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Jax stepped through the door. “I’m going in to investigate.”

“I’ll go with you,” Kira said, following him. They both disappeared from view.

“Everyone else, hurry up and cross,” Wally shouted. “I’ll walk you through it.”

Hala crossed next, and when she jumped down next to Wally the door slid shut, trapping Kira and Jax on the other side.

Pounding came from the other side of the door. “Open up!” Kira shouted. “We can’t see a thing in here.”

“Can you open the door from your side?” Wally asked.

“No,” Jax yelled back. “There’s no handle or release for the door on this side, at least not that we can feel. We can’t see a thing with the door shut. We’re in a narrow corridor in pitch-black. There’s no light switch, at least not that we can find.”

“I’ll see if I can help them,” Mike said as he quickly leaped across the squares on the platform. When he jumped off the block to the white space below, the door slid open. Jax and Kira spilled out.

“Well, that was interesting,” Jax said. “It’s pitch-dark when you move away from the door. There were no evident light switches, either, and we felt along the walls. We were afraid we might step on a red floor, but we couldn’t see anything.”

“They can’t penalize us for stepping on something we can’t see,” Kira objected.

“Guys, hate to break it up, but we have a problem out here,” I said from the other side. “The door appears to open when every other person jumps to the platform. There’s eight of us. The last person to cross the platform won’t make it through the door. As soon as they leap to the floor, the door will close and they’ll be stuck on this side. Unless we can find a mechanism on the inside of the door to open it again. If not, one of us will have to be eliminated.”

For a moment, we all just stared at one another, absorbing the impact of my declaration.

“Why can’t one of us who has already crossed just climb back up to helium and jump down and open the door again?” Hala suggested.

“Good idea, but I don’t think we should risk it,” Jax said. “What if the door is programmed to open only seven times?”

None of us had an answer to that.

“No one stays behind, and no one takes another risk,” Bo said. “It’s simple. The last person to go across doesn’t jump to the floor.”

“Well, how are they going to get through the door?” Mike asked.

“They jump from the platform through the door.”

“Are you nuts?” Wally said. “The jump is like fourteen feet.”

“I can’t jump that far,” I said, shaking my head.

“Me neither,” Frankie agreed.

“I can,” Bo said grimly. “You girls go across and the rest of you go through the door while it’s open. Just get the heck out of my way, because when I come through in a full jump, if someone is in the way, I won’t be taking any prisoners.”

“The corridor is really narrow,” Jax said. “Make that jump count.”

“Bo, are you sure about this?” I asked uncertainly.

“I’m positive. We don’t have time to debate this. Just trust me. Everyone else go through the door. Frankie, it will close when you jump down. Wait for Angel, and then when it opens, go through and get the heck out of my way.”

“Okay.” I turned to Frankie. “You first.”

As she crossed, I called out the blocks for her. Before she jumped down to the white-painted area, everyone else went through the door and disappeared. When she hopped down, the door slid shut. I crossed the blocks and then, with a look over my shoulder, leaped down to the white area. The door slid open.

“Okay, Frankie and Angel, go through the door,” Bo shouted at us. “And get out of the way.”

Frankie grabbed my hand. We stumbled across the threshold and were immediately swallowed by utter blackness.

Chapter Forty-Six