the tunnel. As they got closer, she realized that there was a fork in the path. The two holes carved into the rock were completely identical – neither gave any indication of where it led.
“Which way now?” Laura asked.
“Hold on,” Logan replied. He walked a few paces into the first split, turned around, and walked the same distance into the other one. After a moment’s pause, he nodded. “This one,” he told her.
“How do you know?”
“The air is fresher here.”
Laura breathed in deeply, and coughed. The air was not fresh no matter what he said.
They continued on for a long time, coming across no other divisions in their path. Abruptly, the tunnel curved left sharply. When they walked across the corner, Laura saw the tunnel split into two again. But thick steel bars barred one way.
Laura walked up to them, and shone her torch inside. Shadows swallowed up the light in the distance.
“What do you think is past here?” she asked.
“A prison,” Logan replied with unexpected conviction.
Laura shivered. “For who?”
“I don’t know.”
Just as Laura was about to turn back, she noticed her light reflect off a small white surface. She looked down – and stumbled back when she realized it was part of a human skull. And scattered on the floor lay broken bones that had been snapped at unnatural angles. Laura had a flashback to what she’d seen when she touched that tower – the screaming faces, the hanging bodies. Had it been done here?
She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were darting from side to side. Every lingering shadow around her could hide anything– anything at all. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure they were all alone down here after all.
Logan caught her by the shoulders, and turned her around to face him. “Don’t worry,” he told her soothingly, as if reading her thoughts, “the remains you saw are ancient.”
That calmed her down a little. She didn’t know if it was the sound of his voice, or the feel of his strong hands on her that did it, but he made her feel slightly less frightened. More at ease.
She gripped him in an iron hug, and he wrapped his arms around her too. “Logan, I’m scared,” she mumbled into him. She had been fighting her fear before, fighting against the unease and uncertainty that emerged from being in this unfamiliar, completely foreign situation. But saying the words out loud made her admit it even to herself. “What if we never get out?”
“Laura.” He pulled back so he could look in her eyes. “I promise you, I will get you out. We will survive this, and we’ll emerge stronger. That, I swear.”
She sighed. Hearing the assurance in his voice, it… summoned the courage within her. “I know you will,” she said softly. And this time, she truly believed it.
They ventured further into the cavern, coming across more divisions in the path. Each time, Logan would come into each entrance, sniff the air carefully, and then decide which way to go.
The ground had tilted down again. Which meant that they were straying deeper and deeper into the earth. Laura hoped it would slope up soon.
They walked a long way in silence. Laura was alone with her thoughts. For better or for worse, she had to embrace the situation she was in. Everything about it was unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and it all started from that journey into the dream. It seemed to have happened ages ago. And the incident with Brady, in the halls of her school, where Logan first defended her… that seemed to be an entire lifetime ago.
She missed her family, her friends, her dog. She missed home. But she also recognized the harsh reality of it all. She would never be able to go home, never be able to see anyone she knew again.
Logan was walking a few steps ahead of her, and Laura watched him. He had been her only constant since leaving only a few days ago. She realized now that she was with him to the bitter end.
He walked on, and she watched. She admired his posture, his gait, and the way his skin was so perfectly smooth and beautifully white. His hair, his manner of being, the way he talked. And his laugh. She hadn’t noticed it before, but she now realized that his laugh was absolutely amazing. She loved the way he laughed – she knew it would fill up a room. She hoped bitterly that they would live long enough for her to hear