Chapter 122: Nailed Down (Part 1)
Forest’s POV
“About time you showed up.”
Greeting me with those words, Ember leaped up from her spot and walked over to meet me. I haven’t seen Ember for a couple of days, but she seems to be holding up just fine, even after… yeah, it's probably best not to mention that.
Checking my watch, I see nearly an hour has passed since we communicated over the radio.
“You get some rest?” I ask as I turn off my watch to conserve its battery.
Cracking her neck, Ember shrugs, “Not really, but that can’t be helped now.”
Acknowledging her statement with a nod, I ask another question, “Does your watch still have some charge left?”
“Nah, not really,” she says, bringing her wrist close to her face as the watch lights up. “I got less than ten percent, but I grabbed an extra watch before we left camp. Besides setting the timer to countdown, it still has a full battery.”
“Smart, I’m sitting at around forty percent, but you guys have been down here longer than us.”
“Hey, Forest. Before we head up the stairs, do you have a spare pair of goggles?” asks Ember.
“I… I’m not sure,” I responded, crouching and opening my bag. “Why do you ask?”
“It’s pitch black up there, and I must’ve dropped my goggles somewhere because I can’t find ‘em in my bag,” she says.
Taking out everything from inside my bag, I placed each item one by one to my right. I knew I had at least one pair of goggles on me, and after pulling that initial pair out, I placed them to my left before I continued taking stuff out.
“What makes you think we need to wear these goggles up there?” I ask as I reach the bottom of the bag.
“They’re night-vision goggles… they’ll help us see where we’re going,” answers Ember, standing beside me with her arms folded. “It’s okay if you don’t have an extra pair; I can just retrace my steps back to Faith and grab her pair if needed.”
Zipping up the main compartment, I check the smaller compartments of my backpack as a worrying thought manifests in my mind.
Ember… losing her goggles? Why didn’t she just say she never grabbed a pair of goggles back at camp? Yeah, it’s uncharacteristic of her to forget something, but it’s more uncharacteristic of her to lose something that she knows she brought. Especially since these goggles were supposed to be inside her bag, how would they have fallen out... if her backpack was closed? Could she just be embarrassed about not bringing a pair, so she made up a lie? No… no, she took the extra steps to bring an extra watch; she surely wouldn’t have forgotten a pair of goggles. So… why ask me if I had an extra pair?
Closing the last pocket of my backpack and staring at the small collection of things piled up next to me, I say, “Sorry, Ember, it seems I don’t.”
She nods, as if she expected as much, “It’s cool, I didn’t expect you to. I was just wondering.”
I began to put my things back where they were inside my backpack.
If she had malicious intentions, she would’ve snagged my goggles after I confirmed I didn’t have an extra pair. She didn’t, though, which makes me more confused. Maybe I’m reading too much into this; maybe she just waited for me because she genuinely didn’t have a pair of goggles on her and was hoping I had a spare. But then again… she could’ve brought that up earlier over the radio. I understand being cautious, but if she believes these goggles are essential to entering whatever is above that staircase, why didn’t she go back to Faith’s body earlier while I was making my way here to get a new pair?
“Ember… did something happen when you found Faith?” I ask, fully understanding that I’m probing a topic I should probably be leaving alone.
She shakes her head, “No, not that I can remember.”
“I just ask because… I don’t know. It seems weird that you dropped your goggles and nothing else.”
“I know I brought a pair with me. I remember putting them in my bag and seeing 'em when I would do my item checks. But now, as soon as I reach this point… I don’t have them. And I don’t know when I lost them…” says Ember.
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Scar can teleport himself with his powers; I know he’s also down here. Maybe he got to this point and realized he needed those goggles, and Ember just happened to be the closest person to him, so he stole her goggles from her without her knowing. I don’t see how that’d be possible because Scar would have to take the time to unzip her backpack, but I guess it’s a working theory…?
“Actually… something did happen,” said Ember as she turned toward me. “It happened twice, but it wasn’t when I was near Faith. I was close to here when I felt a strange tingling sensation. It was almost like a small breeze blowing down my arms, but this tingling ran down my entire body, not just my arms.”
Tingling… guess I was actually on the right track. I felt a ‘tingling’ when Scar used rift flow to transport us. Iris, that’s the life energy that Scar said his powers draw from. Maybe ‘iris’ is what gives off the tingling sensation. If that’s the case, Ember said she felt two separate, short tingling feelings. Scar could’ve used rift flow to pass her twice; that’s a possibility. It would line up with the motive of his needing goggles, as he was probably searching the halls for somebody and happened to pass by Ember before processing that he had just passed by, causing him to go back and seize her goggles.
Putting my backpack back on, I turn on my watch and open the People app. There’s still ‘8’ left.
Orrrr… there’s something else happening here. I’ve had a lot of time to think while wandering these halls, and if Scar has iris… Ace probably has iris, too. The same goes for Zeris.
“Have you seen Scar, Ace, or Zeris since you’ve been here?” I ask out of the blue, trying to narrow down what could’ve happened.
“No… only Faith, and now you, I guess,” she cocks an eyebrow. “Each of those people you mentioned has special powers.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I was around Scar for a whole day, and he somewhat explained how his powers work. I won’t waste your time with the little details; just know that if you felt that tingling twice, I’m willing to bet Scar had something to do with it.”
Ember narrows her eyes, “That doesn’t make sense. If what you’re saying is true, then he definitely was the one that killed Faith. And… if he found me, why didn’t he kill me too?”
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, not knowing what to answer.
“Hey! Are you guys there?? I found the painting! ” said a familiar voice over the radio.
Seizing the radio from my backpack, I reply, “Yeah, we’re here.”
“Okay, okay, can you guys wait a little longer?? Ember said it took her an hour, right? I’ll make sure to be at that room in thirty minutes tops! Please just wait for me!” pleads Hunter.
Locking eyes with Ember, we nod in unison, nonverbally agreeing to wait on him due to our predicament with the goggles.
“Hunter, do you have an extra pair of goggles?” I ask, needing reassurance before anything else.
“An extra pair of what? You cut out!” he shouts in between breaths.
“Goggles. Remember… they were in the crate. Do you have two pairs?” I ask once more.
“Oh yeah, I do. I kind of brought them on a whim… do you need them?”
“Yes, we’ll explain more when you get here,” I say before putting the radio away, shutting my eyes, and taking a deep breath.
“Oh? I didn’t take you as the kind of guy to crack under pressure,” probes Ember.
“I just need a second to think…” I reply, pinching the bridge above my nose.
Scar leaving Ember completely unscathed… no, he did something. He must’ve.
“We should check your bag, clothes, everything,” I say, dropping my arm back to my side. “It’s just a theory, and I don’t know what the hell Scar could’ve done, but he’s slick. He didn’t leave you alive because he felt like it… I’m willing to bet you’re alive for a specific purpose.”
“I’ve been thinking along those same lines for the past few minutes. I must say, it’s truly an honor to be spared by that son of a bitch. Really drives home how awfully compassionate of a human being he is,” says Ember with a dry smile.
I roll my eyes before extending my hand and gesturing for her to search her bag, “We can rant about Scar later. Come on, we don’t have much time.”
Not pleased with my bluntness, Ember’s eyebrows jump up momentarily before she gets started. Instead of taking things out one by one, she just dumped out everything in a single go, which ended up being far more efficient. Setting the steel sword beside me and taking a seat, we searched for anything that looked out of the ordinary.
After a few minutes of looking, we didn’t find anything unusual. Ember confirmed that she had packed and brought everything dispersed before us. Then, without any indication of what she was about to do, Ember briskly took off her shirt and flipped it inside out.
Quickly bringing up a hand to block my line of sight as I whipped my head to the side, my voice uncomfortably fluttered as I said, “A little warning next time?”
Ember laughs, “You’re kidding, right? Out of everything going on, this is what’s throwing you off your game? We’ve gone to hell and back together; I couldn’t care less if you see me in my bra, dude.”
Listening and respecting Ember’s words, I slowly lower my hand and direct my gaze back on her.
“See? Was this really worth freaking out over?” she says while adjusting the waistband on her shorts.
“Guess not…” I say, trying to act as casually as possible. “What were you doing anyway?”
“Checking if he did anything to my clothes. You said you only know a little about his powers, so I thought double-checking couldn’t hurt. Don’t exactly know what I was looking for, but my clothes seem pretty normal to me,” answers Ember while she flips her shirt right side out again.
It was then that something minuscule grabbed my attention. It only appeared briefly, but as I noticed it, I couldn’t help but ask, “Ember, is that a tattoo on your stomach?”