Chapter Text
Vril, the vital element of this underground world. Matter itself yields to it. With it, one becomes godlike. All but immortal. Pass through solid rocks, heal wounds, build cities in a single day-or destroy them. To possess Vril is to be invincible.
The Arctic Explorer, Evelyn Briggs Baldwin, 1934
Winter 2033
Maui, Hawaii
Cassie put on a jacket because it was cold outside, even though she was in Hawaii during December. She couldn't wait for Christmas in twelve days. She was going to celebrate Christmas with her best friend and crush, Derek Lowell. She has already started on the right foot by spending the night at Derek's house and she took a liking to his parents but Derek was absent around the house so she bonded with his parents.
She walked into her guest room and picked up a book. She was going to read a book in Latin outside. She looked at the beach, the sand looking warm and the water looking so peaceful. She checked her watch twice, it was barely seven o'clock and Derek was still not home.
When she looked at the beach, she wanted nothing more than to be with Derek. She loves him. First, they were friends, but when they turned seventeen, she started to develop feelings for him, but she was too scared to tell him; she was waiting for the opportune moment to tell him.
Unknown to her, Derek loved her too and he was too scared to tell her too.
Cassie looked to her right and saw Derek's father, Mister Richard Lowell, standing at the doorway. She smiled and waved at him and he returned the gesture. "Hey, Cassie."
"Hello, Mr. Lowell. Your son has been a very good friend that he forgot to tell me that he was leaving early for school. It's still winter break."
"Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
"I argued with the teacher. The teacher told me that she hates me."
Mr. Lowell was confused by that statement. "Why would she say that?"
"I told her that her version of Christmas was 3⁄4 inaccurate. It involves all kinds of cultures instead of one." Cassie then went on to elaborate on her point: "Her version of Christmas was like George Washington Carver asking Cherokee to try huevos rancheros while Albert Schweitzer marries Joseph Stalin and adopts a boy named Fidel Castro while celebrating with kimchi, Chrysanthemum tea, and having flan de ciruelas. Padding, you could say."
Mr. Lowell laughed at that statement. "You said all that?" She nodded. "What did she give you detention, suspension?"
"She threatened to expel me from school, but instead she suspended me for one week. From her class at least." The family puppy came running out of the house and jumped onto Cassie's lap. "Hi, Little John," she awed and petted the tiny Dachshund.
"So, since you are officially suspended, what are you going to do?"
"I think I'll do something crazy." Cassie leaned back in her chair as she thought of endless possibilities while she continued to pet Little John.
Mr. Lowell shrugged, "Like what?"
"I don't know but something thrilling and risk-taking. I'm nineteen years old; I should do something that involves adrenaline."
"As long as you come back alive," Mr. Lowell reminded her, "I'm sure your parents would appreciate it if you came back alive."
"I promise to come back alive. I think I'll go on vacation to somewhere I've never been to before. Like Italy or France." Cassie put Little John down. "You know, my Uncle Sam is in Iceland, digging for some kind of ruins for a lost city."
"Iceland sounds somewhat promising," Mr. Lowell hesitated. “I’ve traveled over the world a few times but I still feel like I’m lost, even when I go to a country I already visited.”
Cassie slept soundly in her room. She missed Derek so much and was disappointed to hear that Derek's girlfriend, Angie, was back in town and he decided to visit her. Also, she had a daughter who was born in October of last year and Derek so desperately wanted to figure out if her daughter was his.
Cassie began snoring until she heard something downstairs. It sounded like a loud thud, but woke up immediately and looked a little scared and she was hoping that Derek would come home early. She got out of bed and walked downstairs very slowly and carefully; who knows who it was? It wasn't Derek's mother or father because she heard them snoring. Who could be in their house at three o'clock in the morning?
Cassie grabbed a baseball bat from underneath the couch and walked into the library, the source of the disturbance. She saw a man in black looking through all kinds of books. He was pulling them down and looking through each one with a flashlight.
That is NOT Derek; I’ve known him for almost ten years and I can recognize him, even with his back turned to me in the dark.
Cassie raised the bat and struck the man in the back of his head. He collapsed and landed hard on his front. Cassie was going to strike him again until she heard a noise behind her. She heard a gun being chambered and she raised her hands.
"Keep your hands up, you bitch!" the voice ordered in a thick German accent. The man took the bat from her and struck her hard in the back. "Schneider, hast du das Buch gefunden?" the man asked the first man in German.
The first man - Schneider - spoke in German. "Fast. Ich brauche noch zwei Minuten. Cover me, Schmidt."
"Ja," the second man - Schmidt - nodded. Schneider began looking through more and more of the books. He stopped at one and opened it. "Mein Gott, I found it," Schneider said before he took pictures of certain books before turning to Cassie.
"You are now going to pay for striking me with that baseball bat." Schneider grabbed the bat and began hurting Cassie, showing no mercy.
Schmidt began kicking Cassie in the back and stomach. He places a silencer on his pistol and places the barrel on Cassie's temple. "No land beyond the Volga," Schmidt said.
Cassie squeezed her eyes shut; she was about to get shot.
She heard a gunshot, but she was still alive. Schneider and Schmidt looked and saw Mr. Lowell's wife, Mrs. Erica Lowell, aiming a Beretta 92FS at them. Schmidt clutched his stomach, he was shot. "Jaekel, Ebert!" Schmidt shouted. Two men jumped Mrs. Lowell, but even though Mrs. Lowell was forty-four, she still overpowered the two due to her experience in the military.
Schneider and Schmidt used this opportunity to escape through the back door.
Mrs. Lowell punched Jaekel and he went collapsing. Ebert dove for the gun, but she redirected his line of fire and Ebert shot himself in the chest. He collapsed headfirst to the ground, dying almost instantly.
Jaekel gasped for air before he fell asleep.
Mrs. Lowell attended to Cassie, who was covered with cuts, bruises, and bloody wounds. "Cassie, don't worry, I am going to take you to the hospital." She called an ambulance.
"Mrs. Lowell, they took pictures of a book, it was one that concerned the Arctic," Cassie managed to say though her voice came out slurred like a drunken sailor.
"They did?"
"They were German, and they were up to something," Cassie passed out.
It’s barely Christmas and I’m already getting beaten up; what did I do to get put on Santa’s naughty list?