Then he was gone, ripped off the wall by the current.
Jason cried out, nearly losing his own grip. He searched, but there was no sign of either man. Water continued to flood down the chimney.
Knowing there was nothing he could do, Jason faced back up. Anna stared down at him. He had no words.
Gray did—offering the only option left to them. “We keep going.”
12:43P.M.
Free of the chimney, Gray reached down, grabbed Jason’s outstretched arm, and pulled him out of the crack in the rock. The top of the chutehad emptied into a cave. The shaft had narrowed precariously at the end, making for a difficult final ascent.
But they had made it.
Just not all of them.
Anna stood to the side. Gray had given her his jacket, which hung over her shoulders. She hadn’t even tried to button it. Instead, she had hugged her arms around her body, not in shyness at the state of her undress, but in shock and grief.
Jason remained on his hands and knees. He breathed heavily, plainly as distraught as Anna. “Wh... what do we do now?” he gasped out.
“We rejoin the others,” Gray answered, doing his best to compartmentalize the loss of the two men.
“Shouldn’t we wait here?” Anna mumbled. “In case... maybe they’ll...”
Her shoulders sagged.
Even she couldn’t find the strength for hope.
Gray let the two rest for a few minutes. He waited until he got a nod from each, then set off.
Sunlight glared on one side of the cavern, promising an exit nearby. He led Anna and Jason toward the light. As he did, he cast a final glance back. Even this close, the pinched entrance into the chimney was nearly invisible, blending into the surrounding rock.
No wonder it was never discovered.
Gray shook his head and headed off.
The three of them crossed through the boulder-strewn cavern and had to crawl along a low tunnel to reach a grotto on the far side. It opened into a forest. Ahead, between the trees, the towering white walls of the Trinity Lavra glowed in the midday sun. It appeared they had exited a half-mile or so outside the grounds of the monastic compound.
Which is just as well.
Gray saw no reason to return to the Trinity Lavra.
With a long hike ahead of them, they stumbled off into the woods.
Anna looked haunted and forlorn, barely blinking, staring blankly.
Jason turned to Gray, his eyes wide, searching for an answer to explain their loss.
Gray had none.
All he could do was make a promise.
“We’re not going to let their sacrifice be in vain.” He stared toward the Lavra, but he peered much further, thousands of miles. “We’ll find that lost continent.”
Still, a warning echoed inside him, one inscribed in wood above a mammoth tusk.
Never go there, never trespass, never wake that which is sleeping.
Gray headed onward without slowing.
