In the Land of Giants - Book 2 of the Acropolis series

Chapter 14

  Deciding it was best to catch up with the army as quickly as possible, they left the small building and continued crossing the immense mausoleum. As they reached the outer edge of the black Chitter statues, they came to the far wall, where they found an exit – in fact three – as well as two odd features. On the left side of the room was a small circular pool of thick, black liquid that bubbled softly. On the right side was a second pool, though this one appeared to have a natural spring running through it, clear water filling it by trickling down from the walls above.

Jo approached the black pool and held a hand over it, frowning. She dipped a finger into the syrupy liquid and brought it to her face, inhaling carefully. "It smells sort of like blueberries." She said with mild surprise before wiping her finger on her shorts. She grimaced. "Ugh, that's not coming off."

Maxwell turned to Nikki. "Any ideas?"

Nikki shook her head. "He doesn't want to tell me." She said. "He's still...upset."

"Because he can't see?"

"Because humans can." Nikki said. "You see, Chitters understood that we have perceptive abilities beyond their own. That we can...see things they can't, so to speak. They just didn't know it was this ability." She frowned. "I feel bad for him."

Jo rolled her eyes. "He's a sensitive little thing, is he?" She asked, rolling her eyes. "Come on, let's get out of here." She headed for the exit that Nikki had specified earlier, shining her light down the tunnel and peering in carefully.

Everett's radio in his chest pocket squawked, and he nearly jumped at the sound of Sam's voice coming through in a crackling waver.

"Third squad?" He asked. "Anybody there?"

Everett clicked down the button, watching Jo as she flashed her light around the tunnel ahead. "Yeah, Sam, we're here."

"Everett? Oh, good." Sam sounded slightly distracted. "Are you far out?" He asked.

Everett glanced at Nikki. She shook her head, still looking at Patches with her arms crossed over her chest. "We'll be there soon." He said. "Everybody okay over there?"

There was a pause before Sam replied. "Well enough. The workers are getting restless."

Everett raised an eyebrow. "Workers?"

"What?" Sam sounded baffled, suddenly. "No...soldiers. Sorry, the soldiers are getting restless. Couple of Spalding's people have been poking around, seeing if they can meet you halfway. Keep an eye out."

"All right." Everett frowned slightly. "You okay, Sam?"

"No." The response came quickly, but the explanation only after a long, slow inhalation. "I don't know who I am now, Ev." He said quietly. "Everything's gone sideways on me. I got twenty minutes of shuteye earlier, and...I punched the guy who woke me up. Nearly broke his nose."

"We're all under a lot of stress right now." Everett said, peering around the giant mausoleum. They had remained alone here so far, but he didn't want to use the radio too long. "Just hang in there, okay?"

"Easy for you to say." Sam said. "There's only one voice in your head telling you what to do."

Everett sighed, biting his lip and hating himself for doing this. "Going silent now, Sam. See you soon." He said, and simply turned off his radio. Sam was making him very nervous.

Everett looked toward Jo, seeing her take a cautious step into the tunnel. She halted suddenly, and as Ava moved to follow her, she held up a hand for her to stop. The entire group froze in place, and Everett raised his rifle in preparation. Maybe it's the army, he thought hopefully. Jo took one more step forward, and then very suddenly she was scrambling backward, her feet tripping over loose rocks. Everett's eyes went wide as the world exploded with gunfire, and Jo was shouting for them to take cover.