muscles and her confidence. Maybe, just maybe, she could make it.
Clump!
Ashley spun her head toward the sound. Oh, no! It’s coming again!
Trying not to grunt, she pushed through the pain and hurried up the stairs, frantically limping through one step after another. What was the count? Twelve hundred? But she lost some falling down. Eleven ninety?
Clump!
Ten more steps. More pain. Twenty steps. Nausea swilled in her stomach. Thirty steps. Throbs hammered her head. Her skull had to be cracking! Fifty steps!
A tinkling sound rose from the stairs. Something had shattered at her feet. She halted and bent over, feeling for the object she had kicked. She found it. Something metal.
Picking it up, she moved on, letting her fingers crawl over the surface, smooth and quite warm. Her thumb brushed along something soft and hot, very hot. A wick! It was a lantern! A recently used lantern! One of the giants must have left it behind, dropping it and shattering its glass shield as they marched up the stairs.
But what good would it do her? With no lighter or matches, it would just slow her down. She stopped and sniffed the oil. Maybe she could slow down her pursuer. It wasn’t much of a chance, but at least it was something.
She poured the oil over the steps and, after setting the lantern in the middle of the pool, hobbled up the stairway. Maybe the stalker would slip and fall. In this darkness, anything could happen.
Feeling stronger, she increased her pace and quickly covered another forty steps, but as she slowed again, a strange odor filled her nostrils.
Suddenly, her foot slipped, and she fell forward, smacking her hands on the stairs but catching herself before her knees struck the stone. As she rose again, her hand brushed against something. She snatched it up and felt its familiar metal surface. The lantern! I slipped on the oil! The oil that I poured out!But how could that be? I climbed dozens of steps! It’s impossible!Ashley’s head pounded again. She sat down, panting heavily. Clamping her oily hands over her ears, she tried to concentrate. What could she do? The laws of physics and logic didn’t work in this place. What good was it to have super smarts in a world where two plus two equals … She grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled … Five, a three-eyed Bigfoot, a flying saucer, anything but four!
Clump!
She drooped her shoulders. Not again! She struggled to her feet but could only lean against the wall. What good would running away do? If she was going in an insane circle, she would just wear herself out and still not get away.
Sliding down, she huddled against the wall, pressing as close to the stone as she could. Maybe her pursuer would just pass her by … not even notice her. After all, only bats could see in total darkness, right? And this was no bat.
Sighing, she closed her eyes and listened, but the telltale clumps had silenced, at least for the moment. As she concentrated, a recent image played back in her mind, her descent in this very same stairwell with Walter as they read the etchings on the wall. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. The words drifted through her mind and seemed to echo once again in the darkness, somehow audible, though she couldn’t be sure. Abandon hope, all ye who …
The air grew cold. Hugging her knees, Ashley shivered, trying not to make a sound.
“Are you frightened, dear child?”
Ashley held her breath. The voice! It was back!
“You are shaking. What troubles you?”
She whispered as softly as she could. “Something’s chasing me, and I keep going in circles.”
Laughter blended with the voice. “A spiral staircase is bound to lead you in circles.”
“Shhhh! It will hear you!”
“What will hear me?”
“The thing that’s chasing me!”
He chuckled, quietly this time. “Let me show you something.”
A light flickered, and a glow illumined the stairway. An old man wearing blue jeans and a white sweatshirt held a lantern. A cracked shield encased the wick. “It took some doing to mend it, but it still works.”
She reached out and touched the base. “My lantern?”
“The very same.” The man set the lantern on the stair and sat down. When he looked at Ashley, he winced. “You’re hurt.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed a spot just above her cheek. “Don’t worry. It’s clean.”
Too weak to protest, Ashley let him nurse her wound. As she gazed into his gray eyes, another