comb, wordlessly forming his own opinions on the matter.

“Well?” Emmett pressed.

“I see your point.” He agreed, pulling the gold orb from the tree with the end of his tail and slithering back over to Kelly. “I will allow her to live, but I will not allow her to take the crytal. Her mission is in vain. She doesn’t even have the third element.” Thorin was just returning to her side. He carefully opened her mouth and the Naga placed the gold orb back into her. “I suggest you leave now and never return.”

“We will, thank you.” I agreed as Thorin picked up Kelly, who was gasping and choking for air.

“Is there a better way out?” Emmett asked.

“Through the third opening on your left. It’s a straight shot and then you’ll need to climb.” He said, slithering back to the tree.

“Thank you.” Emmett said, ever polite.

“We need to move quickly.” Thorin linked us as we approached the opening the snake spoke of, walking through a sea of snakes.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I linked back.

“They have taken the crystal!” The Naga hissed.

“Run!!” Thorin yelled, breaking into a sprint.

“What did you do?!” I yelled, while Thorin laughed victoriously.

There were dozens of snakes on our tail and we didn’t exactly have time to drop our packs and shift, nor would we be able to withstand some of the temperatures down here without any clothes. So running it was. The Naga were hot on our heels, but we were gaining some distance. The path started to thin out at a certain point, requiring us to crawl through. As soon as the last of us got through, Thorin took the opportunity to hand Kelly over to Emmett and ran to the cave wall, grabbing the biggest rock he could carry and jamming it into the hole, blocking the path. I helped him and we continued to pile up the rocks until we were certain it would hold them back, even if only for a few extra minutes.

We breathed a sigh of relief, until the first tremor hit and some massive stalactites began falling to the ground.

“You said those things could control the weather, right? You think they could cause these earthquakes?” Emmett asked, repositioning Kelly in his arms, who looked to still be in a daze.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” Lets go.

The earthquakes made it nearly impossible to run in a straight line, and the falling harpoons only added to our stress, but we ran and ran and ran, our legs burning and bodies hyped up on adrenaline until we couldn’t go any further. We had been running for hours, if not almost an entire day. The moon goddess must be working on our side though, because as soon as we stopped, we looked up and would see the sweet blinding rays of sunshine poking through the tiny looking hole far above us, a rope dangling from it. Looks like it was time to climb.