Calm and Calamity

Chapter 52

Pearl hesitated before finally answering, "Her Highness has Lili, Calanthe, and Oscar still. The Princess will cope without us for a few hours."

"Good," said Corinna. "Prepare any supplies you need; we will be heading out in a few minutes."

*

Once everyone was ready, Corinna, Sumit, Pearl, and Daina headed over to the entrance to the giant sandwyrm tunnel, which Sumit and Rin had found Jessica. They trekked over the dunes, mostly in silence. Though Sumit did his best to initiate conversation, the rest were not in a particularly talkative mood. Daina, as always, was completely silent; the only time when someone had heard her voice was when she sang that one time. Finding Sumit's joyfulness and puns exhausting and annoying, Pearl blanked him out completely. Even Corinna would sometimes not talk back; her mind too focused on the guilt of abandoning Jessica.

They eventually reached the tunnel entrance, which was still partially blocked by debris, leaving only a small gap to peer into the darkness on the other side.

"So, um, Corinna," began Sumit. "I probably should have asked this earlier, but what is the plan exactly? How are we going to find Jessica's missing limbs? We don't know how far these tunnels go; we could get lost."

Corinna raised the metal lantern in her hand; the green wisp inside it swirled around. "The wisp should be drawn to anything magical, so I'm hoping it will react if we get close to Jessica's missing legs. As for getting lost, Daina will be able to guide us out in her banshee form." Corinna turned to Daina. "I'm sorry that this plan relies such much on you."

Daina nodded, and Corinna almost thought she saw a slight smile on the woman's lips.

"Thank you." Corinna returned her own gracious smile. She brushed her finger underneath her jaw, activating her mask. Gold metal enveloped her body, forming armour and transforming Corinna into the golden knight.

Pearl and Daina watched; for a brief moment, their faces betrayed a sense of caution and maybe even fear, then snapped back to their usual indifferent expressions.

"Alright, Daina, could you please scout ahead?" Corinna asked, her voice deeper and distorted behind the golden mask.

Daina nodded as she donned her banshee mask. Her skin grew translucent, her feet completely invisible, and her hair growing longer and unkempt. The spectre hovered above the ground then dove through the blocked up tunnel entrance, phasing through it.

"Make sure to stay quiet," hushed Sumit. "Don't want the sandwyrm chomping on us."

Working together, Corinna, Sumit, and Pearl carefully cleared away the debris blocking the tunnel entrance, making sure to be as quiet as possible to not draw the sandwyrm to them from the loud noise.

Once it was all clear, Corinna went in first, leading the other two with the lantern, the wisp inside lighting up the tunnel in an emerald glow.

"Jessica's missing limbs might be in the same place as where we escaped," Corinna whispered.

"Or inside the sandwyrm," mumbled Pearl.

"We'll check that possibility last, shall we?" said Sumit.

Corinna nodded. "The tunnel entrance we escaped from was south-east from here."

Sumit retrieved a plastic school compass from his jacket pocket and guided them in the right direction. "Everyone be on the lookout for some severed wooden puppet legs."

Continuing on their journey, Sumit stopped and pointed to the ground.

Corinna looked down and saw claw marks in the sand, along with other traces, as if they were crawling and dragging their body.