The Passage

"F-E-A-R has two meanings: 'Forget Everything And Run' or 'Face Everything And Rise'. The choice is yours." Zig Ziglar

--

I close my eyes and breathe deeply. In and out. In and out. Slowly, calmly, I wait. My mind is blank, my blood rushing through my veins. In the silence, there seems to be a song calling to me, like a siren. Come to me, it seems to say. Where is it coming from? I sink deeper into my subconsciousness. I begin to hear my blood sing. It's like a beacon of light, ready to point me in the right direction. I point down one of the passageways.

"That way," I say. My eyes open, shining brilliantly. "I can do this."

I move towards the passageway I pointed down but pause. 'I'm heading down the left passage,' I say to my brothers. 'I know he's down there.'

'Ok. We're coming,' they reply.

I move first.  I'm coming, grandpa Robert.  I felt more comfortable, not so cold anymore. I walk at a relaxed pace down the left passageway. This time, it felt much longer before I reached the end. There was light at the end of the passage and voices that were speaking loudly. I was hoping the room wasn't as grimy as the passage. I can still smell the rot and mould because of how damp the passageway is. By now, I wasn't feeling as scared as I was when I first started. Of course, I was nervous but not frightened. It was as if the fear had just drained from my body as adrenaline coursed through my veins. My blood was feeling hotter now. I knew I had found my third brother, but how many more were there? I was all alone, and I heard at least three different voices. One of those voices was sixth brother's. It was in how hoarse his voice was, how raw it was. Out of all my brothers, sixth brother's voice was the only one with such a rough yet deep voice.

'I can hear them,' I tell my brothers. I was right outside now, and even one step out of the room would enable the people inside to see me. I was either lucky or unlucky, and at this moment, I prayed I was lucky. I never really felt that there was a God in my past life. With so many bad things happen to me, I didn't have the heart to pray, but being reincarnated, I feel that there must have been someone watching over me. Why else would I return to 10 years of age with my memories intact?

'Wait for us, Adi,' they say urgently. 'We're nearly there.'

What was probably only five or ten minutes of waiting felt like an eon. When my brothers finally arrive, I quickly hushed them. They were running too noisily. What if the people in the room heard them? Then we'd be screwed. I silently point at the light, glaring at them. They smile sheepishly at me. Rolling my eyes, I tap my head.

'So, what's the plan?' I ask.

'Well, we need a distraction, I think,' eighth brother says a little hesitantly.

'But where would we hide? It's a hallway with nowhere to hide, and we have no idea how the room is structured...' I respond.

'Leo, you have power over earth, right?' seventh brother asks.

'Yeah, you should know that by now, Mil...' third brother grumbles.

'Well, how about you make an indent within the wall of the passageway, and then one of us creeps to the other side, make some noise and draw whoever's inside away.'

'That's actually a good plan, seventh brother,' I say, feeling surprised.

Mil pouts. 'Why are you surprised? I can create good plans.'

My brothers snicker.

'So who will be the bait?' I ask. I think for a bit. 'How about we use ninth brother's beasts?'

'How, Adi?'

'Well, there are always rats in these passageways, so why not use the rats? They can bite whoever's inside. We have four rats each right now, so five times four is twenty rats in total. That's a large mischief of rats.' I smile very sweetly as I explain to my brothers my idea.

I can see my brothers tremble as they watched me with large eyes.

'You're very scary, you know that, Adi?' ninth brother mutters.

'How am I scary?' I ask, feeling a little confused.

'You can say such scary things with such a sweet smile...' third brother trails off, but I understood that it was because I didn't feel anything but happy when I told them my plan to injure others.

'So, what are we going to do?' I ask.

'We'll go with both of your plans,' eighth brother says firmly. 'We shouldn't be separated, and one of us cannot go head to head with professionals, like the ones I'm sure Brutus has in that room.'

'Leo should sort out the hiding spot then,' ninth brother states.

Third brother nods and closes his eyes. He places a hand on the wall of the passageway, a part that looks crumbled and broken. I feel something tug in my blood, but I ignore it. Using the earth's power, third brother excavates the wall. He creates a hole large enough for all five of us to fit in.

'We should hurry. I'm sure Brutus has felt me,' third brother says in a rush.

'What do you mean by he felt you?' I ask curiously as I enter the hole.

'You know how you felt a tug in your blood?' eighth brother asks.

I nod in agreement.

'That's what happens when someone uses their innate powers. We have the same bloodline, even if we have different innate abilities. That means that we can feel when others with the same lineage within the same vicinity use their powers, much like how you felt which way to go when you were at the crossroads. We can feel the general direction others with the same bloodline are. But that's only with immediate family members.' eighth brother explains.

'Oh...so when I felt for sixth brother, did he feel me?' I ask.

'No,' ninth brother answers. 'He will only feel it if you use your powers, not if you search which direction he's at.'

'How long before he notices?' I ask.

'He would have noticed the moment I used my powers,' third brother replies. By this time, he had already closed the wall behind us.

'How can we breathe so easily?' I ask, feeling astonished. I've seen others use their powers, but I've never done something like this before. The hole was so small and enclosed. There shouldn't be enough air for all of us in here.

'I left openings in the wall. That way, we'll be able to breathe in the fresh air whilst expelling the carbon dioxide,' third brother explains.

'You must be really good with your powers to be able to do that,' I say with wide eyes.

'Of course, I am. I have been practising for years now. If I can't even do this, I'm a failure at controlling my powers.' Third brother sounded incredibly proud.

I smile. It's nice hearing my brothers talk about something as trivial as their powers proudly. It felt like we were a typical family with its members bragging about how good they were. It's the type of ordinary I've always wanted but could never achieve in my past life.

'It's your turn, ninth brother.'

It's pretty dark, and I couldn't see anything. I heard squeaking and the patter of paws.

"What was that?" I heard a voice say.

"I don't know, dude! Probably the rats again. What's gotten you so agitated?"

"I don't know. Sixth Prince said one of his siblings were nearby using their powers. He doesn't know who, but it was definitely one he was familiar with. We need to take a look around."

The voices and footsteps were getting closer to our position. I hold my breath, hoping they wouldn't find us. The footsteps pass us. Hearing the voices beginning to fade, I release my breath and sigh in relief.

'That was close...'

'I know, Adi. There's nothing we could've done, though,' ninth brother says.

'Have you sent the rats into the room yet?' I ask.

'Yes. We should hear the results soon.'

Suddenly, there's a deafening squeal.

"Shit!"

"Where the hell did these rats come from?"

"Get it off me! Get it off me!"

Footsteps moved in our direction and didn't stop as they passed us. We waited until we couldn't hear them anymore.

'Are they all gone?' I ask.

'Don't know,' my brothers reply.

'We should wait a bit longer,' eighth brother suggests.

'Why?' I ask.

'Because there might be some stragglers inside the room still. We don't know how many there actually were, and we don't know if Brutus left with them. We need to wait until we're sure.'

Suddenly, there were even footsteps walking down the passageway from the direction of the room. It moved at a steady pace and paused right in front of our hiding spot.

Please don't find us, I pray.