The Shadowseeker - Victor Kloss Page 0,82

you, but you couldn't hear me.”

“That's inconvenient,” Charlie said, standing up.

Ben realised the danger they were in. The opening above was too high to reach without assistance. If Natalie joined them, they would be in deep trouble.

“We need to get back up, quick,” Ben said, urgently.

Too late. Natalie jumped, and landed with a good deal more grace than either Ben or Charlie.

“Oh, that wasn't too bad,” she said, dusting her hands off. Then she spotted Ben’s and Charlie's horrified looks. “What is it?”

“We can't get back up,” Charlie said, his voice numb.

Natalie paled and looked up at the hole above her. She jumped with surprising height, but her hands were still a good two feet short of the ledge. She got her spellshooter out, and fired a pellet into her chest. Nothing happened. Magic, it seemed, didn't work down here.

“What's that?”

Charlie was pointing to a dark spot at the other end of the ledge. Whatever it was, it seemed to deflect light, and they couldn't make it out until they were almost upon it.

It was a rope, neatly curled. Ben picked it up. It felt soft in his hands, almost silk-like.

“Useful if we're going down, but not for going up,” Ben said ruefully.

But Natalie snatched the rope from him with excitement.

“That might not be true,” she said. She ran over to the hole, and threw one end of the rope upwards. The rope gained purchase from somewhere. To Ben's astonishment, when Natalie tugged it, the rope became taut, instead of falling back down.

“I knew it!” she said. “This is a magical rope. Someone must have left the rope down here, so they could get back up again.”

“I wonder who,” Ben mused.

Charlie tested the rope. “Who knows? Can we get out of here? I don't trust this rope.”

As he was climbing up, Ben took one last glance back at the abyss. They would be back tomorrow.

— Chapter Twenty-Eight —

Going Alone

Ben found sleep difficult that night; his mind clearly had no intention of taking a break. But, knowing how important rest could be, Ben forced himself to stay in bed as long as possible the following morning.

Breakfast too was important. Though he didn't feel like eating, he didn't know when his next meal would come and he needed the energy for the long climb down the cavern. His grandma had eaten all the eggs (though she had kindly left the shells scattered across the kitchen top), so Ben settled for a big bowl of corn flakes. He dipped his hand into his money box and was dismayed to find that he was down to his last twenty-pound note. Was he really that low? The Institute had been giving him a small weekly wage, but somehow he seemed to spend it all. Ben was starting to suspect that his grandma had found his hiding spot again. He would have to find another place for it.

Charlie was surprisingly lacking in his usual gear when Ben met him on the road outside the house.

“No backpack and sleeping bag?” Ben asked, with a playful nudge on the shoulder.

“I thought about it, but I have a feeling we'll either be in and out in short order, or we'll be dead.”

“Full of optimism as always,” Ben said, as they headed towards the Croydon headquarters.

Neither of them talked a great deal on their journey to the Institute. Partly because they didn't want to be overheard, and partly because they had already ironed out all the details yesterday. The solar eclipse would occur at 12:17pm and would last for roughly nine minutes. Their best chance of getting round the forreck would be in that time frame, but according to Lornor there was a two-hour window where the forreck would theoretically be weakened. Because they didn't know how long it would take to find the boots, their plan was to get into the cavern as early as possible.

It was one of those rare days where Ben barely noticed their arrival into Taecia or their walk up to the Institute. His legs were on automatic, his mind engrossed in every possibility that might befall them when they entered the cavern. He came back into the real world only when he heard Natalie's voice. They had passed the Institute walls and were approaching the water fountain. Natalie was talking to a couple of Threes, whose names Ben had forgotten. Both were guys and they were clearly trying to chat her up. Ben watched with amusement, Charlie less so, as Natalie eventually managed to