Page 46 of Monsters of Midlife

“Only if I can get this lock open,” Sophie said, waving her hands over the lock in a series of complex moves.

Nothing happened.

“Shit,” she said.

“If we can’t get it opened, we have to go back into the temple? Or do we have to stay the night here until Ryder leaves the temple?” I asked.

Sophie rolled her eyes at me. “Patience, grasshopper. Just give me a chance at this.”

“I thought you were a witch. Can’t you just do shit?” I muttered.

Sophie looked at me and sighed, her face scrunched up in what looked like an awkward moment of pain. “I never said I was the best witch in town,” she said. “It’s just a matter of trying to figure out exactly which magic spell is going to work to get this lock open.”

“Well, hurry up, I’m feeling a little claustrophobic.” I could hear the stress in my tone.

“That’s really not helping.” Sophie turned back to the lock and tried a new finger dance in front of it. Suddenly a spark of light came up and the lock snapped open.

“You got it,” I cheered and gave her a pat on the shoulders.

She glanced at me and raised her eyebrows. “Did you have any doubt?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I did.”

“Come on, let’s go.” She pushed open the gate and led me through it. We ran for what seemed like quite a while, but she had a glowing blue light that shone from her hand that gave us just enough light to make sure we could see where we were stepping. Shadows moved in the dark, and I muttered a prayer under my breath that they were just average rats.

“There aren’t any creepy creepies down here other than normal shit, right?” I asked.

“You’re going to find out the farther you get into this supernatural world that everything is creepy and supernatural,” she said. “At least that’s the way I see it. Even the things that aren’t supernatural have an impact on both worlds, so we have to be careful of them. For example, the subway,” she said as we came out of the door through a side alley and into the BART station.

The train was just pulling in the station. We dashed for it, sliding in just as the doors shut and grabbing a couple of seats off to the side where nobody else was sitting.

“What do you mean, the subway?” I asked. It was a quick ride over to Oakland where we would be able to take a bus into Alameda and get back to where we were supposed to be before Ryder found out we weren’t there.

Hopefully.

“Nothing,” Sophie said, pressing her lips together and clearly not willing to say another word. “Just hang tight and we’ll get you back where you’re supposed to be. I told you this was a fool’s errand. Anyhow, we should never have come.”

Suddenly the train came to a halt.

“What the hell?” I asked as I jolted forward.

“It’s probably nothing,” Sophie said, but by the look in her eye, I didn’t really believe her in the slightest. She stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the door at the far end of the car.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She didn’t turn to me, simply kept moving. “Just making sure we are in a safe position.”

“We’re in a tube under the San Francisco Bay. How is any of this actually safe?” I insisted.

“Well, hopefully there’s nothing untoward happening in the tunnel,” she muttered. “And, hopefully it’ll hold.”

“Hold against what?” I asked.

She didn’t say anything at that; she just kept pulling me toward the end of the train. As we moved from one car into the next; I glanced over my shoulder. A massive beast with a gaping maw and three rows of teeth was running toward us.

“Shut the door!” Sophie said. “It’s a hellhound!”

I slammed it right in the beast’s face. It’s teeth crashed against the glass, cracking it. I stood in shock as it smashed its head against the glass again, trying to break through.

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