Chapter 12
After we entered the submerged room, the door above us closed, leaving us in darkness, only lit by our phones and the torches hanging on the wall. As we descended further, we heard the sounds of fighting. The sounds of people grunting echoed through the stairway.
As we reached the floor, the area had four shallow metal bowls with three legs lit with fire. Casting flickering shadows on the walls. Samuel and Catriona were fighting with gray and blackened claws as Ezekiel and Nancy watched them.
"About time you showed up." Our Queen said as she evaded a palm strike to her face as she wrapped her left arm underneath the opposing arm, used her other hand and placed it on Samuels' left shoulder. The Scottish woman then placed her right foot behind his feet as their hips joined and pushed on his shoulder, making the gargantuan man fall onto the stone floor.
"Hapkido, very nice," I said as Nancy glanced toward me and turned her head away. "You mind if I spar? Since this is a war that we're in." I asked, leaning against a stone wall, twiddling the amulet between my fingers as I looked at my seniors.
"Although he is still a fledgling, he should defend himself in battle, that means air and ground," Catriona told Samuel and Ezekiel. She turned to face a map that covered most of the wall on the east side; the Mason-Dixon line was blue as every state west of Oklahoma was purple, the tip of Oregon, and every state above was a ruby red, including the state of Main. "This map lad is showing us the diverse territories that each clan has under their command. You can see the two colors pushing back and forth on Oregon's tip?" She asked as I nodded my head as she continued. "That is where the Anyest and Valoriket are fighting right now against a coven of vampires. Now then enough of that. Ezekiel, train him." She told the English man with a commanding tone as he bowed to her immediately and rose when she left the room.
***
I performed a backward shoulder roll to avoid a sidekick from Ezekiel who was sparring with me for over an hour. Without our amulets, the older man was giving me hell. "Why does Nancy have them?" I asked as I blocked a strike and took a few hits to the stomach.
"Survive a few rounds against Samuel and I before you can use your wings and tail mate." He told me as he dodged my strikes with grace. He then got through my guard and knocked me to the ground. "Take a rest child; you need it." He said to my wheezing and sweaty body.
Walking off the mat, Nancy gave me two cold bottles of water. "I want to say I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't mean for my emotions to get to me. Also, Zena and I thought of becoming gargoyles." She told me as I drank some water as I poured the rest on my head and let it dribble down my back as I looked at her.
"Wait, you and Zena want to turn yourselves into creatures of stone. Why?"
"Because we want to help Catriona in getting revenge for killing her sister. And we can't do that if we can't fly." She told me as she placed one of her hands on her hips and pressed a finger on my chest. I sighed in my defeat.
"Fine. Just a fair warning it'll hurt like hell. It'll feel like your veins are on fire, and your bones are being ground to dust only to reform again, are you sure you can go through with that?" I told her as I looked into her eyes filled with determination. Without asking, I knew they wanted to do this.