The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery

Author:Ross Montgomery [Montgomery, Ross]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529501728
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2021-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

YANNI STOOD, BOLTED TO THE FLOOR WITH TERROR. The statues crawled down the walls towards him on every side, lit by the flickering green of the blackthorn log. Yanni was completely surrounded: no matter where he turned, the statues blocked his escape, tightening in a decreasing circle around him. He could only stand and watch, paralysed, as the statues dragged themselves closer and closer across the flagstones towards him, pushing their chests off the floor to crane their necks as if looking for something…

No, not looking – listening. Yanni suddenly realized, the statues had no eyes: they had to use their ears to find their way. They were heading for the noise that had woken them – the elixir from the fountain. They were searching for even the slightest sound that would reveal where Yanni was.

The floor was now completely covered in slithering statues, and there were more coming down the walls every second. Yanni and Amy looked at each other – they both knew what Yanni had to do. The only way out of the abbey was through the ring of statues. He had to walk right past them. And he had to be completely silent when he did it. If he made a sound now – even one – then the statues would know where he was.

He glanced down at the vial of elixir in his hand – and at Larry, still fast asleep, totally unaware of the seething nightmare around them. Yanni had to keep it that way. He could only pray that his breathing, his heartbeat and the sound of his own teeth rattling inside his head wouldn’t wake him up.

With agonizing care, he stepped on the heel of one shoe and pulled his foot free – then he did the same with the other, until he stood in his socks on the stone. The first wave of statues was getting closer and closer. Yanni wanted to turn and run screaming in the other direction – but he couldn’t. There was only one way out now.

He left his shoes where they were and slowly, steadily, silently, stepped towards the statues. They grew closer, centimetre by centimetre, until finally the first statue dragged itself past him, so close that Yanni could sense the grinding of its body over the stone floor. Yanni held his breath and kept walking forward. He almost couldn’t bear to look; he couldn’t afford to lose concentration now for even a second. Each time he lifted a foot from the floor, Yanni was certain – certain – that a statue would hear the hush of material peeling from stone, and clamp a hand around his ankle… But it seemed like the sound of their scraping bodies covered his footsteps. So long as he stayed steady and silent, he—

The nearest statue suddenly reared up like a cobra, twisting its blank void of a face towards him. Yanni’s strength failed him: the statue was so close that he could see the grain of the stone where its eyes should have been.

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