The girl in front of us is none other than their sister, who was supposed to be dead for ten years.
The lost bird.
Chapter 26
Two brown eyes
LUCAS
“This is also empty? What the hell? They knew we were gonna search, and they just took off?” Paul says, kicking a shattered vial with his leg.
It’s the fifth building on the list, and until now, there were only dusty rooms, full of the remains of former labs.
And the strangest part is that all the doors were unlocked. They didn’t bother putting a key in and turning it. They knew there was nothing of value here.
Another five in this area.
I hope the others are luckier than we are and we won’t have to stay all day snooping around rooms full of dust and gross bugs.
We are about to exit the room when I notice something odd on the old wooden floor, covered in a thick layer of goo and a black, shabby carpet. A small trace of what seems to be fresh blood that stops abruptly at the margin of the carpet.
I go to it and lift it in one move.
“Come on, man! You didn’t have to do that,” Paul coughs.
I try to see something through the cloud of dust that formed, holding my shirt to my nose to be able to breathe.
After a couple of seconds, the dust particles spread, and all that remains is the bloodstain that gets lost without a trace.
“There has to be something here,” I say, and look around the room for something that can help me take the pieces of wood aside.
“Here!”
Paul throws a screwdriver at me, and I manage to catch it right before it hits one of my eyes.
“Sorry,” Paul says when I give him a furious glare.
“Mmm,” I growl, but then go back to what I need to do.
I stick the object in the floorboard margin where the bloodstain stops and try to remove the splinter. Of course, it just manages to make a small hole.
I inhale some air to help me keep my cool and try once again, but this time sticking to its end and applying a different method. I pull the floorboard slowly until I manage to shove my fingers and lift it, more pieces of it coming at once.
Behind them, the blood traces go down some stone stairs. I touch the blood to get a closer look, and from its texture, it feels fresh.
“Let’s go,” I say.
I take my lantern and knife out, starting to go down the stairs with Paul behind me.
“This makes me sick. I hope we won’t find the owner of the blood,” Paul whispers too close to me.
“Shut up and follow me. You attract too much attention with your girl-whining.”
He accepts my threat and shuts up, following me. The distance between us is so small that if I stop, we would both falldown the stairs. I don’t say anything about this and just keep a steady rhythm until we reach the end of the stairs and enter a tunnel.
And of course, there isn’t one option, but four. All dark and wet.
I study each stone trail, and something about the third one gets my attention. I get closer and reach down. I gulp when I see what’s before my eyes.
