“
I loved my mother so much,
Dr. Stine. I can’t believe she’s dead,” Angelique said.
“
I’m so sorry for your
loss. I wish there was something I could do,” Dr. Stine
said.
“
I know how you feel. My
mom died in Blanton after I stopped reading the Bible. If you want
me to read a verse now, it might help you cope with her death,”
Alexander said.
“
We don’t have time.
Reverend Stark is trying to get to Cadaver Island before us.
Zachary could face the guillotine at any moment. And Angelique’s
battery pack is losing energy as we speak. We need to keep moving,”
Persephone said.
“
She’s right. We’re running
out of time. Follow me,” Dr. Stine said.
Dr. Stine guided the group
away from the guard shack and into a rectangular chamber. On the
other side of the room, a metal door blocked access to the
penitentiary. On the left side of the room, a skeleton sat behind a
moss-covered, mildew-plagued desk. The skeleton wore a torn,
pine-green uniform. The glow of a nearby torch caused a star-shaped
badge to glimmer on the left side of the shirt. A brass nameplate
identified the name of the deceased: WARDEN GNAEUS. Dr. Stine
walked around the left side of the desk and ogled the warden’s gun
belt. A key ring dangled from a worn loop of leather next to a gun
holster. The butt of a .45 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun jutted
from the holster. When Dr. Stine stepped forward to remove the key
ring from the gun belt, the skeleton’s bones shifted under the
cloth of the uniform. Popping sounds echoed throughout the room
when the skeleton’s head swiveled on its neck.
“
Come back over here, Dr.
Stine. Something’s happening,” Persephone said.
“
We need his keys to
navigate through the labyrinth,” Dr. Stine said.
Wood scraped against stone
when Warden Gnaeus shoved his chair away from the table. Tendons
and ligaments creaked when the warden straightened his legs and
bent his elbows. Red light glowed in the warden’s eye sockets. The
warden opened one of the desk’s drawers, removed a tin can, and
opened its lid. He shuffled around the far side of the desk and
wobbled toward the skeletons of two corrections officers. The
warden’s bony fingers removed gold dust from the tin can and
sprinkled it on the skeletons. Seconds later, the bones of the
officers shifted under the green cloth of their
uniforms.
“
Do something, Dr. Stine!
Use the holy water!” Alexander said.
“
I gave the flasks of holy
water to Persephone. She put them in her satchel,” Dr. Stine said.
He glanced over his shoulder and watched Persephone search for the
flasks.
The tallest officer, whose
name plate identified him as Officer Jeremiah, snared a retractable
baton from his gun belt. The bones in his wrist and hand grinded
and churned when he thrust the baton outward and a long, steel rod
emerged. Jeremiah charged toward Persephone and swung the baton at
her ankles. The weapon impacted both of her Achilles tendons. She
dropped to the ground with a thud. A wail of agony rose from her
throat while she rolled over onto her side and probed satchel for
flasks of holy water.
The shorter officer, whose
name plate identified him as Officer Abraham, used his left thumb
to open a leather pouch on his gun belt. He plucked a can of pepper
spray from the pouch, aimed the weapon at Alexander’s face, and
depressed a lever. A stream of fluid shot through the air and
impacted the bridge of Alexander’s nose. He screamed and covered
his face with his hands when the pepper spray splashed into his
eyes and caused his sinuses to flare. Gobs of snot oozed from his
nostrils while his face turned red.
“
Are you okay, Persephone?
Did he break any bones?” Dr. Stine said.
“
I don’t think so. I’m just
in a lot of pain,” Persephone said. She removed a flask of holy
water from a leather slot and got to her feet. She stumbled toward
Dr. Stine.
“
What about you, Alexander?
Are you able to see?” Dr. Stine said.
“
No! He blinded me with
that spray! My eyes are burning!” Alexander said.
Dr. Stine turned to face
Gnaeus. The warden yanked a stun gun from a holster and aimed it at
Dr. Stine’s chest. Dr. Stine strafed to the right and dodged the
weapon’s prongs when they shot through the air. The sound of
electricity throbbed in the air when Warden Gnaeus pulled the
weapon’s trigger. He exhaled a roar when he realized he’d missed
his target. He tossed the stun gun on top of his desk.
Dr. Stine cringed when he
heard Gnaeus’ voice in his mind:
You’ll never take my keys from
me! Your corpse will rot and fester in my holding
cell!
Dr. Stine glanced to the
right and watched Officer Jeremiah unlock a small, dimly lit jail
cell. Lichen and mold grew on the porcelain toilet. Spiders flocked
across the cell’s brick walls. Beyond the grate of the cell’s only
window, a pack of wolves howled.
Alexander stopped rubbing
his eyes and wiping snot from his nose when he heard the wolves
howl. He shuddered and said, “We need to hurry! My father is
coming!”
The phalanges of Gnaeus’
hands tightened into fists. The warden punched Dr. Stine in the
middle of his back and knocked him to the ground. Gnaeus cackled
wildly while he shoved Dr. Stine to the ground by placing his left
knee into the small of Dr. Stine’s back. Then the warden removed a
pair of handcuffs from a leather pouch. Gnaeus grabbed Dr. Stine’s
left hand and pinned it behind his back. The warden tried to place
the handcuff on his wrist, but Dr. Stine yanked his hand free and
rolled across the floor. Gnaeus glanced over his left shoulder and
hissed while he watched Dr. Stine get to his feet.
Persephone offered a flask
of holy water to Dr. Stine, who snatched it out of her hand and
removed the cork from the flask’s opening. Dr. Stine glanced over
his shoulder and surveyed the corridor when the howling of the
wolves increased in volume. Razor growled and Angelique screamed
when Gnaeus lunged toward Dr. Stine. Dr. Stine focused his
attention on the warden and poured the contents of the flask on the
top of his skull. Gray smoke billowed from Gnaeus’ cranium while
the warden hissed and collapsed to the ground. Holy water seeped
from the warden’s skull to his collarbones and sternum. Moments
later, the warden’s bones grew still and the red glow in his eye
sockets faded. Plumes of smoke rose from his clothes and spiraled
into the cold air.
Officer Abraham wrapped his
arms around Alexander’s waist and dragged the boy toward the
holding cell. Alexander kicked and begged for help. Razor ran
across the room and exhaled a burst of fire at Officer Abraham’s
legs. A surge of flames rippled across Officer Abraham’s pants. The
skeleton hissed and loosened his grip on Alexander. The boy broke
free from his grasp and scurried toward Dr. Stine and Persephone.
Together, they watched Officer Abraham lurch toward them while
flames spread to his upper torso. He tried to blast Dr. Stine in
his face with pepper spray. Instead, he collapsed to the ground and
shattered. His skeleton disintegrated while his uniform and gun
belt sizzled on the floor. Tendrils of fire crept into the holding
cell.
Officer Jeremiah charged
across the room and swung his baton at Dr. Stine’s head. Dr. Stine
lifted his scepter into the air and deflected the blow. When the
baton impacted the scepter, sparks flew and a bright burst of light
caused Dr. Stine and the others to cover their eyes. Officer
Jeremiah raised the baton above his head. With both hands, he
hurled the weapon toward Dr. Stine’s chest. Alexander opened his
Bible and located a verse. When he started to read, Officer
Jeremiah collapsed against the wall and dropped the baton. A loud
CLANK echoed throughout the room when it landed on the
floor.
Dr. Stine clapped his left
hand on Alexander’s right shoulder. He bent his knees and patted
Razor on his head. Then he walked toward Warden Gnaeus and removed
the key ring from his gun belt. He hoisted the keys into the air
and said, “Now it won’t take long to find Polinus!” He approached a
door at the end of a hallway, inserted a key into the lock, and
twisted his wrist. Dr. Stine opened the door and stepped into a
dark hallway.
“
When you hear the wolves
howl, the best thing to do is run,” Alexander said.
The boy gasped when a
high-pitched howl echoed in the corridor behind them. His lips
quivered, his hands trembled, and his teeth chattered. When he
looked ahead, he focused his attention on Dr. Stine, who used his
scepter to shred a network of spider webs. Black widows scurried
across the floor and the ceiling after Dr. Stine ripped their webs
to shreds. At the end of the corridor, Dr. Stine glanced to his
left and located a spiral staircase, which dived into the lower
section of the penitentiary. Wall-mounted torches illuminated the
walls of the staircase. Another howl, much closer than the last,
shattered the silence. Dr. Stine descended the first steps and
motioned for the others to follow him. During their descent, the
temperature dropped and they shivered.
“
Why is my father following
us? Why doesn’t he leave me alone?” Alexander whined.
“
He loves you. He wants you
to follow in his footsteps,” Angelique said.
“
But I don’t want to be a
wolf! I want to be normal!” Alexander said.
“
He’ll never catch up to us
if we keep moving. But if we run into too many obstacles, we’ll be
forced to confront him,” Dr. Stine said.
Dr. Stine plowed through
more spider webs and reached an alcove, which branched off of the
stairwell. He peeked around the corner and stared at a huge, oak
door. Rusted, metal bars interrupted an expanse of wood near the
top of the door. Dr. Stine motioned for the others to stop walking.
Then he stepped into the alcove and approached the door.
“
We need to keep going, Dr.
Stine. We don’t have time to explore,” Angelique said.
“
She’s right. We can’t let
distractions slow us down,” Persephone said.
Dr. Stine ignored them and
stepped closer to the door. He peered between the rusted bars and
looked into the chamber on the other side of the door. A naked,
young woman curled into a fetal position on the other side of the
room. Her dirty, blonde hair draped from her shoulders to the
middle of her back. A torch’s flames cast dim light on her bruised,
scratched face. When the girl noticed Dr. Stine, she stood up and
hobbled toward the door. When she stepped closer, Dr. Stine noticed
that she’d lost her left eye. Yellow pus and writhing maggots
filled the empty socket. Her fingers wrapped around the metal bars.
Dr. Stine slipped into a daydream while he inserted the key into
the door’s lock.
“
Don’t open the door, Dr.
Stine!” Persephone said. Her left hand grabbed his
wrist.
“
There’s a girl inside.
She’s injured and needs our help,” Alexander said.
“
It’s a trap. If you open
the door, all of us will die,” Persephone said.
The girl glanced over her
shoulder when she heard the loud grunts of a giant beast. Dr. Stine
tried to pull away from Persephone and open the door, but she
snatched the keys out of his hand. Dr. Stine gasped when the girl
screamed and groveled against the cell’s door. On the right side of
the room, a giant Minotaur lumbered around the corner and plodded
toward the center of the room. A gold ring dangled from the
bull-like nostrils of the beast’s nose. The creature’s left foot
kicked and scraped the surface of the jail cell. It snorted and
grunted while it heaved a double-edged axe into the air. Dr. Stine
screamed when the Minotaur charged toward the door. He swung the
axe at the girl’s neck and decapitated her with a swift blow. Blood
splattered against the door and splashed Dr. Stine’s face while the
girl collapsed to the ground. The yellow eyes of the Minotaur
glowed in the gloom of the jail cell. When it noticed Dr. Stine,
the beast charged toward the door and rammed into it. Wood
splintered and the door shuddered. Persephone wiped drops of blood
off of Dr. Stine’s face and said, “We need to get out of
here!”
At the top of the
staircase, the sound of howling wolves echoed from within Warden
Gnaeus’ room. Dr. Stine stepped out of the alcove, inched toward
the stairwell, and motioned for the others to follow him. He walked
quickly as he descended the stairs two at a time. They listened to
loud thuds and splintering wood while the Minotaur tried to
demolish the jail cell’s door. When Dr. Stine reached the bottom of
the stairwell, he pointed at a stone wall to their left. Mummified
corpses, whose hands were secured by manacles above their heads,
slouched from chains with their heads tilted to the
side.
“
What did you see, Dr.
Stine? Your face is pale and your hands are trembling. I’ve never
seen you this upset before,” Angelique said. She hugged him while
he wept softly.
“
There was a girl in the
room. I watched a Minotaur chop off her head with an axe. It was
horrible,” Dr. Stine said. He embraced Angelique while he stared at
the corpses.
“
Come on! We need to keep
moving!” Persephone said. She strolled away from the wall of
mummified prisoners and stepped into a dark passageway.
Dr. Stine stepped away from
Angelique and followed Persephone into the corridor. He held his
torch in front of him. The torch’s glow illuminated a long hallway,
which was lined on both sides by jail cells. Under the grate of the
metallic floor, huge blades whirled and churned. Alexander entered
the hallway and pointed at rusted sections of the floor, which
appeared to be on the verge of collapse. As Dr. Stine guided them
around the buckled sections of the grate-like floor, Persephone
noticed movement in the jail cells. Pallid faces swarmed in the
darkness while they listened to the rustle of clothes.