The Return of the Titans Read Online Free PDF

back
of the statue again blocking the exit to the stone room. He shook
his head and turned back toward the brightly lit room.
    As he entered the new area, he realized that
it was actually another corridor. But it was much larger than the
narrow hallway he had just exited. The ceiling had to be at least
twenty feet high and the walls were a dozen feet apart. It was also
carved out of stone but the rock was smooth and almost polished.
And the walls were decorated. Pictures had been carved into the
rock. Pictures of people and animals and creatures from legend,
like the minotaur.
    Justin got closer to one wall and gazed at
the carvings. They covered the entire surface. He looked down the
corridor and saw that the pictures went on as far down the hallway
as he could see. He looked at the intricate detail. Here were men
fighting some sort of three-headed lizard. And over there was a
scene of minotaurs in battle against giants.
    The scenes flowed smoothly into one another
and went on and on. He shook his head. How old was this place, he
wondered. These carvings must have taken years to create, decades
or longer. And the opposite wall was equally rich with pictures and
carvings. It was overwhelming.
    He noticed that instead of torches, there
were iron baskets hanging from the ceiling every ten feet or so.
Inside the baskets were some sort of glowing rocks. Justin couldn't
see what kind of rocks they were or why they glowed, but they lit
the corridor quite brightly.
    He slowly made his way down the hall,
stopping every few feet to examine another detail. He could have
spent hours just exploring this one hallway. There were several
doors made of iron along the corridor, reaching to the ceiling,
Each one had a large symbol engraved on it and all were closed
tight. Justin couldn't move any of them.
    Suddenly he heard the tapping of footsteps
in the distance. The hallway turned to the left up ahead of him and
that's where the sound was coming from. He forgot the carvings and
just stood there, waiting. His heart began to pound faster. Now
what, he wondered.
    The footsteps increased in speed, Someone is
in a hurry, he thought. Or some thing. He remembered the minotaur
and clenched his fists at his side, preparing for the worst.
    From around the corner, a figure came into
view. Justin stared. It was a woman. She was wearing a long, dark
blue gown belted tightly at the waist and her gray hair was pulled
back from her face.
    As she saw him, her eyes lit up and she
smiled. She reminded Justin a bit of his mother's great aunt
Violet, who had died when he was very young. She had always been
kind to him and he relaxed a bit as the woman strode up to him.
    “I am so sorry, Mr.
McLeod,” she said as she approached and stopped in front of him.
They were almost the same height. “We didn't realize that you were
coming today.” She shook her head and, taking Justin's arm, drew
him with her back the way she had come. Justin just let himself be
led, too confused for the moment to say anything. “It's been that
sort of day, I'm afraid. Unexpected arrivals, attacks all over the
world, and here we are, trying to keep up. It's enough to drive a
body to distraction. Well, no need to think about that now.” She
patted his arm as they turned the corner and walked down another
hallway.
    As far as Justin could tell, the walls here
were just as intricately carved as the others. His guess at the age
of this place increased. The woman chatted away as she guided him
along. He was so relieved at meeting someone who seemed friendly
and comforting that he wasn't really paying as much attention to
her words as he was to the lady herself.
    She was older, that much he could tell. Her
kind face was lined with wrinkles but she moved with the vigor of
youth. He tried to focus on what she was saying as he realized that
he was staring at her. If she noticed his staring, she simply
ignored it.
    “Now, there's no need to
worry, young man. We are here to watch over you and