Entry #1 for @syfy #BattletheBeast contest. Based on the show, "The Magicians"
~*~*~*~
Quentin rolled his shoulders, taking a deep breath, glancing to the small, shrouded figure beside him in the dim hallway.
"You're sure this'll work?" His voice quivered with anticipation and a healthy dose of trepidation.
"Look," the ebony skinned girl with flashing crystalline eyes drew back the heavy, black hood casting her face in shadows, "I told you, I can guarantee the doors will work—as to trapping your... "beast," that's up to you and your friends."
"If they ever get here," Quentin muttered.
On cue, Penny's irritated voice echoed up the stairs."Yo, you give the worst directions for a nerd." He was followed closely by Alice, Eliot, and Margo, all bickering amongst themselves about being dragged along for what appeared to be a bumpy ride. They stumbled into the large corridor, and immediately quieted, staring between Quentin and the woman.
"Sorry," Quentin mumbled. "I've got a lot on my mind, okay?"
Penny scoffed, "Yeah, we all do, dumbass. I told you, you had to concentrate for me to remotely get a handle on your location and follow you here. We landed in the middle of the Everglades. I'm still trying to get a hold on all my abilities as a traveler, and you were already asking a lot for me to transport everyone at the same time. You need to keep your shit together, I'm not getting killed because of you."
"Look," Alice piped up, "we have more important things to deal with. We got here, alright? That's what matters."
"Speak for yourself, sweetie," Eliot drawled. "These shoes are Italian leather, there's no resurrecting these babies."
"Not to mention the alligator that tried to take a piece out of my ass," Margo added, shuddering and stepping closer to Eliot.
"If you're all done with your bickering?" The girl stepped forward, her eyes glowing like otherworldly gems. Her skin was the color of polished onyx and her head was bald, shining in the flickering lights dotted throughout the hallway. "Quentin, time is of the essence. I suggest you all put aside this childishness for another time."
"Who's this?" Penny squinted at the girl, and then his eyes widened, and he stepped backward quickly. "How did you do that? How did she do that?" His voice pitched higher, and his eyes were wild.
"I'm the Locksmith," she replied simply, "and you were trying to get into my head. I was just returning the favor."
"I'm locked down tight, no one gets into my head without permission." He glared at her suspiciously.
"It is one of my talents." She shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned to the others. "My magic is specific, but versatile. To put it simply, I open locks. I can get into anything, anywhere."
"What? Like my fucking head?"
"If necessary." She waved a slender hand dismissively, her tone, bored. "Doors, cabinets, and locked cars get boring after time."
Penny took a threatening step forward, but Quentin intervened. "Stop it, okay. She'll stay out of your head if you stay out of hers. Did you find the spell?"
Penny glowered, but retreated. "Yeah, that's part of what took us so long. The dean had it hidden in his secret safe. Would've been handy to have a locksmith, there. Almost burned my damn hands off." Without further explanation he began drawing on the bare floor with a stubby piece of chalk from his pocket, mumbling quietly to himself while Alice hovered behind him and held the aforementioned spellbook open.
"It was booby-trapped," Eliot answered Quentin's unasked question. His nose wrinkled in disgust. "Why'd you pick this place? Couldn't you have found somewhere that... I don't know, smelled better?"
"It's the most advantageous spot for what we need to do," the Locksmith answered. "You can't do magic like this just anywhere."
"Like what, exactly?" Margo asked, eying the rat droppings scattered on the floor queasily.
"It's very tricky, temperamental magic. Much like the broody one on the floor." She indicated Penny, who just glowered and kept drawing. "This "Beast" is difficult, if not impossible to kill, so we will trap him instead. It's best if we make things as easy as possible—places more easily susceptible to the manipulation of magical energy between planes are rare, and unfortunately, not always pleasant. Anyway, if our trap is strong enough, he will die... eventually."
"What, like starve him?" Eliot raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Has Q told you what he can do? It can't possibly be that easy. Plus, I don't think he eats steak and potatoes."
"No," she agreed, "he feeds on energy, and he must have a source to walk through worlds the way he does. We cannot trap him in the traditional sense, like in a prison cell, but I can open doors to other worlds, other planes of existence. All we must do is entice him to go where we want him to."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Margo asked.
"We bait him," Quentin answered this time. At the incredulous looks on all of their faces, he hurried on, "Look, this is the only way to save Julia and Kady. He has them trapped. We've already seen that he's too strong for us to kill right now, but cutting him off from this world entirely should break his connection to them."
"Dude, this is a pipe dream." Penny finished drawing the elaborate pattern, and rose.
"Do you have a better idea?" The Locksmith asked. He grumbled, but didn't answer.
"Right, let's get started, then." Alice began positioning everyone along the circle and Penny and the Locksmith sat in the center, knee-to-knee.
Once everyone was in position, Quentin spoke. "Penny figured out how to track the Beast's energy and draw him to us. Once he's here, he'll try to destroy him first. Alice, Margo, and Eliot, you will need to keep an energy shield up, protecting the circle. If the Beast gets to Penny and the Locksmith, we're done. Penny will then track him while I lead him through the doors. Behind each door is a different world. He's convinced I have the weapon that can kill him. The Locksmith set this up like a labyrinth. Instead of being a hallway where each door leads to an individual room, it is like a maze. Each door we go through is like a trapdoor that will close off another means of escape until, eventually, he is trapped at the center, on a completely different plane."
"So, how will you get out?" Alice's voice trembled and he shot her a weak smile.
"Theoretically, Penny and the Locksmith have enough power combined to track me and pull me out through astral projection."
"That's a hell of a risk!"
"If we both die, it's worth it." He shrugged. "I mean, we're going to die anyway, right?"
Penny suddenly seized, "He's close!"
~*~*~
The Locksmith held her hands palm up and Penny laid his over them while Margo, Eliot, and Alice began chanting, building layers of protection around the two meditating figures on the floor as well as themselves. Quentin took a deep breath and watched as a large, dark moth fluttered through the hallway. The air went still, and then was beat with the thrumming of a hundred more. The Beast stepped into the corridor, and halted, taking in the scene before him, and then a dark, sinister laugh vibrated along the stained walls and worn floorboards. He stalked toward Quentin, and Quentin ran to the first door, thrusting it open. He was greeted with a blast of snow, and frigid winds whipped through his hair. He waited until the Beast was through the door, and shivered as it slammed shut behind them, before opening the next door, this time into a blistering desert, the Beast following unhurriedly after him
It occurred to Quentin that the Beast seemed far too calm, almost like he was the prey, but he shook it off. Of course the Beast thought he had the upper hand. Still, it felt too easy.
He led on, one door after the next, until finally, he pushed open the last door to find himself in the center of the labyrinth—a dark, seamless cell from which there was no escape. The Beast followed him in, and the last door slammed into place before disappearing entirely.
"So, you've trapped me," the Beast mocked him.
"Now!" Quentin yelled, and the Beast roared and charged at him, attempting to piggyback on the only escape route. Suddenly, he was jerked upwards, ripped through time and space, before finding himself in the center of the circle with his friends. The circle filled with what seemed like the thrumming of a thousand moths and that same dark laughter.
"Nice try, but it seems you are the ones who are trapped," was the last thing they heard before immense pressure built in their skulls and blackness dragged them under, relieving them of the excruciating pain.