Page 62 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“Use your telepathy, Locks.”Duncan says in my mind.

For people who’ve had it longer than I’ve been alive, I’m sure it’s natural.“Tell me what’s out there,”I reiterate.

Zac rolls his eyes and moves back. I squash past him and take his position over Duncan. In the middle of a cavern the size of a football field, lined with the same crystal rock as the tunnel, several people dressed in hooded, blood red robes bang their hands on large drums. At the center of it all, Lawrence stands inside a flaming circle with runes dotted around the floor. A circular door the height of a house is set into the rear wall, outlined in a stone ring with more complex runes.

“That can’t be good,”I say.

“At least we found him,”Duncan answers.

“Who?”Zee asks.

I squash myself against the wall and gesture for him to have a look. He uses a hand on my back to steady himself as he peers over at Duncan.“Well shit.”

“Where are all those people though?”I ask.

As if on cue, the hooded dudes stop their drumming and people file in from entrances around the cavern. Women, children and men dressed in white sheaths and looking terrified. More robed people usher them around the edge of the room. Lawrence’s black eyes twinkle with violence as he watches them. A girl clings to her mother’s skirt as one of the robed people tries to space them apart. She screams out in terror as they pry her from her mother and place her further down the line.

“What is happening?”I ask.

Duncan looks up at me and frowns.“I don’t know.”

Lawrence throws his arms wide as the last of the people filter into the room and the doors slam closed, sealing them in the room.

“Village of Samos, we are grateful for your willing sacrifice. Know you are serving a greater purpose,” he roars. The child who was screaming, stops.

“That clears that up,”I say. A shift happens in the air, a roll of power.“We have to do something.”

Someone grabs hold of my jacket and jerks me back. Zac’s hard features pass over me as he glares into the cavern.

“He’s here,”he says.

I frown.“Who?”

He glances back at me.“Ty.”

My throat dries as a thread of panic weaves its way around my heart. It’s the fact that I know he’s in there; Ty may be controlling his body, but Archan still has his mind.

“You have enough?” Archan’s voice booms with no hint of the warmth I know.

“Three hundred souls,” Lawrence drawls.

“What’s the plan?”I ask the group.

Zac’s eyes snap to me, he assesses me with a frown.“How far can you jump?”

I scan the distance from our perch to the floor.“I can manage from here.”

Zac nods, grabs me and tosses me out the hole and into the cavern. I fight back the girly yelp which threatens my already undignified entrance, and twist mid-air, landing on my left shoulder before I roll to stand. I’m going to kill Zac. The cavern falls silent. Guess they weren’t expecting my leather clad form to cannonball into their sacrifice ritual.

I dust off my leather trousers with my hands, in a carefree move I don’t feel but own. I scan the floor, noting the distance of the hundreds of bare feet.

“It be raining badasses in Greece today,” I quip as I slip on my game face and glance up, right into the obsidian eyes of Ty.

“That’s your witty entrance? Save me now, before we die of 90’s references,”Zac says.

“This is an unexpected surprise, little temptress.”

Lawrence lurks in the background as his eyes rake over me, before sweeping around the cavern. He’s not stupid, he knows I’ve not come alone.“What the hell is the plan?”I direct at Zac.

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