“There’s a bunch of men lined up against the wall. At least I think that’s what they are. I only got a good look at one of them, a big guy with an ugly mug even a mother couldn’t love. He didn’t move a muscle, so I thought they might all be statues, but it looked like she was talking to them, so I wasn’t sure.”
Ashley strained her eyes. Multicolored lights mingled within dark depressions in the walls, illuminating vague forms, but the light was too dim to discern any details. “You have Excalibur,” she said, “so if the statues get aggressive, you can discourage them.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He stood and withdrew his sword. “I’d better keep it ready.”
She pushed the blade, making it rest on his shoulder. “Carry it like that and maybe you won’t scare her half to death.”
“Got it.” He strolled casually toward the girl.
Ashley followed, clutching the back of Walter’s jacket to stay close. As they drew near, the girl’s details came into focus. She was slender, maybe five feet tall, and her most obvious feature, her stark white hair, dressed her head and shoulders in snowy raiment. The flame from the lantern she carried made her eyes shine an unearthly blue.
Standing on a low stone platform, she spoke to someone inside a cleft in the wall, but it was still too dark to see whom she addressed. A huge body lay on the platform near her feet, apparently a giant of a man, but he, too, was shrouded in shadows.
Walter stopped and stared. Ashley leaned close and whispered in his ear. “She’s beautiful!”
“I noticed.” He quietly cleared his throat and began edging forward. “Uh … I guess I’ll just introduce myself.”
The girl’s pale lips trembled. “I’ll get you out of here. I’ll get us all out of here, so help me God!”
Walter paused. “Is she talking to us?”
“Only one way to find out.” Ashley brushed the wrinkles from her jacket and marched ahead. “Excuse me,” she said as she hopped up to the platform. “Can you tell me where we are?”
The girl’s eyes shone with radiance, but her thin smile seemed less than joyful. “Ashley? What are you doing here?”
Ashley shuffled backwards and stepped down, pointing at herself. “How do you know who I am?”
Walter quickly joined her. He put the sword away and bowed his head. “Hi. My name is”
“Walter,” the girl finished. “I saw both of you from inside the Great Key when the dragons came through.”
“You did?” Walter combed his fingers through his hair. “Cool! I’m more famous than I thought.”
The girl stepped off the platform and extended her hand. “I’m Sapphira Adi. Pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you, too,” Walter replied, taking her hand.
Sapphira gave Ashley a formal curtsy, though it looked strange coming from a girl in old jeans and a tattered sweater. “I am honored to meet a princess, a daughter of the dragon king.”
“A princess?” Ashley glanced at Walter as she gestured for Sapphira to rise. “How do you know so much about us, and what is this place?”
Sapphira’s smile widened, but her eyes still gave away a somber mood. “I know about you, because I saw you on the day you were born. I watched you through your brother Gabriel’s eyes.” She spread out her arms, turning slowly in a half circle. “And this place is the mobility room, once used for training an army of giants that were genetically engineered from a blend of plant material and fallen angels.” She halted her spin and focused on Ashley again, her eyes wide and serious. “I think the son of King Nimrod wants to use them to take over the world, but first he has to get them out of this dimension. We’re thousands of feet underground in the third circle of Hades.”
Ashley’s stomach ached. The word Hades felt like a dagger in her gut. She pulled Walter’s sleeve and whispered, “The inscription in the stairwell.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Walter replied, not bothering to whisper. He nodded at the dark forms lined up in the wall. “What are those?”
Setting down her lantern, Sapphira stepped back up on the platform and took the hand of one of the huge men. Although several beams of light cast various colors across his indistinct body, only his hand and hairy wrist could be seen clearly. “These are the Nephilim, the giants I was telling you about.” She pointed at the