he said, feeling relieved that he wouldn’t have to venture forward without any light. He clicked the switch on the heavy torch and bounced the beam all around in front of him. Nothing moved within the beam, so he took some slow, careful steps forward.

Ian could feel the schoolmaster nearly on top of him, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the long barrel of the rifle extending above his shoulder. Still, he was very nervous about going first, as he was terrified of the beast, especially since the hellhound seemed barely to flinch at being shot twice before.

The entire group walked stealthily without speaking, careful not to make much noise until they reached the next cavern, where Ian braced himself again as his torch lit upon the walls covered in large black Grecian letters. “My word!” said the earl as he entered the cavern and moved his own torch along the sides of the space. “Look at this place!”

Thatcher quickly took out his notebook again to write down the lettering. “Do you know what it says?” asked the earl as he watched Thatcher scribble.

Thatcher shook his head. “Some of the letters and phrases I think I can make out, but I’d rather have this translated by my professor friend at Cambridge.”

“Ian,” said Perry, “is this the room where you discovered the box?”

“Yes, sir,” said Ian, stepping forward to the far corner of the cavern and kneeling down. “It was here, sir. Right—” Ian stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” asked Perry, stepping close.

“The beast,” whispered Ian, pointing to the ground, and his heart thumped hard as he took in the large dig marks surrounding the area where he and Theo had pulled the box free. Next to the clawed earth were the crumpled remains of his pocket torch, compass, and Swiss Army knife, which looked as if they’d been sent through some sort of grinder. “It’s been digging here and chewing on my things.”

The men gathered round where Ian knelt and all of them pointed their torches to illuminate the spot where giant claws had scarred the ground and bits of metal lay scattered about. Perry knelt by Ian and picked up the flattened compass. “He’s an angry beasty, he is,” he muttered.

The earl cleared his throat. “Shall we move on, then?”

“Just a moment,” said Thatcher as his scribbling intensified. “I’ve almost finished. …” Ian and the men waited while Thatcher turned in a circle to jot down the last of the writing on the walls. Finally, looking satisfied, he closed his notebook and said, “Got it.”

Ian held his breath again, waiting for Thatcher to declare him a fraud, but Thatcher merely smiled reassuringly and said, “After you, lad.”

Ian turned toward the second tunnel, with Perry again right behind him. He gulped at the entrance, knowing that they were nearing the beast’s lair, and tried to summon some courage to move steadily forward.

“What’s at the end of this vein?” whispered Perry as he leveled the gun over Ian’s shoulder again.

“I’m afraid I don’t know, sir,” Ian said hoarsely, remembering the horrible digging sounds followed by pounding paws and terrible howls that had come from this tunnel. “Theo and I only got as far as that last cavern before we had to run for our lives.”

“I thought you said Theo stayed aboveground,” Perry said.

Ian nearly faltered as he walked. “Er …,” he said, knowing he was caught. “I may have fibbed that part a bit, sir. You see, I pushed Theo into coming down here, and I didn’t want her to get in trouble with the headmistresses.”

The sound of Perry’s quiet laughter filled Ian’s ear. “It’s all right, lad,” he said. “Your secret is safe with me.” Then his schoolmaster changed the subject. “So, the beast came through here?”

Ian nodded gravely. “Yes, sir. We barely got out with our lives.”

“How did you manage to escape it?”

“We heard it digging and scratching; then it made that awful howling noise, so we had a bit of a head start. We were lucky. That last tunnel is so narrow, I believe it might have slowed the beast down a little.”

Perry grunted. “Yes, you were both very lucky indeed. We’ll hope that if that creature is up ahead, it gives us one of those warning howls again.”

Ian gulped as he realized that all the beast had to do was lie quietly in wait for them and he’d have little chance against it. It was certainly large enough to swipe at him before Perry