Ellery’s soft voice pulled me back to the cavern below. I returned to her and Mouse. Her lightning illuminated her pale, strained face. Some of her tension eased when I reappeared.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” I assured her as I knelt and stretched my hand through the hole.
“You go first,” Ellery said to Mouse.
The boy hugged her before scampering up the statue. When he stretched his hand toward me, I grasped his wrist and pulled him through.
I set him on the ground beside me before turning back for Ellery. She clasped my hand, and I pulled her through.
Together, we pushed the slab and table back into place. It settled in again with a click as it shut out the cavern below.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
Ellery
I stareddown at the slab we’d closed in the floor. Because of the intricate designs carved into the stone floor, once it was in place, it was impossible to tell where the slab started and the floor began.
I knew where the thick piece of stone was and couldn’t differentiate its position in the floor. Kneeling to examine it more closely, I couldn’t find the seam to the opening, and it looked impossible to open from this side.
Rising, I stepped back and lifted my glowing hand to examine the complex etchings in the floor. I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed ancient.
“Is this some kind of writing or symbols?” I whispered.
We were alone, but talking above a whisper felt wrong.
“Maybe both,” Ryker said.
Apparently, he agreed about talking normally, as he also whispered. Lifting my head, I shifted my attention from the floor to the large room.
The smell of the thousands of parchments lining the many shelves tempted me closer. My fingers itched to learn the secrets tucked within, but now wasn’t the time to stop and read.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“I think we’re in the temple.”
My eyes shot to Ryker before darting around the room with its thousands of parchments, stone tables, and strange hieroglyphics in the floor. I’d only been to the ancient building once and never to this part of it, but his answer made sense.
“How is there a hidden passage between the temple and the Revenant Woods?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, and I doubt anyone else knows about it. We can ask Tucker, as he’s spent a lot of time here and knows a lot about this place, but first, we need to get out of here before anyone else arrives.”
That really wouldn’t be good. I placed my hand, without my lightning, on Mouse’s shoulder when the boy edged closer to me. While it was warmer here than in the passage, his teeth still chattered. The cold had seeped into my bones too, and though I’d stopped shivering, I felt icy.
Mouse remained close to me as we followed Ryker to the stairs. We crept up the steps behind him to the closed door at the top.
Like most buildings in Tempest, no one could open a portal into or out of the temple. It would have been a whole lot easier if we could.
Ryker turned the knob and pushed the door open. He held up one finger to us before leaving the stairs behind.
I doubted there was anything treacherous in the temple, and no one could see us together, but I didn’t like having him out of my view again. While he was gone, I strained to hear anything beyond.
I didn’t know what I’d do if I heard him talking to someone. I wasn’t sure how we’d get out of here without being seen.
Ryker returned a few minutes later and waved us out of the stairwell and onto whatever lay beyond. Mouse hunched up, as if prepared to flee, when we entered the room above.
Darkness and shadows enshrouded this space too, but it wasn’t nearly as gloomy as the room below. No shelves blocked the towering windows with their stained glass depictions of gargoyles, unicorns, weather formations, phoenixes, and other assorted immortal creatures.
