Into the Netherworld (Real Terror Universe)

"'Cept me," Hanyer muttered. He felt out of place at times around his friends. Charlie gave him a reassuring smile and Prinny nudged his head against Hanyer's shoulder. "But I'm fine with being just a normal guy."

"This stuff is like talents," Thomas pointed out, feeling a little bad, "I'm pretty sure you can do lots of stuff we can't do. Probably going to save our lives one day, given how much trouble we get into."

Taryn smiled reassuringly at Thomas, "No, I'm alright. Random shiver. But thank you," she said, as always, appreciating his chivalry. She saw Hanyer look away from them and took note of it. Being oblivious to his feelings about she and Thomas, she didn't know why he'd done it. She'd ask him about it later.

Then she looked at Charlie and smiled, "High Summoner. I'm sure you'll do it. And sooner than you think."

She looked at Hanyer and smiled reassuringly.

"Well you're not wrong," Hanyer said, smiling slightly. "It seems trouble follows us around."

Charlie nodded at Taryn. "You should see what she summoned last time I saw her. She had the more powerful a summon the harder it is to control, so I have to learn patience and controlling my emotions and thoughts and stuff."

Taryn smiled and said laughingly, "Trouble does tend to take a liking to us." She looked at Charlie as she spoke of the High Summoner, "That sounds interesting. Are the summons very closely tied to emotion?" she asked.

Charlie nodded. She enjoyed explaining things.

"She told me that they are like animals. They can sense if you're afraid. If you aren't strong enough mentally wise they will be able to tell and cause problems."

Prinny settled down on a rock nearby and started to clean it's feathers. "Of course not all are like that. Some are just naturally peaceful."

"And cute," Thomas added absentmindedly before checking his watch. He frowned, "Damn... Lily was so excited about this and she's keeping us waiting. I just hope she's not going to try to scare us."

Hanyer nodded. He was also wondering where Lily was.

"Maybe she had something to do first."

Charlie nodded, smiling wide. "Yeah. That too."

Lily pulled the hood back on her black sweatshirt and smiled. She jumped from the tree and landed near her friends.
"Sorry, I'm 'grounded' had to sneak out, and also I took the time to get my spplies together." She said, putting air quotes around the word "grounded." She adjusted her drawstring bag bag, an the faint sound of wood, glass, and paper, rustling around eminated from it.
"Hey, check it out." she pulled up her sweatshirt to reveal an ornately decorated sheath with a similarly decorated golden dagger hilt sticking out.
"I found it in the attic."

"You always have the most interesting things in your attic, Lily," Thomas noted wryly as he admired the dagger, "What did you get grounded for? Going out in public as Harry Potter?"

"No, I'm prohibited from rummaging through the attic, and my parents get pissy." She said, rolling her eyes.
"I should talk to your grandfather, I mean, all of us seem to be some kind of trouble, I want to find what kind I am, I'll ask about my ancestors."

"Well, I'm not sure if we want to meet him if we go through with this. One of the only orders he ever gave me was to never go into the Spirit World without me or some guy called the Avatar," Thomas told her with a shrug, "Please don't tell me that show is real too..."

"I hope not, I don't take orders from bald-headed twelve year olds. Anyway, can we read the cards before we do this?" She asked, pulling a deck of tarot cards wrapped in red satin cloth out of the back pocket of her skinny jeans.
"It could help."

"No harm in that, I suppose," Thomas said with a shrug, "My Grandfather says the cards always tell the truth. Sometimes, it's not always a benevolent spirit guiding them, though."

"Well.... yeah, I guess." She said.
"Who wants to cut the deck?" She looked at all of her friends. She sat down on the dirt andspread the satin scrap on the ground in front of her, then placed the deck. She didn't know she had, but she softly said something aloud in greek. She couldn't speak greek.

Taryn nodded, "It might be good to get a sense of what's coming before it gets here." She was used to the cards, her mother used to read them quite often. It was usually very accurate. "I'll cut it," she said, before carrying out the action.

"Ok, thanks." She took one card from the top of each half and flipped the first over.
"The fool. Watch your step." She said. She flipped over the second card.
"The world. A succesful conclusion. So if we watch our backs, we will have a succesful conclusion." She concluded, packing up the cards.

"Okay. That is always good to know," Thomas noted, looking over the cards before turning to look into the cave, "So, is everyone ready?"

"I'm ready." Lily nodded, her hand was rested on the hilt of her dagger, just in case.
"What's the chant again?"

"Ab initio ad fundum," Thomas told Lily with a shrug, "I think it's Latin. You just have to shout it into the cave and something will happen."

"Ab initio ad fundum..." Taryn repeated quietly, thinking about the phrase. 'Initio' and 'fundum' both sounded like words in Spanish. Initio sounded close to start and fundum sounded like the bottom. "Hmm."

Thomas shivered as he felt a chill wind blow out of the cave. He peered into it. It seemed darker than before and yet, there seemed to be a silvery light at the edge of his vision. He spoke, "Well, that wasn't normal."

Taryn got closer to Thomas, feeling the wind as well. The cold went right through her this time. The cave's gaping mouth seemed less inviting than before. Deeper. Darker. The bracelet on her wrist grew extremely cold and she looked down at it. All the jeweled eyes embedded in it had closed, covered by metal eyelids. It's never done that before... "No. It wasn't."

Instinctively, Thomas found his arm around Taryn once again to keep them both warm. He stared into the cave and frowned thoughtfully. He spoke, "Well, anyone want to go in first or go back?"

Hanyer eyed the cave nervously. No way was he going in first, but he wasn't about to run away either. He looked at Charlie who looked even more nervous than him. He wanted to hug her, but he didn't move.

"I'll go first," Charlie's voice suddenly said. She had put on a brave face, trying to prove that although the youngest, she was not a scared little girl.