Her decisions were swift, and her orders concise and to the point—a far cry from the verbose nervous word vomit with which she usually communicated—and after just a few minutes, they’d managed to get all the pieces into place. Or at least Neela seemed to think so. Aside from the new arrangement of patterns and the cool breeze of air she could feel wafting up through the gaps in the marble, Persey couldn’t tell if they were succeeding or not.
“This should be it,” Neela said, her ear pressed to one side of the altar. Everyone was lined up beside her, ready to put their shoulders against the lid. “I’m pretty sure that last click released the entire top of this thing.”
Wes eyed the countdown clock, which had just passed the ten-minute mark. “You’d better hope so. If you’re wrong, we’re not going to have much time to try again.”
“I’m not wrong.” Persey loved Neela’s confidence. “Everyone ready?”
A round of grunts signified assents, and Persey hoped, for everyone’s sakes, that this worked.
“On three, then,” Neela said. “One. Two.”
They heaved simultaneously. Persey felt, rather than heard, a groan as if something ancient and rusted and barely functional inside the altar gave way. Then, without warning, the individual strips of the altar lid broke apart, one by one careening forward and toppling onto the dais.
The puzzle box was open.
“YOU DID IT!” PERSEY CRIED, DUST RISING FROM THE INTERIOR of the altar as the marble strips crashed to a stop.
“We did it.” Neela paused, peering into the hollow altar. “But what did we do?”
Persey joined her at the lip of the now-topless altar. The interior appeared to be some kind of a chute angling away from the altar, but beyond that, she couldn’t see.
“Are we supposed to slide down that thing?” Mackenzie asked.
Kevin whistled. “That didn’t work out so well for Arlo.”
Wes coughed, choking on the oppressive smoke that was filling the room. “We can’t stay here.”
“Okay, okay,” Kevin said, grinning ear to ear. “Don’t lose your head.”
Neela gasped. “Oh, Kevin.”
“Too soon?”
Persey wrinkled her upper lip. “It will always be too soon.”
The platform the altar was on sat shuddered, a warning that it too might drop at any moment. Would it hold until all seven of them made it down the chute?
Seven…
Persey spun around, making a quick head count. One, two, three, four, five, six…“Where’s Shaun?”
Everyone turned toward the back of the Cavethedral. Standing on his isolated platform halfway across the room, Shaun was angled away from them. His body appeared even more rigid and unmoving than usual, so utterly lifeless that for a moment Persey wondered if he’d had a heart attack. But then, he would have crumpled to the ground.
“Shaun-bot!” Kevin cried, waving his arms over his head to try to get Shaun’s attention even though they could only see his profile. “Dude, you’ve got to get out of there.”
No response.
“Confess something!” Neela shouted. “Anything.”
“He’s in a fear coma,” Wes said.
“Shock, more likely.” Riot cupped his hand around his mouth. “Shaun! Hey, Shaun!”
Still nothing.
If the stinging smoke, crackling flames, and fear of death by immolation weren’t enough to jar him out of his state of shock, Persey seriously doubted that shouting his name would do the trick. They needed something else to get his attention. There was actually a path of intact platforms—some of the last in the room—that led to within arm’s reach of him, but the nearest platform to the altar was ten feet away. Too far to jump and risk falling. If only they could get to it, they might have a chance to reach Shaun.
Persey’s eyes fell onto a chunk of marble that had broken from the side of the altar. Maybe if she could hit him with it, it might startle him into action? Worth a shot.
Persey picked up the shiny white stone and hurled it with all of her strength.
She’d been worried that she couldn’t throw it far enough, but instead of falling short, the projectile sailed past Shaun’s head, narrowly missing his temple.
“Trying to get rid of the competition?” Kevin said with a snort. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I was trying to wake him up,” Persey said, still wondering what Kevin’s confession had really meant. “I’m not a killer.”
Kevin’s hand flew to his heart. “Ouch. That hurt.”
“Target practice!” Wes cried, following Persey’s lead. His aim was better, and less potentially lethal, striking the platform right beside Shaun. Who didn’t even flinch.
“This is ridiculous,” Mackenzie said, eyes fixed on the countdown clock. “We