The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2)(2)

Catalina looked at Olivia, who was trying to shrink into the shadows on the opposite side of the narrow tunnel. Olivia’s aura was ablaze with shock and panic. So much for the faint hope that what had just gone down in the cavern was nothing more than a particularly powerful hallucination. They had both witnessed a murder.

The sound of movement in the cavern made Catalina turn her attention to Shaved Head. He was on his feet now. The body of his companion was draped over one shoulder. He walked to the edge of the river and dropped his victim into the water.

He watched for a moment, probably making certain that the current carried off the evidence of his crime. When he was satisfied, he went back to the device the victim had set up and started to tap the keys.

He stopped suddenly, his attention caught by something he saw in the shadows of a nearby boulder. His aura flared.

A terrifying vision began to unfold but Catalina did not need it to warn her that she and Olivia were in mortal danger. Common sense was more than enough to kick off a wave of panic.

For a beat, an unnerving hush gripped the cavern. In the echoing stillness only the soft murmur of the underground river could be heard. Catalina held her breath. She knew Olivia was doing the same. She also knew they had both just realized that in their hurry to hide they had left the lantern behind.

Shaved Head saw the lantern, grabbed it and spun around on his heel, searching the shadows of the cavern. Catalina knew he couldn’t see them from where he presently stood, but if he began a methodical search it was only a matter of time before he found them.

Shaved Head dropped the lantern and once again reached into his pack. This time he took out a gun.

With a flashlight gripped in one hand and the pistol in the other, he started to examine the side tunnels one by one. Catalina knew that if she and Olivia did not move, they would be doomed.

She looked at Olivia again and sensed that her friend had come to the same conclusion. They had no choice but to retreat deeper into the tunnel in which they were hiding.

________

The man with the gun continued to prowl the vast cavern, pausing to spear the beam of his flashlight into every side passage.

Catalina switched on her own flashlight. The killer would surely see the glare, but he was still on the far side of the cavern. It would take him a couple of minutes to cross the big chamber to the tunnel where she and Olivia were hiding because of the curve in the underground river. He would have to circle around it. If they moved fast they could be out of sight in seconds. He would hear their footsteps for some time because the cavern was an echo chamber, but it would take him a while to locate the right tunnel.

“Stop,” Shaved Head shouted. “Police. I won’t hurt you. I’m an undercover cop working for the Feds. I’m here to protect you. That man was a killer, a danger to your community. I was sent to stop him.”

A couple of kids from a town on the outside might have bought that story, Catalina thought. But Shaved Head had picked the wrong teens to try to fool. Fogg Lake youth were raised to be suspicious of outsiders in general. It seemed like a good idea to double down on that concept when you had just watched one stranger kill another stranger.

________

They plunged deeper into the tunnel and rounded a corner, and suddenly the passageway was transformed into a hall of mirrors. At least, Catalina thought, that’s how I see them. She blinked hard but her vision didn’t change. She did not know exactly how things appeared to Olivia, but judging from the way her friend clutched her hand, the visions were just as frightening.

“You’ll get lost,” the killer shouted. His voice echoed down the tunnel. “You’ll die in there. Come out. I promise you’ll be safe. Trust me. I’m a cop.”

Catalina and Olivia kept going. They rounded another curve in the cramped passageway and scrambled to a halt at the sight of the storm of energy—intense swirls of light that Catalina could both sense and see—that barred their way.

“What is it?” Olivia whispered.

“I don’t know,” Catalina said. “But he’s still coming. We’ve got no choice. We’re going to have to go through it.”

“You might as well come out,” the killer said. “Just a matter of time before I find you.”

His voice was more distant now but he had not given up the chase.

Catalina studied the strange storm. “It looks like one of those pictures of giant hurricanes taken from a satellite. There’s sort of an eye in the center.”

“We’ll aim for that,” Olivia said. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

They tightened their grip on each other’s hands and hurtled forward, straight into the core of the vortex of fierce energy. They dove through it.

Catalina struggled to deal with the onslaught of visions, but she was overwhelmed. She fell into the darkness.

________

She opened her eyes some time later to find herself sprawled on the floor of a cavern that was illuminated in an eerie ultraviolet radiance. Beside her, Olivia stirred and levered herself to a sitting position. She looked around, dazed.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.”

Catalina sat up and surveyed their surroundings. Wonder and dread welled up inside her. She had never seen anything like the cavern chamber in which she and Olivia found themselves. She knew Olivia was just as mystified as she was.