HEART OF ICE

CHAPTER 22-Part Two

My feet hurried past the spot where my body and bike had landed the day before. Moe, Baron, and Gerald were running only a step or two behind me with the others just behind them. My heart was still racing as I reached the edge of the dark, concrete hole Chase Paul Briar had been hiding in. A part of me wanted to stop, to wait just a second. I had no idea what would be beyond the solid line where the light of the day touched the shadow enveloping the passage under the street. I didn't sense anything in front of me. There were no holes in the air. There were no names except those behind me. The presence of the Legion general was just an awful memory echoing in my mind.

"What the-" I heard Gerald say behind me.

"Is he glowing," asked Baron.

"Yeah," Moe said matter-of-factly. "It's one of his things. It's good, though. Well, except for the bad guys...or anyone standing too close."

"Chris, be careful," Orion yelled forward. "There's a pretty deep drop-off in there. You might not see it in time."

The mouth of the culvert was a dozen paces behind me. My footsteps echoed loudly in the dark chamber. It smelled like the floor of the gym locker room. Water dripped down the walls, collecting in greasy pools all around us. Patches of dingy, slushy ice were clumped along the base of each wall in a few places further in. I could hear water trickling steadily away in front of me. I guessed the drop-off Orion mentioned was only a few more yards ahead.

There was nothing else. The place was empty. I squinted into the dark, letting myself walk as close to the edge of the drop-off as I could. For a minute, I was the only source of light. But, my glow wasn't very bright. I didn't know how to make it brighter, if I had any control over it at all. Then, more light filled the dank space. A pair of pale flashlight beams shone across the floor from behind me. I turned around to see Baron and Gerald holding matching cell phones.

Gerald walked up beside me, joining me at the edge of the drop-off. "Maybe this will help," he said, smiling.

"Thanks," I replied.

We looked down into the watery well as he cast the narrow beam downward. Orion had been right. The mouth of the wide, rounded shaft was sloped just slightly before giving way to sides that went straight down. A pool of water glistened faintly thirty or forty feet below. I couldn't see any place were anyone could hide down there.

"See anything," Baron asked from where he stood near the others.

"No," Gerald answered.

"They had to go somewhere," Alejandra said.

"Who," Baron asked. "Who were you chasing?"

"Robert Garrig," I said, still looking down into the well.

"You found him," Gerald asked excitedly.

"He came back to the school."

"But why did he come back here?"

Alejandra answered Gerald's question. "Because the person he'd been looking for was waiting here for him."

"And they brought one of their new friends," Moe added.

"The general-person you mentioned," Baron asked.

"Yes," Orion said. "Chris, are you alright?"

"Yeah, dude," Gerald said. "You looked pretty ill there for a hot minute."

I was looking around above the drop-off as everyone was talking. There was no sign of any hatches in the smooth, slime-slicked walls. The chamber was widest at the spot where Gerald and I were still standing-I guessed about twelve feet all around the dark, wet space. Back towards the mouth of the culverts, the damp chamber narrowed to about eight or nine feet wide. There was enough room for everyone to stand without being crowded on top of each other.