Page 22 of Monsters in the Museum

Chapter seven

Nora scurried through the hallways of the Sanctuary, peering into every doorway she passed, hoping to spot Drew. She realized belatedly that she should have asked Adam for directions before shoving him in the fountain, but she didn’t want to ruin her moment of triumph by going back. She also hadn’t expected how distracted she would be by the way Adam’s wet hair clung to the tendons in his neck. It turned out that the Sanctuary was a labyrinth of identical hallways, and at this point, she was unsure if she could find her way back to Adam if she tried.

Nora peeked into another room and huffed in annoyance when she found it deserted. She moved on to the next, feeling a pang of disappointment that she couldn’t take her time exploring the beautiful building. There was no time to linger if the plan that had begun to take form in her mind was going to work. Still, her eyes snagged on a few of the remarkable paintings adorning the walls before she poked her head around the corner to check the next room.

It was another white stone monstrosity, this one filled with low couches and plush rugs layered over one another in a rich tapestry. Nora spotted Drew, looking as out of place as possible, seated on one of the low couches, still wearing his scrubs and lab coat.

As soon as he noticed her, he jumped up from his seat, crossed the room in three long strides, and caught her up in a giant bear hug. Nora closed her eyes and let her head rest on his broad torso for just a moment. The hair on his chest tickled her cheek where it poked out of the slight V in his scrubs, and she took in the familiar scent of citrus laundry soap and the faint tinge of antiseptic that always clung to Drew after a shift in the emergency department. With all the chaos that had erupted in her life, this was a piece of solid ground.

Remembering the turmoil that had brought her here, she stepped backward out of his embrace. Drew left his hands on her shoulders and leaned in to examine her from head to toe.

“How are you feeling?” he questioned, continuing his scrutiny of her. “Any dizziness? Pain? Headache?”

Nora cocked her head.

“I feel… great, actually,” she answered truthfully. “Which is good, because we need to get out of here.”

Drew’s thick brows snapped together in concern. “Why? Did something happen?”

“Did something happen? What happened is that I’ve been given the same explanation you have, and it’s certifiably insane!”

“You mean you don’t believe them?” Drew asked with a tilt of his head.

Nora released a heavy sigh from between pursed lips, “After all that I’ve seen, I don’t think I have a choice to believe them—about the Shadows and the Light, at least. But it seems like the type of thing I shouldn’t be getting wrapped up in. A group of immortal sorcerers who stay secluded in a pocket dimension for thousands of years now wants me to train in self-defense and keep a guard on me at all times? It sounds like they are trying to trick me into joining a cult or something. Not to mention, I’m ninety-nine percent sure that Adam is the same man who broke into the museum last week to see the weapons. He’s put my work in jeopardy twice now, and I can’t risk anymore.” Nora threw her hands up in frustration.

Drew tugged at his sleeves before asking, “And your solution is to run away? You’re a historian. I would have thought you would want to stay and find out everything you possibly can.”

“Well…” Nora chewed on her chapped lips. It was a thought that had crossed her mind, but— “It’s just too much right now. It’s too overwhelming to even consider.”

“Why don’t you just take a minute to think it through,” Drew suggested, ever reasonable.

“Of course,” Nora huffed. For somebody so intelligent, he was being oddly dense about the situation. “You seem disturbingly calm about all of this yourself.”

“Nora, I’m an emergency medicine doctor. Aggressively calm is what I do. It’s my way of coping.”

“Well, go ahead and keep up the level-headed act. I’m going to need your help to get out of here because I was unconscious when we came in,” Nora grabbed his hand and started towing him towards the door, “We’ll need to act fast. Eventually, they will come looking for me.”

Drew hesitated, causing Nora to look back over her shoulder at him in irritation. “You’re sure about this?”

Nora turned back to face him, “Look, Drew, I don’t have time for this sort of craziness in my life. Adam shows up, and a week later, I almost die. I’m so close to achieving my goals at work, and I can’t get caught up in something like this. I need to get away while I still can. Do you want to stay or something?”

“No,” said Drew with a shake of his head, “I’m only here because of you. I’ll go where you go.”

“Good,” Nora said, already turning once more and towing him toward the door.

Drew caught up with a few long strides and indicated that they should head to the left out of the door. They trotted down the hallways, their footsteps jarring in the unnatural stillness of the enormous building. They poked their head around every corner before making a turn, but never encountered another soul, or even heard the whisper of another set of footsteps. Still, the two of them remained silent, Drew directing the way with jerks of his head.

After several tense minutes, they made it to a wider hallway than the rest, with a broad arch at the end. Beyond the arch, Nora could see a sloping path cutting through thick grass. Drew and Nora darted toward the arch, only for her to pull up short as soon as they passed through it.

A dozen yards ahead of her stood a thick layer of fog, denser than any she had seen rolling over the lake in all her years living in the city. She whipped her head back and forth and found it extended as far as she could see in both directions, encircling the entire Sanctuary and leaving only a small strip of neatly kempt lawn between the swirling mist and the solid stone walls. Drew tugged Nora toward the mist even as she gaped.

“This is the edge of the pocket dimension and where we came in. It’s a portal that can bring us back to the city, but getting through might be a little tricky,” he explained as he stopped with the toes of his sneakers mere inches from the barrier of fog.

Nora bounced on the balls of her feet in frustration, “Well, how did you get through the first time?”

“Adam described to me where we were going and told me to picture it in my mind as we stepped through. He held onto me as we went, though, so I didn’t get lost.”

“Seems deceptively simple. Did he say what happens if you get lost?” Nora asked.