Page 121 of Her Dark Lies

Stop thinking. Move.

The third impression has a dark seam. As I reach it, shivering, numb with cold, Morgan appears.

The watery light shows the anger on her face.

“Aren’t you clever,” she calls, the words echoing off the rock walls.

I have to get out of the water; I’m starting to lose feeling. She can shoot me if I expose myself. Hell, she could just shoot me in the head.

But she talks. It’s as if she hasn’t spoken to anyone for a very long time.

“Did you know the emperor’s lovers were brought by boat for his pleasure? They would sneak them in, straight from the water up the tunnel to his bedchamber. They called them the Disciples of Venus, the women he used for pleasure. He fucked them, and then he killed them. Did you know that? It was like a roach motel—you go in, but you don’t come out. They’re all in the crypt, you know. All those women. All their dusty bones.”

The crypt. Of course. It stands to reason the crypt has a path down to the grotto, too.

“Too bad you decided to take a swim. You could have just...” and Morgan disappears into the wall. Darkness bleeds into the grotto in her wake.

In my panic, I must have missed a passageway. I stupidly assumed the only way to the other side was through the water. There must be other paths around the cave.

I take advantage of her movement to jump from the water and run, full speed, into the crack in the wall. I have never been so cold. And this seam doesn’t have the same ambient light as the one I traversed earlier. It’s dark, and I stumble. When I get to my feet, I hear footsteps. She’s coming.

I have to fight to keep my teeth clenched so they don’t chatter. I surge ahead, not as fast as I’d like, a hand on the wall for guidance.

Please, please, please.

I don’t know who I’m praying to. God? Venus? My dad?

All of them?

I burst through a doorway without realizing it’s there, stubbing my toe against the wooden threshold. The door itself is standing open, and there is a path ahead.

I don’t hesitate. I sprint again, upward this time. I’m heading back toward the Villa, but I have no idea where I’m going. I’m also half-naked, but that hardly matters, it’s not like I’m going to burst into the foyer where the guests are milling about.

I hear someone calling my name and stop.

“Claire? Claire? Where are you?”

“Katie!”

“Claire!” She calls back. “Oh, thank God. We’ve been looking everywhere.”

I stop, wait for a second, see the bobbing flashlight ahead. I take off toward it.

“Go back, go back,” I call. “I’m coming. We have to shut her in here. We have to shut the doors.”

But Katie stops, waiting for me.

And from behind me, Morgan appears.

70

Slow Motion

It happens like they say, in slow motion.

Morgan, stepping out from a side passageway behind me, the gun trained on my chest.

Katie, realizing Morgan has appeared, shoving me to the side and moving right in front of me.