Chapter Twenty Eight
“How much further?” Kaitlyn moaned, as they moved steadily further into the tunnel. “It feels like we’ve walked a 100 miles.”
“We’ve come long a ways, but certainly not 100 miles,” Marcus grouched at her.
“Good thing none of us are claustrophobic,” Leila joked, trying to break the tension that was building between Marcus and Kaitlyn. “I mean, is it me, or are these walls getting narrower, the further we go?”
“It’s not you,” Wren assured her. “It’s getting narrower, and warmer.”
“Hopefully that means that we’re getting closer to the grimoire,” Kevan stated, she pushed ahead, following her light sphere. Then one second she was in front of them, and the next she was gone without a sound.
“Kevan!” Kaitlyn screamed, as she tried to push ahead. Marcus grabbed her, pushing her into Joseph’s arms.
“Hold her!” he ordered, as he moved ahead carefully to where Kevan had vanished. He inched his way forward checking the floor.
“Let me go!” Kaitlyn ordered Joseph, as she struggled to get out of his arms.
“Enough Kaitlyn, stop acting like a child, and let us figure out what happened,” Marcus growled at her.
“But she could be hurt,” Kaitlyn pleaded, as she watched Marcus inspect the area where Kevan had disappeared. Something caught his attention, and he bent down to check it out, looking up in surprise.
“I don’t know Kevan’s condition, but you recklessly running to try and help her could do more damage than good,” he told her angrily. Kaitlyn stopped to think about what he had just told them.
“Okay, you’re right!” she shouted at him. “But where is she then?” Marcus came to his feet, looking at them.
“I would say that she is on the other end of this slide.”
“Slide, what slide?” she questioned. “This is a strange place for a slide? Why would someone put a slide in here?”
“How would I know?” Marcus threw at her. “From what I can see, it is smooth, sloping, and in the middle of the tunnel, so I think the idea is for us to go down it.”
“Well, where does it go?” Kaitlyn wanted to know.
“Again, how would I know?” Marcus growled at her, shaking his head. “You ask some dumb questions.”
“So, what do we do?” Wren wanted to, as they all crowded closer to the slide.
“I say that we go down the slide,” Marcus pointed out, as he sat at the top of it.
“Are you crazy?” Kaitlyn shouted at him. “We go down that thing, and end up in a giant pool of molten lava!” Marcus stared at her, and then he turned away, looking to the others, who waited to see what he would do.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am going. It’ll be fine,” he told them.
“You don’t know that for sure!” Kaitlyn argued.
“No, I don’t, but we don’t have a lot of choice. Therefore, I believe that it is going to be fine. See you at the bottom.” With that, he pushed off, and disappeared from sight.
They all looked at Kaitlyn standing next to the slide, but she just stared at it. Finally they moved past her, and one by one, they disappeared from sight.
Ronan crossed his arms; he looked from the slide to the Kaitlyn and back to the slide again. “Are you going to keep standing there, or are you going to go?”
“I really hate him,” Kaitlyn muttered, as she stepped up to the slide, and sat down. “If I end up in a pool of hot lava, I’m going to kill him.”
“Trust, Kaitlyn, trust,” Ronan told her, as he stood watching, and waiting. Kaitlyn closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then pushed off to let gravity take over.