Lost and Found (Unexpected Magic Book 3) by Christine Pope

Author:Christine Pope [Pope, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Valentine Press
Published: 2022-09-06T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Tears of a Clown

Even if I’d skimped on the hiking boots, I’d at least had the foresight to throw a small but powerful Maglite into my bag, and so I didn’t have to risk running down the battery on my phone to see where I was going. Unlike the chamber where I’d found the sword, there was no unearthly glow here, nothing to show that I was going in the right direction.

Well, except the compass, which pointed straight down the dark corridor where I now found myself.

It was low, too, just cramped enough that I had to bend my head slightly as I moved forward or risk giving myself a nasty knock on the head. I didn’t know whether I was truly going to find the patriarch’s tears in here, but I could tell I was going to end up with a nasty crick in my neck by the time I was done.

The rock hallway’s floor was rougher, too, uneven enough that I tripped once and almost bashed myself in the forehead against the ceiling as I tried to regain my balance.

Maybe Mina had been in more of a hurry when she created this corridor. That made some sense, considering her demon pursuer had obviously been hot on her heels at the time.

Moving more slowly — and flashing the Maglite all around to make sure there weren’t any other hazards lying in wait — I continued along the hallway, noticing as I went that it sloped downward, as though drawing me deep into the bowels of the mountain.

Somehow, that wasn’t a very comforting thought.

But, as I’d already told myself, I’d come this far, and I wasn’t about to turn around now.

Well, unless there were rabid bats…giant poisonous millipedes…not-quite-hibernating rattlesnakes.

I told my brain to shut up, and grasped the Maglite more firmly. So far, I hadn’t seen any evidence of bugs or snakes or bats or anything else in here. No, it was only a simple stone corridor, almost a tunnel, and nothing more.

However, as I continued to walk and didn’t see any evidence of the hallway ending any time soon, I had to wonder just how deep into the mountain I was going. Was it really possible that Mina Powers could have dug all this herself?

The answer to that question revealed itself soon enough, as the stone corridor ended and I emerged into a larger space that looked as though it must have once been part of a mine, judging by the rough timbers that crossed the ceiling and supported sections of the walls. My best guess was that she’d utilized one of the former shafts to access her hiding place, with the only real magic being the door she’d concealed within the rock wall.

In fact, the illumination from the Maglite showed me a pair of intact rails from the mining operation, and an ore cart sitting on them.

Oh, no way. She wasn’t seriously expecting me to get all Temple of Doom in here, was she?

Apparently so, because the

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