Jeremy Chikalto and Leviathan Island (Book II of The Hazy Souls)

  Chapter 20

  Puzzled

  Mantel's Maze was an intricate realm of chambers and hidden passageways residing at the center of the Earth; it was a dark, dingy place of traps and secrets. Lava torches lined the walls, creating a patchwork of weird shadows. The Maze seemed to have its own intentions.

  Jeremy, sopping wet, ran to a wooden doorway with rusted hinges. There was a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream in the next room. Jeremy flung the door open― monkeys. A brown monkey with matted, salt-water fur charged at Jeremy, and he slammed the door closed. The monkey's body crashed against the wood. Jeremy closed his eyes and slid to the floor, his back against the door. If the monkeys had managed to survive the descent into Mantel's Maze, Maren could still be alive. She had to be alive. Suddenly, Lyrna appeared in front of him. She growled deeply and was still in a frenzy.

  "Lyrna, did Maren and Tina pass through the Haze? Can you tell?"

  Lyrna mewed and leapt through the air. She disappeared into the Haze but came back a second later. "No."

  "That means they're still alive! I've got to find them."

  Jeremy and Lyrna crept through another door that was left ajar. The walls and floors rumbled slightly as they entered the room. To Jeremy's left was a thick column of mortared stone that ominously bore the weight of the low ceiling. Jeremy crept low, half expecting heaps of debris to fall on him and bury him alive. He stepped on a dusty tile and it sunk a quarter of an inch into the ground. "Wait a second, we're on top of something."

  Lyrna growled.

  Jeremy got down on his hands and knees and attempted to lift the tile. Lyrna suddenly pounced on the back of his head and he stumbled forward, just in time. A large spike shot up, breaking the tile to shards and narrowly missing Jeremy. The spike was three feet tall, quite a painful height for impalement. Jeremy yelped and scurried back into the doorway, being careful to retrace his steps.

  "Stupid!" mewed Lyrna. "Lyrna dead already. I lead!" She jumped from tile to tile to demonstrate, setting off a flame as well as a blast of acid. Jeremy went to yell, but Lyrna had already died and shimmered away, disappearing into the Haze. Jeremy slumped against the wall, his heart stuck in his throat. Of course Lyrna couldn't die; she was already dead and could reincarnate at will. He counted the seconds, sad, yet grateful.

  The dust from the booby traps settled. That's when he noticed twenty tiny eyes peeking out from small holes in the wall, shining in the dim light. “Little devils!" yelled Jeremy. He raised his palm and flung a bolt against the wall, and all the eyes disappeared, receding into hidden vaults. Jeremy looked up at the ceiling, which was flaking, and cursed himself for being reckless. He wiped the salt-water grime from off his upper lip and spit on the floor. Three minutes later, Lyrna popped back into the room and settled beside him.

  "Does dying... hurt?" he asked.

  Lyrna gave a sad mew and snuggled into his lap. "Depends," she admitted.

  He picked her up by an ear tuft and slid his hand under her. Lyrna wrapped her paws around his neck.

  Jeremy made his way across the room, mindful of the tiles whose traps hadn't been set off. The next door over looked unremarkable―wooden with rusty hinges. Jeremy gently pushed it open. This room was elongated with a single door at the other end. He gripped the handle, pulled it open, and―"Snick, snick!"

  An orange, slinky ferret sat in front of him.

  "Oh?" Jeremy set Lyrna down. She wanted to have a thorough sniff.

  Lyrna, overall, was a bigger sort of furball, fluffier too. She leaned in close to the ferret's butt.

  "Oh, Lyrna, don't be so nosy!" Jeremy made to nudge her with his foot.

  "I don't mind," said the orange ferret. Lyrna jumped back and puffed to her full height and width. Jeremy couldn't help but laugh, though he quickly sobered. Mantel's Maze wasn't meant to be comical.

  "A talking ferret, huh? You wouldn't happen to be a relative of the fizdruft, would you?" asked Jeremy.

  "No. I am two halves of two souls bound to ferret form." The ferret sounded like a little boy. He whipped his tail.

  "Sorry," said Jeremy. "No need to be moody."

  "I have plenty of need, actually." The ferret twitched its nose and backed up.

  "No hurt," said Lyrna. She circled around the ferret, walking sideways with her back arched. Jeremy decided she'd meant to be reassuring.

  "Of course we won't hurt you," said Jeremy. "Will you hurt us?"

  "No," said the ferret a little too quickly.

  "Well okay then," said Jeremy, stepping around the slinky critter. "We'll just be on our way."

  "Can I come with you?"

  Lyrna mewed sadly. "Souls go Haze," she said, pointing her paw at the ferret.

  "They're supposed to, aren't they? Maybe you can take this little guy there?"

  "No!" The ferret hissed and skidded out the door in front of them.

  "Or not," said Jeremy. He shrugged. "We'll deal with that later, Lyrna. Right now we have to find Maren."

  Lyrna meowed a strained meow and nodded. They walked through the door that the ferret had entered. A small hot spring was rapidly drying up in the corner of the room. Steam engulfed the base of the pool. When the fog lifted, the hot spring was gone.

  Meanwhile, Maren and Tina had been spit out in a different tunnel that was similarly decorated. Tina had held her breath through the whole swim, having been the champion of underwater breath holding as a child at the neighborhood pool. Maren, unfortunately, had a more sheltered upbringing and as a result had taken in a breath of salt water, and was turning blue on the ground.

  “Maren, if you leave me alone in this crazy place you're definitely going to Hell!” Tina rushed over to her and pumped on her chest rhythmically, giving her mouth-to-mouth. After a couple rounds, Maren coughed and gasped.

  “Bitch!”

  Maren sat up on her elbows. “Thanks,” she said weakly.

  “I almost slipped you some tongue, but then, ya know, you woke up,” said Tina, grinning. But her humor quickly faded. "Maren, I'm scared and I want to go home." Tears began to form.

  Maren felt terrible that Tina got dragged into their bizarre adventure. "Don't worry, we've been here before. Jeremy knows what to do."

  They waited for a few minutes as though something else would happen so they didn't have to walk through the Maze.

  "Is Jeremy...?" Tina looked around the room.

  "He's fine, he wouldn't drown. We have to find him." Maren wrung out her wet clothes, sighed, and pushed open the nearest wooden door with the toe of her gladiator sandals. "Sandals were a bad choice," she mumbled.

  Tina crossed her arms. "At least you still have shoes." Tina had long since abandoned her high heels. "I wish I had more clothes."

  Poor Tina was practically in her underwear. The air in this part of the Maze was dank and chilly.

  "You'd think the depths of the Earth would be hot," said Tina. "Am I dreaming?"

  “Just keep your guard up,” said Maren. They'd entered a dark room with eight doors. Cobwebs lined the stone walls. "This room looks... spidery." Maren shivered and stepped back.

  "So you've been here before? How'd you get out?" asked Tina.

  "We need to find Jeremy."

  "He is an angel," said Tina, her eyes glazing over. "Which is totally hot. I bet he was even more angelic as a child."

  "Like a cherub." Maren rolled her eyes.

  Just then, the door behind them slammed shut and they heard eight bolts slide into place.

  “Fabulous.”

  They tried the door they came in through, but it was locked, as were the other eight.

  "This can't be happening." Tina began pounding on a door. "Jeremy? Hey!"

  A panel in the middle of the floor slid aside and a small and ornate platform rose up. Tina spun around and then hid behind Maren, pointing frantically at the raised panel. Maren stepped forward. The stone had an inscription at the top, and beneath that there was a series of stone buttons, each with a Hebrew letter written on i
t. The inscription read in Hebrew:

  18:37:22

  19:150:5

  46:9:27

  Therefore love YHWH your God with all your mind.

  “What is this?” Tina squinted at the letters.

  “Welcome to Mantel's Maze.”

  “Dorky puzzles? Maren, this is like your dream come true,” sighed Tina. “So you solve it and the doors open?” Tina stared blankly at the panel.

  Maren touched one of the Hebrew letters ever so gently. “I think I have to spell something with the stone buttons.” She pressed down the letter. “Oh, I didn't mean to...” Just then, a large, black spider fell from the ceiling and landed on the left cheek of Tina's ample posterior, and she slapped it away with a practiced hand. "WTF," she yelled. There was a faint rustling. Maren squealed as hundreds of baby spiders began to drop down from the ceiling on tiny silk threads.

  “Okay, okay, it has something to do with the Bible,” panted Maren, trying to remain calm as a couple of spiders landed in her hair. “Plagues. No, numbers. Job 37:22, Psalms 150:5, and First Corinthians 9:27.” Maren closed her eyes and looked inward, viewing the elaborate mnemonic diagram that she had drilled into herself, the product of her search for meaning after her mother's death and her need for meticulous distraction. She began her mental walk down the forest path, spiders swinging from the trees. She tried to ignore them, instead concentrating on the sequence of carefully placed landmarks. Job 37:22 was a golden orb descending from the sky. Psalms 150:5 was crashing cymbals. First Corinthians 9:27 was a man beating himself.

  "Maren, hurry!" Tina was hyperventilating as the floor began to move―hundreds of tiny spider legs scuttled across the stone, now making their way up Tina's legs. She violently jiggled the door handle. "Maren!"

  “Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty. Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” Spiders were now scaling the walls. Everywhere was blackness, and Tina was dancing up a storm.

  “Splendor, praise, submission, mind.” The words collected and began to unearth an association in her. She saw the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden of Eden. After the progenitors ate the fruit of knowledge, partaking of distinction, they individuated from the One; self consciousness was born in the microcosm. She saw the Tree of Life diagram of the Kabbalists, those puzzle-loving Rabbis. Her mind's eye zoomed in on Hod, the eighth node on the tree associated with splendor, praise, and submission; meaning the phase of evolution where, after the One becomes conscious of itself, forming the microcosm, and then develops desire, the desire is constrained by another desire, creating internal structure, and thought is formed. Hod: the realm of mind. Maren awoke from her reverie and spelled 'Hod' on the stone, and eight latches in the room slid back. They ran out of the room, trying to shake the creepiest of plagues.

  Maren slammed the door behind them. She squatted on the floor. "Disgusting. Oh God, I hate this place." She lowered her head between her legs and began to spit up. "I feel nauseous. I think I drank too much sea water."

  "Thank you, oh Maren, you're brilliant!" Tina clapped her hands together appreciatively. "I have no idea what you did back there, but... I don't think I could have danced those spiders off anymore!" Tina slid down beside Maren and steadied her breathing. "Hey," she straightened. "Did you hear that?"

  Maren belched.

  Tina pulled back Maren's hair in case she was going to vomit.

  "You have no idea, Tina. There are things in this Maze that will give you nightmares―"

  "There it is again!"

  Silence.

  "Let's keep going," whispered Maren, steadying herself against the wall.

  "Maren!"

  Maren looked at Tina and beamed. "It's him! Jeremy!" she called back.

  "He's here!" yelled Tina, putting her head against the wall.

  "Jeremy, we're on the other side!"

  There was quiet and then Jeremy and Lyrna materialized behind Maren. She jumped, spun around, and wrapped her arms around him. "I thought I'd died," she said into his shirt.

  Jeremy smiled down at her and kissed her forehead, his eyes welling up.

  Tina smiled and rushed in for a hug too.

  Suddenly, the orange ferret appeared at the end of the corridor and raced towards them. "Wait!" it said.

  Maren gave Jeremy a puzzled look and then knelt beside the ferret, who now sat upright by her leg panting. "Hello there little guy." She held her hand out for it to sniff.

  Lyrna puffed and eyed the ferret suspiciously from behind Jeremy's leg.

  "We met this ferret earlier," said Jeremy. He put his hands on his hips. "What is it? Did you change your mind? Do you want Lyrna to take you to the Haze?"

  "No," said the ferret as it rolled on its back, revealing its long, thin tummy. Maren chanced a pet. The orange ferret snickered.

  "Well then what do you want?"

  The ferret jumped back on its feet. "Can I speak with you in private, Jeremy?"

  Jeremy smiled. "Of course not. How did you know my name?"

  "A friend sent me. Some ghosts."

  "What ghosts?" Jeremy raised his eyebrows and looked at Maren.

  "Why does it have to be a private conversation?" asked Maren.

  "It concerns his fate," said the ferret simply.

  Jeremy rubbed his temples and sighed. "Fine. But we're not going far."

  "Just out of earshot," said the ferret.

  Jeremy marched to the end of the corridor, leaving Maren, Lyrna, and Tina behind, and opened the door to the cobweb room. The spiders had cleared out. He walked inside and was followed by the ferret.

  "Okay," said Jeremy. He sat cross-legged on the floor directly in front of the critter and created an orb of energy in the palm of his hand. "One false move and you can take a trip to the Haze."

  The ferret gulped and the fur near its rear ruffled. "You're afraid of demons?"

  "Of course. Aren't you?"

  "Yes, well. No. See, I have Mantel's protection." The ferret crouched low to the ground in anticipation of the shock.

  Jeremy considered this. "Mantel's sent you, didn't he?"

  "Yes," admitted the ferret.

  "So he sends a minion to ferret its way into my confidences." Jeremy smiled wryly.

  "Hear me out!" said the ferret defensively. "He can protect you from the demons. He needs you as an ally."

  "Needs me." Jeremy snorted and rose to his feet.

  "Destiny has made you two sides of the same coin. You need him as much as he needs you."

  Jeremy shrugged and grabbed at the door handle. "That's one theory of many."

  "He wants you to help make him a better person!" spat the ferret, its fur raised and claws out.

  Jeremy paused, his hand still resting on the door handle. "Mantel's not a person."

  "But he was! And he knows now that he's gone astray. He sees that you're still whole, that you... still have something to love. The bitterness of God's rejection has driven all of the humanity out of him, but his Maze was never intended to be a second Hell―he means for it to be a place of preservation. He wants souls to be happy and individuated."

  "Those are a lot of big words for a little boy."

  "I'm only half-boy...."

  "I'll think about it." Jeremy opened the door and returned to his party.