فصل 10

A Night in Terror Tower - Chapter 10

Eddie and I froze in the middle of the floor.

The caped man froze, too. The only sound was his harsh, raspy breathing.

We stared through the dim light at each other. Frozen like the dummies in the cells.

“You cannot escape,” the man growled once again. “You know you will not leave the castle.” His words sent a cold shiver down my back.

“Leave us alone!” Eddie pleaded in a tiny voice.

“What do you want?” I demanded. “Why are you chasing us?”

The big man pressed his gloved hands against his waist. “You know the answer,” he replied flatly. He took a step toward Eddie and me. “Are you ready to come with me now?” he demanded.

I didn’t reply. Instead, I leaned close to Eddie and whispered, “Get ready to run.” Eddie continued to stare straight ahead. He didn’t blink or nod his head. I couldn’t tell if he had even heard me.

“You know you have no choice,” the man said softly. He reached both hands into the folds of his cape. Once again, he pulled out the mysterious white stones. And once again, I caught a glimpse of his dark eyes, saw the cold sneer on his lips.

“You—you’ve made a mistake!” Eddie stammered.

The man shook his head. The wide brim of the black hat cast tilting shadows on the floor. “I have made no mistake. Do not run from me again. You know you must come with me now.” Eddie and I didn’t need a signal.

Without saying a word to each other, without glancing at each other, we spun around—and started to run.

The man shouted in protest and took off after us.

The room seemed to stretch on forever. It must be the entire basement of the castle, I realized.

Beyond the beam of light, the darkness rose up like fog.

My fear weighed me down. My legs felt as if they were a thousand pounds each.

I’m moving in slow motion, I thought, struggling to speed up. Eddie and I are crawling like turtles.

He’ll catch us. He’ll catch us in two seconds.

I glanced back when I heard the caped man cry out. He had tripped over the same dummy chained to the floor. He had fallen heavily.

As he scrambled to his feet, my eyes searched the far wall for a door. Or a hallway. Or any kind of opening.

“How—how do we get out of here?” Eddie cried. “We’re trapped, Sue!” “No!” I cried. I spotted a worktable against the wall. Cluttered with tools. I searched for something to use as a weapon. Didn’t see anything. Grabbed a flashlight, instead.

Frantically pushed the button.

Would it work?

Yes.

A white beam of light darted over the floor. I raised it to the far wall. “Eddie—look!” I whispered.

A low opening in the wall. Some kind of tunnel? A tunnel we could escape through?

In another second, we were ducking our heads and stepping into the dark opening.

I kept my light ahead of us, down at our feet. We had to stoop as we ran. The tunnel was curved at the top, and not high enough for us to stand.

The tunnel ran straight for a while, then curved down and to the right. The air felt damp and cool. I could hear the trickle of water nearby.

“It’s an old sewer,” I told Eddie. “That means it has to lead us out somewhere.” “I hope so,” Eddie replied breathlessly.

Running hard, we followed the curve of the sewer. My light leaped about, jumping from the low ceiling to the damp stone floor.

The light revealed wide metal rungs hanging from the ceiling. Eddie and I had to duck even lower to keep from smashing our heads against them.

The light from my flashlight bounced wildly from the floor to the rungs along the top of the sewer. Eddie and I splashed through puddles of dirty water.

We both gasped when we heard the footsteps behind us.

Heavy, ringing footsteps. Thundering in the low tunnel. Growing louder. Louder.

I glanced back. But the caped man was hidden by the curve of the sewer tunnel.

His footsteps boomed steadily, rapidly. I could tell he wasn’t far behind.

He’s going to catch us, I told myself in a panic.

This tunnel is never going to end.

Eddie and I can’t run much farther.

He’s going to catch us in this dark, damp sewer.

And then what?

What does he want?

Why did he say that we knew what he wanted?

How could we know?

I stumbled forward. The flashlight bumped against the wall and fell from my hand.

It clattered to the tunnel floor and rolled in front of me.

The light shone back into the tunnel, back toward the caped man.

I saw him move into view, bent low, running hard.

“Ohhh.” A frightened moan escaped my lips.

I bent to pick up the flashlight. It slid out of my trembling hand.

That was all the time the caped man needed.

He grabbed Eddie with both hands. He pulled the black cape around my brother, trapping him.

Then he reached for me. “I told you—there is no escape,” he rasped.