Page 132 of The Stone Secret
“Guys, there are caves in the walls.” I pointed. “You see them?”
“You think one of them could be a way out?” Ginia said.
My gut twisted, scalp tight with foreboding. “I think—” A scrambling sound echoed around us, followed by the clink of falling stones.
Oh shit. The caves weren’t a way out…They were a way in.
CHAPTER53
SERATH
The bank of screens allows us to watch the action from various angles. The canyon is filled with hidden cameras, and the show is riveting. As the canyon is flooded with grotesque, the cadets burst into action, aiming for the punch plates to knock them out. They’re careful not to fly too high, but the Mason boy, Hawke, and Lomax soon realize that another way to incapacitate the threat is to throw them up against the electrified wards.
Soon the cadets are working together to eliminate the threat by hammering the shield with them.
“They’re working as a team,” Farnell says proudly.
“Your protégé seems to be a natural leader,” Orix says. “Are you going to tell us what this special team is about?”
Farnell smiles thinly. “Of course. When it’s time.”
But my gaze skips from screen to screen, searching for one face.
There.
Cameron uses her talons to fend off a grotesque, then delivers a neat swivel kick to its chest, hitting the punch plate squarely and knocking out the grotesque.
That’s my girl. “How many more?”
“That’s it,” Farnell says with a grin. “Now they just need to figure out how to get out of the canyon.”
All the caves in the walls close off, leaving the cadets without an exit. They’ll have to use their observation skills to find the escape hatch.
“Come on, Cameron,” Orix mutters. “You can do this.”
On screen, Cameron walks away from the others, her head tipped back as she scans the walls. Good girl.
“That’s it, pet,” Orix says.
“Prasan, any interference from outside yet?” Selas asks.
Prasan doesn’t reply.
“I think he stepped out,” Orix says.
On screen, it looks like Cameron has spotted a clue.
* * *
CAM
The ground was littered with unconscious grotesque, but who knew how long they’d stay incapacitated? We needed to get out of this canyon, but the caves had closed. Even if they had remained open, how would we have known which one to take?
There had to be a clue somewhere to the exit. A lever. A depression plate. Something.
Moonlight bathed the walls of the canyon, and several feet from the top something gleamed where the light touched it.
Metallic.
