Chapter Six

Ana awoke with a start, feeling a sense of urgency that she could not explain. Her eyes darted once again to look at the door, which looked, for some reason, more threatening than before. It was as if some negative energy radiated out of it. Hurriedly she shook Frank's shoulder.

"Frank," she whispered, "Frank, wake up!"

"What is it?" he asked, yawning and rubbing the back of his head where it had been leaning against the stone wall of the tunnel.

"I'm going to find Paul." The words escaped from her mouth without her meaning to say them, but once she had spoken she knew instinctively that it was true. Paul probably wouldn't like it, but she felt that she had to. He had been away for less than a day, yet it was as if she could sense that he was in danger.

"Ok. I'm coming," said Frank, getting to his feet.

"No," Ana said. "You can't. I told Paul I would take care of you, and I won't put you in danger also by having you come with me."

Frank's eyes widened. "You said it!" he squeaked. "You said he was in danger. I have to come, you can't just leave me here all by myself!"

She took a deep breath. "Just stay here, and I'll come back for you."

Frank frowned angrily. "At least Paul didn't make promises he couldn't keep. He knew it might take him a while, and now you're acting as if it'll be really easy to find him and come back for me." But Ana could tell his words were losing force. They were both worried, even though Frank tried to hide it. Frank didn't want to give in, but in the end he would have to.

She tried to speak forcefully. "Just stay here," she repeated, taking a deep breath. "Once I find him we'll come back for you."

Frank didn't speak. He hesitated for a moment, then just gave a small nod. Ana felt bad. Was she breaking her promise to Paul that she would keepFrank safe? Would Paul want her just to stay outside, and wait for him to return? But she couldn't stay outside, she told herself. She couldn't just wait and run the risk of losing him. Time was going by, and she was just standing hesitantly in front of the door. Trying to summon up some courage, she grabbed hold of the handle, turned it, and walked through the door.

Paul awoke briefly. He was in a different room than before. Instead of being in a bedroom, he found himself in a tiny chamber. Looking down at himself, he was alarmed to find that he was chained to the wall. Both his hands and feet were bound tightly, and he feebly tried to wiggle out of them. It was no use, he felt dazed and drained of energy.

The witch (for he had definitely decided that the woman was indeed a witch, or a sorceress, or something) was standing calmly in the corner, watching him.

"I see you've woken up," she said with a malicious grin. "It is time for us to get to business." She held in her hand a small glass vial, whose contents he could not make out. Beside her, on the floor, lay a book. With horror he suddenly realized it was the exact same book he had found the other day, lying on that small table in the entrance room of the woman's dwelling. Again, he saw a fleeting image of the pictures inside it, heard the heart-breaking scream calling out desperately for help. He struggled more frantically against the bonds holding him in place.

She just laughed, and began walking closer. "Oh, I have got you now," she said softly, half to herself, as she approached. Even softer, she added, "It won't escape me this time."

Ana looked only briefly around the room, noticing at once that Paul was not there. She saw the two doors, but had no idea which way to go. Hurry! a little voice spoke to her in her mind. Time is running out. Just pick one and go! "Here goes nothing," she mumbled to herself as she randomly chose one of the doors to go through.

Her misgivings increased when she found herself in a shadowed corridor, lined with doors. A faint image popped into her head of a small room, and then it faded too fast for her to see more. That's where Paul is, she thought suddenly, and then knew that it was true. Rushing more and more, she opened door after door, peeking in and then hurriedly closing each again when she didn't find him.

Dammit! she exclaimed under her breath, when she had searched the whole length of the corridor and still not found Paul. She tried to go back to the original door, then realized that she didn't know which door was the one she had entered through. She wished another image would come to her, that another clue would maybe find its way to her. But there was nothing. She flung up her hands with a frustrated sigh.

That was when it happened. She felt an unseen force creep into her, and felt a burst of strength come into her. Above her she heard a small noise, and she looked up to see an old, dirty trapdoor in the ceiling. It swung open, giving her an urge to go through it and see what lay beyond.

She closed her eyes for a minute to think of a clever strategy to reach it, as it was several feet higher than she could possibly hope to reach. Then she felt air rush by her, and she was whirling around and around. After just a few seconds, she opened her eyes and was standing in another tunnel, this time with only one door.

It was slightly ajar; she stepped closer to it and peeked through.

Paul wanted to say something, but his voice wouldn't work. He could just watch as the woman got closer—and closer—and closer. Her hand was outstretched towards him, holding on tightly to the vial.

He heard a slight noise behind her, and they both turned to see Ana, looking anxious and frightened, coming through the door. He found his voice. "Ana, don't! Run! Go!" he shouted, wild thoughts going through his head. The witch would capture them both, they would be helpless, she would do something awful to them…again the ear-splitting scream coming through the air...the pictures from the book…the vial…it didn't make any sense to him. He panicked as he saw that Ana was not leaving.

"Say goodbye to your boyfriend," the woman said nastily, looking at Ana. She threw the vial upwards with a sharp flick of her wrist. It spun through the air, flashing several different colors, and then hit the ceiling. The glass broke, and streams of purple and red light shot towards the ground. They became a fire, a tall, ferocious fire whose flames seemed to stretch towards Paul eagerly. It was not a normal fire, it was enchanted, and strange sparks came off of it.

The woman snapped her fingers, and Paul's chains suddenly disappeared. He collapsed onto the ground, having no way to hold himself up. He saw Ana try to dart across the room to him, but she stopped after just taking one step and looked stricken. She silently mouthed something to Paul, but he couldn't understand what she was saying.

Paul felt an unwanted presence grab onto his mind, prying into it. He yelped in pain and grabbed his head, but it would not go away. He knew it was her, the woman, the witch, the sorceress—it was her who was seizing hold of his mind, and commanding him to go towards the flames.

In his head the pictures flashed again. The images kept coming back to him, a person stepping into a fire, then the fire burning down, only to reveal ashes, and a dark figure leaning to gather something up…I am the person in the fire! Paul thought desperately. That's what will happen to me. That's what will happen to Ana. He was slowly stepping into the flames, even as he struggled against the woman's spell. He could feel them scorching his flesh, hurting him as if he was being pierced with sharp daggers all over his body. He screamed in terror and tried to run out of the fire, but the woman still overpowered him.

Ana, looking on, felt her heart breaking. He's going to die! She tried to move towards him, but there was a barrier holding her back. But the woman was also concentrating on forcing Paul into the flames…so maybe if there was a distraction…Ana was furiously thinking as at the same time she strained as hard as the could against the invisible wall blocking her, the wall separating her from Paul.

Once again an unknown power surged within her, and she broke through the invisible barrier, hearing a satisfying tearing sound. The woman gave a sudden gasp, as if something had just been ripped out of her.

Paul seized this chance. Finding himself no longer in the woman's control, he leapt out of the flames and ran towards Ana. "Quick! Hurry!" he shouted. They ran out of the room, looking for a means of escape.

"There's no way out!" Paul yelled. He saw the woman slowly get to her feet, and she began muttering some other spell.

Ana, also seeing this, became even more frantic. She wanted to call up her newly-discovered power, but she did not know how to control it. It had disappeared from her. She clutched Paul's arm. "I'm sorry," she said, her tears flowing freely. "I can't do it. I can't get us out."

"What?" Paul asked, still knowing nothing about how she had been able to get in.

Ana opened her mouth to answer him, then felt the familiar rush of air around her. Holding Paul tightly, she let herself be spun away to what she hoped would be a better place.

They emerged in the room they had first entered when they came into the woman's dwelling. Even before they could catch their breaths again, they heard a quick noise as the woman appeared at the other side of the room, facing them.

"Think you're gonna get away so easy, eh?" she said in a threatening tone. "Well, I wouldn't think so." She threw out one hand towards them and a bolt of red light shot at them. Paul quickly ducked and pulled Ana's head down, so that she barely avoided being hit. The woman's eyes filled with rage, and she began shooting more bolts of light at them, one after the other. They hit the wall behind Ana and Paul with a loud hiss and then disappeared.

Paul began to duck and dodge them as he hurried in the direction of the door leading back out to the tunnel. He knew the situation wouldn't be much better out there, but at least, he reasoned, there would be no red light shooting at him. Ana followed his lead. He heard a short scream behind him as Ana was hit in the ankle by the light. She fell over, pain spreading all over her body and biting into her flesh. The woman threw another bolt at her, and she just missed it my pushing herself out of the way with her feet. Somehow Ana found the strength to get up; she was able to catch up with Paul and they finally reached the main door. Paul seized the handle, but it would not move. I should've known, he thought angrily, kicking at it with his foot, which felt numb from being burned so much.

The woman cackled, sending another bolt of light heading their way. Ana pushed Paul out of its path, and it went through the door with a loud smashing noise. A huge hole, blackened at the edges, had been made through the middle of the door.

Paul had a sudden idea. "Frank!" he called frantically through the hole. "Frank, if you're there, open the door!"

Frank scrambled to his feet, and stumbled towards the door, and tried pulling it open. "It's locked!" he cried. "Paul! It's locked!"

"Shit," Paul swore. "How the hell are we gonna—"

At that moment Ana's power came back, she felt amazingly strong and energized as she touched the hole in the door with her fingertips. The door crumbled, falling to the ground as splinters of wood. Frank looked on in horror, then ran to Paul and grabbed on to him.

Ana looked at Paul worriedly. The woman had followed them into the tunnel, temporarily having stopped attacking them with her beams of light. She stood there looking at them, an evil smile on her face. Then she stepped back out of the tunnel, still watching them through the space where the door had stood.

Frank, Ana, and Paul stared at her, wondering what she was doing. Then the walls of the tunnel began closing in on them. The stone walls got closer and closer to them on each side, as if they were about to be squeezed together. Mud and dirt began pouring over them from the ceiling. It was like the opposite of how they had gotten into the tunnel, except that this time the mud did not drain away. Instead, it pressed itself against their faces so that it became harder and harder for them to breathe. They were drowning in a pool of mud, and there was no way for them to get to the surface for some air. Ana felt as if it was in her power to do something, but she did not know what.

The mud suddenly disappeared, and they were no longer in the tunnel. They were just floating blindly in the dark, not able to see where they were because of the extreme darkness. Ana heard a sucking sound, and then the sound of evil laughter, and then bright sunlight washed over her, causing her to blink several times. She found herself sitting on the ground in the middle of the forest, near the spot where she had fallen into the hole. Paul was beside her.

"What happened?" she asked, after looking around to make sure the woman was not with them.

"I don't know exactly," Paul said. "It was you, I think. You did something."

"Oh." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, at least we're out of there." She smiled happily at Paul.

"Yeah," he said, moving closer to her. "I'm glad you came after me. I guess it was pretty stupid to go in there alone."

"It wasn't stupid," she said, looking deep into his eyes. "It was brave." She leaned forward to pull him into a kiss. But the kiss lasted only a few moments; then Paul pulled away and stared into space, deep in thought.

Ana's smile turned to a frown as she saw how pale Paul's face was. "Are you okay?" she asked cautiously, reaching out her hand towards him.

He turned to look at her again. "Where's Frank?" he asked. "He didn't come out here with us." Ana had not realized it, but what he said was true. They had lost track of Frank when the woman had caused them to be trapped in the pool of mud. Paul turned to stare hard at the ground below them. "I don't know what she was planning to do," he said slowly, "but she only needed one person to do it. She doesn't need us now that she's got Frank as her victim." Then Paul looked back up at her. "Ana," he said urgently, "we have to go back."

A/N: so here's the next chap, i hope you liked it! I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, but I think I've made up for that by making this chapter the longest so far. Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed! The reviews all mean so much to me, and if you give a suggestion for improving the story I will definately go back and edit the chapter. please keep telling me what you think, even if you just say that it's good or bad!