Page 139 (1/2)

Saer to his lips

The sound caain, from a few feet away Saranite slab It was ten feet tall and four feet wide Two-thirds of the way up was a diagonal crack filled with yellow-green lichen Saertips to the crack

“There’s cool air blowing out,” he said “There’s a void behind this That top piece can’t weigh e we could do it”

From the packs he withdrew a pair of Petzl Cosh unsure of what they’d find once they reached the pass, it had seemed unlikely the Karyatids were tucked away in a closet in the hospice The h, hidden cranny or soround

Re, more tropical beaches”

“Anyone looking?” Sam asked

They scanned the opposite side of the lake and the roads

Re careful about it”

“Do youladder?”

“Have I ever said no to that?”

Saers into the crack and chinned himself up Remi put her shoulders beneath his feet and he boosted himself onto the top of the slab He turned hiainst the slope Next he jammed the pick end of each ax into the scree between the slab and the slope so the handles were pointing outward He gripped a handle in each hand as if he was going to set dual parking brakes

“Look out below”

Sam set his jaw, heaved back on the ax handles, and pressed with his feet The cracked slab tilted outward, teetered for a moment, then toppled over Sam’s feet ith it He spun hi the up a puff of dirt

“What do you see?” Remi asked

“A very dark tunnel About two feet by two feet”