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“Not necessarily. Wesley mentioned something about a rising water table. He was concerned that the site would be flooded the deeper we got.”
“Well, that would be inconvenient,” I muttered.
“I brought a couple of lightweight scuba tanks. I thought they might be more useful than Zayn’s normal bag of guns.” Austin grinned and tilted the bag for me to see inside.
“Genius. That still doesn’t address how we’re going to get down.”
Kitty Cat miaowed and leaned forward, propelling himself off the edge and down into the darkness.
Austin laughed. “Just like that,” he said. “Jump.”
I looked at him sceptically. “I am not a cat.” He raised his eyebrows, and I felt myself blushing. “Okay, well, part cat, but—”
“Just jump,” he said. “I guarantee you’ll land on your feet.”
“Fine.” I swung my legs over the side and looked down into the blackness. “Are you—” My sentence was cut short as Austin put his hand on my back and shoved hard. With a shriek, I fell forwards into the gaping hole. The bastard was right. My feet hit the ground softly, and I dropped into a crouch to cushion the impact as if it were second nature.
“You’re an arsehole, you know that?” I called up, and I heard him chuckle.
“You love me,” he called down, and I rolled my eyes. Dickhead. I grinned, moved away from the opening, and allowed my feline senses to adjust to the dark. Moments later, Austin hit the ground behind me.
“Anything interesting?”
“Just an empty, ominous tunnel leading away into the darkness. Same old, same old,” I replied.
A miaow came from farther down the tunnel, though Kitty Cat was too far away for us to see him.
“I guess that’s cat for ‘get a move on,’” Austin teased. He slung the bag over his shoulder, and we set off into the darkness.
We walked in the dark for a couple of hours. I’d like to say I was cool and calm as we moved farther underground, but to be honest, the last time we’d found ourselves in an underground temple, we’d been hunted in the dark by thehatay, so I jumped at the slightest noise. When Austin collided with me for about the eighth time as I froze in my tracks at some sound, he gave a low, frustrated growl.
“What’s with you? You’re so jumpy.”
“You sure there aren’t anyhataydown here like last time? I keep hearing things.”
“Come here.” He reached out and took my hand, pulling me into the circle of his arms. My first thought was to push him away. I wasn’t a child, and it wasn’t like there was no reason to be afraid of the dark. Last time we’d all nearly died. I felt his body press against mine, the heat of his skin seeping through my clothes. I wore a smaller version of his fatigues, but a black tank top instead of a T-shirt, and I totally rocked theTomb Raiderlook, but it was starting to get a little chilly this far down. I leaned against him, enjoying his warmth. He raised his hand and stroked my hair, and I had the strongest urge to purr at his touch. I beat the impulse down. This was hardly the place.
“Look, last time it was a setup. You were drawn to Bubastis, and Onuris knew you would be. Coulton has no idea we’re coming here, if he even knows where the Ennead is hidden. Plus, he didn’t have Kitty Cat showing him the entrance either. I haven’t sensed anyhataysince we’ve been down here. Have you?”
“No, I suppose not. I just keep hearing things.”
“You can hear Kitty Cat and me and... water.” He paused, and I listened too. “Can you hear water?” he asked.
I nodded against his chest. “Yes, I can.” I pulled away slightly, starting off into the darkness. “It’s not far from here either.”
“That’s odd,” he muttered, his grip on me tightening a little.
“Why? You said Wesley thought the lower levels might be flooded because of the rising water table.”
He looked down at me. “Yes, but the water should be calm. It rises gradually, seeping through the ground. It doesn’t flow. That sound, it’s like a trickle of water.” He took my hand, and we moved cautiously down the tunnel. Strange, small doorways opened out here and there revealing little empty rooms, but they were square and low to the ground. You would have to crawl through them to get inside. In other places, doorways had been blocked with large, smooth stone boulders.
“What is this part of the temple?” I asked Austin as we walked. “I haven’t seen any shrines or hieroglyphics since we started down this particular hallway.”
“I’m not sure if we’re still in the temple,” Austin answered, glancing around. “I might be wrong, but I think this is another necropolis, or at least one waiting to be used, seeing as most of the chambers seem to be empty.”
He paused outside a doorway and looked inside, feeling up underneath the wall. “Yes, look, it’s an old Egyptian trick. The wall here is hollow, and there is a boulder wedged up inside. You’d place the bodies inside with their offerings, and then when you got out, you’d knock out this wedge here and here, and the boulder would drop down, sealing the tomb. Pretty clever. The sarcophagus would have been built inside the chamber, ready for its inhabitant. Probably during their own lifetime.”
“Creepy, spending all your money on preparing for your own death,” I commented, but even as I spoke the words, I realised I no longer believed them.
