Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
My thoughts whirling, I watched Forrest step resignedly away from the steep stone staircase leading to the door and sweep his flashlight around the room. The edge of the beam caught on something in the corner beneath the staircase.
“Wait,” I said, “what’s that by the stairs?”
The beam of light swung back, stopping to illuminate the edge of a box just barely sticking out from under the stairs. Moving closer, we saw a shallow storage area that had been dug into the dirt. The plain brown box inside was free of dust, the cardboard firm instead of soggy from the damp.
“This hasn’t been here long,” Forrest said, reaching for the box. He slid it out into the center of the room.
It didn’t seem too heavy, but it wasn’t light either. I went to open it. Forrest nudged me aside.
“Wait,” he said. “We don’t know what this is or who put it here.”
“Oh, good point.” Now, I was thinking of every nasty surprise that could be hidden in that box. A bomb? Snakes? Spiders? When Forrest reached for the flap, I grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?” I asked. “If it’s not safe for me to open it, then why is it safe enough for you?”
I thought it was a reasonable question, but Forrest didn’t answer. He shifted to move between me and the box, holding his phone at one end and poking at the flap with the other. It lifted and fell open, revealing a dark corner of the interior. I couldn’t see anything inside, but at least nothing jumped out, and it didn’t explode. Forrest did the same with the next flap of the box and the next until we could see inside. I wasn’t expecting two plastic gallons of spring water and a family-size box of granola bars.
“Why—?” I started to ask when potential answers flooded my brain.
As if he was reading my mind, Forrest put my scrambled thoughts into words. “Whoever locked us in here doesn’t want us to starve to death. Maybe that means they plan to come back and let us out. Now we know this wasn’t a random prank.” He pulled out one of the gallons of water, studying the cap at the top. “It’s not sealed. They could have added something or refilled used bottles.”
I eyed the granola bars. “All of it could be tainted.”
Forrest nodded, frowning down at the box. After a long moment, he shoved it back into the corner beneath the stairs and stood. Letting out a short, sharp breath, he headed to the back corner of the room and began poking methodically at the stones that made up the wall.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
“I’m looking,” he replied. “I don’t know if the clue is part of why we’re locked in here, or it was just convenient for whoever wanted us out of the way. But at the moment, we’re not getting out. We might as well search and make sure there isn’t anything to find.”
I joined him, starting in the opposite corner, going over every square inch of the wall, watching the battery on my phone drain lower and lower. Should I stop and conserve it? But what was the point when conserving the light would just drag out the inevitable? A dark voice whispered inside my head, If you can’t get out, you’ll be stuck down here forever.
As time stretched on and the chill settled in, my clothes saturated with damp and smelling of the musty cellar, the walls revealing nothing of their secrets, I began to doubt.
I didn’t think it had been the Learys who locked us in. I couldn’t figure out why they wanted to scare me, but if that was the goal, then by now, they would have let us out. It had been hours. It was cold, and I was hungry.
With every second that passed, the root cellar felt more and more like a dead end.
Chapter Twenty-Four
STERLING
“Idon’t think there’s anything here,” I said finally. “You don’t remember this place, do you?”
Forrest’s shoes scuffed on the dirt floor, moving closer. The heat of his arm was welcome as he wrapped it around me. “I don’t,” he said, “None of this is familiar or means anything to me.”
“Then why would your father send us here?” I asked.
Forrest made a sound deep in his throat but didn’t answer. “Someone’s going to find us,” he said finally.
The light on my phone went out, and I realized it had gone dead. “I hope so,” I said.
Forrest’s arm tightened around me, pulling me down into his lap as he sat on the damp earth and leaned against the stone wall.
“You’ll get too cold,” I protested.
“I’m fine.” He held me close, and I let out a breath, absorbing his body heat.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk all these months,” I whispered.