Someone in the Walls by Teymour Shahabi

Author:Teymour Shahabi [Shahabi, Teymour]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indie Author Project
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter THIRTY-FIVE

A Face in the Dark

“What was that?”

Without his light on her face, Andrew might not have perceived Olivia’s whisper.

The footsteps grew louder.

Cameron took a gulp of air, like someone about to dive. Then he cried out, “Run!”

They raced down the passage. Andrew picked his way between Olivia’s feet. Cameron darted in the distance at the fringes of the beam. They didn’t know what came behind them, but Andrew could almost feel it snatching their legs and clutching their hair. And yet they didn’t stop, until the pounding of their shoes and the gleam of the flashlight expanded through the cave.

As he bounded out of the passage, Andrew glanced over his shoulder when he stumbled over something soft.

“Olivia!”

They tumbled over the stone floor, and he extended his fingers so that he wouldn’t scratch her.

“Are you all right?”

He knew she was, and she didn’t reply.

Then he noticed the shadows shifting on her forehead.

The flashlight.

It was no longer in his hand.

“Andrew! Olivia!”

The two of them had rolled into the recess of the stairs, where Cameron couldn’t see them. The back of her head rested against the first step. And a shoeprint disturbed the dust above her, like an insect that she hadn’t noticed. Or maybe she wasn’t afraid.

Andrew murmured, “we have to go.”

Cameron called out again.

“We have to go,” he repeated, trying to picture the cave behind him without looking. “I dropped the flashlight.”

“Andrew,” she said, and her voice was calm, but she stared at him as if there was no turning back from her question. “Should we find out where the stairs go?”

He didn’t answer.

The footsteps.

Their patter began again, and he watched her cheeks fading into the ashen ground.

She had only one thought left.

“Cameron.”

Andrew nodded, and the words barely parted his lips.

“Go to the train.”

Her eyes held back a blink, so that she wouldn’t lose sight of him.

The footsteps drew near, as quiet and quick as before.

“Do you know where the train is?”

She dipped her head.

“I’ll get the flashlight,” he said.

“No.”

He frowned.

“I have to get it. Without it, we’ll be in the dark.”

The footsteps halted behind him, and he realized there was no reason to go on whispering.

She lowered her chin. Her stare deepened, and she said, “I’ll get the flashlight. You go find Cameron.”

Then her breath sank. He felt a tingle in the back of his neck. His hand slipped over her elbow. It trembled on her skin. But his gaze never left her, and the shadow standing behind him passed over her face.

Before he could move, she leapt from under him and kissed the corner of his mouth.

He shot up after her.

“Olivia!”

She was gone.

He rushed into the blackness, alone, unseeing.

“Olivia! Cameron!”

Someone gripped him. Andrew’s fingers coiled through tousled locks.

Cameron.

The boy slumped in his arms.

“Andrew, you’re all right! Where’s Olivia?”

Then Cameron’s features separated from the gloom. He drew back and peered over Andrew’s shoulder.

Andrew turned around.

The flashlight was trained on his face.

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