A:
The City of Ash lived up to its name. As we walked the stone roads of the ancient city, the entire landscape was the same color. Everything was covered with a dirty white ash that had long since become the defining characteristic of the environment. But it was a city of Ash in another way too. Old Blowme had been destroyed by the volcano, and what was left were the ashes of the once bustling city.
Before we arrived, I'd underestimated the effect being in such a ghost town would have on me. There was an eeriness in knowing that the people who lived here, some of whom are permanently encased under the thick and hardened ash, all faced horrific deaths.
As we walked, I tried to soak up as much of the scenery as possible, but I noticed that Marla was paying more attention to our new tour guides. They were definitely a motley crew, and they didn't mind talking to each other in Dutch even knowing we couldn't understand them.
"Hey Marla, it's rude to stare, ya know."
She kept staring for a few moments before she responded.
"Andy did you notice the change in the AL concentration?"
"It seems to be getting stronger as we approach the volcano. Is that normal?"
"That sounds like a question for Kimi."
As we didn't want to alert our guides that we were in possession of a talking magic wand, we decided to shelve the thought and keep our eyes peeled for anything unusual.
Marla was fixated on the Europeans, and I understood why. They seemed a bit off, maybe too old to be students. Still, they may've just seemed more mature because they were from Europe.
From looking at them, it was clear that Frede was the ringleader. Although Sabina seemed to always be keeping him on his toes.
It was the third one I really didn't get, Cillian. His face was always lifeless and uncurious expression on his face. He followed behind Sabina as she fought with Frede, but never dared to get involved himself.
Sabina and Frede started arguing more. Again in Dutch, but I was a little tired of it. So I walked up to them and asked them, in English, why they were so upset about. Sabina responded by talking over Frede's attempt to respond.
"This idiot has gotten us lost. I told him not to take the scenic route, to go the regular way. But of course he never listens."
Now Frede took exception to this and start ranting at her, again in Dutch. But what Sabina said didn't sit right with Marla.
"Lost? How can you guys be lost? I thought you were local experts and studying this volcano for to get into college, or something. Don't tell me—"
Frede took a smug look and stop Marla by raising a hand to her face.
"Settle down now. It's no problem. I tried to take the scenic route, and I made a wrong turn because one of the landmarks changed. It's simple, a bit of good luck and we will be back on the right track in no time.
Let me ask you now something, Ms. Marla. You told me you were from Shadow Lane Prep School. That's a famous school, isn't it?"
Marla seemed surprised that Frede was familiar with Shadow Lane.
"Oh. I don't know. I'm surprised you've heard about us in Europe."
"Well, I am a scholar. And I am personally acquainted with one of your classmates. Maybe you know him? His name is Cole St. Vincent."
"No way, do you know Cole? That's Victoria's brother, you know."
Apparently Frede had met Cole at some competition.
Frede was the kind of guy who suffered from extreme confidence. He said everything with such conviction that I couldn't tell if it was put-on false confidence. Marla and I hung back for a moment to let them get their bearings. Marla whispered something to me, being careful to keep it out of earshot of the Europeans.
"Andy, I texted Cole about these guys. You remember who they said they knew him? I snapped a pic and sent it to them."
"Yeah and?"
"Cole's never even heard of them."
"That's weird."
"It is. But to be honest, the St. Vincent family is pretty famous in certain circles. They have some connection to old European royalty. I figure it's possible that they know of him from some high society thing."
Now the discussion between Sabina and Frede was starting to heat up. We'd all stopped walking, and Cillian stood to the side and watched the two argue.
It got to the point where Sabina was shaking madly and looked like she was getting ready to hit him. But to his credit, Frede was comparatively calm and collected. Finally, Sabina burst out in some English.
"Dammit Frede, you idiot. I should throw you into the volcano!"
Everyone was stunned and a little embarrassed, but Frede started laughing. And Sabina soon followed suit. Cillian looked confused at first, but joined in the laughter, too.
No one in our group actually "got" the joke. But I assumed this was because of cultural differences in humor.
Once they were finished, Frede thought hard for a moment, and jumped up like he'd had a brilliant insight.
"Eureka! I remember now, we need to go that way."
Sabina looked skeptical.
"Frede, are you sure this time?"
"Absolutely. We need to head over the black rocks and we're actually closer than I thought."
Our group kept following Frede, and did indeed come across the black rocks he mentioned. They were sharp and jagged and it was a struggle to walk several hundred yards on top of them. But at that point, the volcano was in our sights. Veronica was amazed.
"That's it right there. How close are we going to get?"
Devin shuddered.
"But... we can't get too close. What if it goes off again?"
Frede gave a boisterous laugh.
"If Mt. Blowme explodes again, we're all going to be buried underneath it.
B:
After crossing the black rocks, we came up to an old cabin. Frede had taken a break from arguing with Sabina, and was doing a good job as tour guide.
"Right past this cabin is the Magma Path. In ancient times, the priests used it to get close enough to the volcano to make sacrifices. They would toss people right in there, if you can imagine."
I imagined and gulped deeply in a way that made Frede grin. Devin seemed especially interested.
"But what was this cabin for, anyway?"
"This is where they kept the slaves."
Devin's face beamed when he heard this and he ran inside the tiny old building.
For me, it was less interesting. I'd begun to sweat from the heat of the nearby volcano.
Suddenly, I heard a scream come from inside the cabin.
When I followed, I saw Veronica standing in shock like she'd seen a ghost.
"What... what happened to them? Those are people, right?"
Veronica pointed at the ashy white rock, at the death castes of people who'd been caught in the volcano's explosion. The pale statues looked more like artistic sculptures than the remnants of actual human beings. They were twisted and contorted like they'd thrashed their entire body to fend off death. Frede saw the reaction, then grinned and laughed.
"You see, the volcano exploded so quickly that many people didn't have time to get out. Some people survived. The strong ones; the ones who were willing to leave behind loved ones to save themselves. And it looks like these people were slaves. That's why they were all chained up here. I imagine that, in fleeing, their master didn't have time to free them. So it goes."
Frede gave another hearty laugh before he pointed down at the chains around the wrists of the entombed people. Veronica looked disturbed, and it was hard to blame her. Not only was the idea of these casts haunting, they were contorted in a way that conveyed the agony of their death.
I began to worry about her. I wasn't sure if she'd frozen or something. Her eyes started to well up. And it was at that point Devin decided to make a move.
After walking over to Veronica and grabbing her by both shoulders, Devin tried, in his own way, to console Veronica.
"You know Veronica, if you were my property, my slave, I'd come back to free you, even if at risk to my own life."
Even the laid-back Europeans were awe-struck at Devin's bizarre statement. Veronica's eyes popped open like an owl's and she started backing away from Devin slowly. That was when Frede took back control of the group.
"Forget all that. It's time for a group photo. Come on, everyone gather round."
Frede stood next to the statue and told us all where to stand.
He handed Marla the camera and asked her to go take the picture. She objected and, of course, wanted to be in the picture herself.
They ended up agreeing to do a "best of three" in Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine who'd have to hold the camera.
Weirdly enough, they ended up going twelve rounds of RPS, to a shocking result. Ultimately, after she lost the first two matches, Frede graciously offered Marla a rematch. This happened several times, and to the bewilderment of most of us, Frede beat Marla every single time. Marla ended up getting quite into it and was devastated when she lost every round.
After it was over, Marla accepted defeat and walked over to the camera. But then she tripped. There wasn't anything in her way. It was like she'd been hit by some powerful force and knocked over.
Now she was trying to keep balance, but it was like she was exhausted. As for me, I was frozen still completely. Marla kept stumbling forward. She grabbed a hold of the tripod Frede had set up for the camera, until she fell over and set off the flash.
None of us moved. Except for Frede, who walked proudly to the middle of the room. Cillian and Sabina followed.
My entire group was frozen. Without saying anything, Cillian tied us up and Frede had him put us all into a cart they pushed further into the mountain. They took us up many feet, and it got hotter as we approached the uncovered top of the volcano.