Born of Shadow (The Gate Chronicles Book 2)

Chapter 15: Taken

Hanna and Alonzo stood in the dripping dungeon. Alonzo looked into the darkness, shining his flashlight into it. They had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes, and Hanna’s feet were starting to bother her.

The floors were slippery, and moss and algae grew on the walls and in the cracks in the floor. It was just as her mom had described it. Bleak. Dirty. Overall, not a good place to be.

She shivered.

Alonzo started moving ahead again, and she followed quietly, trying not to step into puddles. She stayed close to him as she had promised. Not just because she’d promised, of course, but also because they had decided to use his light only. If for some reason his ran out, they wanted hers to be fully charged still.

Something white flashed on a side tunnel up ahead. She glanced at Alonzo. She had promised not to leave. But whatever she’d seen… It hadn’t been a dragon, certainly. What if it was one of the missing staff members? They might need help.

“Alonzo?”

He turned to her. “What? Can we please keep moving? This place doesn’t feel right.”

“There’s a light up ahead, and I saw someone. I think it might be a person. Maybe one of the missing staff members?”

Alonzo frowned. “Hanna, there isn’t a light up ahead. And no one is here but us.”

A static voice came over the watch. It was Ali’s. “You two okay over there?”

Alonzo pressed the button to reply back. “Yeah. You guys fine over there?”

“Yeah. But I think we found something.”

“Okay, well, you can display it over the watch in a moment. Hanna was trying to ask me something, so hold on a second.” Alonzo flipped the watch off for a moment to give them some privacy. No need to worry Ali over his sister’s delusions.

“Alonzo, I’m not joking. Someone is in that side tunnel, and they might need our help.”

Alonzo resisted the urge to sigh and roll his eyes. “Hanna, there’s no light over there.”

“Yeah, there is! Alonzo, do you need your vision checked? It’s glowing through the tunnel. Just like someone  has a flashlight or some weaker source of light to keep the dark away.”

Alonzo shone the flashlight into the side tunnel. “In there?”

“Yes!”

He gave her a dubious look. “Hanna, there isn’t a light in there.” He gave a gasp suddenly.

She looked at him, concern furrowing her brow. “Alonzo, what’s wrong?” She put a hand on his shoulder.

“I feel sick. Like I do when Ali’s doing some weird magic trick. Something’s wrong. Maybe on the other end? I need to find out what’s going on over there. Look. You just stay here. There’s nothing in that tunnel! Remember, you promised to stay with me.” He winced as another wave of nausea swept him. But he ignored it, flipping the communication watch back on. He turned away from Hanna. “Hey, Ali? You guys okay over there?”

“Yeah, we told you we were. Alonzo, why did you cut out?”

“I… uh… Turned the watch off for a minute.”

“What?” Ali’s voice crackled over the watch. “Why?”

“Umm… I’d rather not say… Look, what did you find?” He could almost see Ali’s shrug.

Then a live feed flickered on as the watch displayed a holographic image of what Ali and Indri were seeing.

Hanna didn’t stay to see. Alonzo couldn’t see the light, but she could. He obviously had some sort of issue if he couldn’t see what was plainly in front of him. She followed the flickering light deeper into the side tunnel. Soon, she could no longer hear Alonzo, and she wondered briefly if it might have been wiser not to come in here without him. She’d promised him not to go off without him, after all. And anyway, what if she ran into trouble.