Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,41
a buried statue.” He looked around. “And I bet there’d be another one close by.”
Laura watched as Logan examined the ground carefully, making his way forward on hands and knees to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Suddenly he looked up. “Found it.”
“Can you tell what the markings mean?”
Logan looked at the stone piece sticking out of the ground, and shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. It’s in the same script as was on the first tower.”
“So what now?”
“I think we’re getting closer to the sanctuary.”
“Are we really going to go there?” Laura had been over this with him a hundred times in the last few hours, and he always seemed to get the upper hand. “If it’s designed to keep humans away, how do you know there won’t be any… traps set, for me?”
Logan shook his head. “I told you, I’d notice them long before they can be sprung. And if it’s any kind of physical mechanism, it’d be long since eroded by time.”
“What about what I felt when I touched that tower?”
Logan waved it away. “I wouldn’t worry about it. That precise feeling was likely the last defense against human intrusion, anyway. It’s nothing physical, and nothing that can harm you.” He paused to smile at her. “But if you feel it again, let me know, and we’ll leave this place.”
“But not before?”
“Not before.”
Laura sighed. There really was no arguing with a vampire.
“Come on,” Logan said, pushing his way through the ferny undergrowth, “I have a feeling we’re on the right path.”
Laura followed him for maybe a hundred yards before they reached another clearing. This one, however, extended far to the left and right of them. The forest’s growth seemed to just stop abruptly. On the other side, about twenty grass-covered feet away, a large rock cliff stood covered with ivy. Lots of shrubbery and vines grew outward from there, but they did not reach the edge of the forest.
Laura started to walk forward, but found Logan’s arm pressed against her chest. “Wait,” he said, holding her back. “I can smell something.”
“What is it? Is it dangerous?”
“No, I don’t think so, but…” he trailed off, and walked to the other side, to the vertical slope. Conspicuously sniffing the air, he moved off to the left, coming closer to ivy-covered rock. Then he bent to the side, and ripped away a large bunch of fern with his hands. He stepped aside, smiling at Laura. Behind him, in the gap in vegetation he just created, was a small opening, complete with a rotting wooden door.
“How did you find that?” Laura asked, walking up to him. She couldn’t have picked out the spot from any other along the face of the slope.
“The air smelled different. Stale. It was coming from there.” He pointed at the opening.
“Do you think this is the place we were looking for?”
“It could be.” He thought for a minute. “I’m going to go check it out. You wait here. There’s no light inside, but I can see in the dark.”
He made to move the door out of his way, but the rotting wood collapsed as soon as he touched it. Shrugging, Logan bent down and went into the cave. Leaving Laura to wait by herself.
Laura sat down by the opening and waited. And waited, and waited. The sun started going down, and Laura was getting impatient. But she waited, and waited some more. Half an hour passed, and then another. What was taking Logan so long?
Soon, Laura’s thoughts turned dark. Logan was taking too long. What if something happened to him? What if he didn’t return? What if there was a trap in there, and—
Her thoughts were interrupted when Logan suddenly emerged. He had a triumphant smile on his face. “Come with me,” he said, extending Laura a hand. “You’re going to love it.”
Laura took Logan’s hand and followed him into the tunnel. It was dark inside, and the air smelled damp. Stuffy, even.
As they walked, her eyes kept trying to adjust to the darkness. But once she was a good hundred feet from the entrance, everything was pitch black. Her only guide was Logan’s grip on her hand, and the sound of his footsteps against the stone.
Her eyes may have been tied shut for as much as she could see. But, she kept walking. Laura thought the tunnel sloped down, but perhaps that was only her imagination. More than once, she stumbled over a rock, but Logan caught her gently every time.
They had walked for what must