crybaby ghost writer

Upon seeing Kerelia for the first time, Tara couldn't help herself but drop to her knees and cry. Nick was startled at first, but once he saw that they were happy tears, he just knelt down beside her and put an arm around her. The rest of the crew just cast her some awkward glances as they started to descend the creaky wooden stairs leading to the city.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" Nick grinned. "I got emotional too, the first time I saw something I thought I could only read about in books."

"I was so scared it wouldn't be real," Tara said. "That all the energy I put into this would be going to waste."

"Well," he shrugged. "Not a total waste."

Tara let out a bit of a choked laugh and nodded. Nick helped her to her feet and down to the abandoned city. Like they had suspected, Kerelia was in a valley of sorts. Or rather, it looked like it was built inside a giant crater made by a meteor crashing into the planet thousands of years ago. Truly hidden and protected by mountains. There was no wonder it was hidden for so long.

Being the first to ever step foot in Kerelia since the civilization fell, the place had been completely overtaken by nature and birds. Hundreds of birds in every size and color. It almost felt like they were in an aviary.

"Look around, but don't touch anything," Nick called out to the crew. "If you absolutely need to touch, use the archeology tools and gloves. We don't take anything from the city without approval from me, Miss Palmer, or Captain Montanez."

Tara didn't pay much mind at first, still stunned by the birds, but suddenly felt her blood turn to ice when she realized Nick had misspoke. He told the crew to come to her, not William. He seemed to realize it too, but chose not to bring attention to it. William, on the other hand, wasn't going to let it slide.

"Take it to Miss Palmer?" William said, loud enough for the curious crew to listen in on. "I knew it. I knew this entire time."

"Knew what?" Nick scoffed. "You've been speaking through your sister this entire time, I was just cutting a corner by telling them to go directly to her."

"No, that's not it," William said. "You two have been plotting against me this whole time. My sister has been warming your bed, and you decided the two of you can just take my notes and research. And then you plan to cut me out. This is where it is. Didn't I tell you all?"

William turned to address the crew now. Much to Tara's dismay, they seemed like they were taking him seriously. She and Nick had been so busy with their own research and journey, they hadn't considered what William might have been telling the crew while they were distracted.

"And the captain is in on it too," William added. "The three of them are running a con here. People get lost in the jungle all the time. They'll get rid of me, but how many of you will they get rid of too?"

"Never trusted this captain," Greyson shouted in support of William. "He's been suspiciously close to those two since the start. William Palmer is the expert in Kerelia, so why is he being treated so poorly? Of course it's a plot!"

"William Palmer is the expert in drinking himself blind and spending money," Nick spat. "If you want the truth, he's nothing but dead weight. He's been taking credit for his sister's work this entire time."

Tara turned pale as everyone stared at her. Under the gaze of so many upset and confused people, she could barely squeak out some words.

"I- Uh-"

"The girl can hardly put a sentence together," someone in the crew snorted, making everyone else laugh.

"Hardly," William agreed. "Enough of this nonsense. If the three of you agree to stand down, we won't make a point of telling this to the police back home. And if not, you're making your own beds."

"What makes you think they're going to follow you?" Captain Montanez said.

"I don't expect anything of them," William said with a sly grin. "Let them decide. I already made my offer to them. What's your offer? They get to follow a little girl playing dress up as a writer, a captain who is so senile he can't remember what he had for breakfast, and the brute with a short temper and inflated ego."

Tara felt Nick tense slightly next to her, but she could tell he was holding back. As much as William deserved another punch in the face, making a move now would only prove his point. Unfortunately, even staying still and quiet didn't change anyone's mind. The crew turned on Tara, Nick, and Captain Montanez.

The three of them put their hands up and huddled together as they were held at gunpoint by several crew members. It seemed like William was taking control of the expedition now, and he was reveling in his success. Whatever poison he had been whispering into everyone's ears during the voyage had clearly taken a strong hold.

"Well, we all have some real work to do," William said. "We can't just let them roam around."

"Should we tie them up?" Colby suggested.

"Then we have to keep an eye on them," William disagreed. "I did find something interesting as we came in, though."

He walked up to Tara and yanked her pendant from around her neck, making her wince. He looked down at the pendant, then at a stone platform just ahead. It seemed the stones had been placed carefully, almost like a stage of some kind.

"Going by my theory," he said, "The topaz macaw is revered as a god. Not just a god, but a guardian."

"At least he still hasn't bothered reading," Nick grumbled under his breath, only to get prodded with a gun to shut him up.

"We know this isn't just a pretty piece of jewelry," William continued. "It's a key. And I found another keyhole that the princess and the professor didn't see."

He stepped up onto the platform and knelt down next to a particular stone. He pressed the pendant into the stone, and everyone mumurred in surprise as the platform began to spread apart. The stones seemed to almost hover just a couple centimeters off the ground, and there was a slight yellow glow to it. When they stopped moving, there was a large hole hidden beneath the platform. It looked like there was a structure underneath, and may have been used for some kind of dungeon.

That's what William was using it for, anyways. The three of them were forced inside and Tara watched as William looked down at them from about ten feet above. She hardly even recognized him. Once he removed the pendant from the stone, the platform closed again, sealing them inside.

The dim golden glow remained in the cracks between the stones, despite them being sealed shut. It was almost like the stones themselves had some kind of glowing paint on it. It gave a dim lighting to their prison so they could see that it only looked like four walls with nowhere to go. Water dripped from one corner, which could possibly keep them alive for a few days. It only made their demise slower, though.

Tara weakly crumpled to the ground, hugging her knees as she began to cry again. Nick was pounding on the walls and looking for a way out along with Captain Montanez, but the captain gently put a hand on his shoulder and nodded towards Tara.

"I think you need to sit with her for a minute," he said quietly.

Nick looked over at Tara and let out a soft sigh. He knelt down next to her and gently rubbed her back.

"Hey, stop that," he scolded softly. "No crying or giving up. We've come too far to die in a ditch now."

"I never should have insisted we come on this trip," Tara said between sobs. "You never would have met Will and he never would have sentenced you to death like this. And then I got cocky and thought I could be a writer."

"You are a writer," Nick insisted. "He can't get away with taking credit when he doesn't know anything."

"Of course he can," Tara said. "Did you see how fast the crew turned on us when we tried to tell them the truth?"

"It's a bad situation," Nick agreed. "We're going to find a way out and fix it. Alright? Here, have some water and relax. When you're ready, we'll start brainstorming."

Tara took a drink of water from her canteen and wiped at her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "He's dead to me."

"I don't think that's true," Nick said. "He's dead to me. That's why I'm so angry. He means something to you, which is why you feel so horrible."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "We were just given a raw deal as children, I always thought we had a connection from having gone through it together. I guess he doesn't feel the same way."

"We'll find a way to get him back for it," Nick promised. "But right now, the priority is to stay hopeful that we can get out of here. We can't do anything from this hole. Captain, have you found anything?"

"William kept the pendant," Captain Montanez grunted. "If the door opens with a key, we'll have to find a way around it."

Tara sniffed and looked around the empty room, then at the water puddle on the ground. The water wasn't dripping from where the stone platform had closed.

"Where is the water coming from?" Tara asked, pointing to the puddle.

Nick turned to look at the water, then followed the damp stone to see that Tara was right. It was coming from somewhere else.

"There's another door of some kind," he agreed. "It's not a one way platform. I bet there's some kind of tunnel down here."

"Got anything to dig into the wall with?" Captain Montanez asked.

They searched their pockets until they managed to make a crude pick and hammer situation out of the captain's steel toed boots and the silver hair stick Tara had been using to keep her auburn locks twisted out of her eyes. Her hair fell wildly around her shoulders now, but it seemed to work at trying to chip away at the wall for a weak spot.

"See that?" Nick said. "William can play pretend all he wants, but the real genius is down here with us."

"Let's see if we can get out of this stupid hole first."