She sat next to him as he flipped to the first book in the New Testament and began scouring the pages until he found the 22nd chapter. She didn't miss the slight fingershake as he located the 14th verse.
"Matthew 22:14," he read aloud, "For many are...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"It could be a code," I sounded 0% sure, but sitting in silence bugged me more than anything.
"This room is small, the door doesn't have a lock. Where would the code go?"
I frowned, looking around the room again. Nothing was hidden, really. I suggested it anyway. "Maybe the lock is hidden?"
"Four numbers are usually pin codes. 22:14 would fit if we could find where to put it," Star said, sounding about as sure as I was.
Nothing looked promising, at all. But with no better plan or idea, it felt good to at least have something to go off of. Even if we were grasping at nothingness. Taylor didn't share that feeling. She moved further away as we stood, only stopping when her back was pressed to the opposite wall.
Star shook her head, staring her down. "Being weak is such a selfish choice."
Ouch.
I avoided looking in Taylor's direction as we started scouring the room. The door was still stuck, the walls were seamless. Star and I began moving the pallets one at a time, to see if there was anything beneath that we'd missed. The first two revealed nothing. But the third...
"No way," I whispered, tracing the outline with a finger. The floor was smooth, all except for the small rectangular cutout that had been beneath Taylor's pallet.
"That was under me the whole time?"
"Evidently, yes."
Taylor was done. She covered her face with her hair again and whimpered. Star made a tsk noise and shook her head like a disappointed parent, but didn't berate her this time. She was too distracted by the outline. There was enough space for her to barely work her fingers into the side. "Help me pull this up."
I stepped over the rectangle and hunkered down next to her. Even together we struggled to lift the slab. It started to slip and I panicked. "I'm losing my grip."
"We're almost there."
"How thick is this thing?!"
"It's the dust–it's making it too slippery."
"Just a little more..."
I ground my fingertips into the slab and continued to heave, praying it didn't give way and crush my nails. Eventually, we got it out enough that we were able to slip our hands underneath it and shift the weight more easily.
"Brace yourself. We can push it over in 3...2...1..."
I braced my legs as we hefted the hunk of rectangular rock the rest of the way up before shoving as hard as we could. It scraped against the side in protest, but we won. It fell to the other side of the floor and banged apart, splitting into a few pieces. Dust wafted into the air and I coughed, sitting down on the edge of the shallow hole.
"Would have been less messy with three people," Star muttered. She shot Taylor a look, her brows narrowed and mouth set in a hard line. The girl had only moved a couple inches forward to see what was inside the hole we'd just created, but now she scooted back, her bangs falling over her eyes again as she cowered. I felt a pang of guilt. Star didn't need to be so cruel. I opened my mouth, but instead of giving advice I managed to choke and started coughing.
"A faceful of dust will do that to you," Star mused.
I managed to stop after a moment or two. "S-sorry."
"You're not the one refusing to help us get out of here," Star answered sharply. "You've got nothing to apologize for." She reached down into the hole and pulled out a wooden box. From what I could tell, there was no place for the code anywhere on it. "What about the numbers?"
Star lifted the cover easily. "The numbers must mean something else. There's no lock on this."
We both hovered over the open box, unsure what to make of the contents. After some silence, Taylor finally spoke up. "What is it?"
"A letter...and a book."
I took the small, cream-colored letter from where it rested on top of the book. It looked ordinary enough. There was a red wax seal stamped with an 'A' on the front that gave way easily. I slid the letter out and read it aloud:
"Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
The second half awaits.
Algernon."
I showed it to Star. "Some kind of riddle?"
She looked at it briefly before lifting the book out of the box and setting it on her lap. It was old and well worn with no writing on the outside. Star cracked it open and we both exchanged a glance.
"What's wrong...what's it say?" Taylor got a tiny bit closer.
"It says 'Old Testament.'"
"Is it a Bible?" I asked hesitantly.
Star flipped to the back of the book. "Partially. The New Testament is missing."
"So where's the second half?"
We jumped as the door to the room clicked, but didn't come open. Chills raced down my spine. The second half awaits...
"I'm going to guess that it's out there," she said.
Star stood and went to the door. She paused before trying to pull it open, but even though we'd all heard it unlock, it still didn't budge. I looked at the letter in my hands again and felt sick.
"Try...try knocking," I said weakly.
She didn't ask why. She just did it.
The door creaked open on its own accord not even a moment later, revealing a dark passageway behind it. Just like I knew it would.
I've definitely been here before.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
