The Chamber of Ten Read Online Free PDF Page B

following like her shadow.
He should be helping!
she thought, but she could see the stunned, hungry look on his face. It seemed that the BBC would have their documentary after all.
    The door to the lower chamber drifted open and water from below gushed into the library. At the same time, the far wall crumbled and fell, a huge drift of rock and silt slumping across the chamber’s floor. Water washed in farther, and Geena saw an old bookcase leaning forward as waterlogged sand built up behind it.
    Ramus ran for the bookcase, and she saw in a blink what was going to happen.
    “Ramus!” she screamed, but the noise filling the chamber stole her voice away. She grabbed a student dashing past with a heavy Hessian bag, dropped her armful of ancient, priceless texts into the bag, and sent him on his way to the surface. Then she splashed across the room, lifting her legs high to move faster.
    Ramus was at the tilting bookcase, trying to select which books and rolled manuscripts to save. His eyes were wide and smarting from the stench … or perhaps he was crying.
    Geena grabbed his arms and pulled him back.
    “Dr. Hodge—” he shouted, but she pulled harder, tugging him back past a polythene curtain as the bookcase fell and followed them through, a slick of silt rushing after it.
    “We get our legs stuck in that and we’ll drown!” she shouted.
    Ramus nodded grimly. She pushed him on his way, then turned and shoved another curtain aside, looking desperately for any sign of Nico.
Not here
, she thought, rushing back toward the door to the lower chamber. To her left she saw Sabrina filming her, and behind her Finch stood with mouth open and eyes wide, perhaps assessing which prime-time slot this could fill. She waved them away.
    “Go!” she shouted. Sabrina obeyed immediately, and for a moment Finch grabbed her arm and frowned, saying something unheard and gesturing to the flooding chamber. Sabrina pulled away and ran for the staircase leading up, and Geena thought,
Good girl
.
    She pushed back toward the far end of the chamber, knowing how foolish she was being; the water was around her thighs now, pulling at her, the silt trying to suck her down. But she stood transfixed for a moment, looking at that doorway and trying to figure out just what the hell had happened down there. Thirty feet below sea level for hundreds of years, and it was as if their arrival had broken a seal.
    Or a jar
, she thought. When she closed her eyes to squeeze filthy water from them, she saw those men cutting their palms, and when she opened them again the water around her legs looked red.
    “Nico!” she screamed.
“Nico!”
But there was no answer. If he
had
gone back down, there was nothing shecould do for him now.
He’ll be dead already
, she thought, and that unfamiliar blankness she felt from him—no sensation, no images—suddenly felt darker and more ominous than ever.
    Then she turned and left the chamber, scooping up one last handful of books on the way. And started to cry for everything she knew was lost, and everything that might yet be.
    They were gathered in the main library, carefully depositing all that they had rescued on one of the long tables there. The few readers were standing back in surprise, and the librarian was helping, laying each book and manuscript flat. An air of panic hung over the scene, and when they noticed Geena approaching she saw their eyes flit past her at the shadows. She turned, but there was no one behind her.
    “Has anyone seen him?” she asked. Heads shook.
    “I’ve called the police,” Ramus said. “Told them what’s happening. They’ll bring the engineers.”
    “Divers,” Domenic said, and the room fell silent. They all knew what divers would mean.
Air pocket
, Geena thought.
If he’s anywhere down there, he might have found somewhere to breathe
. But it was a foolish thought. Nico had hardly seemed to know where he was the last time she had gotten a good look at him.
    “Dr. Hodge,” Finch