Consequences

Chapter 21

"Jughead Jones, we meet again," a tall man with broad shoulders sneered at the lone Serpent in the cave. "You're right on time."

"What do you want?" Jughead replied fearlessly.

"Oh, we have something the Serpents want in exchange," he cackled. "And that, my boy, is you."

With that, the Ghoulies pushed the alarmed Jughead into a hole inside the cave and left.

'Crap,' Jughead thought. 'I was so stupid. I should have listened to dad and Toni to let them come as well.'

He stood up to see if he could climb up. Fortunately, he was not hurt, only bruised from the fall, but the hole was quite deep and steep. There was no escape. The sides were too steep to scale and Jughead just slid off every time he tried.

Suddenly, as if an angel had come to save him, a rope dangled in front of him. Thoroughly shocked, he looked up.

"Veronica?"

"The one and only," she smiled. "Grab on!"

Jughead was still in shock, but hung on to the rope with his feet walking up the walls as his savior pulled with all her might.

"Jughead," Veronica groaned after he successfully landed beside her. "That was the most intense workout I've had. How heavy are you?"

"Not everyone can be 5ft1, V," he replied. "Why are you here?"

"Typical Jughead," she rolled her eyes. "Let's go before they come back."

"Too late," Jughead urgently stated as the shadows of the Ghoulies appeared in the bright entrance of the cave.

Jughead grabbed Veronica's hand as they ran further in the cave. They picked up the speed when they heard the Ghoulies' cry of anger upon discovering Jughead's disappearance.

"Block the entrance!" a voice ordered. "In case he's still inside."

All they heard was a big stone being rolled to block the small entrance of the cave, and then nothing.

Jughead cursed. "We're trapped."

"Maybe there's another exit?" Veronica suggested.

"It's not safe to explore the cave. The deeper we get, the further we go from the entrance. There's a huge possibility we'd get lost."

"Agreed," Veronica nodded. "I hear water though, let's head in that direction."

They searched for about a minute before reaching a dome shaped, high roofed place with a shallow pool at the bottom, where water gathered, trickling from above. There was also sunlight shining on the water, which meant an escape to the outside.

However, the small hole where the sunlight streamed in was impossibly small and high up for either of them to reach. Therefore, their only option was to stay here, near water and sun, to await rescue.

"Why are you here?" Jughead persisted angrily.

Veronica was taken aback by his anger. "Whoa, Jughead, I come and get you out of the hole and this is the thanks I get? Jeez."

"You know, if you started minding your own business, you wouldn't be stuck in this mess with me," he said furiously.

Veronica was about to protest, but her face changed as she began to understand why Jughead was so angry. "Aw, Jughead, are you worried about me?"

"What?! No! No way! I..." he spluttered.

"Don't worry, J, I'm perfectly fine, and by the way, thanks for the kiss this morning, I liked it," Veronica winked as she walked past her flustered companion to explore the pool.