Page 126 of Shadow Beasts

A loud scraping noise echoed in the chamber, and Dewey’s eyes widened with delight as the stone slab retracted under the altar, revealing a long stairway leading deeper into the heart of the temple.

He grinned as he glanced at Paige. “We found a secret passage! This is so cool! Let’s go!”

Paige hovered at the top of the stairs, swallowing hard. Cool air wafted from the dark opening.

Dewey darted into the passage ahead of her, his light bobbling as he traveled downward.

Paige followed, afraid of losing him. “Wait up!”

She scrambled down the stone steps and into a long corridor. A large mural covered the wall. Dewey swept his flashlight along it, gasping as he caught sight of the images.

“Look!” he shouted, waving his beam frantically at a particular spot.

Paige hurried down the corridor, her lips curling into a smile as she spotted the source of his excitement.

A figure stood in front of a mirror. In the next image, a clone of the figure stood in the mirror’s reflection. The third image showed the copy emerging from the mirror, and the final image depicted two identical figures standing side by side in front of the mirror.

Dewey flicked the flashlight toward Paige, pumping his fist in the air. “We did it! We found it!”

She offered him a grin as she scanned the long hallway. “Well, we found a clue. But what does it mean? Where is the mirror?”

“Come on. Let’s keep going.” Dewey buzzed down the remainder of the hall. “More steps!” he reported from the end as Paige hustled to keep up with him.

“Great,” she murmured as he darted down them, his light glowing from within the slanted passage.

She clamored down the stone steps and spilled into another chamber behind Dewey. He hovered in the air, his jaw hanging open. As she scanned the chamber, she spotted the source of his shock.

A shudder snaked down her spine, and her blood ran cold.

Hundreds of skeletons filled the small rectangular room. And the murals on the wall appeared to be painted in blood.

CHAPTER 31

Paige grimaced as she stared at the blood-red messages on the stone walls. She couldn’t understand them, but the implication of what they’d been scrawled in was enough to make it ominous. That, coupled with the piles of human skeletons.

Dewey swung his light over the many skulls scattered in the room. “These must have been the sacrificial victims.”

“Why are there so many?” Paige asked. “They sacrificed this many people?”

Dewey ignored her questions, flitting over to one wall and shining his light on it. He swung the beam back and forth, his eyebrows squashing together.

“What is it?” Paige questioned, skirting the skulls and other bones to join him.

“This looks familiar,” he murmured, tapping a finger on his nose horn.

Paige stared at the seemingly nonsensical symbols. “I can’t make heads or tails out of this.”

Dewey lowered his gaze to the skulls scattered around their feet as he rubbed the horn on his nose. “Why does this look so familiar?”

“Maybe you saw it in your research about the mirror,” Paige conjectured.

“No. I don’t remember coming across anything like this or about this in my research.”

“Well, where else could it have been? It’s not like this is written in a modern-day language, and you saw it–“

“That’s it!” Dewey said, snapping his fingers.

Paige arched an eyebrow. “It’s modern-day language?”