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Anger begins to grow. Anger at being betrayed! Anger at being used! “I’ll kill that traitor!” he shouts as rage gets the better of him. Never has he wanted to kill someone like he does now. If Jiron were here in front of him, he’d kill him on the spot.

From behind them, the sphere pulsates again as another bolt of lightning strikes it from the altar. Then just as before, a figure emerges. Removing a slug from his belt, he throws it with magic behind it and strikes the creature before it takes two steps.

Striking it in the chest, the slug blasts through and out the other side. The creature staggers backward into the pulsating sphere. As soon as the creature comes in contact with the sphere, it begins to pulsate erratically. The static charges within it become more frequent and the hair on the back of James’ neck rises.

Taking Dave by the arm, he says, “We better get out of here.” Dave nods and they make for the door between the cells as it’s the closest. Static charges begin erupting from the sphere as they reach the door. Throwing it open, they hear the sphere begin to crackle loudly.

“Move!” screams James as he propels Dave through the door. He follows and slams the door shut. He no sooner puts his shoulder against the door before the sphere detonates with an immense explosion.

The concussion of the blast hits the door and knocks it off into the hallway. James is thrown backward several yards where he hits the floor hard. Getting to his feet, he turns back toward the doorway and sees electrical bolts crisscrossing the room. One enters through the doorway and ricochets down the hallway toward them.

Unable to move in time, he’s struck full force in the chest by the bolt. A moment’s searing pain and then he blacks out.

“James!” Jiron yells from the shore of the underground lake. Can’t really call it a lake, it’s not that big. He listens but no sound is forthcoming.

It took some doing but he made it down from the window. The rope is again coiled around his middle and he holds the orb high as he tries to figure out which way James went.

He sees the holes in the ground James had blasted and his footprints in the dirt. As for what he was running from, there’s no indication of anything. Moving quickly, he follows the footprints in the dirt until he comes to where the shoreline ends at a stone wall. The footprints seem to end here.

James is alive, of that he’s sure. Had he been dead, the orb would have gone out. As long as the orb exists then James has to be alive. But where is he?

“James!” he hollers again. “Where are you?”

Examining the water’s edge, he speculates James could have gone into the water. But why? Didn’t make any sense. The surface of the water is placid, only a few residuals ripples from when he left the water after descending from the ledge under the window work their way across.

He didn’t swim past me on my way here. So he had to go somewhere else. The only shore adjacent to the water is that which he is standing on now. Which leaves the stone wall he’s standing next to.

Remembering the secret doors James found in the past, he begins working his fingers along the cracks and grooves. Pushing here, pressing there, he tries to find a hidden opening trigger. After a quarter hour he gives up, if James managed to find and use one he can’t duplicate the feat.

He sits on the shore near the water as he tries to figure out what to do next. While he sits there, his mind drifts back to a time when he and Tinok had gone to recover a broach stolen from Tersa.

It was made of silver and the only thing of any value she owned. They had tracked the thief to one of the old buildings on the waterfront. The front door was barred from within and no other way was available to get in.

As it happened, one of their friends from the fight pits walked by while they were thinking of their next move. When he learned what they were up to he suggested going into the water and try to come up underneath the building. Said some buildings in the area have openings in their