With Fear or Without

9- Symbols in the Dark

They waited, pressing against the walls and not daring to move, as the doors slowly inched their way outwards. They strained their ears to listen for any movement, any people rushing in to find the intruders. Eventually the doors came to rest perpendicular to the wall, the glow next to Cleo's face almost blinding. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think about what would happen when they were caught. She wasn't so naïve to think that they would welcome them, release a prisoner into their custody and send them on their way. She tried not to acknowledge the guilt making a comeback in her chest. She tried not to think that it was her fault, that she led her friends to this place and she was responsible for whatever fate awaited them.

After who knows how long, Cleo jumped when a hand tapped her shoulder. Charlie was looking at her, eyes wide and frantic, asking a silent question. Cleo shrugged, her mind empty of anything helpful.

"Guys?"

At Andy's voice, both Cleo and Charlie looked towards it, the source blocked by the glowing door that was now losing its color. Cleo followed Charlie as they crept forwards and peered around the door. When they stepped into the doorway, they saw what Andy was staring at.

There were people waiting for them, after all. About a dozen figures littered a circular room with a railing on the far end that dropped off out of sight. Each figure, a mix of male and female, were dressed in identical black uniforms almost like suits and a bronze belt. They held an array of weapons, some spears, some short daggers or swords, some an odd, unfamiliar looking fist weapon like two scythe-like blades mounted on either side of a leather harness on the hand and wrist. The weirdest thing was that the blades of each and every weapon gave off a faint, translucent glow.

Cleo almost bolted. She was ready to make a run for it just as she processed the fact that no one was moving. Each guard was standing perfectly still as if in a trance.

"What's... wrong with them?" Andy whispered warily.

"The nightmares," Cleo said to herself. Her friends gave her a quizzical look, so she added, "I woke up seconds before you guys. Your eyes... they looked the same."

It was true. The guards all had the same glazed look in their eyes, gray flooding their irises and the color drained from their faces.

"So all of them," Charlie said slowly, "they're... where? Trapped in their memories too?"

Before Cleo could confirm the suspicion, Andy spoke up. "Memories? What do you mean?"

"Before, when we blacked out? We were trapped... somehow, in our memories," Cleo said carefully. "Bad ones. Weren't you?"

For a moment, Andy remained confused and disoriented. Then she shook her head. "Yeah... of course. Guess I didn't process that until now," she said quietly.

Something wasn't right, but Cleo was the last person to be judging her for not opening up about her nightmares. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her that she had just shared how her last dream ended... maybe they would've been better prepared. She hated when she was right like that.

"We better hurry," Andy said, changing the subject. "We don't know how long we'll have an advantage."

They filed into the new chamber, stepping carefully around the statues littering the room. They reached the railing and peered over.

Simply put, it was a prison.

But the array of corridors, staircases, and cells laid out in front of them in a cylinder was anything but simple. On either side of their level, stairs led down onto the first curved floor. More flights went down to connect to the lower floors, six in total, each with a long row of cells with iron bars. Far below on the round base of the cylinder was an open courtyard. A large patch of green grass grew in the center, the natural color jarring after spending hours in the labyrinth. A couple benches were strewn about and a path wound its way around and connected with the base of the first flight of stairs.

Charlie whistled. "Some prison."

"Yeah," was all Cleo managed.

"We should search for keys," Andy said, pushing off the railing and turning back into the room that served as a lobby area. "I bet one of them has some."

Carefully, they scanned the guards for keys, not wanting to touch anyone or even breathe near them for fear they would wake.

"Here!" Andy called, beckoning them over. When Charlie and Cleo joined her she pointed to a simple ring of six small keys dangling from a guard's bronze belt, nestled next to a sheathed dagger. The guard was female, with silver hair that flowed down her back, sharp features, and thin lips. Looking in her gray-glazed eyes, Cleo knew she looked familiar but she couldn't place where she could have possibly seen this woman before.

Cleo held her breath and reached out, ever so slowly, and clicked open the ring. She slid it off the belt and clicked it closed again, holding the keys so they were silent. In one swift motion, Charlie reached out and slipped the guard's dagger from its resting place.

"What are you doing?" Andy hissed.

"Could come in handy," Charlie responded with a shrug, gripping the dagger and inspecting the pale glow that emanated from the triangular blade.

Cleo ignored them and held the keys flat on her palm. "Six keys. One for each floor, you think?"

"Probably," Charlie said.

"Split up?"

Charlie rounded on her as soon as the words had left Andy's mouth. "No way. No way! Are you kidding me right now? Do you even know..." Their voice trailed off as a grin spread across Andy's face.

"I'm not an idiot, Charlie," she chuckled. "I just think it's hilarious to mess with you."

"Whatever," Charlie grumbled, though a smile tugged at the corners of their mouth. Cleo couldn't fight a smile herself. "Let's just go."

They had taken maybe five steps towards the stairs when a tired voice called out to them, making them stop in their tracks.

"Please don't do this."

Rowana stood in the doorway.