Chapter 1256

There was only one direction left - the narrow passage at the back of the shrine, the one they'd never dared explore, the one half-choked with rubble and dark as a grave. Jude didn't hesitate. He pulled Lucy with him, Zoey and Susan close behind, Emma and Sophie covering the rear as they plunged into the darkness. The air grew colder still, the shadows thick and choking. The sound of the thing in the shrine - a wet, slithering scrape, a growl that was felt more than heard - followed them like a curse.

They stumbled through the narrow passage, over broken stone and tangled roots, the walls pressing close on either side. The tunnel angled downward, steep and treacherous. Jude's boots slid on loose gravel, his hand finding purchase on jagged rock. The only light came from the faint, eerie glow that clung to the cracks in the walls, like the last breath of the symbols that once held the creature at bay.