Calvin the Guide and Captain Kyle

***CALVIN***

All this time I thought my life had been bad. I had been bullied at school when I was younger, rejected by my crush, rather harshly, when I confessed to her and was always criticized by our coached in MME. Sure I was good at singing but I sucked at dancing and I had to work extra hours just to perfect a choreography.

It always made me want to cry but my friends, Seven and the rest, always supported me and gave me strength. But now, getting mixed up with this kind of trouble and learning unbelievable truths, I realized my problems were too shallow.

Starting from the time we got kidnapped to getting dragged in Hainan, I had been really scared. I studied judo before and gained a black belt at it but this kind of danger was way beyond me. Traps, guns and now magic? My life was getting crazier!

After Lei, Artemis and Seven fell into the darkness, Kyle, who had been the only one left holding the rope that snapped, turned to our kidnapper, Fa Xiao Min, with a very livid expression.

Since Kyle was very tall, he overshadowed the creepy thin man whom I saw his legs shaking.

"Blake. Xander." he called in a low and dangerous tone. "Do it."

The two jumped into action. Literally! They kicked two of Mister Fa's men, took their baggage and made them kneel to the floor… or to the slab of rock that we were standing on.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mister Fa asked angrily.

"This is your entire fault. If you weren't only so greedy, if you didn't only abduct us, my friends, my sister, wouldn't be in this situation!"

"How is that my fault? That damn kid named Seven was the one who fell first! Your sister was just too brave or rather stupid to save him."

I saw Kyle's hands turn into fists and immediately grabbed the shorter man by the collar.

"Ack! Jessa! Get him off me!"

I turned to Jessa, who was just standing behind me, and saw her unresponsive.

"Jessa dela Cruz! Do what you are paid to do!"

"She's no longer at your beck and call, stupid thin man." Kyle growled. "My sister had talked sense unto her and made her realize that it was wrong to be working for you."

"You ungrateful bitch!"

"Shut up!" Jessa retorted. "My brother died because of you! Many of my comrades died because of your damn greed! And I will no longer tolerate it!"

"You're no longer in-charge Mister Fa." Kyle stated.

"He was never the one in-charge in the first place." Blake snickered.

I was really confused at the turn of events. It turned out that Artemis had planned to overturn Mister Fa then turn the rest of his men against him. Afterwards, once we get out, we would turn him over to the triad so he can receive his punishment.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Lei, Seven and Artemis are gone! What should we do now?"

"We proceed." Kyle replied. "Lei said he will meet us at the end, at the main chamber so we have to keep moving forward."

"But we already lost our guide." Jessa said which earned a nod from the remaining members of our group.

"Don't worry. We have Calvin."

"M-m-me? Why me?" I stuttered while pointing at myself.

"Err… Lei and I guessed that you descended from the Liu Family. Lei's father actually gave us a clue how to navigate the tomb." Kyle answered.

"What? The Liu-"

"Yes Calvin, as in the Imperial family of the Han Dynasty."

"But I'm Korean!"

"Your mom's half-Korean."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"Your grandmother's name was Liu Li. She is the direct descendant of Liu Fen who married Wu Li, a princess of the Royal family that ruled Changsha Kingdom in ancient times. Her illegitimate daughter to a foreigner, a Korean, was Kim Shin Ye, your mother."

I clamped my mouth shut at the information Kyle shared. I never met my grandmother, but I knew her family was a big deal in China. Mother never really let us interfere with our family in China so I grew up not knowing about it.

"That was why Lei had been insistent in letting you open some doors and stuff because in this place only a blood relative's own blood can open those passages."

"So he chose me to come because of that?" I asked.

"No idiot. None of us can see the future. It was just a coincidence that we brought you here. We only found out about it when the crystal you brought him with your blood in it opened the path back in the place that had giant koi fishes."

I calmed myself and just accepted the situation. It wasn't like I had a choice.

"Okay sure. So I'm a Liu, well partly, how am I going to lead you to the main chamber?" I asked again.

"Remember what Lei's dad said?"

"'A Zhang may be able to navigate the tomb, but only a Liu can find his way,'" Blake interrupted imitating Mister Zhang's voice and expression which almost made me want to laugh. He had always been good at imitating people.

"Yep that one. And you are a Liu. Don't worry, we'll help you out." Kyle said.

"Eeeh…"

***

We reached the bottom of the stairs. The bottom was nothing but a pool of water with glowing crystals under it.

"If they fell they should be here." Xander said.

"But no one's here." Jessa pointed out.

"Do you think somebody took them?" Blake asked.

"That's impossible. We're the only ones here. Right?" I asked nervously and darted my gaze around.

"Probably but Lei said that magic is somehow involved with this place so maybe some sort of magic got activated when they fell." said Kyle who was reading the map Lei left behind for us. "According to our calculations the entrance to the fifth chamber should be somewhere around here."

"So this place is already the fourth chamber?" Jessa asked.

"You kids are crazy." Fa Xiao Min commented. "Believing in magic and whatnot."

"Shut up." Kyle snarled. "Just stay put and be thankful we haven't killed you yet."

"Oh yeah? You'll regret it."

We sat at the platform where it had more space and was dry, kind of like a dock. We left Fa Xiao Min handcuffed to the corner with a henchman that was keeping an eye on him. The remaining henchmen were actually Jessa's friends.

Meanwhile, Jessa and Xander went underwater to check for any passage or clues that would lead to one so we could proceed to the next chamber.

We waited for a few seconds to a minute for the two to resurface. Xander was probably the best swimmer I knew next to Seven. The latter used to be part of the national swimming team of South Korea for about two years but he gave it up and became a trainee of MME instead. Jessa on the other hand assured us that she was a good swimmer as well, her friends also vouched for her.

The two resurfaced and greedily gasped for air.

"There's something that resembles that thing at the islet back there!" yelled Jessa.

We all gave her a confused look.

"What she meant is," Xander interrupted. "There's a big crystal at the bottom that needs a hexagon-shaped crystal to activate!"

Kyle turned to me. "Calvin I will need your blood this time."

I sighed and rummaged the bag where the crystals were kept.

"Thank god we brought them!" Blake sighed.

"I cut my hand with a small knife and let some blood seep unto the crystal. Once it became blood red I gave it to Xander who immediately swam underwater. All of a sudden the crystals turned red and the water started to rise up.

"What the hell's going on?" shouted Fa Xiao Min.

Xander broke to the surface with Jessa not that far from him.

"The crystal spit it out!" Jessa shouted.

"Was it the wrong one?" I asked.

"I think you have to personally head underwater Calvin." Kyle suggested.

"But I don't know how to swim!" I retorted.

"Now's a good time to learn." he muttered then pushed me and I fell into the water.

Luckily, Xander and Jessa caught me before I made a fool of myself and drown.

"Kyle-hyung!" I screamed.

The water continued rising until it was already leveled with Kyle's knees and considering his tall height it was already getting deeper and deeper.

"You… complain later let's do this first." Jessa chimed.

"Hold your breath." Xander said.

I sucked in a breath. They brought me to the spot where the big crystal was located. Said crystal was the only one that remained green among the red glowing crystals. Jessa picked up the crystal it spat out and gave it to me. I tried putting it into the slot but it wouldn't go in.

'A witch's blood.' a voice suddenly said somewhere inside my head. 'The one who bears the blood of a witch.'

A witch? 'Who was the witch among us?'

The voice suddenly uttered a name that really surprised me.

'Xander.'

I almost lost the breath I had been keeping but as it was running out I scrambled upwards. When we broke to the surface the water was already on Kyle's hips.

"Xander! We need Xander's blood!" I frantically yelled the moment I regained my breathing.

"Me?"

"How did you know?"

"A voice in my head said so! Wait that came out weird… anyway, we need Xander's blood! Quick! Do what I just did to the crystal!"

Reluctantly Xander cut his palm and soaked the crystal with his blood. He swam underwater afterwards with Jessa just right behind him. A few seconds later, the crystals returned to being green and the water started recede. Xander resurfaced but we weren't relieved because Jessa was not following him.

"""JESSA!""" we called.

Now, even though Jessa was one of the people that kidnapped us and dragged us to Hainan, she had already apologized for it. Of course, we understood her since she was technically employed by Fa Xiao Min. And besides, she was a pretty fun young woman.

We all jumped to the water with our things by descending using ropes the moment all the water got flushed out. Once we reached the bottom we saw an unconscious Jessa lying on the wet ground.

"""JESSA!""" we called once again.

Nobody moved so I took it upon myself to check on her and when she gave no response I gave her chest compressions just like what I was taught during Health Class back at school.

Thirty compressions later, I tilted her head, raised her chin, pinched her nose and gave her two breaths via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Embarrassing and awkward, probably but I did not care that time and continued applying CPR to her.

"Jessa! Come on! Wake up!"

After the second mouth-to-mouth she finally responded and coughed up some water then slowly sat up.

"I dreamed standing in front of a door but somebody kept calling me." she muttered. "Those people in the afterlife probably don't want me yet. Damn! I got sucked in so I couldn't come up fast."

I only smiled and sighed in relief. Xander on the other hand hugged her and thanked her for saving him.

"If you didn't do that, I would've got sucked in as well."

"You're welcome Xander." she chuckled. "Now who gave me the CPR?"

I saw all her hands pointing at me.

"Err…" I could feel my face getting hot.

"Thank you." she said with a sweet smile.

I couldn't understand it that time… the feeling. But somehow I was relieved and happy seeing her smile.

"Hey! I saw the passage!" yelled one of the henchmen, Ally.

I was grateful for the interruption because if it didn't come I would've turned redder.

Behind a crystal that was three times my size was a tunnel littered with glowing crystals.

"Let's rest here for a bit first." Kyle instructed and nobody argued.

Jessa and Allan offered to scout the tunnel first. I offered to come with them remembering that only a Liu could actually guide them.

As we walked inside the tunnel Jessa suddenly nudged me.

"Thank you." she whispered.

I stopped at my tracks and slowly turned to her. She was smiling brightly and I could hear Allan holding back his snickers just behind us.

"Uhm… what for?"

"Saving me. Allan here said your friends hesitated. I understand, after all, I was one of the bad guys but you didn't hesitate. If you came any later, I would've died."

"Well… I knew what to do, so I only did what I could."

"Also, I know it was to save me but that was technically my first kiss you know." she smirked.

"Does it even count?" I questioned.

"Our mouths touched what else do you call that but a kiss? And a life-saving kiss at that. You're gonna have to take responsibility for it!"

"HA?! Hey! That's not fair! You're not the only one who had their first kiss stolen you know! And I don't date older women!"

"And I'm open to any age." she smiled and went ahead.

"Jessa is still seventeen you know." said Allan who was suddenly beside me.

My eyes widened at what he said. So she was actually a year younger than me?

"If you got charmed by Jessa because of what happened, we totally understand. She has that kind of charm. Liking her on the other hand is totally different."

"Is that a warning?"

He only shrugged. Wait, what if it would cause a misunderstanding?

I immediately followed Jessa to talk to her but she suddenly pulled me back to stop me from falling to my death.

"Worry about your feelings later." she said. "Come on let's go back and tell the others what we discovered."

***

We slowly walked up the stairs, careful that we wouldn't slip and fall into the dark abyss below us. The fifth chamber was a space of almost nothing. It had nothing but a set of stairs at the very center just above a gaping hole filled with nothing but pitch black darkness. The stairs had no railing just like the chamber where we lost Artemis, Lei and Seven, so one misstep and we could fall into the unknown.

"Do you guys hear that?" Kyle asked us out of nowhere.

"Hear what hyung?" Blake questioned.

Jessa shushed them and silence enveloped the entire chamber. That's when I heard it… the sound of little feet moving at a fast pace.

"There!" shouted Xander.

We all gazed at the direction he was pointing and the sight made me widen my eyes. The entrance to the chamber was dyed with white and it was slowly spreading.

"White scorpions?" Jessa pointed out.

"Who cares?! Run!" I yelled.

As the one leading the party, I took off with the others just behind me. Two flights of stairs later, we reached another tunnel but the wave of scorpions was still hot behind our heels.

I saw a set of stone double doors ahead of us. I held out my hand, wishing my luck had turned to the better and fortunately it did. The moment my bleeding hand touched the door it opened and we spilled inside the next room.

Just as the wave of scorpions approached us we entered the room, but a scream made me look back and saw Allen get devoured by the scorpions.

"ALLEN!" Jessa screamed as Allan dragged her inside the room.

When the last people arrived, we closed the door tightly.

The biggest surprise was Artemis, Lei, Seven were already in the room. With somebody else.