too mild a word, but I’m at a loss to find a better descriptor. Coherent thought is difficult.
Wait. There has to be a reasonable, scientific explanation. I scan the surrounding area. Nothing but undisturbed sand. I’m staring at an impossibility.
Setting the light down, I swallow to dislodge the knot in my throat, and take a deep breath. “Beau, Niall, come here!” I shout. According to Radcliff’s specifications, this isn’t an emergency—it just feels like one.
“Where are you?” Beau asks from my left.
“Center of the pit,” I say. “But don’t go past the Warriors.”
“Why not? Are there HoLFs?” Niall asks from behind me.
“No.”
Niall reaches me first. He halts at the edge. His pulse gun is in one hand, a flashlight in the other. “What’s wrong?”
Beau joins him a second later. He, too, is armed. “Talk to us, Lawrence.”
Instead, I point to the exact center of the gap. Surrounded by the smooth and undisturbed sand is a single set of boot prints.
Eleven
2522:214
“That’s it? You got us all worried over footprints?” Beau holsters his gun, relaxing. “Radcliff and I have been walking all over the pit.”
But Niall remains alert. “I haven’t been in the center, have you?” he asks Beau.
“Well, no, but—”
“Look closer,” I say. “There’s no other prints.”
“So? There’s sand everywhere. Must have covered them up.”
For some reason Beau is being particularly dense. “No one’s been in here in over two thousand years. And the ridges of the prints are well defined.”
“So you’re saying someone has entered this pit recently and didn’t make any tracks except for smack dab in the middle?” Beau’s tone suggests I’ve lost my mind.
Considering what happened last night with the Q-net he’s probably not wrong.
“Think about it, Dorey,” Niall says.
“What’s there to think about? Lawrence is playing a trick on us. Nice one, you did a great job erasing your tracks. Can we get back to work now?” Beau heads off muttering under his breath.
I turn to Niall. “I didn’t—”
“I know. They’re much bigger than your feet. Stay here, let me check something.” Niall points his flashlight at the ground as he weaves through the Warriors, doing a loop around the gap. “There’s no other prints like that one. Did you see any others when you were setting lights?”
“No, but I wasn’t really looking for them.”
“I was, and I didn’t see any. And if someone did erase them, then why leave one behind?” Niall asks.
“Maybe he missed it? Could it be from one of Jarren’s looters?” I ask, still a bit flabbergasted.
“Then there would be lots of destruction.”
Good point. A scary thought pops into my head. “What if it’s a scout checking out the pit and he’s planning on returning with reinforcements!”
“If that’s the case, how did he get in here?”
“Through one of the walls. Have we checked them all?”
“I looped around the back, but let’s look again.”
I leave the light and follow Niall. We inspect the walls of the pit. They’re all the same sandstone with no evidence that anyone tampered with them. Unless Jarren’s thugs can walk through walls, no one entered through them. We return to the center. The set of prints is still there.
“What do we do next?” I ask.
“Report this to your parents.”
Beau isn’t happy about interrupting the plan. “We haven’t confirmed it’s safe yet.”
“There’s no HoLFs. And no one else is down here,” I say.
“Are you sure? The person who made that footprint could be hiding in here.”
I refrain from asking him how this person entered the pit. Beau orders us to do another two sweeps of the pit before he allows Niall to call up to my parents.
“Dr. and Mr. Daniels, can you please join us?” Niall asks.
“What’s the matter?” Mom immediately asks.
“There’s no need for concern. We’d like to get your opinion on something.”
Something. Talk about vague.
Fortunately, my parents get the hint and stop asking questions. My mom mounts the ladder, followed by my dad. They join us at the base.
“What’s going on?” Mom asks.
“We found something,” Niall says. “Come on, we’ll show you.”
As soon as my mom sees the first Warrior, she exclaims and stops to inspect it.
“We’ll have plenty of time later, Ming.” Dad pulls her away.
“But—”
If I wasn’t so freaked, I’d be amused watching my father tow my mother through the Warriors like she’s a misbehaving child.
When we arrive at the center, I let Niall explain. My parents’ confusion doesn’t last long and they ask all the same questions we did. We show them the walls and they circle the gap, searching for more prints.
My mom