Free The Smoking Mirror by David Bowles

again.”
    Carol suddenly understood. “Which means…”
    “Which means we have less than three minutes, dude, so RUN!”

Chapter Eight
     
    Johnny’s feet pounded the slick rock, every step sending shudders of pain along his legs. Next crash could happen anywhere. Got to keep moving . The blood on the soles of his feet made him slip every few yards, and he was certain that at any second he would end up on his back, the crags slamming into him. But then the last explosive collision came from far behind them, and he slowed his pace, putting a hand on Carol’s shoulder to let her know the danger had passed.
    Breathing heavily, the twins emerged from the passage on the other side of the mountain. A smoother, more gradual slope greeted them, promising an easier descent down into a valley shrouded in thick mist. Leaning against a boulder, Johnny took a rest.
    “Looks like regular granite and sand on this side,” he mused, rubbing a hand against a rock. “Which is, you know, impossible in the real world. I guess this…place? Dimension? Gah, this Underworld has different laws of physics and stuff. But it should be easier on my feet.”
    “What you need is something to bind them up.” Carol looked herself up and down. “But we’re just wearing jeans and t-shirts, so there’s not much material to use.”
    Johnny nodded. “Yeah. This is one of those times when I wish I listened to Dad. He’s always bugging me to wear a belt, like it makes me more of a man or something dumb like that.”
    The image of their father that came to him wasn’t of the present drunken, broken man, but of Dr. Oscar Garza, decked out in his suit and tie, hair a little unruly, a book tucked under one arm, a cheesy joke on his lips. The memory was poignant, almost painful. Johnny realized with a start that he didn’t just miss his mother. He missed the man his father used to be, the man he admired despite their differences. His eyes burned with the realization.
    “Maybe we’ll find something down at the bottom,” Carol mused. “We could tie wood to the bottoms of your feet with my shoelaces. You really shouldn’t have thrown away your other shoe, Johnny. We could’ve…”
    Before she could finish with her irritating scolding, the slope in front of them exploded into the air in a geyser of sand and rock. Towering above them, its body coiling free from the ground, a massive white serpent hissed loudly and opened wide its dark red mouth. Two enormous fangs, each the length of one of Johnny’s legs, glinted bone-white and deadly in the gloom.
    “Run!” Johnny screamed, shoving his sister ahead of him. They went stumbling down the side of the mountain as the serpent twisted around and dove, headfirst, after them. The ground shuddered violently beneath its weight. Risking a glance back, Johnny saw the infernal reptile slithering toward them, shoving boulders out of the way effortlessly, sending them flying into the air or tumbling in the direction of the fleeing twins. Pain was a distant memory. The journey’s objective was forgotten. All that existed was the ineluctable danger behind and the boy racing to survive. In that purely instinctual drive for self-preservation, Johnny felt his tonal scratch at the edges of his mind, and with a sigh of relief, the boy stepped aside.
    With a thrusting twist of magic, his animal soul reshaped his flesh, and his clothes fell away as the jaguar dug ebony claws into the gravel and wheeled about the face the giant snake. The white reptile shot past him, continuing its pursuit of the girl. The jaguar roared in anger and leapt onto the slick, cold skin, snapping his jaws and clawing viciously. Enraged and confused, the serpent curled back with a snap, its tail whipping about and sending the human girl sprawling in the sand. The jaguar clung tightly and sank his teeth into the snake, its strange, cold black blood squirting into his mouth. Hissing hoarsely with pain, the serpent tried to shrug the jaguar off,