"Good thing he's gone," Mowak said.

Shade replied sadly, "I stink ..."

"Look there ... It's a pool. We can wash ourselves in there."

I looked at Tuma then waved a hand. We crawled from the bones, stood up and brushed off the white dust on our robes. Cleaned, we came around the piles until we spotted the young girl and her guardian.

"Mowak!"

She turned from the pool holding a stone blade. "Kai? Tuma?"

Gobble. Gobble. "And Sqakron." The cockatrice said. "Don't forget about me."

"We could never forget about you," Shade smiled.

Mowak splashed herself, "I'll say … we all thought you were dead."

"We were fortunate to have fallen in the pool. Looks like you've met a similar fate."

Mowak sighed. "That creature came from below the cliff. Shade and I were peering over, trying to see if we could locate you in the abyss when we were yanked like flies into a toad's mouth. Next we knew, we were in the creature's belly. Thankfully shade spray caused the creature to puke us back up."

"Smart thinking." I said, my lips curling. "But we have other problems."

"Like what?"

Tuma held his nose. "Your smell ..."

I slapped his chest. "This is not the time for joking."

"Who said I was joking?"

Sqakron walked over to shade and gave her a whiff. "Woah! You both need a bath!"

Shade turned her rear towards the creature. "I'll give you something that'll make your eyes drain."

"Cut it out, Shade." Mowak said, smugly. "And Tuma, get that bird under control!"

"He's not a bird ... He's a cockatrice!"

Mowak looked upon me, "What were you saying?"

"I said we got bigger problems." I clenched my teeth. "There's no way out except up. And all the walls are too steep and slick to climb and—"

Gobble. Gobble. "Well if you can't go up, then we must go down."

"Shut your beak!" Tuma swung at the guardian, but the creature was quick, ducking and dodging each swipe. "Get over here!"

"I can kill it for you," Mowak said, "all you have to do is ask."

"Nobody hurts my guardian," Tuma gasped, "except me!"

"Wait." I looked at the Cockatrice. "What did you say?"

Sqakron scurried to the top of a pile of bones. "I said if we can't go up, we must go down."

"Down?" I rubbed my chin and looked upon the cave. Nothing. I then gazed upon the pool. "We must go … down!"

Tuma began scaling the pile of bones, slipping and sliding with each step. Sqakron pounced on his head, rolled, then scurried behind my leg.

"I'll get you, you dumb bird!"

Puh-cock! "Be kind, master!"

Tuma ran up to me. "Step asided, Kai ... I need to teach this bird some manners."

"Intolerable." Gobble. Gobble. "Intolerable."

I kneeled and looked the creature in the eyes. "Did you see something underwater?"

Sqakron turned his head, keeping an eye on Tuma and an eye on me. He nodded. Gobble. Gobble. "When master was playing, and dunked me underwater, I saw a passageway."

"I wasn't playing!" Tuma's face reddened. "I was trying to drown you!"

Mowak smirked. "Seems your pet is smarter than I gave him credit."

“He is?” Tuma scratched his head. “I mean, of course he is. We’re no dummies!”

“Can you show us the way?” I asked, patting Sqakron’s head. “Will you be our guide?”

Sqakron turned his head and blinked his right eye rapidly. “For a price, yes. How much seed you got?”

“I’ll give you some seed.” Tuma squeezed his hand into a fist. “A seed with four knuckles!”

I ignored the boy and said. “You’ll get your own bag if we get out of here alive.”

“Own bag?” He shifted left then right and gazed at me for a long moment. “I don’t see no bag …”

“I don’t have it here. We’ll get it to you as soon as we’re out of the cave.”

Puh-cock! “Intolerable!” Gobble. Gobble. “Intolerable!”

Tuma kicked. “Intolerable is having you as a guardian! Now I command you to show us!”

I gave the cockatrice my most sincere look. “I give you my word, you'll get your seed.”

He blinked quickly. “I’ll trust you, but you best be telling the truth.”

I stood and looked upon the others. “You heard him all. Get ready. We’re going to take a swim.”

Mowak snickered. “You’ll have to go on without me.”

“Why?” Tuma snapped. “You don’t like to bathe.”

“No,” she shifted uncomfortably and leaned a hand on her hip. “I don’t do water.”

“What do you mean 'you don’t do water?' We just went fishing the other day!”

“I don’t do deep water …”

Tuma raised an eyebrow, “What are you scared?”

“Leave her alone,” Shade pounced forward and bared her tiny fangs. “Or I’ll leave a mark that’ll stay with you for life.”

“Ooooo, I’m shaking in my moccasins.”

Shade snapped, “you shouldn’t make fun of those who can’t swim!”

Mowak’s eyes widened, “shade! You were supposed to keep that secret.”

The Skugar lowered her head, “my apologies …”

“You can’t swim?” Tuma spat, snorting and chuckling. “How pathetic!”

“Keeping grinning,” Mowak raised her fist, “and you won’t have any teeth.”

“I can silence him in one squirt … All you have to do is say so,” Shade growled.

I shoved past Tuma and knocked him to the ground. The boy swore, then walked over to Mowak and took her hand. She tried to pull but I kept tight.

"Take my hand and I'll guide you."

Mowak's lips sank. "I can't, Kai. You don't understand."

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything," Tuma said.

"And I thought you were afraid of everything," Mowak snapped. "Truthfully, we all have fears we try and hide—"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

We all turned our chins over our shoulders, looking up the slick wall.

Tuma's lip trembled, "he's coming back ..."

I rubbed her hand gently. "Mowak, I'm not going unless you're coming."

Tuma stepped into the water, "Well I'm not staying. Sqakron, come with me!"

"Coward." Shade snapped.

The cockatrice's head whipped right and left, his eye gazing upon Tuma. "I ain't going unless you got some seed ..."

Tuma's face reddened. "You staying put will only get you killed!"

I squeezed Mowak's hand gently, "you can do this. I believe in you."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tuma raised a finger, his hand trembling. "I see it!"

Mawak tried to turn but I pulled her, keeping her eyes focused on me. "You're stronger than you know."

"You are," Shade nodded. "Face your fear, it'll make you stronger."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Buh-cock! "You can pay me in seed later!" Sqakron said to Tuma. He scurried to the bank edge until his talons vanished. Like a snake, he slithered out into the water.

Mowak looked at me, turned to Tuma, then to me again. She shook her head, "I can't let him have all the fun."

She waded out into the water. Shade leaped and followed in after her. I got my feet wet last. Boom! Boom! Boom! The creature was nearly half down the wall.

We gathered at the midpoint of the pool. "You may want to take a deep breath," Sqakron said, Gobble. Gobble. "It's a long way down before we go back up."

Everyone nodded, and with that drew a deep breath, and slipped below the surface. I kept tight on Mowak's hand as we sank deeper and deeper into the abyss. The pressure pushed on our bodies and skulls, enough to make them feel like we were going to explode.

Once we were fifteen feet deep, the air in my lungs was waning, and a sharp pain filled my chest. We stroked harder and harder, driving deeper and deeper into the pool. When we hit twenty feet, we arched under a stone wall and began rising upward. Sqakron slithered ahead, gazing back every so often to make sure we were close behind.

Mowak's eyes widened. She began to pull and yank, fighting me with all she had. I kept a firm hold, racing towards the surface, trying to get there before the blackness in my head took over.

At once, we all broke the surface, gasping and taking long, drawn breaths. "We made it!" Shade said, paddling like a cat to the stoney edge.

"That was exciting!" Sqakron said. "We should do that again!"

"No, you dumb pet!" Tuma smacked the water with a fist. "This is not the time to be playing in the pools!"

Mowak and I paddled to the edge of the water and pulled ourselves onto the stony bank. We gasped for air, and when we caught our breath, we chuckled.

"The creature will notice you're gone," I said, "We best start looking for another way out."

Tuma let out a high shriek. "This was a terrible idea!"

I turned towards the boy and followed his gaze. In the corner, engraved into the wall, were enormous yellowed bones. Outlining a beaked faced, shell backed, massive, spear-tailed beast.

"What is that?" Mowak raised an eyebrow. "Is that a fossil?"

"Precisely what it is," Shade nodded, gazing upon it in wonder. "This must've been where the creature fell and how it became trapped here."

"You mean to tell me that the creature out there is connected to the fossils in here?" Tuma asked, lips trembling. "This is bad ..."

Shade walked up and gazed upon it, "This creature is a fossil spirit." We all raised our ears. "Alive when the world was filled with prehisotric beasts ... carnivores and herbivores ... all trying to survive before the great fall."

Mowak crossed her arms. "What makes the fossil spirits any different than a beast spirit or grim spirit, or even a guardian?"

Shade looked between our faces, "they're trapped to where their bones rest ... meaning if we get far enough from his bones, he won't be able to follow."

Tuma raised his arms and dropped them. "And I take it the closer we are to his bones the worst off we are?"

I looked around, "we need to find a way out."

Everybody nodded, running towards the wall, searching for any signs of an opening. "Here!" Sqakron pointed to a tiny crack in the wall. "Through here."

Tuma squeezed his hand until it grew pale. "Does it look like we can squeeze through there?"

I squinted at the pile of stones, seeing the light slipping through. "Looks like this used to be a cave."

Tuma nodded. "That doesn't help much."

I rubbed my chin, "Onwae said that there were workers down here searching for runes. What if in their search they found the creature's lair? And when it started killing people, they tried to seal it back up?"

Mowak slid her hands down her braid. "But they weren't able to conceal it because it was already awoken."

I nodded.

Tuma shrugged, "Great tale, but it'll take hours to get through this ... and we don't have the time for that."

"No. We don't." I shook my head. "But if we had enough strength we could tear through these stones quickly."

"And where are we going to get that, genius?"

"Panchu," I whispered.

Tuma chuckled nervously. "Ya, well, Panchu is nowhere to be found. If you hadn't forgotten, he, Onwae, and Sapphire are likely lost or have already been eaten."

Shade said from the bank, "the pool ... it's stirring."

I glanced to an orb in the corner of the room, glowing vibrant orange. "There's nowhere to hide ..."

Mowak said, "I noticed something when the creature attacked me ... It's eyes ... they are a bluish-white."

"Wow," Tuma said. "Great observation."

She furrowed her eyebrows and said hollowly. "If we stay in the orbs light it may not be able to see us!"

"Right." I pointed. "Everybody to the corner of the room."

We all ran and got against the wall, glowing as orange as the orbs above us. "This is a terrible idea." Tuma shook his head. "Lizards don't just use their eyes you know ... they can smell too—" he beamed with light, and looked upon shade, grimacing. In a second, he stood, outstretching his arms and legs, closing his eyes, and tilting his chin downward. "Spray me."

Shade corked her head. "As much as I'd like to, I don't think this is the time for that."

"You stupid skunk!" Tuma spat. "If you spray us it won't smell our flesh and blood!"

Mowak glanced at Tuma, her lips twisted. “He’s right, Shade. Even in the light it’ll smell us … you’re going to have to spray us …”

“Oh, no!” Sqakron said, running towards the crack in the wall. He slithered in-between them. “I’m staying right here!”

Tuma pointed down at his feet, “You get back here right now—” The pool sloshed against the banks causing a small, expanding ripple. “He’s here …”

I ran over to Mowak and Tuma. “Spray us all … quickly.” Shade nodded and turned around, lifting her tail. “You’re going to have to spray yourself too.”

“I’m not getting that stink on my fur.” Shade said, shaking her head. “I’ll just release enough gas to hide my own smell.” And with that, a warm mist shot from her rear. Tiny droplets sprinkled to the ground, covering us, and concealing our natural smell with one of a beastly, urinated reek.

I gasped, “Get against the wall …”

“I’m going to throw up,” Tuma said, grabbing the rock and leaning against it. “This is disgusting.”

“You smell much,” Mowak coughed, “better than before …”

We held our breath just as a hiss echoed throughout the chamber. From the pool, a sharp beak broke through the surface with two large nostrils, each one dripping water. The beak snapped, "well, now … this is interesting. What a peculiar smell. Could it be something dead, or to hide something made of flesh and blood?" He let out a low, haunting laugh.

And each of us exchanged a daunting, helpless look.