Lost Soul Down

TWENTY-SEVEN

Ireland's base is nothing like Japan.

Our plane landed on ice.

Glaciers.

All I can see are glaciers everywhere.

I guess it makes sense now why Lombardi replaced our bullet-proof suits with heat-warmer suits. So we don't freeze to death.

I still haven't seen much of Lombardi. He stays away, for the most part. The only time I've seen him was when he congratulated us for getting the first artifact, and took it from my hands. That's it.

The five of us follow an agent across the glacier. He seems to be following some sort of tracker.

When he suddenly stops, we stop too.

There's a hole in the ground, carved perfectly.

"Down there," the agent says. "That's where you must go."

I exchange an uneasy glance with Kylan. No one wants to go through an unknown hole.

"I'll go first, babies," Leila says, and with that, she slides down the hole and out of sight.

Chase follows, then I follow.

It's actually like a slide— it loops down and shoots you out into some sort of ice cave. It's massive and cold. It's so cold that even my suit can't heat me up all the way.

Kylan and Summer come down, looking around at the scenery.

"It's this way." Summer starts treading confidently towards the back of the cave, where there is a small exit.

When we reach it, there are two different paths we can take. Left and right. They look identical, but I'm sure only one way will lead us to the artifact.

"Which way?" Chase asks before I can.

We seem to all be looking to Summer for guidance, since she seems confident as to where the piece is.

Kylan knew where it was when we were in Japan, I realize. And now Summer knows where it is while we're in Ireland. It doesn't feel like a coincidence. Each of their homelands...

"Straight."

I stare at the wall of ice in front of us. That isn't exactly an option. It's either left or right.

"It's straight— that's all I can tell," Summer says, sounding frustrated.

"It must be a maze," Chase says. "Do you know the way through?"

"I can try to lead us based on where I feel the artifact is, but I don't know if I'll get us through the right way," Summer answers.

"I guess we'll just have to take our chances." Kylan says.

"Should we split up?" Leila suggests.

"No," Chase answers immediately, his voice stern. "No, Summer is the only one who can lead us. We all need to stay with her."

Leila glowers. "Fine, then."

"I don't know which direction to go, though." Summer admits.

"You said it's a maze..." I speak up, "... do you think one direction is a dead end? I can run and check." I turn to Chase.

His hazel eyes lock on my grey ones. "This maze is blocking the path to a piece of an artifact that can pretty much destroy the world. It would probably take hours for you to figure out which direction is a dead end."

I blink. "So... we just pick a direction and run with it? What if it's not right and we have to turn around?"

Chase shrugs. "It's the only option."