Phantasia

“Hey, you know they all buggered off inside, don’t you?” said Chris Shaw, who sounded like he was stuck watching a film he didn’t enjoy, “I’m the only one left out here. You done yet?”

“We’ve lost track of the first group, and I believe Mr Gibson and Ms Kent are attempting to destroy the building!”

“Awesome! Never realised they had it in them,”

“Not possible,” said John’s familiar voice, “I didn’t bring enough explosives, even if we combined them together. Someone’s got a hold of their own.”

“You’re alive!” cried Phoenie, ignoring for the moment she was meant to be incognito.

“They jammed us,” explained John, “Underground facilities. Technology you wouldn’t believe. Definitely not standard Godha– oh. Oh, this isn’t good…”

There was a pause. Too long a pause. “John, what’s going on?” Phoenie whispered.

“Phoenie, I’m—I’m thinking we might have gotten in over our heads.” replied his breathless voice.

“John, what is it?”

“This isn’t good,”

Before he could explain, the communication was replaced with an incessant buzzing that hurt Phoenie’s ear – and Doyle and Lyra’s too, judging from their pained reactions. A second later, the earphones automatically shut down.

“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Doyle.

“Yer bloody right you don’t like the sound of it,” snapped Lyra, “Now what the feck’re we supposed to do?”

Phoenie shock her head and rested herself against a wall. She chewed her lip as she tried to work out a new strategy, but without the rest of her team there for guidance she couldn’t even think straight. The sound of distant rumbling – another part of the manor collapsing in on itself – and the sight of panicked cultists running around the courtyard like scared ants brought the severity of the situation into even starker focus. Everything was going wrong.

Lyra and Doyle stood waiting for an answer, for a clever Phoenie strategy to forge victory from the embers of defeat, but this was reality. She wasn’t sitting in her office, daydreaming about teenager heroics: she was in the middle of chaos. Phoenie Rogan couldn’t handle chaos. She didn’t want to improvise. She couldn’t. Not alone.

And then a pack of Inquisitors rounded a corner and bore down upon them.

***

“Where the hell does this place go?” asked Theseus as they continued their descent. Two minutes had passed since John had locked the door, and Godhand wouldn’t be long in pursuing them.

Andromeda paused a little way down the tunnel and leaned against the damp wall. “Did you hear that?” she asked.

Theseus raised an eyebrow. “I’m not hearing anything ‘cept the wind, An. You think someone’s down here?”

Andromeda shook his head. “No, it wasn’t a person. More like something in my head.

“We don’t have time to think” said John, “Let’s just get down there,”

Theseus steadied himself on the stone wall – the metallic underground lair had dissolved into a tunnel whose irregular steps were covered in slime. “Just ignore it; it was probably the wind – or Godhand. Let’s just get this over with before they catch up,”

“Kill everything, that’s what it said,” said Andromeda.

Theseus shrugged. “Probably just Godhand,”

“I’m not sure,” said Andromeda, “It sounded…almost demonic…”

There was a burst of static in their ears, followed by Phoenie’s wavering voice. “-believe Mr Gibson and Ms Kent are attempting to destroy the building!”

“Awesome! Never realised they had it in them,” replied Chris.

“See, must’ve been the comms,” said Theseus with a smug grin, pleased once again that logic had dismissed the girls’ lust for supernatural explanations.

“Destroying the building?” said John with a confused look on his face, as if faced with a calculation that read 1+1=3. He pressed his earpiece. “Not possible,” he replied, “I didn’t bring anything of that capacity,”

“You’re alive!” Phoenie’s voice shrieked in their ears. Theseus winced.

“They jammed us,” explained John, “Underground facilities. Technology you wouldn’t believe. Definitely not standard Godha—“ – the distant sound of a door hissing open and footsteps marching on metal interrupted the conversation – “oh. Oh, this isn’t good…”

Chapter 19
Previous / Continue
(page 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8)